Abstract: It is not fully understood how effortful control is influenced by environmental factors. Effortful control is an important underpinning of self-regulation and plays influences...Show moreAbstract: It is not fully understood how effortful control is influenced by environmental factors. Effortful control is an important underpinning of self-regulation and plays influences developmental outcomes such as conscious development and externalizing behavior. We investigated if internalized conduct mediated the relation between parental sensitivity and effortful control in children aged 5-8. To do so, questionnaires were used to measure internalized conduct and effortful control and a parent-child drawing task was used to measure sensitive parenting. In the questionnaire for effortful, questions about the levels of effortful control of the child were answered by the primary parent. In the questionnaire for internalized conduct, questions about the levels of internalized conduct of the child were answered by the other parent. The drawing task for parental sensitivity was done by the child and the primary parent. Significant effects were found in parental sensitivity as a predictor of both internalized conduct and effortful control. In addition a significant effect was found in internalized conduct as a predictor of effortful control. However, internalized conduct was not found to be a mediator in the relation between parental sensitivity and effortful control in this study.Show less
Social competence is important for engaging in meaningful interactions with other people. An important aspect of social competence is prosocial behaviour. Some prosocial behaviours can be costly...Show moreSocial competence is important for engaging in meaningful interactions with other people. An important aspect of social competence is prosocial behaviour. Some prosocial behaviours can be costly and by showing sensitivity in their parent-child interaction, children learn and adopt behaviour from their parents. Therefore, we investigated the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour because parents might influence their children's prosocial behaviour. Moreover, differential susceptibility markers such as the temperamental trait perceptual sensitivity contribute to responding to environmental cues. Therefore, we investigated whether perceptual sensitivity had a moderation effect on the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour in terms of donation in middle childhood. This study focused on this developmental period because it is an important, transitional stage of children’s development. This study is cross-sectional and our sample consisted of participants (N=216) aged 7-9 that were part of a larger experimental cohort-sequential longitudinal twin study (L-CID). Parental sensitivity was measured with an observational task in which parent-child interaction was observed during a structured situation. A donation task was performed to assess the amount of money that children donate after watching a charity video. Self-report measures were used to access the temperament trait in terms of perceptual sensitivity. Firstly, we hypothesized that there was a positive relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour. After performing a regression analysis, we found no relation within our sample. Secondly, we also hypothesized that perceptual sensitivity moderated the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour. However, after performing moderation analysis, there was found no interaction effects between our constructs. Our findings indicate that there is not a direct association in how the level of sensitivity in parents influences their children donating behaviour but that other factors such as individual characteristics or environmental factors might be further researched in order to know predictors of costly prosocial behaviour in middle childhood.Show less
It is not fully understood how effortful control is influenced by environmental factors. Effortful control is an important underpinning of self-regulation and plays influences developmental...Show moreIt is not fully understood how effortful control is influenced by environmental factors. Effortful control is an important underpinning of self-regulation and plays influences developmental outcomes such as conscious development and externalizing behavior. We investigated if internalized conduct mediated the relation between parental sensitivity and effortful control in children aged 5-8. To do so, questionnaires were used to measure internalized conduct and effortful control and a parent-child drawing task was used to measure sensitive parenting. In the questionnaire for effortful, questions about the levels of effortful control of the child were answered by the primary parent. In the questionnaire for internalized conduct, questions about the levels of internalized conduct of the child were answered by the other parent. The drawing task for parental sensitivity was done by the child and the primary parent. Significant effects were found in parental sensitivity as a predictor of both internalized conduct and effortful control. In addition a significant effect was found in internalized conduct as a predictor of effortful control. However, internalized conduct was not found to be a mediator in the relation between parental sensitivity and effortful control in this study.Show less
Experiencing harsh parenting strategies has been shown to be detrimental to later outcomes and through intergenerational transference this parenting behaviour can lead to negative parenting across...Show moreExperiencing harsh parenting strategies has been shown to be detrimental to later outcomes and through intergenerational transference this parenting behaviour can lead to negative parenting across generations. However, there is a lack of research examining these early experiences in a controlled environment. Therefore the objective of this study was to examine the potential effects of early experienced love withdrawal on the sensitive care giving of an infant simulator. Furthermore, due to a possible change in sensitive parenting behaviour when experiencing multiple demands, we examined the possible effects of competing demands on sensitivity. We hypothesized that more experienced love withdrawal would decrease sensitivity, as would competing demands and that love withdrawal would influence a possible relation between demanding tasks and sensitive behaviour. Our sample consisted of 90 female students, who had no children. Participants completed questionnaires concerning early childhood experiences, including the Love Withdrawal scale. They cared for an infant simulator during two consecutive evenings and were invited to a lab session where they were observed in their sensitive care giving, whilst performing free play and two demanding tasks, with the infant simulator. These observations were coded on sensitivity, using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale (Ainsworth, Bell & Stayton, 1974). We found that more experienced love withdrawal as a child was linked to less sensitive behaviour later. The experience of a demanding task, also decreased sensitive behaviour during care giving. The experience of love withdrawal, however, did not moderate the effect of competing demand on sensitivity. These results underline the importance of discouraging the use of negative parenting strategies as this can lead to possible negative outcomes. Our findings also point to the potential negative impact that a demanding environment can have on sensitive care giving.Show less
Almost all children with ASD show impaired language development, probably due to deficits in joint attention skills. This study examines the role of joint attention and parental sensitivity in the...Show moreAlmost all children with ASD show impaired language development, probably due to deficits in joint attention skills. This study examines the role of joint attention and parental sensitivity in the development of expressive and receptive language skills of children with AD and PDD. Sixty-nine children between 16 and 61 months of age and diagnosed with ASD were observed during joint attention tasks and parent-child interactions by using the ESCS and the EAS. Language development was measured with the Dutch versions of the Reynell, the Schlichting and the CDIs. An independent samples t-test show differences in all variables between children with AD and children with PDD. Hierarchical regression analyses show that according to children with PDD, parental sensitivity is the most important predictor of language production and language comprehension; joint attention doesn’t play any role. However, according to children with AD joint attention is a stronger predictor than parental sensitivity, with a more important role for reactive joint attention. Sensitivity predicts the joint attention level in this group. These results could provide handles for developing more specific interventions to foster language development of children with different types of ASD.Show less
