Throughout our lives, we go through stressful situations on a daily basis. It effects multiple facets of our lives, including social interaction and empathy. This study explores the impact of acute...Show moreThroughout our lives, we go through stressful situations on a daily basis. It effects multiple facets of our lives, including social interaction and empathy. This study explores the impact of acute stress on affective empathy in female students (N = 115, M = 21.23 years, SD = 1.64 years). After being exposed to the (placebo) Trier Social Stress Test, participants completed an affective empathy task. They assigned compassion and positive affect scores to negative, neutral and positive pictures. Smiling and frowning responses were measured simultaneously. Surprisingly, no significant differences were revealed between the stress and control group for compassion and positive affect. However, results indicated more relaxation in smiling muscles and more tension in frowning muscles in response to positive stimuli in the stress condition. The results challenge the tend-and-befriend framework.Show less
Starting in 2015, the Dutch youth healthcare system will be decentralized and transformed. To smoothen this transition into a ‘new’ healthcare system it is important to prevent families from going...Show moreStarting in 2015, the Dutch youth healthcare system will be decentralized and transformed. To smoothen this transition into a ‘new’ healthcare system it is important to prevent families from going into intensive healthcare by investing in prevention- or early intervention programmes. In the current study the influences of socio-economic status (SES), parental stress and being an only child on the social competence of a child are investigated. The social competence of a child is divided into two compartments; social behaviour and social cognition. A well-developed social competence is linked to better school results and stronger friendships throughout childhood, while a poorly developed social competence is linked to loneliness and underachievement. The research took place in Den Haag, Noordwijk and Zeeuws-vlaanderen and included 160 participants in the age of 4 to 9. Information was gathered through questionnaires and a test. The results showed no effect for SES. Nor was there an effect for being an only child, which means that children who grow up without siblings do not show a difference in social competence then children who do have siblings. The effect of parental stress on social behaviour in a child showed a significant result. This means that, if parents experience relatively more stress from raising their child, this child shows more problems in social behaviour. When this relationship was more closely examined, it showed that this effect is mainly caused by stress derived from parental experiences of social isolation, problems in attachment, and demanding behaviour in the child. Because of these specific sources of stress it seems as if parental stress ‘merely’ plays a mediating role between some form of (social) anxiety or social isolation within the parent. It seems important to investigate this theory in future research so that prevention- and early intervention programme’s can be adapted accordingly.Show less
Samenvatting Achtergrond: Lange tijd verkreeg de cognitieve ontwikkeling van mensen meer aandacht dan de emotionele ontwikkeling. Hierdoor is er nog weinig onderzoek naar de rol van emotionele...Show moreSamenvatting Achtergrond: Lange tijd verkreeg de cognitieve ontwikkeling van mensen meer aandacht dan de emotionele ontwikkeling. Hierdoor is er nog weinig onderzoek naar de rol van emotionele intelligentie en een onderdeel daarvan dat betrekking heeft op emotieregulatie. In het bijzonder is er weinig onderzoek naar de emotionele intelligentie van kinderen met een autismespectrumstoornis (ASS), terwijl meer inzicht noodzakelijk is voor hun begeleiding. Doelstelling: Het doel van dit onderzoek is om bij te dragen aan het in kaart brengen van de emotionele intelligentie en emotieregulatie bij kinderen met ASS en kinderen met ASS en angst. Daarnaast wil dit onderzoek de invloed van kind- en gezinsfactoren op emotieregulatie beter in kaart brengen. Methode: Dit onderzoek richtte zich op kinderen van 4 tot en met 18 jaar met en zonder ASS en eventuele angst. De steekproef bestond uit 273 kinderen van reguliere, speciale en middelbare (basis)scholen uit Nederland. Hun ouders vulden op internet de Sociaal-Emotionele Vragenlijst (SEV) en de Vragenlijst Emotioneel Intelligentie Quotiënt (EIQ) in. Resultaten: Uit de SEV bleek dat er 41 kinderen waren met een indicatie voor ASS en angst (30 jongens en 11 meisjes), 30 kinderen met alleen een indicatie ASS (22 jongens en 8 meisjes) en 232 kinderen zonder indicatie van ASS (118 jongens en 114 meisjes). Autisme gaat gepaard met een verminderde emotionele intelligentie en emotieregulatie bij kinderen. Daarnaast gaat het ervaren van angst bij kinderen met ASS gepaard met een nog lagere emotionele intelligentie en emotieregulatie. Een laag opleidingsniveau van moeders verhoogt de kans op een verminderde emotieregulatie bij kinderen. De opleiding van de vader, gezinssamenstelling en leeftijd en sekse van het kind hadden geen effect. Conclusie: Kinderen met ASS ondervinden belemmeringen in de emotionele intelligentie en emotieregulatie. Daarnaast levert angst een extra beperking op voor zowel de emotionele intelligentie als de emotieregulatie. De beperkingen van autisme kunnen hierin een rol spelen, maar het is ook mogelijk dat stress hierbij een rol heeft. Aanbevolen wordt deze alternatieve hypothese verder te onderzoeken.Show less
Background: Previous research indicates that stress has less effect on the neurobiology of children with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) in comparison with a controlgroup, and it has a negative...Show moreBackground: Previous research indicates that stress has less effect on the neurobiology of children with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) in comparison with a controlgroup, and it has a negative effect on executive functions (EF). Children with DBD show deficits in EF. Goal: To examine the effect of stress on the EF of children with DBD. The research question is: To what extent do the EF of children in the age of 7 to 12 years who suffer from DBD, differ from the EF of children in the controlgroup during stress? Methods: 72 Dutch boys participated in this study. The following EF were examined: sustained attention, shifting, working memory and inhibition. This has been measured through parent reports on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and three cognitive subtests of the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks (ANT). Stress was induced by: telling the child it was going to play a competition against another child which he thought he was going to loose and by negative feedback from the opponent. To test the differences a t-test and ANOVA were used. Results: According to their parents, children with DBD score significant (p<.05) worse on inhibition, working memory and shifting in comparison with the controlgroup. Also there is a significant maineffect of group on sustained attention. Thus children with DBD show deficits in EF. There is a significant maineffect of stress on the following EF: sustained attention, inhibition and shifting. Thus stress reduces the performance on EF. There is no reciprocal influence between stress and group. Conclusion: Children with DBD show deficits in EF. Stress has a negative influence on inhibition, shifting and sustained attention. The groups don’t differ in combination with stress. All children need help in coping with stress, especially children with DBD, because the show deficits in EF during both situations.Show less
