Maternal behaviors mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and joint attention

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly related to parental behaviors and the quality of parent-child interactions. We examined whether through maternal behaviors, SES linked joint attention (JA), an important form interactions predicting language development. At 12 months, 50 mother-infant dyads were video-recorded during 5-min free play. coded for (sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, positive affect, negative control) JA characteristics (frequency, duration, initiated by following/directing, passive/coordinated, terminated mother/infant). Mediation analyses showed that higher-SES mothers more sensitive, less controlling, provided displayed affect resulting in higher (e.g., following rather than directing infant's attention) quantity (i.e., time spent JA). These findings contribute current literature revealing as a mediator between