Serial habituation in two-, three-, and four-month-old infants.

Serial habituation of visual fixations in 2-, 3-, and 4-month-old infants was investigated through a design permitting cross-sectional, within-subject longitudinal, cohort longitudinal, and time-lag analyses. The components of the standard stimulus were displayed individually before and after successive exposures of the standard for familiarization. Relative saliencies of the components for each child were indexed by magnitude of responding to these parts in the initial presentation. Comparisons of the pre- and postexposure fixation times suggest that for all ages habituation was under way to the parts of the stimulus in orders of the relative saliencies. The nature of the data in general did not appear to be influenced significantly by any 1 methodology.     

Qualitative differences in the exploration of upright and upside-down faces in four-month-old infants: an eye-movement study

Four-month-old infants were habituated with an upright or an upside-down face. Eye-movement recordings showed that the upright and upside-down faces were not explored the same way. Infants spent more time exploring internal features, mainly in the region of the nose and mouth, when the face was upright. They also alternated as frequently between the face's internal features (eyes vs. nose/mouth) as between external and internal features. When the face was upside down, the infants spent half of their time exploring external features, and preferentially alternated between external features and internal features. The main effect of inversion was a decrease of the looking time to the nose/mouth region and of the number of shifts between the eye region and the nose/mouth region.     

Intervention with infants at risk for abuse or neglect

The need for direct services to infants at risk for abuse or neglect is addressed, with an emphasis on the advantages to the child of the integration of various modalities of treatment. The expertise of professionals who work with infants and young children in therapeutic and stimulation programs is required. Their experience also underscores the need for direct intervention in the parent-child interaction process. The developmental line of mastery and competence is reviewed with highlights of how this may be derailed in the at-risk infant. Finally, two suggestions are developed: that empathy might be taught to parents through an educational mode and that surrogate parenting, part-time, might be implemented routinely with mistreated children, at-risk infants, and perhaps for all infants.     

Understanding infants: characteristics of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants and their behaviours

This research explored the nature of early childhood practitioners' interpretations of infants in their programs on the basis that such interpretations guide practitioner–infant interactions and curriculum decision‐making processes. Twenty‐four infant practitioners were asked to describe a nominated infant in their program and to interpret video extracts of that infant's behaviour in the contexts of toy play and a nappy‐change routine. Constant comparison techniques were employed to develop a model representing the theoretical properties of the ideas and explanations contained within their interpretive statements, and to identify main areas of individual or contextual variation. The findings extend current understandings of the psychological context of early childhood infant programs and provide a foundation for future investigations of the implications of infant practitioner interpretations for their professional teaching and caregiving practices.     

Parenting and Children's Behavior at 36 Months: Equivalence Between African American and European American Mother - Child Dyads

Objective. This study examines the similarity of parenting and the associations between maternal behavior and child problem and prosocial behavior across two racial groups. Design. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC), analyses included an examination of the comparability of maternal and child behavior between African American (n = 123) and European American (n = 953) families using multiple-group mean and covariance structures analysis (MACS). Observational data from two mother - child activities and maternal report of child behavior were used to construct three parenting and four child latent constructs. Results. Comparable measures of parenting (Responsive, Harsh, and Intrusive), child problem behavior (Externalizing and Internalizing), and child prosocial behavior (Compliance and Expressiveness) were found using partial invariance methods across racial groups. The associations between harsh, intrusive and responsive parenting and child behaviors were found to be similar across racial groups. Conclusions. Generality in the organization of parenting and similarity in their association to child behavior obtain across racial groups.     

Institutional abuse: tubal sterilization in a population at risk of ill-treating their children

Among the 145 patients at risk of child abuse and neglect who were seen in 1980 in our institution in the prevention of child abuse and neglect prenatal clinic, 19 were sterilized after giving birth. The criteria applied to these 19 patients were compared to the common criteria applied to our general maternity population. We were able to prove that these common criteria were systematically disregarded in the case of a mother at risk of ill-treating her child. We further studied our approach from the angle of the conflict which could exist for health care professionals between the choice of leaving these women with the right to reproduce or putting an end to a history of ill-treatment of children.     

Adolescents at risk for mistreating their children. Part II: A home- and clinic-based prevention program

OBJECTIVE: To determine if adding an intensive home visitation component to a comprehensive adolescent-oriented maternity program prevents child abuse and neglect. METHODS: We studied 171 participants in a comprehensive, adolescent-oriented maternity program who were deemed to be at high risk for child abuse and neglect. Half were randomly assigned to receive in-home parenting instruction. Major disruptions of primary care-giving by the adolescent mother were classified hierarchically as abuse, neglect, and abandonment. RESULTS: Compliance with home visits varied in relation to the support the teenage mothers received from their families and the fathers of their babies (p < .0001). There were no significant treatment group differences in the pattern of health care utilization, the rate of postpartum school return, repeat pregnancies, or child abuse and neglect. The incidence of maltreatment rose in tandem with the predicted risk status of the mother. Ultimately, 19% of the children were removed from their mother's custody. CONCLUSIONS: Prediction efforts were effective in identifying at-risk infants, but this intensive home- and clinic-based intervention did not alter the incidence of child maltreatment or maternal life course development. A parenting program that was more inclusive of the support network might be more popular with teenagers and therefore more effective. Our findings also emphasize the importance of including counseling specifically designed to prevent teenagers from abandoning their children.     

Stressed parents with infants: reassessing physical abuse risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the relationship between a range of potentially adverse psychosocial and demographic characteristics identified in the immediate postpartum period and child physical abuse potential at 7 months. METHOD: Data collected as part of a randomized controlled trial of a nurse home visiting programme for vulnerable families with newborns was used. Women (181) were recruited in the immediate postpartum period. At 7 months, 151 participants were available for evaluation. Potential for child physical abuse was assessed using the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. RESULTS: Significant risk indicators identified by univariate analysis were financial stress, elevated Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores, education level less than 10 years, concern regarding the provision of housing, and domestic violence characterized by verbal and social abuse. There was no association between child abuse potential and sole parenthood, poverty, young maternal age, history of childhood abuse, or psychiatric history. Two variables were found to be of independent significance using a logistic regression model; elevated EPDS and perceived difficulty "making ends meet." CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that perceived stress relating to finances, accommodation and relationships in the immediate postpartum period are associated with heightened child physical abuse potential at 7 months. Elevated EPDS in the early postpartum period is also a risk indicator. The outcome of this study suggests that perinatal assessment of child abuse risk is possible and simple and is related to perceived stressors at the time surrounding delivery. This is independent of a range of demographic variables traditionally thought to predict high risk.     

A midwifery model of care for childbearing women at high risk: genuine caring in caring for the genuine

According to this paper's synthesis of research, three constituents of ideal midwifery care emerge. First, a dignity-protective action takes place in a midwife's caring relationship with a childbearing woman at high risk and includes mutuality, trust, ongoing dialogue, enduring presence, and shared responsibility. Secondly, the midwife's embodied knowledge is based on genuineness to oneself and consists of theoretical, practical, intuitive, and reflective knowledge. Finally, nurse-midwives have a special responsibility to balance the natural and medical perspectives in the care of childbearing women at high risk, especially by promoting the woman's inborn capacity to be a mother and to give birth in a natural manner. This midwifery model of care is labeled Genuine Caring in Caring for the Genuine. Here, the word genuine expresses the nature of midwifery care, as well as the nature of each pregnant woman being cared for as a unique individual.     

Understanding the dynamics between preterm infants and their families

The high‐tech environment of the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) may seem a million miles away from the classroom, but the baby who has been born prematurely, wired up in an incubator in the former, will in five years' time be a learner in the other. The journeys through our education system of children who have survived premature birth to become learners are causing teachers, psychologists, therapists and carers to explore innovative learning pathways, new psychological and therapeutic interventions, and creative care approaches to meet their needs. While much is known about the serious physical and sensory problems of preterm babies, less is known about their psychological, educational and socio‐emotional difficulties. This article attempts to identify key targets for holistic intervention with families of premature infants. An approach used at the Champion Early Intervention Centre (Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand) is described, from which practitioners of school‐aged children can draw teaching and learning implications.     

Early home intervention with low-birth-weight infants and their parents

We investigated the effects of a year-long home intervention with a sample of preterm infants randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a developmental intervention, a parent-infant intervention, and a no-treatment control group. A full-term no-treatment control was also used. Both intervention approaches focused on the parent-child unit, providing training for parents to improve observational skills, emotional support, and information about community resources. However, whereas specific tasks to facilitate the child's development were provided in the developmental intervention group, the quality of the parent-infant interaction was the target for treatment in the other group. All infants were assessed at 4, 8, 12, and 16 months of age corrected for prematurity. The results suggest that although both intervention approaches were effective in modifying some aspects of the home environment and, to a lesser degree, in improving infants' cognitive development, the parent-infant interaction approach seemed to have the greater impact. These findings confirm previous observations regarding the cognitive development of preterm and full-term infants during the first 18 months of life and demonstrate changes in behavior and behavior styles in both pre- and full-term infants as they become older.     

Women's Studies in England: Mature women students and their educational vision

In this article the author takes the vantage points of a group of mature women's studies students at the University of East London to explore the meanings they gave to their education. What kinds of knowledge did they discover and appropriate; what kinds did they resist? How do their stories illuminate the ongoing workings of the academy today? Their perspectives reveal a series of dichotomies taken for granted throughout the university: dichotomies such as those of experience versus theory, research versus teaching, and general and 'objective' versus 'subjective' and particular knowledges. Rather than being inherent in the process of acquiring advanced knowledge about the world, such binaries are structurally embedded in the current organization and practices of higher education. They are socially constructed ideological devices to keep some subjects, students and teaching faculty continually 'at the margins', leaving the dominant disciplines, their practices, and their practitioners, fundamentally intact. This article explores these contradictions.     

A randomized controlled trial of a home-visiting intervention aimed at preventing relationship problems in depressed mothers and their infants

This study examined the effect of a mother–baby intervention on the quality of mother–child interaction, infant–mother attachment security, and infant socioemotional functioning in a group of depressed mothers with infants aged 1–12 months. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group ( n = 35) receiving the intervention (8–10 home visits) with a control group ( n = 36) receiving parenting support by telephone. There were assessments pre, post, and follow-up after 6 months. The intervention had positive effects on the quality of mother–infant interaction. Infants in the experimental group had higher scores for attachment security and for one aspect of socioemotional functioning, namely, competence. The intervention proved successful in preventing deterioration of the quality of mother–child interaction.     

Preschoolers at risk: Social,emotional and cognitive considerations

This report examines the IQs of 75 preschool children perceived to be “at risk” by parents, nursery school teachers, and diagnostic nursery staff. Full Scale, verbal and Performance IQs of the WPPSI were correlated with: (a) assessment of problem area (b) socioeconomic and familial variables (c) gross assessments of speech and motor development and (d) attendance, participation and improvement in a special preschool program. Significant correlations were obtained between IQ and: (a) socioeconomic and familial variables, and (b) perceived improvement. The findings emphasize that social, emotional and cognitive factors are interrelated components in the child's global development.     

Children at risk for learning disorders: multiple perspectives

This study examined the contribution of a multidimensional model of risk factors in explaining adaptive functioning among 5- to 6.5-year-old kindergartners with mild developmental delays who were considered at risk for developing learning disorders. Risk factors included (a) child characteristics, (b) maternal and familial ecological variables, and (c) the child's attachment style as perceived by the mother. The sample included 145 Israeli mother-child dyads: 70 mothers and their children at risk for developing learning disorders (51 boys, 19 girls) and 75 mothers and their typically developing children (46 boys, 29 girls) from the same general education kindergartens. Data were collected from children's self-reports, mothers' narratives, and teachers' ratings. Path analysis examined the multidimensional risk model for the two groups. The study indicated a high fit between the theoretical model and the empirical findings and showed a different pattern of relations between the model's components for the two populations studied.     

Representational Tools in Computer-Supported Collaborative Argumentation-Based Learning: How Dyads Work With Constructed and Inspected Argumentative Diagrams

This article investigates the conditions under which diagrammatic representations support collaborative argumentation-based learning in a computer environment. Thirty dyads of 15- to 18-year-old students participated in a writing task consisting of 3 phases. Students prepared by constructing a representation (text or diagram) individually. Then they discussed the topic and wrote a text in dyads. They consolidated their knowledge by revising their individual representation. There were 3 conditions: Students could use either (a) the individual texts they wrote, (b) the individual diagrams they constructed, or (c) a diagram that was constructed for them based on the text they wrote. Results showed that students who constructed a diagram themselves explored the topic more than students in the other conditions. We also found differences in the way collaborating dyads used their representations. Dyads who engaged in deep discussion used their representations as a basis for knowledge construction. In contrast, dyads who engaged in only shallow discussion used their representations solely to copy information to their collaborative text. We conclude that diagrammatic representations can improve collaborative learning, but only when they are used in a co-constructive way.     

Families at risk of poor parenting: A descriptive study of sixty at risk families in a model prevention program

Sixty families assessed to be at risk of poor parenting were the subject of this study. These families were participants in a model multidisciplinary program designed for the secondary prevention of poor parenting and the extremes of child abuse and neglect. The model program consists of special medical, psychological, social and developmental services to families on an inpatient, outpatient, and in-home basis. Demographic information on these 60 families was tabulated. Each family was given a monthly rating on a simple measure of family function. Ratings over lime were observed, and families were characterized in terms of a family rating vector (up. up-plateau, plateau, fluctuating, and down). Families were also described in terms of the constellation of problems brought to the therapy situation. Problem lists for each family were subjected to factor analysis. Five factor constructs which made clinical sense emerged from the analysis. Each factor could be labeled as a “family type.” These types were: (I) Abusive Family. (II) Neglectful or Antisocial Family. (III) Family with an Emotionally Unstable Parent, (IV) Family with Cultural or intellectual Limitation, and (V) Family with Child-Rearing Difficulties. Approximately 20% of these families did not fit the typology. Families were then divided into two groups—those who were relatively long-term, ongoing recipients of services, and those who left the program in the observation interval. Families were categorized according to family function rating vector and “family type.” It was noted among long-term families, measured improvement in family function was most evident in families with transient situational crisis (who did not fit the typology) and those with intellectual and cultural deficits (Type IV). Among the families who dropped from the program. 15% were no longer at risk. Sixty-three percent of the remaining families were not improving. These techniques may be useful in determining which at risk families are more successful candidates for prevention efforts.