Child, Caregiver, and Temperament Contributions to Infant Joint Attention
Amy Vaughan, Peter Mundy, Jessica Block, Courtney Burnette, Christine Delgado, and Yania Gomez
Department of Psychology, University of Miami
Jessica Meyer
Tavistock Clinic, University College London, London, United Kingdom
A. Rebecca Neal
Department of Psychology, Brown University
Yuly Pomares
Department of Psychology, University of Miami

Little is known about variables that may contribute to individual differences in infant joint attention, or the coordination of visual attention with a social partner. Therefore, this study examined the contributions of caregiver behavior and temperament to infant joint attention development between 9 and 12 months. Data were collected from 57 infants using a caregiver–infant paradigm, an infant–tester paradigm, and a parent report of infant temperament. Nine-month measures of caregiver scaffolding and infant initiating joint attention (IJA) with testers were significantly related to 12-month infant IJA with testers. A temperament measure of positive emotional reactivity was related to 9-month IJA, and a measure of negative emotional reactivity was related to 12-month IJA. Temperament and caregiver scaffolding measures, however, were not associated with the development of infant responding to joint attention. These results further the understanding of the multiple processes that contribute to joint attention development in infancy, and support the hypothesis that initiating and responding measures tap different aspects of joint attention development.