Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
This study investigated the impact of parental verbal threat (vs. safety) information regarding a stranger on a child’s subjective and behavioral fear responses towards that stranger. As a...Show moreThis study investigated the impact of parental verbal threat (vs. safety) information regarding a stranger on a child’s subjective and behavioral fear responses towards that stranger. As a manipulation, parents were instructed to provide their children (N=79), aged 10-14 years, with standardized verbal threat or safety information about two strangers in the lab. Then, children engaged in a social interaction task with the two strangers (blind to their condition) separately, while child behavioral avoidance was recorded. Following the task, children reported fear beliefs for each stranger. Also, parents completed a self-report questionnaire on social anxiety symptoms. Children reported more fear beliefs for the stranger paired with the threat information, but no significant difference was found in observed avoidance. In addition, verbal threat information did not have a stronger influence on children’s observed avoidance in case of higher reported fear beliefs. Similarly, high parental social anxiety symptoms did not moderate the impact of verbal threat information on the child’s cognitive or behavioural fear indices. However, they did have a significant influence on behavioural avoidance, regardless of verbal information. Overall, this study shows a causal effect of verbal threat messages provided by parents only on child subjective fear and highlightsthe need for further research on the verbal transmission of childhood social fears in the context of family, by examining these processes in various social situations, age groups, and fear indices.Show less
More than a quarter of the Dutch society claim to have experienced discrimination. Research shows that prejudice and discrimination have many negative effects on both individuals and society. In...Show moreMore than a quarter of the Dutch society claim to have experienced discrimination. Research shows that prejudice and discrimination have many negative effects on both individuals and society. In order to avoid these negative effects, it is important to investigate the underlying mechanisms of prejudice and discrimination. According to existing literature, social categorization is a factor associated with the emergence of discrimination and prejudice. Social categorization in young children is influenced by their environment, for example by (ethnic) socialization of parents. The present study examined whether there was a difference between ethnic socialization in the majority group and the minority group. This was also examined for social categorization based on ethnicity for these two groups. In addition, it was examined whether there was a relationship between ethnic socialization of the mother and social categorization based on the ethnicity of the child. Finally, it was examined whether the ethnicity of the child was a moderator for the relationship between ethnic socialization and social categorization based on ethnicity. Mother's ethnic socialization was measured by a picture book task. Social categorization was measured by the child's segregation preference through a grouping task. The study was conducted in mother-child pairs from the majority group (White-Dutch) and the minority group (Turkish-Dutch and Afro-Dutch). Two independent t-tests showed that there were no differences. No significant difference in ethnic socialization between the majority and minority groups was found. Also, no significant difference in social categorization based on ethnicity was found between the majority and minority groups. A simple regression showed that there was no significant relationship between ethnic socialization and social categorization based on ethnicity. Finally, no significant moderation effect of ethnicity was found. For further research it is advised to extend the measurement method for ethnic socialization and social categorization, so that more detailed measurements can be done.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2017-09-01T00:00:00Z
The relationship between child maltreatment and physiological reactivity to infant crying was evaluated using measures of heart rate (HR) in a sample of 30 maltreating and 24 non-maltreating...Show moreThe relationship between child maltreatment and physiological reactivity to infant crying was evaluated using measures of heart rate (HR) in a sample of 30 maltreating and 24 non-maltreating mothers. For the maltreating group, child maltreatment had been substantiated. During a standardized cry paradigm, mothers listened to nine cry sounds of three different pitches. Each fundamental frequency was presented three times, over three blocks. Mothers rated the urgency of each sound and indicated what their caregiving responses would be. Maltreating mothers showed a lower HR reactivity than non-maltreating mothers to the first and second block of cry sounds as compared to baseline. A lack of functional physiological reactivity when required may explain their impaired ability to respond adequately to their children.Show less
