Embodying and destabilising disability and childhood

Young people's bodies have been at the centre of much policy and media discourse of late, forming the focal point of moral panics about obesity, substance abuse, and anti-social behaviour, to name just a few. Political responses to these issues are often focused on finding 'pragmatic' solutions based on a normative understanding of child development. This book, instead, demonstrates the contested and differentiated nature of childhood and youth embodiment. It combines the critical analysis of imagined and disciplined youthful bodies with a focus on young people's lived and performed, embodied subjectivities. Contested Bodies of Childhood and Youth points towards ways of addressing the issues that affect young people's wellbeing without criminalising and stigmatising them. It presents cutting edge interdisciplinary research in an accessible style that seeks to bridge the divide between theory and practice in research.

The sociology of childhood as scientific communication - Observations from a social systems perspective

This article begins by identifying a close relationship between the image of children generated by several sociologists working within the new sociology of childhood perspective and the claims and ambitions of the proponents of children's autonomy rights. The image of the child as a competent, self-controlled human agent are then subjected to observation from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory. The new sociology of childhood's constructivist approach is compared and contrasted with Niklas Luhmann's theory of 'operational constructivism'. The article applies tenets of Luhmann's theory, to the emergence of the new childhood sociologist's image of the child as a competent, self-controlled social agent, to the epistemological status of this image and, in particular, to claims that it derives from scientific endeavour. The article proceeds to identify two theoretical developments within sociology - sociology of identity and social agency - which have brought about fundamental changes in what may be considered 'sociological' and so 'scientific' and paved the way for sociological communications about what children,really are'. In conclusion, it argues that the merging of sociology with polemics, ideology, opinion and personal beliefs and, at the level of social systems, between science and politics represents in Luhmann's terms 'dedifferentiation'- a tendency he claims may have serious adverse consequences for modern society. This warning is applied to the scientific status of sociology - its claim to be able to produce 'facts' for society, upon which social systems, such as politics and law, may rely. Like the mass media, sociology may now be capable of producing only information, and not facts, about children.

Understanding prebiotics in infant and childhood nutrition

Prebiotics and probiotics are ingredients in the diet that strengthen beneficial microbes in the gut, especially bifidobacteria. This article discusses their effects on health and their use in infant formula and foods for children and adults. They may also have benefits for the elderly population, since bifidobacteria are known to decrease with old age.

The aetiology and treatment of developmental stammering in childhood

Developmental stammering (DS, also known as idiopathic stammering or stuttering) is a disorder of speech fluency that affects approximately 0.75% to 1% of the populations of Great Britain, Australia and America,(1-4) although a recent study puts the point prevalence figure at between 1% and 3% in the UK.(5) Prevalence is generally thought to be similar amongst communities worldwide, although there have been occasional suggestions that this figure might be lower in countries where there is less pressure on verbal acuity.(6) DS may be distinguished from neurogenic stammering, which can occur subsequent to neurological damage of various aetiologies (for example, stroke, tumour, degenerative disease) and psychogenic stammering, whose onset can be related to a significant psychological event such as bereavement. While a diagnosis of neurogenic stammering might be made in early childhood and adolescence, both neurogenic and psychogenic types are typically associated with an adult onset. DS is by far the most common form of stammering and usually develops in the pre-school years. The mean age at onset is 4 2, with 75% of cases beginning before the age of 6.(1) However, occasionally, stammering onset may be seen as late as 12 or 13 years of age.

Childhood abuse and schizotypal personality

Introduction There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting an association between early adverse events and an increased prevalence of sub-clinical psychotic phenomena. These 'schizotypal' beliefs and experiences have been associated with a history of trauma, and are also recognised as a risk factor for the transition to psychosis. However, previous studies have not investigated the associations between specific types of adverse event and the distinct dimensions of such phenomena. Methods An internet questionnaire produced three groups of participants who had suffered discrete forms of childhood abuse. Results Individuals who had suffered physical or sexual abuse exhibited higher levels of paranoia/suspiciousness and unusual perceptual experiences, but not magical thinking. Individuals who had suffered emotional abuse did not show higher scores within any of these three measures of schizotypy. Conclusion The results suggest the need for further research to improve the specificity of the identification of individuals who may be at risk of a transition to psychosis.

Childhood emotional abuse and neglect as predictors of psychological and physical symptoms in women presenting to a primary care practice

Objective: There were two aims to this study: first to examine whether emotional abuse and neglect are significant predictors of psychological and somatic symptoms, and lifetime trauma exposure in women presenting to a primary care practice, and second to examine the strength of these relationships after controlling for the effects of other types of childhood abuse and trauma. Method: Two-hundred and five women completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 1994), Trauma History Questionnaire (Green, 1996), the Symptom Checklist-revised (Derogatis, 1997), and the Revised Civilian Mississippi Scale for posttraumatic stress disorder (Norris & Perilla, 1996) when presenting to their primary care physician for a visit. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine unique contributions of emotional abuse and neglect variables on symptom measures while controlling for childhood sexual and physical abuse and lifetime trauma exposure. Results: A history of emotional abuse and neglect was associated with increased anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress and physical symptoms, as well as lifetime trauma exposure. Physical and sexual abuse and lifetime trauma were also significant predictors of physical and psychological symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regressions demonstrated that emotional abuse and neglect predicted symptomatology in these women even when controlling for other types of abuse and lifetime trauma exposure. Conclusions: Long-standing behavioral consequences may arise as a result of childhood emotional abuse and neglect, specifically, poorer emotional and physical functioning, and vulnerability to further trauma exposure. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development of anxiety disorders in childhood: an integrative review

We present an integrative review of the development of child anxiety, drawing on a number of strands of research. Family aggregation and genetic studies indicate raised vulnerability to anxiety in offspring of adults with the disorder (e.g. the temperamental style of behavioural inhibition, or information processing biases). Environmental factors are also important; these include adverse life events and exposure to negative information or modelling. Parents are likely to be key, although not unique, sources of such influences, particularly if they are anxious themselves. Some parenting behaviours associated with child anxiety, such as overprotection, may be elicited by child characteristics, especially in the context of parental anxiety, and these may serve to maintain child disorder. Emerging evidence emphasizes the importance of taking the nature of child and parental anxiety into account, of constructing assessments and interventions that are both disorder specific, and of considering bidirectional influences.

Freeze-frame: a new infant inhibition task and its relation to frontal cortex tasks during infancy and early childhood

The current study investigated a new, easily administered, visual inhibition task for infants termed the Freeze-Frame task. In the new task, 9-month-olds were encouraged to inhibit looks to peripheral distractors. This was done by briefly freezing a central animated stimulus when infants looked to the distractors. Half of the trials presented an engaging central stimulus, and the other half presented a repetitive central stimulus. Three measures of inhibitory function were derived from the task and compared with performance on a set of frontal cortex tasks administered at 9 and 24 months of age. As expected, infants' ability to learn to selectively inhibit looks to the distractors at 9 months predicted performance at 24 months. However, performance differences in the two Freeze-Frame trial types early in the experiment also turned out to be an important predictor. The results are discussed in terms of the validity of the Freeze-Frame task as an early measure of different components of inhibitory function. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research into anxiety of childhood: playing catch-up (to Olympic standard)

This special issue is the culmination of an ESRC seminar series grant awarded to the authors of this editorial. We named the seminar series CATTS (Child Anxiety, Theory and Treatment Seminars) and it took the form of six highly stimulating, one-day seminars on the subject of child anxiety, with participants from clinical and academic backgrounds and from Great Britain, Europe, the USA and Australia. Most of the authors in this publication, and a sister special issue in Cognitions and Emotion (2008), participated in the CATTS series.

The effects of a pre-movement delay on the kinematics of prehension in middle childhood

The present study examined the effects of a pre-movement delay on the kinematics of prehension in middle childhood. Twenty-five children between the ages of 5 and 11 years made visually open-loop reaches to two different sized objects at two different distances along the midline. Reaches took place either (i) immediately, or (ii) 2 s after the occlusion of the stimulus. In all age groups, reaches following the pre-movement delay were characterised by longer movement durations, lower peak velocities, larger peak grip apertures and longer time spent in the final slow phase of the movement. This pattern of results suggests that the representations that control the transport and grasp component are affected similarly by delay, and is consistent with the results previously reported for adults. Such representations therefore appear to develop before the age of 5. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.