The Influence of Infant’s Joint Attention at 9 months and the Developmental Change of Joint Attention from 9 months to 28 months on Language Ability at 3 years
AUTHOR : 박슬기, 곽금주, 김연수
INFORMATION : page. 243~258 / 2014 Vol.21 No.1
ABSTRACT
The current study investigated the changes of joint attention in infants and examined the relationship
between the rate of change of joint attention and language ability of early childhood. 97 infants were
used as subjects in this study. The amount of joint attention was measured from 9 months to 28 months
in infant-mother free play situations. In the Korean Child Development Inventory, language comprehension,
expressive language, and letter scales were used to measure language ability at 3 years old. Latent growth
modeling was used to analyze change estimation of joint attention during infancy, and multivariate latent
growth model was applied to verify the relevance of changes of infancy joint attention and early language
skills. As a result, joint attention had increased nonlinearly over time. There were individual differences in
initial joint attention and the rate of changes and these differences impacted upon language ability. The
results of the current study suggested that researchers need to expand their time frames when they
examine the aspect of transition of joint attention. Moreover, when researchers examine the relationshipbetween
joint attention and language ability in follow-up research, they need to consider the rate of
change in joint attention.