Training Iranian Mothers High-elaborative, Emotion-rich Conversational Style

In this study mothers were trained to use a high-elaborative and emotioncontentconversational style, as its effectiveness on children’s autobiographical memory andemotion knowledge was evaluated. The research plan was semi-experimental.The sample consisted of 34 mothers and their children (13 girls, 21 boys) who wererecruited from preschoolers. The dyads were divided on the basis of the children’s languagescores, genders, and mothers’ levels of education. They were randomly assigned to eitherexperimental or control groups. To train the mothers in high elaborative and emotion contentconversational style, they were instructed using five specific conversational techniques:wh-questions (when, where, why, who, what or how); associations; follow-ups; positive evaluation; and, talking about emotions and their causes. Data were evaluated through repeated measure analysis and correlation. Results showed that dyads in training group used more high elaborative elements than those in control group. Mothers and children in the training group talked more frequently about emotions and their causes during post-training and follow-up assessments. In addition, training procedure did not affect children’s emotion knowledge and memory. The effectiveness of the training mothers’ elaborative and emotion rich conversational style is consist with previous research in this field, and it demonstrates new way of enhancing children skills via maternal training.