Transition to parenthood after assisted reproductive treatment: Follow-up study of singleton pregnancies

Infertility treatments are relatively easily available in most Western countries today, but the psychological consequences of these high-tech treatments have scarcely been addressed. The purpose of this controlled longitudinal study was to explore the early environment of the infant born by assisted reproductive treatment (ART). We focused on the parents mental well-being, marital relations and experience of parenting. In addition to this, we assessed parent child interaction and parents mental representations of their child after long-standing infertility and several unsuccessful ART attempts. The subjects were infertile couples who achieved a singleton pregnancy by in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The control group comprised of spontaneously conceiving couples with singleton pregnancies. ART women showed fewer depressive symptoms than controls during pregnancy and after delivery, but the difference vanished by the end of the child s first year. ART men consistently had lower levels of anxiety symptoms, sleeping difficulties, and social dysfunction than control men. Control women experienced a decrease in dyadic consensus during the child s first year, which did not happen among ART women. After the child was born, ART men reported a higher level of sexual affection compared with control men. Psychic symptoms and stressful life events were differently related to marital relations in ART and control groups. The parenting experiences of ART mothers were in general at a higher level, compared with controls, and they changed in a positive direction during the child s first year. Fathering experiences were at the same level in both groups, and they changed positively in both groups by the end of the child s first year. The parenting experiences of ART mothers and fathers were more resilient to certain child-related stressors than those of control group. Both mothers and fathers with long-term infertility showed more sensitive behaviour with their child in toddler-age than in infancy. Correspondingly, children s cooperation increased. Mothers often mentioned a fear of miscarriage and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy. Descriptions of the infants were mainly rich, vivid and loaded with positive features. In conclusion, ART parents in general seem to adapt well to the transition to parenthood. Former infertility and ART do not seem to constitute a risk for parents mental health, marital relations or experience of parenting. Even longstanding infertility with several unsuccessful treatment attempts did not create a risk as regards parenting behaviour or parents mental representations of their child. In this group, however, women were found to have fear for losing the child and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy, which in some cases may indicate need for psychosocial support. Even though our results are encouraging, infertility and infertility treatments are generally considered as a stressful experience. It is a challenge for health authorities to recognize those couples who need professional help to overcome the distressing experiences of infertility and ART.

Can population-level variation in early childhood development be measured in a manner that supports service planning and intervention?

Background: The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a population-level measure of five developmental domains at school-entry age. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the potential of the EDI as an indicator of early development in Ireland. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 47 primary schools in 2011 using the EDI and a linked parental questionnaire. EDI (teacher completed) scores were calculated for 1,344 children in their first year of full-time education. Those scoring in the lowest 10% of the sample population in one or more domains were deemed to be 'developmentally vulnerable'. Scores were correlated with contextual data from the parental questionnaire and with indicators of area and school-level deprivation. Rasch analysis was used to determine the validity of the EDI. Results: Over one quarter (27.5%) of all children in the study were developmentally vulnerable. Individual characteristics associated with increased risk of vulnerability were being male; under 5 years old; and having English as a second language. Adjusted for these demographics, low birth weight, poor parent/child interaction and mother’s lower level of education showed the most significant odds ratios for developmental vulnerability. Vulnerability did not follow the area-level deprivation gradient as measured by a composite index of material deprivation. Children considered by the teacher to be in need of assessment also had lower scores, which were not significantly different from those of children with a clinical diagnosis of special needs. all domains showed at least reasonable fit to the Rasch model supporting the validity of the instrument. However, there was a need for further refinement of the instrument in the Irish context. Conclusion: This thesis provides a unique snapshot of early development in Ireland. The EDI and linked parental questionnaires are promising indicators of the extent, distribution and determinants of developmental vulnerability.

Nurturing Change: Lilly Martin Spencer's Images of Children

This dissertation is the first full-length study to concentrate on American genre painter Lilly Martin Spencer's images of children, which constituted nearly one half of her saleable production during the height of her artistic career from 1848 to 1869. At this time, many young parents received advice regarding child rearing through books and other publications, having moved away from their families of origin in search of employment. These literatures, which gained in popularity from the 1830s onward, focused on spiritual, emotional, and disciplinary matters. My study considers four major themes from the period's writing on child nurture that changed over time, including depravity and innocence, parent/child bonding, standards of behavior and moral rectitude, and children's influence on adults. It demonstrates how Spencer's paintings, prints, and drawings featuring children supported and challenged these evolving ideologies, helping to shed light not only on the artist's reception of child-rearing advice, but also on its possible impact on her middle-class audience, to whom she closely catered. In four chapters, I investigate Spencer's images of sleeping children as visual equivalents of contemporary consolation literature during a time of high infant and child mortality rates; her paintings of parent/child interaction as promoting separation from mothers and emotional bonding with fathers; her prints of mischievous children as both considering changing ideals about children's behavior and comforting Anglo-American citizens afraid of what they saw as threatening minority groups; and her pictures with Civil War and Reconstruction subject matter as contending with the popular concept of the moral utility of children. By framing my interpretations of Spencer's output around key issues in the period's dynamic child-nurture literature, I advance new comprehensive readings of many of her most well-known paintings, including Domestic Happiness, Fi, Fo, Fum!, and The Pic Nic or the Fourth of July. I also consider work often overlooked by other art historians, but which received acclaim in Spencer's own time, including the lithographs of children made after her designs, and the allegorical painting Truth Unveiling Falsehood. Significantly, I provide the first in-depth analysis of a newly rediscovered Reconstruction-era painting, The Home of the Red, White, and Blue.

The Growth, Learning and Development Study: Summary of Research, Findings and Recommendations.

The Growth, Learning and Development (GLAD) study aimed to examine how a broad range of factors influence child weight during the first year of life. Assessments were undertaken within a multidisciplinary team framework. The sample was drawn from the community and data collection was undertaken in the four Greater Belfast Trusts. Twohundred and thirty-four families took part, each receiving a total of five home visits during which physical growth, oral-motor skills and development were assessed. Psychosocial evaluation examined parent-child interaction, feeding and other parental and child characteristics using quantitative and observational techniques. This paper outlines the main findings and recommendations from the GLAD study.

Estudo exploratório dos comportamentos interativos mãe – filho(a) e pai – filho(a) aos 15 meses de vida.

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Intervenção Precoce

A construção de uma parentalidade confiante: influência do Modelo Touchpoints na relação educadorfamília

Dissertação apresentada na Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa, para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade Intervenção Precoce

O impacto do modelo touchpoints nas representações do educador

Dissertação apresentada na Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa, para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação Especialidade Intervenção Precoce

Será do género dos filhos ou dos pais? estudo sobre o efeito do género das crianças e dos pais na qualidade da interação, comunicação e atividade conjunta

Dissertação apresentada na Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação. Especialidade Intervenção Precoce

Caregiver's interpret infants' early gestures based on shared knowledge about referents

Gestures are the first forms of conventional communication that young children develop in order to intentionally convey a specific message. However, at first, infants rarely communicate successfully with their gestures, prompting caregivers to interpret them. Although the role of caregivers in early communication development has been examined, little is known about how caregivers attribute a specific communicative function to infants' gestures. In this study, we argue that caregivers rely on the knowledge about the referent that is shared with infants in order to interpret what communicative function infants wish to convey with their gestures. We videotaped interactions from six caregiver-infant dyads playing with toys when infants were 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 months old. We coded infants' gesture production and we determined whether caregivers interpreted those gestures as conveying a clear communicative function or not; we also coded whether infants used objects according to their conventions of use as a measure of shared knowledge about the referent. Results revealed an association between infants' increasing knowledge of object use and maternal interpretations of infants' gestures as conveying a clear communicative function. Our findings emphasize the importance of shared knowledge in shaping infants' emergent communicative skills.

Children's Vocabulary Development : The role of parental input, vocabulary composition and early communicative skills

The aim of this thesis is to examine the early vocabulary development of a sample of Swedish children in relation to parental input and early communicative skills. Three studies are situated in an overall description of early language development in children. The data analyzed in the thesis was collected within a larger project at Stockholm University (SPRINT- “Effects of enhanced parental input on young children’s vocabulary development and subsequent literacy development” [VR 2008-5094]). Data analysis was based on parental report via SECDI, the Swedish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, and audio recordings. One study examined parental verbal interaction characteristics in three groups of children with varying vocabulary size at 18 months. The stability of vocabulary development at 18 and 24 months was investigated in a larger study, with focus on children’s vocabulary composition and grammatical abilities. The third study examined interrelations among early gestures, receptive and productive vocabulary, and grammar measured with M3L, i.e. three longest utterances, from 12 to 30 months. Overall results of the thesis highlight the importance of early language development. Variability in different characteristics in parental input is associated with variability in child vocabulary size. Children with large early vocabularies exhibit the most stability in vocabulary composition and the earliest grammatical development. Children’s vocabulary composition may reflect individual stylistic variation. Use of early gestures is associated differentially with receptive and productive vocabulary. Results of the thesis have implications for parents, child- and healthcare personnel, as well as researchers and educational practitioners. The results underscore the importance of high quality in adult-child interaction, with rich input fine-tuned to children’s developmental levels and age, together with high awareness of early language development.

Validação do roteiro de entrevista de Habilidades Sociais Educativas Parentais (RE-HSE-P)

The study of the parental educative social skills is extremely important for promoting the development and learning of children within interactive situations. The objective of this study was to assess reliability and validity of the Parental Educative Social Skills Interview Script (RE-HSE-P). It was proceeded: a) the test-retest reliability assessment, with a sample of 41 participants assessed in two distinct moments, with an interval of two months and the Cronbach's alpha was calculated; b) 213 parents of preschoolers (n =114) and school age children (n = 98) evaluated their children,were assessed for the construct and discrimination validity studies, differentiated in groups: a) demand for psychological intervention x community children without problems and b) children with behavior problems x children without behavior problems. The results showed satisfactory values of internal consistency and validity; besides, the factorial analysis pointed a unifactorial structure called positive parent-child interaction

Preventive Intervention as Means of Clarifying Direction of Effects in Socialization: Anxious-Withdrawn Preschoolers Case

An indicated preventive intervention research program integrating attachment, attributional, and behaviorist perspectives was conducted to test the hypothesis that parent-child relationship disturbances directly effect the child's adjustment to the preschool. Anxious-withdrawn preschool children and their mothers were divided equally into treatment and control groups, and assessed on maternal self-report of parenting stress, behavioral ratings of mother-child interaction, and teacher ratings of the children in the preschool classroom. Results showed significant changes in the treatment group: mothers in the treatment group moderated their level of control to a more appropriate, less intrusive level, while children in the treatment group showed an increase in cooperation and enthusiasm during a problem solving task with mother. Teacher-rated social competence and anxious-withdrawn behavior indicated improvement, although only the former was significant. The demonstration of effects of this home intervention for the mother on the child's behavior in the preschool confirm the transactional model underlying this study and demonstrate the utility of a parent-child interaction training component for the prevention of behavioral-emotional problems in young children.

The development of an observation tool for use with parents with psychiatric disability and their preschool children

Community-based treatment and care of people with psychiatric disabilities has meant that they are now more likely to engage in the parenting role. This has led to the development of programs designed to enhance the parenting skills of people with psychiatric disabilities. Evaluation of these programs has been hampered by a paucity of evaluation tools. This study's aim was to develop and trial a tool that examined the parent-child interaction within a group setting, was functional and easy to use, required minimum training and equipment, and had acceptable levels of reliability and validity. The revised tool yielded a single scale with acceptable reliability. It had discriminative validity and concurrent validity with non-independent global ratings of parenting. Sensitivity to change was not investigated. The findings suggest that this method of evaluating parenting is likely to have both clinical and research utility and further investigation of the psychometric properties of the tool is warranted.

Evaluating the external validity of comorbid disorders in youth using rating scales and behavior observations

To evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of current categorical approaches to classify childhood psychopathological conditions, this dissertation examined whether children with a single diagnosis of an anxiety disorder (ANX only) and children with an anxiety diagnosis comorbid with other diagnoses (i.e., anxiety + anxiety disorder [ANX + ANX], anxiety + depressive disorder [ANX + DEP], and anxiety + disruptive disorder [ANX + EXT]) could be differentiated using external validation criteria of clinical phenomenology (i.e., levels of anxiety, depression, and internalizing, externalizing and total behavior problems). This study further examined whether the four groups could be differentiated in terms of their interaction patterns with their parents and peers, respectively. The sample consisted of 129 youth and their parents who presented to the Child Anxiety and Phobia Program (CAPP) housed within the Child and Family Psychosocial Research Center at Florida International University, Miami. Youth were between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. A battery of questionnaires was used to assess participants' clinical presentation in terms of levels of anxiety, depression, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Family and peer interaction were evaluated through rating scales and through behavior observation tasks. Statistics based on the parameter estimates of the structured equation models indicated that all the comorbid groups were significantly different from the pure anxiety disorder group when it came to depression indices of clinical phenomenology. Further, significant differences appeared mainly in terms of the ANX + DEP comorbid group relative to the other comorbid groups. In terms of Parent-child interaction the ANX + EXT and the ANX + DEP comorbid groups were differentiated from the pure anxiety disorder and ANX + ANX comorbid group when it came to the appraisal of the parent/child relationship by the parent, and the acceptance subscale according to the mother report. In terms of peer-child interaction the ANX + EXT and the ANX + DEP comorbid groups were statistically significantly different from the pure anxiety disorder only when it came to the positive interactions and the social skills as rated by mother. Limitations and future research recommendations are discussed.

An investigation of the effects of mothers' participation in adult literacy classes on interactive literacy activities (ILAs) at home

The National Center for Family Literacy (2003a) and the National Even Start Association (2005) have stated that the single most effective and influential factor in increasing student academic achievement is parental involvement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how participation in adult literacy courses influences parent-child interaction in various educationally related activities known as Interactive Literacy Activities (ILAs). This study investigated ILAs from the mothers? perspective, and examines the changes that occur in parental involvement or ILAs when immigrant parents of a limited educational background participate in an adult education program. The principal method of data collection was key informant interviews (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996). Other methods of data collection included observations of parent-child interactions and field observations. Data analysis methods included Memo-ing (Miles & Huberman, 1994), within case analysis and cross-case analysis. ^ Findings demonstrate that changes occurred in the parent-child relationship when mothers of a limited educational background participated in an adult literacy course. When participating in ILAs or English literacy activities related to second language acquisition (including reading and speaking for comprehension and pronunciation), the children of these mothers took on the role of the adult. Participation in literacy activities was often initiated by the child and the children were frequently concerned with their mother's literacy acquisition. Mothers reported that their children were more confident, worked harder on school related activities and were more open to communication. ^ It can be concluded from this study that, in the case of these immigrant families, a mother's participation in adult literacy classes is influential in the relationship between mother and child. These children participated in ILAs for the benefit of their mothers and initiated literacy activities more frequently. The children responded better to their parents during literacy activities because there was a positive change in the relationship between mother and child. The relationship between mother and child appeared to be strengthened by greater trust, a sense of pride and more communication. ^