Infant Behavior & Development 30 (2007) 479–491
Infants’ persistence and mothers’ teaching as predictors
of toddlers’ cognitive development
Poonam Nina Banerjee a,∗ , Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda b
a
Columbia University, Sergievsky Center, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, United States
b New York University, United States
Received 13 June 2006; received in revised form 3 November 2006; accepted 1 December 2006
Abstract
This study examined the relative contributions of infants’ persistence and mothers’ teaching at 6 and 14 months to infants’
cognitive development at 14 months in a sample of 65 low-income mother–infant dyads. Infants’ persistence was assessed from a
videotaped persistence task at 6 months and from the Behavior Record Scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd ed.
(BSID II) at 14 months. Mothers’ teaching was assessed from a videotaped teaching interaction at 6 and 14 months using the Nursing
Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) teaching scale. Cognitive development at 14 months was based on the Mental Scale,
BSID II. Infants’ persistence at both ages and mothers’ teaching at 6 months each explained unique variance in infants’ cognitive
status at 14 months. Persistence appears to be a stable quality that can be measured early on, and both infants’ early persistence and
mothers’ teaching are direct pathways to cognitive status at the start of the second year.
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Infancy; Persistence; Cognitive development; Mothers’ teaching; Maternal sensitivity; Maternal responsivity; Temperament
Examination of the factors that support cognitive development during infancy is important to the design of effective interventions for infants at risk of developmental delays or disabilities. This is especially true under difficult
circumstances such as poverty, in which infants’ development may be compromised. Poverty is associated with a host
of adverse outcomes in early childhood, including language, cognitive delay and lower performance on indicators of
school readiness (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005; McLoyd & Wilson, 1990; Petterson
& Albers, 2001).
Persistence in infancy is one potential path to later cognitive achievement. Infants who persist in their engagements
with objects and activities around them may be better positioned to learn from their environments, making them less
likely to experience future developmental delay (Belsky, Friedman, & Hsieh, 2001; Petrill & Deater-Deckard, 2004).
Sensitive and responsive maternal teaching is another putative path to enhanced cognitive development, both because
responsive teaching may support infants’ persistence and because it may promote other types of learning. Mothers
who encourage their infants’ exploration and learning in responsive ways, even in the context of economic stress, may
buffer the deleterious effects of poverty (Huston & Aronson, 2005).
Research reveals that links between mother–child interactions and infants’ persistence are bidirectional (Brazelton,
Cramer, Kreisler, Schapi, & Soule, 1983; Cohn & Tronick, 1988; Hauser-Cram et al., 2001). Mothers influence infant
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 212 305 2515; fax: +1 212 305 2426.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P.N. Banerjee).
0163-6383/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.12.001
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behaviors and performance just as infants influence their mothers’ interactions by providing cues about their emotional
states, interests and needs. As such, infants are “active partners” who contribute to their own development through
an influence on others (Bell, 1968; Frodi, Bridges, & Grolnick, 1985; Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975; Yarrow et
al., 1984). However, the way in which infant persistence and maternal interactions jointly contribute to infant’s later
cognitive development remains unstudied. To date, investigations of persistence and maternal teaching during infancy
have largely been pursued separately. In this study, we explore pathways to cognitive development through infants’
persistence and mothers’ teaching in a sample of low-income mother–infant dyads. It was hypothesized that high
levels of persistence in infancy coupled with high responsivity in mothers’ teaching would predict better cognitive
performance at the start of the second year.
1. Infants’ persistence
White’s (1959) writings on “effectance motivation” highlighted the need to examine curiosity, persistence and
exploration in infancy. He theorized that exploration and persistence during play in infancy and early childhood
reflected the desire to affect one’s environment. He claimed that “effectance motivation” was further supported by the
feelings of pleasure that infants’ derived from successful “mastery” over the physical environment. White’s belief that
early indicators of infant persistence remained stable and would predict later competence motivated several subsequent
investigations on developmental progressions of infants’ persistent behavior.
Since White’s work, researchers have proposed that persistence manifests itself differently at different periods in development (e.g., Barret & Morgan, 1995; Yarrow, Klein, Lomanco, & Morgan, 1975). When infants are
presented with a new task, they typically transition from inattention to passive exploration (mouthing, touching
and holding objects) to goal-directed, persistent behavior in which they actively explore the features of objects,
for example by turning, banging, shaking or pushing buttons in purposeful ways to achieve effects. At approximately 6 months, most infants display this purposeful manipulation of objects. By 9 months, infants are able
to select actions that are most appropriate for “solving” a specific task (e.g., choosing to push buttons rather
than banging to create sound effects on a toy telephone). By 15 months infants strive to complete tasks independently, often resisting intervention from others. It is at this period that infants are thought to display a
“persistent task approach” (Messer, 1995), which is the ability to shift attention between subcomponents of a task
to attain a final goal while maintaining focus on the larger task at hand (e.g. finding a correctly shaped block,
inserting in the correct hole, then moving to the next shape until all blocks have been inserted into the shape
sorter).
Although there is evidence that persistence is a stable trait that appears early on and undergoes developmental
change in its qualities from infancy through early childhood, it remains relatively under-examined. In particular, few
studies of persistence exist in infants younger than 9 months. This gap is partly due to the notion that persistence is a
quality that is either not present or something that cannot be reliably assessed during early infancy. In some instances,
behaviors thought to reflect “persistence” in infancy might merely be transient ways of acting on objects with little
meaning or predictive validity (McCall, 1995).
Here we suggest that persistence reflects a stable individual quality already evident in infancy, and that infants
who persist at tasks in infancy and toddlerhood are more likely to perform well on current and later developmental
measures. There is tentative support for such a claim. First, infants’ manipulation of toys at 6–9 months, but toddlers’
persistent task approach at 12–16 months, is associated with standardized developmental tests of cognition (DeaterDeckhard, Petrill, Thompson, & DeThorne, 2005; Jennings & Dietz, 2003; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Evans, 2000). In a
longitudinal study of 5 21 month olds, infants who were better able to manipulate novel objects had higher scores on
the Stanford-Binet at 3 21 years (Rose, Feldman, Wallace, & McCarton, 1989). In a study of toddlers (13–16 months),
task approach as measured by persistent, active engagement with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)
task materials, was related to higher IQ scores on Fagan and Sheperd’s (1989) Test of Infant Intelligence (DiLalla
et al., 1990). In a third study, persistent exploration at 6 months predicted BSID scores at 12 months, and persistent
task approach at 12 months predicted McCarthy Scales of cognitive abilities at 30 months (Messer et al., 1986).
Thus, studies of typically developing infants and toddlers suggest that persistence accounts for significant variance in
developmental status and intelligence (Belsky et al., 2001; Kelley, Brownell, & Campbell, 2000; Kelley & Jennings,
2003).
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481
2. Mothers’ teaching: links to infants’ persistence and cognitive development
In addition to studying the role of persistence in early cognitive development, we also posit that mothers’ teaching
will influence infants’ cognitive development. There is widespread recognition that maternal teaching supports infants’
cognitive growth, which is consistent with Vygotsky’s theory (1978) on the social context of early learning. Mothers
who respond sensitively to bids, vocalizations and/or play have infants who display higher levels of competencies
on cognitive and language assessments (Bornstein & Tamis-LeMonda, 1994; Chintana, Barnard, & Spieker, 2003;
Coleman et al., 2002; McGroder, 2000; Pridham, Schroeder, & Brown, 1999; Robinson & Acevedo, 2001; Sumner
& Spietz, 1994; Tamis-LeMonda & Bornstein, 1996; Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001). Maternal
teaching may also indirectly affect children’s cognitive ability through an influence on infants’ persistence (Chintana
et al., 2003; Gauvain, 2001). For example, mothers’ sensitivity during teaching might encourage independent and
persistent exploration of toys or objects in infancy, and these exploratory abilities will in turn offer opportunities for
the infant to gain knowledge and build skills. Therefore, we focus here on both direct and indirect paths from mothers’
teaching to infant outcomes at 14 months.
3. Present study
Despite the evidence that maternal stimulation and infants’ persistence separately contribute to cognitive development in early childhood, few studies have examined the joint contributions of these measures to infants’ later cognitive
achievements, especially in mothers and infants from low-income households. Studies that have investigated these
predictors together have not fully accounted for the reality that responsive mother–infant interactions are characterized
by bidirectionality (Belsky et al., 2001; Petrill et al., 2004). Moreover studies linking maternal interactions to infant
persistence are largely based on concurrent study designs, making it difficult to determine whether infants’ who are
more persistent are more likely to elicit positive maternal behaviors, or if positive maternal behaviors actually promote
infants’ persistence over time. The goal of this study was to longitudinally examine how infants’ persistence at 6
months, and mothers’ teaching at both 6 and 14 months, individually and jointly act as direct and indirect predictors
of infants’ cognitive development in an ethnically diverse, inner-city population.
To this end, we propose that persistence and mothers’ teaching in infancy may influence cognitive development
over time through four possible pathways (Figs. 1–4).
3.1. Path 1
If infants’ persistence at 6 is directly associated with toddlers’ later cognitive development at 14 months, infants’
persistence should predict cognitive development even after controlling for mothers’ teaching.
3.2. Path 2
If infants’ persistence is indirectly related to cognitive development, the association between infants’ early persistence and later cognitive development might be mediated through the stability of persistence over time (Path 2a) or by
mothers’ teaching at 14 months (Path 2b).
Fig. 1. Path1—persistence directly predicts cognitive development.
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Fig. 2. Path 2—persistence indirectly predicts cognitive development.
Fig. 3. Path 3—mothers’ teaching directly predicts cognitive development.
3.3. Path 3
If mothers’ teaching is directly related to cognitive development, teaching at 6 should predict toddlers’ cognitive
development, even after controlling for infants’ persistence.
3.4. Path 4
If mothers’ teaching is indirectly linked to cognitive development, the association between mothers’ early teaching
and later cognitive development might be mediated by the stability of teaching over time (Path 4a) or by infants’
persistence at 14 months (Path 4b).
Fig. 4. Path 4—mothers’ teaching indirectly predicts cognitive development.
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483
We expect both persistence and teaching to be stable between 6 and 14 months, and both to uniquely contribute to
infants’ cognitive development. Thus, high infant persistence in conjunction with sensitive mothers’ teaching should
result in high cognitive performance at the start of the second year.
4. Method
4.1. Participants
Participants were 65 mother–infant dyads who applied for government services, mainly child-care services at an
agency in a large, urban city in the Northeast. All mothers qualified for some type of federal financial assistance (75%
of mothers were unemployed or worked part-time). Over half (57%) of the mothers were African-American and 43%
were Latino (Puerto Rican and Dominican). The majority (87%) of mothers indicated that their primary language was
English; 83% reported being born in the United States, 92% reported their marital status as single and 75% reported
that they were less than 20 years of age.
All infants resided with their mothers and most infants (93%) had regular contact with their father. The sample was balanced for gender (52% female). All infants were born full-term and within the normal range for birthweight.
4.2. Procedures
Mother–infant dyads were observed at their residences when infants were 6 months (M = 182 days, S.D. = 38 days)
and again when they were 14 months (M = 425 days, S.D. = 26 days). Mothers were interviewed in their primary
language and reported on their race, age, education, marital and employment status, infants’ age and race. Home visits
at both 6 and 14 months were concluded after mother–infant teaching interactions were videotaped. Mothers received
$20 for their time.
In order to build rapport and make mothers feel more comfortable with the teaching task at 6 months, mothers
were asked to choose one of four tasks to teach their infants: (1) pulling a car by a string, (2) turning pages of a
book, (3) making a noise by ‘squeaking’ a soft toy or (4) transferring a block from one hand to another. The task
choices were pre-tested to ensure they did not elicit different styles of teaching. Mothers were asked to sit on a
floor mat with their infant, try to ignore the camera and to let the researcher know when the felt they had finished
teaching the task to their infants. Mothers were also asked not to allow their infants to use pacifiers during the
teaching interaction so that researchers could hear infants’ verbalizations. After the teaching interaction, mothers were
asked to place their infant on a floor mat for 3 min to explore a toy telephone (persistence task), which was also
videotaped. The telephone had a number of push and pull buttons and levers that each produced auditory or visual
effects.
Again, during the 14-month visit, mothers were made to feel more comfortable during the videotaped teaching
session by being offered the choice of two teaching tasks: (1) teaching infants to point to parts of the body in a book,
or (2) stacking blocks to make a tower. Following the teaching task, a certified tester administered the Mental Scale of
the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd ed. (BSID II; Bayley, 1993) and observed toddlers’ persistence using
the Bayley Behavior Record Scale (BRS).
4.2.1. Infants’ persistence
At 6 months, videotaped persistence was coded as the total time (in seconds) the infant spent exploring the telephone
toy visually and tactilely, divided by the total session time (180 s). A second rater coded one out of every five videotaped
persistence segments for reliability purposes. Coders’ disagreements were resolved by discussion while viewing the
segment together.
Five Bayley Behavior Record Scale items specifically related to persistence were used assess infants’ persistence
at 14 months. Each BRS item is rated on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 reflects the absence of the behavior and 5 reflects
the presence of the behavior throughout the testing situation). A persistence score was then calculated by summing
only the BRS items that were relevant to persistence (five points each). Items that reflected persistence included (1)
adaptation to change in test taking items and materials; (2) persistence in completing tasks; (3) attention to tasks; (4)
interest in test materials and (5) exploration of objects and/or surroundings.
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4.2.2. Cognitive development
The Bayley Mental-R scale assesses memory, problem-solving, early number concepts, generalization skills, classification abilities and verbal communication skills. A Mental Development Index (MDI) score between 85 and 100 is
considered “within normal limits”.
4.2.3. Mothers’ teaching
The quality of mother–infant interactions was assessed from videotaped teaching task sessions that were coded
using the NCATS (Sumner et al., 1994). Mothers’ choice of teaching task had no bearing on the way in which
the task was coded since the NCATS provides information on mothers’ sensitivity and responsiveness to children’s cues as well as her ability to provide information to the infant, regardless of the teaching task selected. A
total of 30 binary items (1 = yes; 0 = no), divided into three subscales (1) sensitivity, (2) cognitive growth fostering, and (3) social-emotional growth fostering, were used to measure mothers’ teaching. Although the NCATS also
includes a fourth subscale, responsivity to distress, this was not included (due to the absence of distress in infants
during the play segments). A total teaching score was computed by summing all of the items that were coded as
‘1’. A certified NCATS coder assessed videotapes and a second coder rated every 5th case for reliability purposes.
Coders maintained an average inter-rater reliability of 80% agreement across 6- and 14-month videotaped teaching
sessions.
5. Results
Descriptive statistics and bivariate associations among 6- and 14-month measures are presented first, followed by
a series of linear regressions that test the unique and joint contributions of mothers’ teaching and infant persistence at
6 and 14 months to infants’ cognitive development at 14 months. These regressions also tested for mediation, that is,
whether persistence or maternal teaching at 6 months indirectly predicted Bayley Mental Development Index scores
through effects on persistence and/or maternal teaching at 14 months.
5.1. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations
Prior to the main analyses, relations between mothers’ demographic characteristics (race, dominant language,
education, marital and employment status), infants’ persistence (6 and 14 months), mothers teaching (6 and 14 months),
and cognitive development (Bayley MDI) (14 months) were examined. No significant associations were found between
mothers’ demographic measures and infants’ persistence or 14-month MDI scores. However, mothers’ dominant
language was correlated with teaching total at 6 months (r = −.33, p < .01) such that mothers who reported their
dominant language to be English (87%) received higher scores on sensitivity (p < .05) and social-emotional growth
fostering (p < .01) subscales than mothers who reported their dominant language to be non-English. Since there were
primarily two groups of mothers in this sample (African-American and Latina) and more Latina mothers reported
their dominant language as non-English (39%) than African-American mothers (3%), descriptive and demographic
characteristics are presented by maternal race (Table 1).
Table 2 presents means and standard deviations for all 6- and 14-month measures by maternal race. For each
outcome, t-tests were conducted in order to examine whether differences between African-American and Latina
mothers and infants were significant. Infants’ persistence at 6 months varied considerably but did not differ by group. In
contrast, infants’ persistence at 14 months did differ by mothers’ race. Infants of African-American mothers (M = 17.46,
S.D. = 2.83) showed more persistence at 14 months than infants of Latina mothers (M = 16.93, S.D. = 4.04), Cohen’s
infants in this sample presented with a mean MDI that was slightly less than the average MDI for the standardization
sample (Bayley, 1993). However, 85% of children were “within normal limits” and 2% were in the “accelerated
performance” range. Only 13% were classified as “mildly delayed”.
Fig. 5 depicts bivariate association between measures at 6 and 14 months. Infants’ persistence at 6 months related
to infants’ persistence and MDI scores at 14 months. Mothers’ teaching total at 6 months was unrelated to teaching
total at 14 months, but teaching scores at both ages predicted infants’ MDI scores at 14 months. None of the teaching
subscales at 6 or 14 months were related to either persistence or Bayley MDI scores when examined separately, so
further analyses included only teaching totals when infants were 6 and 14 months.
P.N. Banerjee, C.S. Tamis-LeMonda / Infant Behavior & Development 30 (2007) 479–491
485
Table 1
Mothers’ demographic characteristics
Sociodemographic characteristics
Full sample (n = 65, 100%) (%)
African-American (n = 37, 57%) (%)
Latino (n = 28, 43%) (%)
Dominant language
English
Other
82
18
97
3
61
39
Marital status
Single
Live with partner
Married
Divorced
68
16
9
8
76
8
8
7
57
25
11
11
Educational status
Some junior high
Some high school
Graduate of high school/GED
Some college
College graduate
14
55
12
14
6
0
59
11
16
3
7
50
14
11
11
Employment status
Employed
Employed part-time
Unemployed
27
34
39
28
32
40
27
35
37
5.2. Multiple regressions
Measures that were significantly associated with Bayley MDI scores at 14 months were included in regression
equations. Since infants’ persistence at 14 months differed by maternal race and mothers’ dominant language was
correlated with 6-month teaching total (pre-analyses), the first regression model included mothers’ race and dominant
language in the first step. Mothers’ dominant language and race were dummy coded. Interaction terms were calculated
to test moderation by multiplying mothers’ teaching and infants’ persistence at 6 months and then mothers’ teaching
and infants’ persistence at 14 months, respectively. These terms were entered in the last step.
Thus, the first model tested included mothers’ race and dominant language in the first step, persistence and mothers’
teaching at 6 months in the second step, persistence and mothers’ teaching at 14 months as the third step and finally,
interaction terms as predictors of cognitive development as the last step. This model accounted for 45% of the variance
in infants’ Bayley MDI scores (Table 3).
Table 2
Means (and standard deviations) of infants’ persistence and mothers’ teaching at 6 and 14 months, and infants’ cognitive development at 14 months
Measure
Full sample
African-American
Latino
T-test comparing scores
Infants’ persistence (6 months)
Infants’ persistence (14 months)
78.83 (39.43)
17.23 (3.39)
76.76 (33.90)
17.46 (2.83)
81.57 (46.26)
16.93 (4.04)
2.90
4.41*
Mothers’ teaching (6 months)
Sensitivity
Social-emotional growth fostering
Cognitive growth fostering
Teaching total
8.80 (1.34)
8.17 (1.61)
9.37 (2.60)
26.34 (4.26)
8.83 (1.46)
8.00 (1.78)
9.32 (2.57)
26.16 (4.37)
8.70 (1.17)
8.33 (1.33)
9.38 (2.72)
26.41 (4.15)
.73
1.56
.08
.02
Mothers’ teaching (14 months)
Sensitivity
Social-emotional growth fostering
Cognitive growth fostering
Teaching total
8.74 (1.06)
7.63 (1.23)
8.92 (3.10)
25.29 (3.93)
8.62 (1.03)
7.84 (1.07)
8.92 (3.23)
25.38 (3.80)
8.92 (1.10)
7.30 (1.38)
8.81 (2.96)
25.04 (4.16)
.10
2.04
.39
.10
Infants’ cognitive development (14 months)
Bayley MDI
94.95 (8.60)
96.38 (7.04)
93.07 (10.10)
3.19
*
p < .05.
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Fig. 5. Bivariate correlations among measures.
Mothers’ dominant language was not significant and therefore was not retained in the second, reduced model. Since
there was no interaction between teaching and persistence at either age, interaction terms were also eliminated in
the more parsimonious model. Because mothers’ race, mothers’ teaching at 6 months and persistence at 6 months
contributed significantly to Bayley MDI scores and persistence at 14 months approached significance (p = .06) these
Table 3
Model 1: multiple regression analysis predicting Bayley MDI scores
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Intercept
93.94
63.83
64.83
62.69
Demographics
Mothers’ dominant language
Mothers’ race
−2.26
4.63+
6 months measures
Infants’ persistence
Mothers’ teaching
1.45
3.98*
1.37
3.71*
.91
3.92*
15.48***
.61**
12.43***
.46*
15.34***
.61*
2.84**
.21
1.33+
.17
14 months measures
Infants’ persistence
Mothers’ teaching
Interaction
Interaction term 6 months
Interaction term 14 months
R2
Note: Values are unstandardized beta coefficients.
+ p < .10.
* p < .05.
** p < .01.
*** p < .001.
.00
.06
.03
.35
.46
.45
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487
Table 4
Final model: multiple regression analysis predicting Bayley MDI scores
Step 1
Intercept
Demographics
Mothers’ race
Step 2
92.52
3.86+
Step 3
65.78
.23
6 months measures
Infants’ persistence
Mothers’ teaching
4.87*
.26
4.24*
.25
15.42***
.57**
.44
.29
12.50**
.45*
.36
.23
14 months measures
Infants’ persistence
R2
71.20
2.93**
.04
.36
.34
.46
Note: Italicized values are unstandardized beta coefficients.
+ p < .10.
* p < .05.
** p < .01.
*** p < .001.
variables were retained in the final reduced model. Together, these variables accounted for 46% of variance in cognitive
development at 14 months (Table 4).
Based on the above regressions, mediational analyses tested whether infants’ persistence and/or mothers’ teaching
at 6 months affected infants’ cognitive development at 14 months through infants’ persistence and/or teaching at 14
months. This was done by comparing solutions to earlier steps in regressions, which included 6-month predictors only,
with later steps which included 14-month mediators. We hypothesized four potential mediating pathways; however, we
only justified in testing three pathways based on the significance of the bivariate associations (Fig. 2, Path 2A and Path
2B; Fig. 4, Path 4B). Specifically, according to guidelines outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986), we were justified in
testing whether infants’ persistence at 14 months mediated links from persistence and teaching at 6 months to Bayley
scores at 14 months, as well as whether mothers’ teaching at 14 months mediated the link from 6-month persistence
to later Bayley scores, since the following three conditions were met in all cases: (1) early persistence and teaching
at 6 months related to the hypothesized mediator(s) of 14-month persistence or teaching; (2) infants’ persistence and
maternal teaching at the 6 month assessment predicted the target outcome of 14-month cognitive development, and
(3) the proposed mediator of 14-month persistence related to the outcome of cognitive development at 14 months. We
were unable to test 14-month teaching as a mediator of 6-month teaching since teaching at 6 months was not related
to teaching at 14 months at the bivariate level. Mediational analyses yielded no evidence that the effects of either
mothers’ teaching or persistence at 6 months were mediated by persistence or teaching at 14 months. That is, both
early measures retained their significance in models that controlled for later persistence and maternal teaching.
To summarize the findings, persistence was directly associated with cognitive development, even after controlling
for mothers’ teaching and later persistence. Similarly, mothers’ teaching at 6 months directly predicted infant cognition
at 14 months after controlling for persistence at 14 months. Together, earlier and later measures of persistence as well
as early teaching accounted for nearly half the variance in infants’ Bayley scores at 14 months.
6. Discussion
The predictive validity of infants’ persistence and mothers’ teaching at 6 and 14 months was examined in relation
to infants’ cognitive development at 14 months. Findings revealed that both infant persistence and maternal teaching
uniquely contributed to toddlers’ later cognitive competence.
On average, infants spent over half of the session time actively persisting in exploration. Additionally, the early
persistence displayed during the challenge task was well distributed and associated with outcomes 8 months later,
indicating that meaningful individual differences in persistent exploration may be detected relative early in infancy.
Infants who persisted early on also displayed more persistence at 14 months and had higher scores on the Bayley
Mental Development Index. Mothers’ teaching at 6 but not at 14 months was associated with persistence at both ages
and predicted cognitive development at 14 months, suggesting that early teaching has a dual function of supporting
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both infants’ ability to remain on task as well as cognitive development. Together, mothers’ teaching at 6 months and
infants’ persistence at 6 and 14 months accounted for 46% of the variance in cognitive development at 14 months.
We hypothesized that persistence would be stable between 6 and 14 months and our findings supported this expectation. Despite the use of different measures to examine persistence at the different ages, there existed moderate stability
over the 8-month period. This may reflect a conservative estimate of the true stability of persistence had the same
measures been used at both time points. This finding further supports the validity and age-appropriateness of the persistence measures at both ages, which related as expected to Bayley scores. It is possible that the stability identified in
persistence reflects a stable temperamental trait in infants that enables certain infants to sustain a task-directed approach
that supports learning over the long term.
An important question raised by these findings concerns the mechanisms or processes that might underlie the stability
in performance that we observed. The stability of persistence is also consistent with findings of previous research on
the stability of other hypothesized temperamental traits, such as “effortful control” (Rothbart, Ellis, Rueda, & Posner,
2003), “behavioral inhibition” (Kagan, 1989) and “emotional reactivity” (Rothbart, Derryberry, & Hershey, 2000).
According to Rothbart (2004), it is the capacity to attend which underlies many temperamental traits and forms the
basis of individual differences in cognition, which remains stable. Studies of attention have demonstrated that neural
networks located in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and basal ganglia, are responsible for regulating processes
such as maintaining an alert state and orienting to sensory input (Posner & Rothbart, 1998; Posner & Raichle, 1994).
Given the role of attention in the ability to persist, these neural mechanisms may play a role in the development of
persistence as well. Still, it is clear that persistence is a multi-faceted behavior, which both affects and is affected by
other aspects of development (e.g. mothers’ teaching, cognitive development) and the extent to which temperament
or other factors account for the stability of persistence over time remains an open question. That said, these results do
indicate that persistence is measurable in infancy and predicts infant development over time.
In contrast to persistence, mothers’ teaching was surprisingly unstable between 6 and 14 months. Perhaps during
this time in infancy mothers are differentially changing their teaching styles in response to their children’s developing
abilities. Infants’ cognitive development was more dependent on the contribution of mothers’ 6-month rather than
14-month teaching, suggesting that the variation observed at 6 months was most influential. It was not surprising that
mothers’ teaching at 6 months predicted toddlers’ cognitive development since early caregiving has typically been
found to influence later cognitive and language development (Beckwith & Cohen, 1989; Bornstein & Tamis-Lemonda,
1989; Tamis-LeMonda, 1996; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2001). Although mothers’ teaching at 14 months related to
infants’ Bayley scores at the bivariate level, this effect attenuated to nonsignificance in full models.
It is also possible that teaching influences persistence at different stages of development, even though in the present
study it only related to 6-month persistence. However, the manner in which teaching exerts influence may change over the
course of child development. According to Chess and Thomas (1984), dimensions of temperament such as persistence
are often modified during development, particularly by interactions with caregivers. Although maternal teaching did
not moderate the effects of persistence at either age, the interaction between children’s abilities and parenting quality
may begin to affect emerging developmental competencies if tested at later points in early development than studied
here. Through teaching, mothers who provide access to stimulating objects, are sensitive and responsive to children’s
emotions and support children’s behaviors just above their current level may foster both persistent behavior and
advanced cognitive development in the future. Since teaching at 6 months predicted 14-month cognitive development,
even after controlling for 6- and 14-month persistence, there is clear evidence for the direct influence of early maternal
teaching on cognitive development.
This study is unique in several ways. First, although others have examined persistence or maternal interaction
in relation to cognitive development, few have looked at both. Thus, a primary strength of this study includes an
examination of how infant and maternal contributions together may influence cognitive development, analysis of both
interaction effects and mediation, and accounting for the bidirectional nature of mother–infant relationships. In addition,
this study examines persistence in infants younger than 1 year. Almost no studies have been conducted on persistence
in infancy in the past 10 years. Finally, this study is unique in its focus on low-income African-American and Latina
mothers of young infants, a typically understudied population. Parents’ contributions to cognitive development during
infancy is especially important to investigate in low-income families since the developmental risks of poverty have
been well documented and it has been previously been established that some of the deleterious effects of poverty may
be buffered by sensitive mother–infant interaction (Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Hoff-Ginsberg & Tardiff, 1995;
Huston et al., 2001, 2005; McLloyd et al., 1990).
P.N. Banerjee, C.S. Tamis-LeMonda / Infant Behavior & Development 30 (2007) 479–491
489
Nonetheless, the small sample size limits the generalizability of our results. Consequently, there was not the power to
adequately examine racial/ethnic differences in patterns of results. Preliminary evidence suggests that such differences
may exist. For example, the majority of mothers (87%) reported their dominant language to be English, and there was
a significant and unexpected difference in the sensitivity subscale by language. However, this difference attenuated to
nonsignificance when maternal race was added to the regression model, suggesting that racial differences may play
a role in mothers’ teaching styles. Furthermore, although relations between mothers’ 14-month teaching and infants’
cognitive status attenuated to nonsignificance in models that included other predictors, other measures of maternal
interaction at 14 months, not studied here, might have yielded stronger prediction to infants’ cognitive development.
Nevertheless, these findings provide promising directions for future research on maternal race, ethnicity and culture in
mothers’ teaching styles and children’s development.
As early childhood intervention programs continue to focus on “family-centered” models of care, both child care
providers and mothers would benefit from a greater understanding of the potential benefits of supporting infants’
persistent behavior. Early intervention programs that seek to limit children’s developmental vulnerabilities may translate
knowledge of how to support persistence into practices that better prepare children’s ability to maintain attention and
persist in learning situations. If indeed persistence is fundamental to cognitive advances and can be identified early
in development, practitioners might work with families at risk to develop strategies that support the development of
persistence behaviors as early as possible.
Acknowledgements
The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of the national Early Head Start Research and
Evaluation Project funded by the Ford Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,
and the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through grant
90YF001.
We would like to acknowledge our Early Head Start evaluation contractor, Mathematica Policy Research and
Columbia University, the local research universities participating in the Early Head Start Research Consortium and the
program directors from the Early Head Start programs participating in the national evaluation. Additionally, we are
extremely thankful to the families that participated in this study.
We also wish to acknowledge Jacqueline Shannon, Lisa Baumwell, Mark Spellman, Joanne Roberts and Larry
Balter for their invaluable assistance.
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