Early Indications of Resilience and Their Relation to Experiences in the Home Environments of Low Birthweight, Premature Children Living in Poverty

The caregiving environment experienced by 243 premature, low birthweight (LBW) children living in poverty was examined to determine whether the quality of care such children receive affords them some measure of protection from the generally deleterious consequences of poverty and prematurity. Only 26 children were identified as functioning in the normal range for cognitive, social/adaptive, health, and growth parameters at age 3. These children, who showed early signs of resiliency, differed from nonresilient children in that they were receiving more responsive, accepting, stimulating, and organized care. They were also living in safer, less crowded homes. 6 "protective" aspects of caregiving were identified and used as part of a cumulative protection index. Children with less than 3 protective aspects of caregiving present at age 1 had only a 2% probability of being resilient, and only a 6% probability if fewer than 3 were present at age 3. Overall, premature LBW children born into conditions of poverty have a very poor prognosis of functioning within normal ranges across all the dimensions of health and development assessed. However, those raised in a setting with 3 or more protective factors were more likely to show early signs of resiliency.     

Self-reported neglect,amygdala volume,and symptoms of anxiety in adolescent boys

Experiences of psychosocial neglect affect the developing brain and may place individuals at increased risk for anxiety. The majority of research in this area has focused on children who have experienced severe psychosocial deprivation; it is not clear whether typical variation in neglect experienced in community samples would have the same neurobiological consequences as those documented in extreme samples. The present study examined the associations among self-reported childhood neglect, amygdala volume, and anxiety symptoms in a community sample of 138 adolescents ages 9–15 years (43% male). Linear mixed modeling yielded a three-way interaction of neglect, sex, and brain hemisphere, reflecting a significant positive association between neglect and right amygdala volume in boys. Additional analyses indicated that right amygdala volume significantly mediated the association between neglect and anxiety symptoms in boys. These findings are consistent with previous reports of larger amygdala volumes in previously institutionalized children, and with documented associations between caregiving deprivation and anxiety symptoms. The results suggest that the effects of childhood neglect on limbic structures are sex-specific and lateralized, and provide support for a neural mechanism relating childhood neglect to later difficulties in emotional functioning.     

Child care effects on the development of toddlers with special needs

Among children with significant developmental delays or with biomedical risk factors for developing delays, those who were in nonmaternal child care (n=80) did not differ from children staying at home with their mothers (n=73) on mental, motor, or adaptive functioning; behavior problems; or attachment security at 30 months of age. An ecological model then was used to predict outcomes for children who had been observed in child care. After accounting for selection effects, child characteristics at 12 months of age, and quality of home caregiving, none of the child-care variables (age of entry, hours, quality) predicted mental or motor development or attachment security among children in nonmaternal care. Older age of entry into child care predicted greater behavioral organization during testing. Higher observed quality of caregiving in child care predicted better adaptive behavior. Additionally, quality of home caregiving predicted mental development, behavioral organization, and secure attachment to mother.     

Do regulable features of child-care homes affect children’s development?

Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were used to assess whether regulable features of child-care homes affect children’s development. Child-care homes selected were those in which there were at least two children and the care provider received payment for child care (ns=164 when the study children were 15 months old, 172 at 24 months, and 146 at 36 months). Caregivers who were better educated and had received more recent and higher levels of training provided richer learning environments and warmer and more sensitive caregiving. Caregivers who had more child-centered beliefs about how to handle children also provided higher quality caregiving and more stimulating homes. In addition, when settings were in compliance with recommended age-weighted group size cut-offs, caregivers provided more positive caregiving. Quality of care was not related to caregivers’ age, experience, professionalism, or mental health, or to the number of children enrolled in the child-care home or whether the caregivers’ children were present. Children with more educated and trained caregivers performed better on tests of cognitive and language development. Children who received higher quality care, in homes that were more stimulating, with caregivers who were more attentive, responsive, and emotionally supportive, did better on tests of language and cognitive development and also were rated as being more cooperative. These findings make a case for regulating caregivers’ education and training and for requiring that child-care homes not exceed the recommended age-weighted group size.     

Relations Between Parenting Quality and Cognitive Performance of Children Experiencing Varying Amounts of Childcare

Associations between parenting quality and 3-year-olds' school readiness, receptive, and expressive language were examined in relation to the amount of time they spent in childcare, based on data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( N = 1,364). Associations for school readiness and receptive language were stronger among children who experienced medium amounts of childcare than among children who experienced high amounts of childcare, and they were not weaker than among children who experienced primarily maternal care. Contrary to expectations, the association between parenting quality and school readiness among children who experienced medium amounts of childcare was significantly stronger than among children who experienced predominantly maternal care.     

Infants’ Social Experiences in Three African Sociocultural Contexts

This study introduces a peri‐urban context of poverty to the study of child development in Africa in contrast to the more typical assessments in middle‐class and rural contexts. Spot observations were used to assess universal caregiving behaviors toward seventy‐six 3‐month‐old infants. Results show that middle‐class infants experienced distal parenting behaviors instantiated by mothers, whereas rural children experienced proximal parenting practices in interactions with others. Infants growing up in poverty had mothers and other caretakers involved at mostly low levels. They experienced low levels of body contact, body stimulation, and object stimulation, and high levels of face‐to‐face positions. The study indicates that caregiving in the context of poverty does not necessarily follow familiar pathways and needs to be contextualized accordingly.     

Predictors and correlates of anger toward and punitive control of toddlers by adolescent mothers

In this study, the impact of rejection/acceptance experienced during the adolescent mother's childhood, social support received after the baby's birth, and infant irritability on angry, punitive maternal behavior are tested, and possible links between such maternal behavior and indices of child anger and noncompliance, low confidence, and social withdrawal are investigated. 40 mothers who gave birth as adolescents and their 2-year-old children participated in the study. When mothers experienced both rejection during childhood and little support from a partner after birth, they were likely to exhibit angry and punitive parenting. Infant irritability did not predict maternal behavior. Angry and punitive mothers had children who were angry and noncompliant and who distanced themselves from their mothers. Taken as a main effect, infant irritability was unrelated to later child behavior. However, the association between maternal behavior and 2 aspects of child behavior was stronger for children as irritable at 3 months postpartum: when irritable infants had angry and punitive mothers they were more likely to be angry and noncompliant and to exhibit less confidence than less irritable infants who experienced the same pattern of parenting.     

Continuity of Care,Caregiver–Child Interactions,and Toddler Social Competence and Problem Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Continuity of care is a recommended practice in child care intended to promote secure and supportive relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers. Toddlers (N = 115) between 12 and 24 months were observed in 30 continuity and 29 noncontinuity classrooms. The average duration of care for toddlers with caregivers was 14 months in the continuity rooms and 5 months in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers observed in continuity rooms experienced higher levels of interactive involvement with their caregivers and were rated by their caregivers as having fewer problem behaviors compared with the toddlers in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers in rooms with higher staff–child ratios also experienced more involved caregiving. We did not find evidence that the level of involved caregiving mediated the association between continuity of care and toddlers’ social competence or problem behaviors. Practice or Policy: Continuity of care may be a promising practice for programs that strive to provide high-quality care for infants and toddlers.     

Relational trauma in the context of intimate partner violence

The relational model of trauma (Scheeringa & Zeanah, 2001) proposes that infants’ trauma symptoms may be influenced by their mothers' trauma symptoms and disruptions in caregiving behavior, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are less well understood. In this research, we examined the direct and indirect effects of a traumatic event (maternal intimate partner violence [IPV]), maternal trauma symptoms, and impaired (harsh and neglectful) parenting on infant trauma symptoms in a sample of mother–infant dyads (N = 182) using structural equation modeling. Mothers completed questionnaires on IPV experienced during pregnancy and the child's first year of life, their past-month trauma symptoms, their child's past-month trauma symptoms, and their parenting behaviors. Results indicated that the effects of prenatal IPV on infant trauma symptoms were partially mediated by maternal trauma symptoms, and the relationship between maternal and infant trauma symptoms was fully mediated by neglectful parenting. Postnatal IPV did not affect maternal or infant trauma symptoms. Findings support the application of the relational model to IPV-exposed mother–infant dyads, with regard to IPV experienced during pregnancy, and help identify potential foci of intervention for professionals working with mothers and children.     

Psychosocial Adjustment among Children Experiencing Persistent and Intermittent Family Economic Hardship

Much research on family economic hardship and its effects on children has been cross-sectional in nature, has focused primarily on white children, and has assessed the impact of episodic rather than chronic economic difficulties. In contrast, the present research was designed to study outcomes associated with persistent economic hardship among a heterogeneous group of children over time. Results showed that, for both black and white children, a broad range of difficulties was associated with enduring economic hardship. Children who experienced persistent family economic hardship were more likely than those who did not to have difficulties in peer relations, show conduct problems at school, and report low self-esteem. Children who experienced intermittent family economic hardship fell between the other 2 groups. Connections between persistent economic hardship and psychosocial adjustment were more pronounced for boys than for girls. Consistent with suggestions by a number of investigators, the impact of economic hardship on children in the present sample was mediated in part by its association with parental behavior.     

Children and youth in foster care: distangling the relationship between problem behaviors and number of placements

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to provide a prospective look at the relationship between change in placement and problem behaviors over a 12-month period among a cohort of foster children. METHOD: The sample contained 415 youth, and was part of a larger cohort of children who entered foster care in San Diego, California and remained in placement for at least 5 months. The Child Behavior Check List was used to assess behavior problems. Every change of placement during the first 18 months after entry into the foster care system was abstracted from case records. RESULTS: The results suggest that volatile placement histories contribute negatively to both internalizing and externalizing behavior of foster children, and that children who experience numerous changes in placement may be at particularly high risk for these deleterious effects. Initial externalizing behaviors proved to be the strongest predictor of placement changes for the entire sample and for a sub-sample of those who initially evidenced problem behaviors on at least one broad-band CBCL scale. Our findings also suggest that children who initially score within normal ranges on the CBCL may be particularly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of placement breakdowns. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these findings we argue for an analytical approach that views behavior problems as both a cause and as a consequence of placement disruption. Children who do not evidence behavior problems may in fact constitute a neglected population that responds to multiple disruptions of their primary relationships with increasingly self-defeating behaviors.     

Intergenerational transmission of abuse: a two-generational prospective study of an at-risk sample.

OBJECTIVE: A model was examined in which the association between a parent's history of abuse and the parent's own abusive behavior toward his or her children was hypothesized to be mediated by parental psychopathology, early childbearing, and consistency of discipline. Additionally, the effect of severity of abuse on the likelihood of becoming abusive was examined. METHOD: Participants were 109 parents (G1) and their male children (G2) who were involved in a longitudinal study. The G1 parents reported on their own experiences of abuse when they were children. Ten years later, the G2 youths reported on the G1 parents' abusive behavior toward them. A number of other factors, including parental socioeconomic status (SES), antisocial behavior, depression and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), consistency of discipline, and the perceived early difficulty of the G2 children were measured. RESULTS: As reported by their own children, parents who reported having been abused in childhood were significantly more likely to engage in abusive behaviors toward the next generation. Findings indicated that abuse experienced by the parents, as well as consistency of discipline and depression plus PTSD, were predictive of parental abuse of the child. Contrary to hypotheses, the effects were not fully mediated. However, there were significant interactions between parental history of abuse and consistency of discipline, as well as abuse history and depression and PTSD. Parents who had experienced multiple acts of abuse and at least one physical impact were more likely to become abusive than were the other parents. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of these findings for preventive interventions are discussed.     

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on caregiver mental health and the child caregiving environment in a low-resource,rural context

Early child development has been influenced directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and these effects are exacerbated in contexts of poverty. This study estimates effects of the pandemic and subsequent population lockdowns on mental health, caregiving practices, and freedom of movement among female caregivers of children 6–27 months (50% female), in rural Bangladesh. A cohort (N = 517) was assessed before and during the pandemic (May–June, 2019 and July–September, 2020). Caregivers who experienced more food insecurity and financial loss during the pandemic reported larger increases in depressive symptoms (0.26 SD, 95% CI 0.08–0.44; 0.21 SD, 0.04–0.40) compared to less affected caregivers. Stimulating caregiving and freedom of movement results were inconsistent. Increases in depressive symptoms during the pandemic may have consequences for child development.     

Children's recall of medical experiences: the impact of stress

OBJECTIVE: The study compared children's reports of two medical events, to assess the effects of the type of event on children's recall. Additionally, the study examined the effect of props on children's event reports. METHOD: Twenty children between the ages of 37 and 67 months were interviewed following either a voiding cysto-urethrogram (VCUG) or a pediatric assessment (PA) at a hospital. Interviews were conducted between 6 and 8 days after the event and included a doll and prop items. RESULTS: Ratings of stress were significantly higher for children who underwent the VCUG than those who underwent the PA. Children who experienced the VCUG procedure reported more correct information than the children who experienced the PA. Age was correlated with the total amount of correct information reported. Stress levels were correlated with both errors and accuracy of information. CONCLUSIONS: Children who experienced a stressful medical procedure remembered more than children who experienced a neutral medical event, although this increase in amount recalled was at the expense of accuracy. These findings suggest that stress impacts negatively on recall: however, the unique and structured nature of the VCUG procedure compared to the PA, and the familiarity of the PA prop items to the children who experienced the VCUG procedure, may also have contributed to differences in recall of the two events.     

Post traumatic stress disorder reactions in children of war: a longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE: To establish rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reactions and general mental health problems in children who had experienced war trauma. METHOD: A longitudinal study in the Gaza strip with 234 children aged 7 to 12 years, who had experienced war conflict, at 1 year after the initial assessment, that is, during the peace process. Children completed the Child Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI), while the Rutter A2 and B2 Scales were completed by parents and teachers. RESULTS: The rate of children who reported moderate to severe PTSD reactions at follow-up had decreased from 40.6% (N = 102) to 10.0% (N = 74). 49 children (20.9%) were rated above the cut-off for mental health problems on the Rutter A2 (parent) Scales, and 74 children (31.8%) were above the cut-off on the Rutter B2 (teacher) Scales. The total scores on all three measures had significantly decreased during the 1-year period. The total CPTS-RI score at follow-up was best predicted by the number of traumatic experiences recalled at the first assessment. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD reactions tend to decrease in the absence of further stressors, although a substantial proportion of children still present with a range of emotional and behavioral problems. Cumulative previous experience of war trauma constitutes a risk factor for continuing PTSD symptoms.     

Age-specific risk factors associated with placement instability among foster children

Placement instability places foster children at an increased risk of negative developmental outcomes. Previous research has yielded inconsistent results on risk factors for placement instability. Therefore, we investigated two research questions: (1) Which child attributes and case histories are associated with placement disruptions (moves indicative of child, agency or caregiver dissatisfaction with the existing placement)?; and (2) How do associations of child attributes and case histories with placement disruptions vary by developmental stage --early childhood (0–5 years), middle childhood (6–12 years), and adolescence (13 years or older)? Using a complete entry cohort of 23,765 foster children in Texas, our results demonstrated that the effects of different risk factors varied by placement end reason and across developmental stages. Of note, kinship placement, compared to non-relative foster care, and placement with all siblings were each associated with an increased risk of substandard care disruptions. Placements with females or Hispanic children were at an increased risk of child-initiated disruption, whereas placements with Black children were more likely to end due to placement mismatch or substandard care reasons. Finally, the adolescence age group was always associated with the greatest increase in risk regardless of disruption reason. These findings provide researchers, caseworkers, and policymakers important information on the risk factors for placement instability among children in foster care.     

Caregivers' Interactions With Nonhandicapped and Mainstreamed Handicapped Children in Caregiving and Instructional Activities

Head Start caregivers' positive-neutral and negative interactions with nonhandicapped and mainstreamed handicapped children were observed while they were engaged in activities categorized as caregiving and instructional. ANOVAS with repeated measures indicated that caregivers had higher interaction rates, both positive-neutral and negative, with handicapped than with nonhandicapped children. The higher positive-neutral interaction rate occurred in both instructional and caregiving situations. The higher negative interaction rate occurred only in caregiving situations. Correlations indicated that caregivers' patterns of interaction were different with the handicapped and the nonhandicapped children and that the type of activity influenced the pattern of interactions. Significant correlations between negative interaction rates with handicapped and nonhandicapped children and between negative interaction rates with all children in instructional and caregiving situations suggested that negative interaction generalizes across activities and types of children.     

Caregivers' Interactions With Nonhandicapped and Mainstreamed Handicapped Children in Caregiving and Instructional Activities

Head Start caregivers' positive-neutral and negative interactions with nonhandicapped and mainstreamed handicapped children were observed while they were engaged in activities categorized as caregiving and instructional. ANOVAS with repeated measures indicated that caregivers had higher interaction rates, both positive-neutral and negative, with handicapped than with nonhandicapped children. The higher positive-neutral interaction rate occurred in both instructional and caregiving situations. The higher negative interaction rate occurred only in caregiving situations. Correlations indicated that caregivers' patterns of interaction were different with the handicapped and the nonhandicapped children and that the type of activity influenced the pattern of interactions. Significant correlations between negative interaction rates with handicapped and nonhandicapped children and between negative interaction rates with all children in instructional and caregiving situations suggested that negative interaction generalizes across activities and types of children.     

Inequality from the first day of school: The role of teachers' academic intensity and sense of responsibility in moderating the learning growth gap

The author used the concepts of academic intensity and sense of responsibility to examine whether children with low school readiness may be moderated by the amount of exposure to learning activities and the attitudes that teachers hold toward these children. Analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort revealed that children who experienced high levels of teachers' academic intensity and sense of responsibility displayed greater achievement growth than did their peers who did not receive this support. Furthermore, teachers' sense of responsibility moderated the association between school readiness and mathematics learning growth over the course of elementary school years, which contributed in reducing the learning growth gap engendered given low school readiness. Based on these findings the present study suggests a need for continuous support during the schooling years, as well as before the start of school, to compensate for a lower skill level at school entry.     

Verbal aggression by parents and psychosocial problems of children

Analyses of data on a nationally representative sample of 3,346 American parents with a child under 18 living at home found that 63% reported one or more instances of verbal aggression, such as swearing and insulting the child. Children who experienced frequent verbal aggression from parents (as measured by the Conflict Tactic Scales) exhibited higher rates of physical aggression, delinquency, and interpersonal problems than other children. This relationship is robust since it applies to preschool-, elementary school-, and high school-age children, to both boys and girls, and to children who were also physically punished as well as those who were not. Children who experienced both verbal aggression and severe physical violence exhibited the highest rates of aggression, delinquency, and interpersonal problems.