Research Abstract: Developing Hearts' Bonding With Baby® Books: A Randomized Trial

Developing Heart’s Bonding With Baby® Books: A Randomized Trial.
Author: Dr. Grover J. Whitehurst, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook

Background: Book reading provides an ideal context for learning language and for emotional development. Correlational studies have shown that the frequency of a child being read to is related to children’s language skills. Other studies have found that less securely attached mother-child pairs engaged in less shared book reading than securely attached pairs.

The Bonding With Baby materials are the first available intervention package in the emergent literacy arena that is designed specifically for parents of infants under 12 months.

The measurable goals of the Bonding With Baby intervention are: 1) to increase the frequency and regularity of book sharing during infancy; and 2) to have parents and children experience book sharing as pleasurable. The assumption underlying the program is that success in achieving these measurable goals will set in place patterns of interaction around books and literacy what will enhance family literacy and the long-term cognitive/emotional trajectories of children.

Method: Participant families were recruited from patient lists at two hospitals on Long Island, N.Y., and screened for children whose birth dates would make them between 5 and 11 months of age at the time of the onset of the study. Participants in the study as represented in the data were the 102 families out of 150 initially enrolled.

Demographically, 57% of the 102 participants reported family incomes of less than $25,000 per year, while the remaining 43% reported incomes between $25,000 and $35,000 per year. Education levels of the primary caregivers were 21% without a high school degree, 22% with a high school degree and 46% with some college or a college degree. In terms of racial-ethnic categories, 58% of the principal caregivers identified themselves as white, with 21% identifying themselves as black and 21% as largely Latino.

Procedure: Data on the effects of the Bonding With Baby intervention were obtained from daily ratings by parents of the frequency and emotional tone of their interactions with their baby around picture books, and around four other common settings for interaction. In addition, data were gathered from pretest and posttest questionnaires completed by parents.

Participating families were randomly assigned either to receive three Bonding With Baby books and video during the period in which they were providing daily ratings of activities, or to receive those materials at the conclusion of the study

Results: Analyses of results indicated clearly that the Bonding With Baby intervention increased the frequency of book sharing compared to parents in the comparison condition [F (1,99) =10.84, p =.001]. Also, parents in the Bonding With Baby condition were much more likely [F = 9.76(1,99) p =.004} to indicate that they felt good while sharing a book with their baby and parents in the Bonding With Baby condition were much more likely to rate their baby as enjoying book sharing than parents in the control condition [F =10.37(1,99), p =.002]. The size of these effects ranged between moderate and large and were consistent across a variety of measures.

Parents in the Bonding With Baby intervention indicated that they liked the books and video, would continue sharing the books with their infant, and would like to have access to more of these types of books. The author concluded: "Because of its low costs and the significant effects achieved in the present evaluation, it is a very promising mechanism for enhancing emergent literacy interactions in families with infants."

Author
Dr. Grover J. Whitehurst: Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst is Leading Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and is currently serving as Assistant Secretary for Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. His research focuses on the prevention of reading problems in children from low-income backgrounds and the nature and consequences of language delay. He is the recipient of the Microsoft Innovators in Higher Education Award. The NIH, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Administration for Children, Youth and Families have supported his research.