Physical aggression occurs already at age of twelve months and although most children learn to regulate their behavior, in some children the aggressive behavior exists until adulthood. Little is...Show morePhysical aggression occurs already at age of twelve months and although most children learn to regulate their behavior, in some children the aggressive behavior exists until adulthood. Little is known about the causes of persistence of aggressive behavior in children. Some studies with mostly older participants found a correlation with stress reactivity. Therefore in this study the correlation between physiological response (pre-ejection period and heart rate), behavioral response (intensity of facial fear, intensity of distress vocalizations and intensity of bodily fear) and self-regulation (self/object engagement and attention to the researcher) will be examined in relation to aggressive behavior in twelve-months-old children (N = 71). Mother and child visited the Leiden University and child’s behavior during the Fear task, a stressful task in which a robot enters the room and walks to the child while the child sits in a seat, was video-taped. Child’s physiology was recorded with the help of the Vrije Universiteit Ambulatory Monitoring System (VU-AMS). Mothers filled out the Cardiff Infant Contentiousness Scale (CICS) and The Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood (PASEC) for measuring the degree of aggressive behavior. A significant positive correlation between heart rate and behavior response was found. No significant correlation was found between pre-ejection period and behavioral response, nor between physiology, behavioral response and self-regulation. Aggressive behavior couldn’t be forecasted by physiology, behavioral response and self-regulation. These results are discussed en recommendations are done in context of further research on stress reactivity, development of self-regulation and aggression.Show less
Veel van het onderzoek dat heeft uitgewezen dat er een relatie is tussen de Sociaal Economische Status (SES) van ouders en het temperament van kinderen richt zich op kinderen in de...Show moreVeel van het onderzoek dat heeft uitgewezen dat er een relatie is tussen de Sociaal Economische Status (SES) van ouders en het temperament van kinderen richt zich op kinderen in de basisschoolleeftijd. Het doel van de huidige studie is te onderzoeken of een dergelijke relatie al bestaat als de kinderen 6 maanden oud zijn. Aan de huidige studie hebben 87 moeders tussen de 16 en 26 (M = 22.24, SD = 2.33) jaar deelgenomen. Tijdens het onderzoek waren de kinderen gemiddeld 6.37 maanden oud (SD = 0.47) en 51.7% van hen was een jongen. Het temperament van de kinderen is gemeten met de ‘Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire’ en is afgezet tegen het gezinsinkomen en het opleidingsniveau van de ouders. Uit de resultaten blijkt dat er een verband is tussen het opleidingsniveau van de vader in combinatie met het gezinsinkomen en de negatieve emotionaliteit van het kind. Alleen voor kinderen van laag opgeleide vaders is er een negatief verband tussen het gezinsinkomen en de negatieve emotionaliteit van het kind. Er is ook een relatie gevonden tussen de opleidingsniveaus van de ouders, het gezinsinkomen en het regulatie- en oriëntatievermogen van het kind. Namelijk, er is een positief verband tussen het gezinsinkomen en het regulatie- en oriëntatievermogen van het kind, behalve bij kinderen met één hoog opgeleide ouder en één laag opgeleide ouder, dan is er een negatief verband te zien tussen het gezinsinkomen en het regulatie- en oriëntatievermogen van het kind. De studie bevestigt dat de omgeving die ouders voor hun kinderen creëren invloed kan hebben op het gedrag van hun kinderen.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2018-09-25T00:00:00Z
The present study was the first to investigate the association between mothers’ ability to reflect upon the relationship with her (unborn) infant during pregnancy and maternal and infant behavior...Show moreThe present study was the first to investigate the association between mothers’ ability to reflect upon the relationship with her (unborn) infant during pregnancy and maternal and infant behavior during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP). The sample consisted of 52 mother-infant dyads, from both high (HR, N = 22)- and low (LR, N = 29) risk backgrounds, as defined by the presence/absence of unemployment, poverty or financial problems, housing problems, limited or instable social support network, being single or having changing partners, (subclinical) psychiatric problems (such as depression, anxiety, borderline, aggression), or substance abuse (smoking, alcohol, or drugs). High-risk (HR)-mothers had lower levels of reflective functioning than LR-mothers and showed less sensitive and more intrusive behavior in interaction with their infants. Infants from high risk backgrounds showed more negative affect during play and less gaze towards mother during the still-face episode of the SFP. Reflective functioning during pregnancy predicted maternal sensitive and intrusive behavior during play, but only for LR-mothers. In general, maternal reflective functioning predicted infant display of minimal positive affect during the still-face episode, an association that was not mediated by maternal behavior during the SFP. These results indicate that mothers’ reflective abilities predict later maternal sensitive and intrusive behavior, and even some infant behavior independently from maternal behavior. Future studies should further clarify the role of maternal reflective capacities in the development of children’s emotion regulation abilities, and its potential role in prenatal coaching and interventions.Show less
Research has established the calming effect on maternal scent on newborn infants; however, little research has been done to investigate these olfactory responses outside this sensitive period...Show moreResearch has established the calming effect on maternal scent on newborn infants; however, little research has been done to investigate these olfactory responses outside this sensitive period following birth. Additionally, no research has investigated how scent impacts the cry and sleep behavior within the day care setting, an environment of increasing relevance for child development. In this vein, this study examined the effects of maternal scent on the cry and sleep behavior of infants within the Dutch and Chilean day care settings. During the morning nap time, the cry and sleep behavior of 26 infants between the ages 4-9 month was observed via video recording under three different conditions: Own mother scent, Other mother scent, and Neutral scent. Results indicate that infants exposed to Other mother scent cry less than those exposed to both own mother and neutral scent. Additionally, no effects were found for the amount of hours that the infants spent in day care per week. However, an exploratory analysis between the Dutch and Chilean infants revealed differences in cry behavior. Namely, Chilean infants cried less in both own mother and other mother conditions than the Dutch infants. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the continued calming effect of maternal odor, but suggest that as infants develop, they are no longer calmed by the scent of their own mother. Further investigation of such effects could prove fruitful in the development of effective sleep aids within the day care setting.Show less
