Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Kinesiology

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The development of independent arms-free sitting, which frees an infant’s arms to explore objects in their environment (Soska & Adolph, 2014) is observed to propagate an increase in the frequency of manual and manipulatory actions (Marcinowski, et al., 2019; Mlincek, et. al., 2022). Active object exploration provides the infant with more sensory information of the fundamental characteristics of objects in their environment. Thus, this dissertation examined the quality and quantity of object exploration across seated postures.

Additionally, the literature claiming that infants raised in low-income households having fewer resources for effective development is being countered by considering a more holistic view of development that takes individual differences in motor development into account (Orr, 2023). Thus, the current study will observe how sitting ability and manual play vary among sociocultural and environmental factors.

Recruited at sitting emergence, infants were assessed across four longitudinal visits for fine and gross motor skills. Behavioral coding established frequency and durations of manual and manipulatory actions across visits and sitting stage. A multilevel model was utilized to evaluate the rate of change among manual actions across visits and sitting stage. Furthermore, relations and trends between sociocultural and environmental factors were assessed using exploratory and descriptive analyses.

The frequency and duration of manual actions varied across visits and sitting stages, exhibiting varying trends of change and amplitude of actions. Prop-sitters grasped objects more often than arms-free sitters up until the second visit. Although arms-free sitters grasped objects less often than prop-sitters, they held on to the objects for longer periods of time than prop-sitters up until the second visit. Furthermore, the actions exhibited after an infant grasped on object varied between prop-sitters and arms-free sitters; such that at the baseline visit prop-sitters would mouth an object more often than arms-free sitters, while arms-free sitters would hold onto an object more often than prop-sitters.

Finally, the exploratory study of sociocultural and environmental factors relation to motor actions raised inquiries regarding how individual differences shape development in the first year of infancy. These observations have implications for individual differences serving not as hinderances but alternative factors for motor development.

Date

11-2-2023

Committee Chair

Emily Marcinowski

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