An examination of spontaneous pointing in 20- to 50-month-old children.

Occurrences of spontaneous pointing in 20-, 30-, 40-, and 50-mo.-old children were observed during the children's indoor or outdoor free-play periods. Observers recorded the sex of the pointer, the behavioral pattern observed, the reason for the point, the response of the adult, and the distance of the child from the adult at the time of a point. Analysis indicated a significant dip in the rate of pointing among the 30-mo.-olds while the 20- and 50-mo.-olds were observed to point most often. With the exception of the 30-mo.-olds, pointing was significantly more likely to be observed in boys. For all age groups, the point was used primarily to name. After 20 months adults were significantly less likely to respond to the point, and when they did respond they were more likely to name or demonstrate irrespective of the apparent reason for the child's point. Finally, the probability of adults' response appeared to be unrelated to the distance from the child to the adult, and further, the likelihood of an adult's response appeared to exert little influence on the rate of pointing. The results suggest that pointing may be an expressive act that can be used as a communicative gesture, but there was little evidence that any of these age groups were using the point as a ritualized gesture, that is, as an action conventionalized within the context of social interaction.

Factors influencing duration of breast feeding among low-income women.

Forty low-income breast feeding primiparous women were interviewed to determine whether family member and peer attitudes toward breast feeding and available postpartum support were associated with continued or early termination of breast feeding. Mean breast feeding duration equalled 20.5 weeks (range, 1 to 52 weeks). When an outside source of assistance (a doula) was available during the first 2 weeks postpartum, mean duration was 23.4 weeks compared with 12.3 weeks when a doula was unavailable (p less than .05). Breast feeding duration was independent of the doula's attitude regarding breast feeding. Duration of breast feeding was significantly longer for breast feeding women who participated in the USDA Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) than for those who did not participate. All of the women claimed to like breast feeding; 93% of the husbands or boyfriends, 83% of the women's mothers, and 81% of the women's best friends had positive attitudes toward breast feeding. The more breast feeding friends the woman had, the longer she breast fed (r = .32, p less than .05). Termination of breast feeding was not due to perceived negative attitudes of family members and peers regarding breast feeding.

Manual actions of nine- to fifteen-week-old human infants during face-to-face interaction with their mothers.

This paper presents evidence that the manual actions of infants as young as 9 weeks of age may occur in relation to their facial expression, gaze direction, and vocalization. 28 full-term, healthy infants were observed during a 2-min spontaneous face-to-face interaction with their mothers. Videotapes were coded in real time using the following categories of manual action: POINT, SPREAD, CURL, and GRASP. Facial expressions, gaze direction, and vocalizations also were coded for each infant. All of the infants displayed CURL, 20 infants displayed SPREAD, 18 POINTED, and 11 showed GRASP. Right/left differences appeared for the categories CURL, SPREAD, and GRASP, but not for POINT. Hand action was systematically organized into sequences with other infant action. POINT occurred before or after mouthing and vocalization, CURL during vocalization, and SPREAD when the baby was looking away from the mother. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for the ontogeny of nonverbal communicative gestures.