Children pushed in buggies which face away from their parents may suffer long-term emotional and language problems, according to a study published on Friday.

The research, believed to be the first of its kind, found that children who were not facing the person that pushed them were less likely to talk, laugh and interact with their parents compared with those babies that did.

The findings were based on a study of 2,722 parents and babies and an experiment where 20 babies were wheeled in buggies for a mile, facing their parents for half the journey and facing away for the other half.

Parents using face-to-face buggies were twice as likely to talk to their children while the heart rates of the babies fell and they were twice as likely to fall asleep, an indicator that they were feeling relaxed and safe.

Additionally only one baby out of the 20 studied laughed while sitting in an away-facing buggy.

"Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful," said Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, Developmental Psychologist at Scotland's Dundee University who carried out the research.

"Stressed babies grow into anxious adults."

The study, which was published by National Literacy Trust as part of its Talk To Your Baby campaign, found that 62 percent of all children observed travelled in away-facing buggies, rising to 86 percent between the ages of 1 and 2.

Zeedyk said it would impact negatively on babies' development if they spent a long time in a buggy which undermined their ability to communicate with their parent at a time when their brain was developing rapidly.

Laura Barbour of the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity which funded the research, said buggy manufacturers should look closely at the findings.

上周五公布的一項研究表明，坐童車背對父母的寶寶今后可能會出現情感和語言方面的長期障礙。

研究發現，與在童車里面對父母而坐的寶寶相比，背對父母的寶寶更不愛說笑，也不愛與父母交流。這項研究尚屬該領域首次。

研究人員對2722對父母和寶寶進行了一項研究，并對20個坐童車的寶寶開展了一項實驗。研究人員讓父母推著寶寶走一英里的路程，其中半英里讓寶寶面向他們，另一半路程讓寶寶背對他們。

結果顯示，使用面對式童車的父母與寶寶交流的幾率為背對時的兩倍，同時，寶寶的心律有所下降，睡著的幾率為背對時的兩倍，這表明此時寶寶很放松并有安全感。

在參與實驗的20個寶寶中，僅有一個寶寶在背對父母而坐時笑了。

研究負責人、蘇格蘭鄧迪大學的發展心理學家蘇珊妮•茲迪克博士稱：“我們的研究數據表明，如今很多寶寶的童車生活缺乏情感交流，還可能會感到緊張。”

她說：“心理緊張的嬰兒成年后更容易焦慮。”

研究發現，有62%的寶寶坐背對式嬰兒車，而在1歲至2歲的寶寶中，這一比例增至86%。這項研究由英國“全國讀寫信托”組織發布，是其開展的“與寶寶說話”活動的一部分。

茲迪克稱，寶寶的大腦發育很快，如果這段時期讓他們長時間地坐在阻礙他們與父母交流的童車里，那么會對他們的發育造成負面影響。

為該研究提供資金支持的“薩頓信托”教育慈善基金會的勞拉•巴伯爾稱，童車生產商應密切關注這一研究結果。