Infant-Directed Speech From a Multidimensional Perspective: The Interplay of Infant Birth Status, Maternal Parenting Stress, and Dyadic Co-regulation on Infant-Directed Speech Linguistic and Pragmatic Features

Infant-directed speech (IDS), the particular form of spontaneous language observed
in interactions between parents and their infants, is a crucial aspect of the mother-
infant interaction and an index of the attunement of maternal linguistic input to her infant
communicative abilities and needs during dyadic interactions. The present study aimed
to explore linguistic and pragmatic features of IDS during mother-infant interactions
at 3-month of infant age. The effects of infant (birth status: preterm vs. full-term
birth), maternal (perceived parenting stress) and dyadic (dyadic co-regulation) factors
on IDS were explored. Results evidenced few differences between the groups on IDS
linguistic characteristics. Moreover, observing the interaction of birth status and dyadic
co-regulation, full-term mothers varied their IDS pragmatic features according to the
quality of co-regulation while preterm mothers did not. Parenting stress was associated
to specific linguistic IDS features independently from the birth status. Findings are
discussed underling implications for the study of preterm dyads interactions and the
importance to consider the interplay of several factors in affecting the quality of IDS.