To study mother-child interaction patterns in culturally disadvantaged and culturally advantaged families, verbal and nonverbal communications were observed, recorded, and analyzed both independently and collectively. Subjects were 10 Head Start children, 10 culturally advantaged children, and the mothers of both groups. Communications were assessed according to the interpersonal dimensions of status, affection, and involvement. In general, Head Start mothers provided less social reinforcement for their children's activities, and many of their involvements were highly authoritative interventions. Head Start children took and solicited leadership more often, and they displayed both more hostility and more warmth than the advantaged group. Thus, Head Start mother-child dyads had fewer affection-based interactions and more status-based interactions. There were equal amounts of conversational interchange in the two groups. Significant differences between the two samples were found in the frequencies with which certain communication patterns occurred, and the contexts in which they occurred. However, when the same patterns did occur, the consequences were likely to be the same for both population samples. (DR)