The effects of maternal depression and parental conflict on children's peer play

Background Little is known about the relative effects of exposure to postnatal depression and parental conflict on the social functioning of school-aged children. This is, in part, because of a lack of specificity in the measurement of child and parental behaviour and a reliance on children's reports of their hypothetical responses to conflict in play. Methods In the course of a prospective longitudinal study of children of postnatally depressed and well women, 5-year-old children were videotaped at home with a friend in a naturalistic dressing-up play setting. As well as examining possible associations between the occurrence of postnatal depression and the quality of the children's interactions, we investigated the influence of parental conflict and co-operation, and the continuity of maternal depression. The quality of the current mother-child relationship was considered as a possible mediating factor. Results Exposure to postnatal depression was associated with increased likelihood, among boys, of displaying physical aggression in play with their friend. However, parental conflict mediated the effects of postnatal depression on active aggression during play, and was also associated with displays of autonomy and intense conflict. While there were no gender effects in terms of the degree or intensity of aggressive behaviours, girls were more likely to express aggression verbally using denigration and gloating whereas boys were more likely to display physical aggression via interpersonal and object struggles. Conclusions The study provided evidence for the specificity of effects, with strong links between parental and child peer conflict. These effects appear to arise from direct exposure to parental conflict, rather than indirectly, through mother-child interactions.

Transitional justice in Nepal: the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Act 2014

The Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Act 2014 is Nepal’s latest attempt to establish a transitional programme to respond to conflict era abuses. In part, the Act remedies the inadequacies of the 2013 Ordinance. It creates two commissions, on truth and reconciliation and enforced disappearances, makes provision for the establishment of a Special Court to try past abuses and incorporates systems to enable vulnerable witnesses to participate in truth seeking. Yet in a number of respects it continues to fall short of international legal standards, not least in the possibility of amnesty for international crimes and gross violations of human rights. In addition, the relationship between the three mechanisms – truth seeking, amnesty and prosecution – remains unclear and safeguards for individual rights are lacking. This paper explores these recent developments, highlighting issues that must be remedied if transitional justice objectives are to be achieved in Nepal.

The impact of cognitive control on children's goal monitoring in a time-based prospective memory task

The present study investigated whether developmental changes in cognitive control may underlie improvements of time-based prospective memory. Five-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds (N = 166) completed a driving simulation task (ongoing task) in which they had to refuel their vehicle at specific points in time (PM task). The availability of cognitive control resources was experimentally manipulated by imposing a secondary task that required divided attention. Children completed the driving simulation task both in a full attention condition and a divided attention condition where they had to carry out a secondary task. Results revealed that older children performed better than younger children on the ongoing task and PM task. Children performed worse on the ongoing and PM tasks in the divided attention condition compared to the full attention condition. With respect to time monitoring in the final interval prior to the PM target, divided attention interacted with age such that older children’s time monitoring was more negatively affected by the secondary task compared to younger children. Results are discussed in terms of developmental shifts from reactive to proactive monitoring strategies.