Infants' attentional responses to frequency modulated sweeps

In 3 experiments, the attentional responses of 4-month-old infants to frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps corresponding to the frequency range of adult-to-infant and adult-to-adult intonation patterns were assessed. In Experiment 1, infants were observed to discriminate "exaggerated" (i.e., adult-to-infant) FM sweeps from "normal" (i.e., adult-to-adult) FM sweeps in a habituation-dishabituation paradigm but did not selectively attend to one over the other. In Experiment 2, where the same stimuli were used in a paired-comparison paradigm, again no differential attention was observed. In Experiment 3, the most exaggerated sweep was paired against a continuous, monotonic pure tone, but again no difference in salience was observed. These data suggest that the extent of modulation or intonation of an auditory stimulus per se does not constitute a salient cue for infants' attention to sound.     

Children's reasoning about disclosing adult transgressions: effects of maltreatment, child age, and adult identity

A total of two hundred ninety-nine 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and nonmaltreated children of comparable socioeconomic status and ethnicity judged whether children should or would disclose unspecified transgressions of adults (instigators) to other adults (recipients) in scenarios varying the identity of the instigator (stranger or parent), the identity of the recipient (parent, police, or teacher), and the severity of the transgression ("something really bad" or "something just a little bad"). Children endorsed more disclosure against stranger than parent instigators and less disclosure to teacher than parent and police recipients. The youngest maltreated children endorsed less disclosure than nonmaltreated children, but the opposite was true among the oldest children. Older maltreated children distinguished less than nonmaltreated children between parents and other types of instigators and recipients.     

Alternative responses to child protective services: emerging issues and concerns

PROBLEM: Increased calls to "do something" about child protective services (CPS) have resulted in proposals or new "paradigms" for services to at-risk or abusive families. These new paradigms call for the reform or revamping of CPS through the development of a community-based alternative response to some reports of child abuse and/or neglect. METHOD: This article reports on outcomes for 1,263 "low" risk CPS referrals diverted to a community-based alternative response system. Data on child, family, and case characteristics and services provided are presented as well as outcomes associated with re-referral and placement post service provision. RESULTS: The risk level and severity of some of the referrals to alternative response systems seems inappropriately high. The rates of re-referral were similar for families who did or did not engage in assessment services, and were highest for families where domestic violence was present. CONCLUSIONS: Criteria for diversion to community alternatives to CPS must be clearly articulated and applied. Both CPS and alternative response system workers must have the skills required to address a family's recognition of the problem and degree of motivation to engage in problem resolution, and to understand their relationship to continued risk of CA/N.     

Parental responses to extrafamilial child sexual assault

Parents of a child who has been assaulted by someone external to the family are faced with the difficult task of dealing with their own reactions to the assault while attending to the needs of their children. Common emotional responses that parents express often fall into the following areas: guilt regarding failure as a parent; ambivalent feelings toward the child; ambivalent feelings toward the offender; and concerns about the investigatory and judicial processes. Clinical interventions with families which focus on support and education are suggested. In addition, systems changes, which demystify the court process and support victims, are recommended.     

Infants' affective responses in the strange situation: effects of prematurity and of quality of attachment

20 full-term and 20 preterm infants and their mothers were videotaped in the Strange Situation, and the security of their attachment relationships was later determined. Each episode was subsequently divided into consecutive 15-sec intervals, during each of which ratings of facial expressions were performed. From these ratings several summary dimensions of affect were derived (e.g., affective peak and range during all episodes, latency and rise time for onset of distress during separation episodes, and recovery time during reunions). Term and preterm infants did not differ from one another in either the security of attachment or their affective expression and regulation. When groups were combined, patterns of affective expression were significantly different for infants classified as insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent, and securely attached, as well as for group B1 + B2 infants compared to group B3 + B4 babies. The findings indicated that attachment-related affect may reflect an affect continuum that underlies certain mother- and stranger-directed behaviors in the Strange Situation, but that not all aspects of reunion behavior can be predicted by prior separation reactions.     

Physiological responses to non-child-related stressors in mothers at risk for child abuse.

Physical child abusers and adults at risk for child abuse, relative to comparison subjects, are reported to be more physiologically reactive to child-related stressors. It is not known if the reported physiological reactivity is child specific or if physical child abusers and at-risk parents are also more reactive to other types of stressful stimuli. The present study investigated changes in heart rate and skin conductance in response to four types of non-child-related stressors in at-risk and matched low-risk mothers. The four types of stressful stimuli were: a cold pressor; a stressful film depicting industrial accidents; unsolvable anagrams; and an aversive car horn. At-risk mothers, relative to low-risk mothers, had greater and more prolonged sympathetic activation during presentations of the cold pressor and the stressful film, the stimuli rated as the most stressful. The present data, combined with previous findings, support the view that generalized sympathetic activation to both child and non-child-related stressors may serve as a mediator of physical child abuse.     

Talking to talkers: Infants' talk status,but not their gender,is related to language input

Prior research points to gender differences in some early language skills, but is inconclusive about the mechanisms at play, providing evidence that both infants' early input and productions may differ by gender. This study examined the linguistic input and early productions of 44 American English-learning infants (93% White) in a longitudinal sample of home recordings collected at 6–17 months (in 2014–2016). Girls produced more unique words than boys (Cohen's d = .67) and this effect grew with age, but there were no significant gender differences in language input (d = .22–.24). Instead, caregivers talked more to infants who had begun to talk (d = .93–.97), regardless of gender. Therefore, prior results highlighting gender-based input differences may have been due, at least partly, to this talking-to-talkers effect.     

Making sense of children's sexual behavior in child care: An analysis of adult responses in special investigation reports

This paper investigates how adults respond to sexual behavior among children in child care. Culturally, childhood sexuality is variously understood as natural curiosity, a sign of sexual abuse, or a symptom of a sex-offender in the making. Given these competing cultural meanings, how are sexual-like behaviors by children managed by the adults who care for them? An analysis of qualitative data from Special Investigation Reports by childcare licensing consultants in the state of Michigan is used to examine how parents, child care providers, and child care licensing consultants manage and respond to sexual behavior between children in the context of child care. How sexual behavior is responded to depends primarily on who is doing the responding – parent, childcare provider, or state licensing consultant – rather than what type of behavior is being responded to. Parents respond to a wide range of behaviors between children as if they are incidents of sexual abuse. Childcare providers respond to many of those same incidents as misbehavior. Licensing consultants understand these incidents as violation of rules of supervision, but they were also the only group to ever ask if children's sexual behavior was potentially a sign of a child having been sexually abused in another setting. Providers and parents need more education about what kinds of sexual behavior to be concerned about and what kind to understand as common. More education that sexuality that is “rare” and persistent could be a sign of sexual abuse is needed by all parties.     

Infants' Responses to Frustrating Situations: Continuity and Change in Reactivity and Regulation

We examined continuity, stability, and change in behaviors reflecting infant reactivity and regulation. Healthy infants were observed in laboratory situations designed to elicit frustration when they were 5 ( N = 87) and 10 months of age ( N = 82) Behaviors indicative of reactivity included objective ratings of average intensity cry, peak intensity cry, and latency to cry. In addition, durations of orienting, avoidant, and nonnegative communicative behaviors were assessed as measures of regulation at each age. Results showed that several behaviors changed in level over time. In addition, Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed both structural continuity and discontinuity: Behaviors were organized into 2 similar factors at 5 and 10 months (Reactivity and Regulation), but the relation between reactivity and regulation became increasingly independent over time, such that reactivity and regulation were negatively correlated at 5 months but not at 10 months. Finally, model-fitting revealed cross-dimension but not within-dimension stability (5-month reactivity predicted 10-month regulation).     

Language,Mathematics and Educational Television in Infants' Schools

Educational Television language series are used extensively by infants' schools teachers, but there is insufficient evidence to suggest that they are incorporated into the curriculum or that their use abides by a school's language policy. A survey of over 400 teachers indicates that the teachers' criterion for usefulness seems to be the scope which a programme offers for follow‐up, particularly for discussion and phonic training in the teaching of reading. Similarly, there is little evidence of effective use of mathematics series; follow‐up and children's enjoyment of broadcasts seem to be the emphasis. Many teachers feel that it is difficult to present aspects of mathematics on television when children vary widely in their levels of mathematical development. Others teachers follow a mathematics scheme, in which television is irrelevant. The habit of whole classes of infants' school children watching language and mathematics broadcasts is not in keeping with primary school principles. Most infants' schoolteachers appear to use the programmes as a means of direct teaching to the class at the expense of children's real life experiences. Neither do the series in their present forms appear to be flexible enough to cater for the individuality of young children. Although these factors relate to educational television, they reveal a lack of flexibility in much infants' school practice, a charge which is not often levelled at infants' schools in this country.