Individual Variation, Correspondence, Stability, and Change in Mother and Toddler Play

Individual differences and developmental changes in mother and toddler nonsymbolic ond symbolic play were examined longitudinally when toddlers were 13 and 20 months old. A coding system was developed to assess mothers’ play sophistication bosed on extant coding systems used lo assess toddlers’ play; the application of a common coding system lo toddlers’ ond mothers’ ploy permitted empirical investigation of behoviorol parallels between toddler and mother. Characteristics of mother and toddler play were regularly associated 01 the two ages, and aver time mother and toddler play sophistication changed in similor woys. For example, between 13 ond 20 months, mothers and toddlers both moved toward higher levels of ploy, and changes in one portner’s play were regulorly associated with changes in the other partner’s play. Nonetheless, signikont changes in mothers’ and toddlers’ play remained ofter covarying partner influences. These findings indicate that individuol differences ond oge-related changes in mother and toddler second-yeor play ore bartly mediated by matched partner ploy ond partly motivated by processes independent of partner ploy.