Forming Habit(us): A Video-Ethnography of Everyday Interactions Inside 21 American Families

这个项目的目的是通过家庭录像来研究来自不同社会阶层背景的家庭如何培养孩子的早期生活技能、态度和期望。有压倒性的证据表明，儿童早期的重要性，以及父母在塑造幼儿技能发展方面的力量。每年，美国投资数十亿美元用于支持父母的项目，包括父母教育课程、育儿支持和家访项目。制定更好地满足家庭日常需求并反映其知识和专长的育儿举措，需要对儿童的生活环境有更深入的了解。这个关于亲子互动的家庭视频研究是对家庭如何支持孩子早期学习的前所未有的检查。这项研究的数据来自5700小时的视频片段，包含46.3万个离散的视频片段，来自21个家庭的为期两周的家庭视频人种学研究，每个家庭都有一个2-4岁的孩子。这些数据通过一个多步骤的过程进行分析，包括完成每日和专题内容日志，撰写叙述摘要和备忘录，以及选择情节进行更深入的分析。该项目的成果包括对有年幼学龄前儿童的家庭的日常现场育儿实践的丰富描述，以及在未来研究中有待检验的育儿行为的新措施和新概念。这些成果将加强公众对家庭日常成就及其在抚养年幼子女方面面临的挑战的讨论。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The objective of this project is to examine through in-home video footage how families from different social class backgrounds develop early-life skills, attitudes, and expectations in their children. There is overwhelming evidence of the importance of children’s earliest years and the power of parenting in shaping young children’s skill development. Each year, the United States invests billions of dollars into programs to support parents including through parent education classes, parenting supports, and home visitation programs. Developing parenting initiatives that better address families’ daily needs and reflect their knowledge and expertise requires a deeper understanding of the circumstances of children’s lives. This in-home video study of parent-child interactions is an unprecedented examination of how families support their children’s early learning.Data for this study come from 5,700 hours of video footage contained in 463,000 discrete video clips, from a two-week in-home video-ethnographic study of 21 families, each with a child aged 2-4. These data are analyzed through a multi-step process that includes completing daily and thematic content logs, writing narrative summaries and memos, and selecting episodes for closer analysis. Outcomes of the project include rich descriptions of the everyday, in-situ parenting practices of families with young, preschool-aged children, and new measures of parenting behaviors and new concepts to be tested in future studies. These outcomes will enhance public conversations concerning families’ daily accomplishments and their challenges in supporting their young children.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.