MATERNAL EDUCATION AND MATERNAL RESPONSIVENESS AS PREDICTORS OF PLAY COMPETENCE IN LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT, PREMATURE-INFANTS - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT

Videotaped play interactions of 182 low birth weight, premature toddle rs and their mothers were used to investigate whether a model includin g maternal responsiveness together with level of maternal education wa s a better predictor of play maturity scores of the children than a mo del consisting of education level alone. The videotapes were coded usi ng the responsiveness subscale of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale. Regression analyses revealed that maternal education alone significant ly predicted play scores, accounting for 9% of the variance. However, the model that included both maternal responsiveness and maternal educ ation together also significantly predicted play scores and accounted for 20% of the variance. Including responsiveness together with matern al education significantly increased the proportion of variance accoun ted for by maternal education alone. Implications of these findings ar e discussed.