Joint attention in infancy: the role of parental ethnotheories, childrearing practices, and migration experiences

Joint attention is a foundational aspect of early social cognition, enabling infants to share attention with others and supporting socio-communicative development. While neurodevelopmental and behavioral dimensions of joint attention are well studied, less is known about the influence of parental beliefs, childrearing practices, and cultural context, particularly in migrant populations. This thesis investigates how parental ethnotheories and caregiving practices shape the emergence of joint attention in infants aged 4 to 12 months among Italian and West-Central African migrant families in Italy. Semi-structured interviews with mothers explored caregiving practices, cultural values, and developmental beliefs, alongside behavioral assessments of infant joint attention. The study also examined whether migration experiences and acculturative stress affect early social-cognitive trajectories. Using a mixed-methods approach, it aimed to identify links between cultural and parental factors and infant joint attention, highlighting the interplay between biology, social environment, and culture. Results revealed divergent caregiving priorities: Italian mothers emphasized autonomy and structured engagement, whereas West-Central African mothers prioritized physical competence and proximal care. Although joint attention was universal, their expression differed, with African infants relying more on embodied and tactile cues. Preliminary correlations suggested that higher maternal acculturative stress among migrant mothers was negatively associated with infant joint attention. These findings support a shift from a narrow, gaze-based joint attention phenotype toward a broader, multimodal concept of joint engagement, critical for culturally sensitive interventions that validate diverse caregiving ecologies.