Relation between mastery behavior in infancy and competence in early childhood.

Abstract

The failure of developmental tests in infancy to predict later competence may be because the tests ignore important dimensions of infant functioning. Yarrow and Pedersen (1976) have suggested that one such dimension could be mastery behavior, which involves persistence and investigation. Fifty-three infants were observed at 6 and 12 months during two 24-min play sessions. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were given at 6 and 12 months, and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities at 30 months. Measures of competence in infancy (successful task completion during play and the Bayley scores) were not strongly correlated with the 30-month McCarthy Scales. In contrast, infant mastery behavior during play strongly predicted McCarthy scores: The time spent investigating toys at 6 months, and persistence in solving tasks at 12 months, were behaviors significantly positively correlated with the McCarthy Scales. Thus, infant behaviors that predict later competence do not remain static, but change with age. More importantly, infants ' mastery behavior appears to be a more effective predictor of later development than their competence with either toys or developmental tests. The use of measures or observations made in infancy to predict later functioning is often considered an important topic of re-search in developmental psychology. The fascination with this topic may stem from a widespread conviction that early char-acteristics and experience are salient for later development. Pre-diction of later intellectual functioning has attracted particular interest because of its possible diagnostic value, and because it may assist identification of developmentally significant features of either infants ' capabilities or their environment. However, studies with nondelayed children mostly have failed to find strong relations between scores on developmental tests in infancy and

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