Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social functioning, as well as repetitive and restrictive interests and behaviors. It is...Show moreBackground: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social functioning, as well as repetitive and restrictive interests and behaviors. It is diagnosed based on symptom expression. An ASD diagnosis can influence different aspects of the life of an individual, such as eating and sleeping habits. It may also influence the lives of the people close to the diagnosed individual, especially when diagnosed in children. So far, little is known about how ASD symptom expression influences eating and sleeping patterns in five- year-old children as well as their parent’s parental stress levels. Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between ASD symptoms, eating and sleeping problems in five-year-old children, and parental stress. Methods: This thesis used online questionnaires filled out by parents of five-year-old children (n = 4588, Mean age = 5.1, SD = .46) to conduct three multiple regression models. Results: The findings supported the hypotheses (H1) that ASD symptom severity is associated with more problematic eating habits in five-year-old children; (H2) that ASD symptom severity is associated with more sleep problems in five-year-old children; (H3) that ASD symptom severity is associated with more parental stress in parents of five-year- old children. All results were reported with small effect sizes. Conclusion: ASD symptoms in five-year-old children had a small negative effect on eating and sleeping habits in children, and increased parental stress in their parents.Show less
Background The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the economies, social relationships, and mental health of the population globally. A growing number of research presents empirical evidence for the...Show moreBackground The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the economies, social relationships, and mental health of the population globally. A growing number of research presents empirical evidence for the negative psychological consequences of the lockdowns, such as increased anxiety and stress. However, the long-term mental effects, especially on children and their parents, are unclear and need to be further investigated. Aims This paper aims to examine whether there is a difference in the levels of anxious and shy behaviour in five-year-old children and in parental stress in their parents due to the pandemic. Method The data was collected as part of the "Jij en Je Gezondheid" project, executed by the Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdiensten region. Inclusion criteria included children around the age of five and their parents who live in Amsterdam. Independent samples t-test was run to investigate whether there is a difference in anxious and shy behaviour in the children and parental stress before and after the COVID lockdowns. Results Levels of anxious and shy behaviour were higher after the COVID lockdowns in children as compared to the before lockdowns group. Parental stress was reported to also increase after the COVID lockdowns. Conclusions The study emphasizes the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s anxious and shy behaviour and their parents' stress levels. The findings highlight the need for tailored interventions for families to decrease the long-term psychological burden of the pandemic, as well as additional research to fully understand the problem.Show less
This study examines whether the personality traits neuroticism and agreeableness mediate the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. This research was conducted...Show moreThis study examines whether the personality traits neuroticism and agreeableness mediate the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. This research was conducted among families who were registered at Veilig Thuis under a notification of domestic violence. A sample of 1172 parents (862 female, 310 male) completed self-report questionnaires about trauma, personality traits and parenting stress. Trauma is directly related to parental stress. Neuroticism is a partial mediator in the relationship between traumatic experiences of parents and parenting stress. Agreeableness is not a mediator in this relationship. The findings suggest that parents with a trauma score high in neuroticism, subsequently, parents high in neuroticism experience more parental stress. This was not found for agreeableness. Directions for future research regarding personality and parental stress and the limitations of present study are discussed.Show less
Aim: In view of the serious negative consequences that shyness and anxious behavior can entail on children's quality of life, namely higher risks for internalizing problems, relationship...Show moreAim: In view of the serious negative consequences that shyness and anxious behavior can entail on children's quality of life, namely higher risks for internalizing problems, relationship difficulties, peer rejection and victimization, school adjustment issues, and poor academic success, we explored possible predictors. It was investigated whether parental stress, sleep disturbances, and physical activity predict shy behavior in five-year-old children. Methods: The study was based on the collected data from “The Cool Little Kids” project in collaboration with the "Jij en Je Gezondheid" study from the “Gemeentelijke Gezondheitsdiensten”. The survey had a cross-sectional design with a sample size of 4855 (51.66% girls), with a mean age of 5.1 (SD: 0.5, range from 4 to 7). The data was collected in the regions Amsterdam and Groningen in the years 2021 and 2022 through parental report questionnaires about the well-being of the children. Results: The study outcome supports the positive correlation of parental stress, sleep disturbances, and physical inactivity with shyness. However, the effect sizes of the model and the individual predictors are small. Conclusion: The obtained results underline the impact of parental stress and child habits on shyness. For an improved quality of life for children in their early and forthcoming life stages, the current focus on social anxiety disorders deserves an even shift to factors favoring shyness. This paper might serve as a guideline regarding the factors to be addressed considering future research and intervention programs for shy and anxious children.Show less
Background. Sleep’s positive impact on children’s development, health and psychological well-being renders crucial the investigation of precipitating and perpetuating factors of sleep disturbances...Show moreBackground. Sleep’s positive impact on children’s development, health and psychological well-being renders crucial the investigation of precipitating and perpetuating factors of sleep disturbances to prevent or address them. Aim. This study examines whether sleep disturbances in 10-year-olds are associated with eating habits, physical activity and parental stress. Methods. A total of 349 participants took part in the current study (Mean age = 10.21 years, SD = 0.49, boys = 50.14%). A regression analysis was run using sleep disturbances as a dependent variable, eating habits, physical activity and parental stress as independent variables and sex, ethnicity and region as covariates. Results. Eating habits, physical activity and parental stress did not have any predictive value for sleep disturbances. Conclusion. We conclude that sleep disturbances in 10-year-old children are not associated with eating habits, physical activity and parental stress. These results contradicting previous findings might be partially explained by some limitations of our study, such as the low internal consistency of our questionnaires and the potentially biased view of parents filling in the questionnaires.Show less
Parental stress can have a negative impact on attentional bias in infants, which is an emotion processing construct. The present study investigated if parental stress is positively related to...Show moreParental stress can have a negative impact on attentional bias in infants, which is an emotion processing construct. The present study investigated if parental stress is positively related to attentional bias towards fearful over happy faces in infants aged 5 to 19 months. The sample consisted out of 220 infants (male: 48,2%, female: 51,2%) and their 229 primary caregivers (male: 32,3%, female: 67,7%). The research has a cross-sectional experimental design. Attentional bias was measured with an eye-tracker, which measured dwell times in infants when looking at happy and fearful faces. Parental stress was measured with the stress-scale of the DASS. The analyses suggested that parental stress was not positively related to attentional bias of their infants, whereas other studies found that parental stress was positively related to attentional bias. These differences in findings may be due to the fact that SES-variables were not taken into account in the present study. Besides, attentional bias differs across age groups, but also age was not taken into account. Therefore, attentional bias is a dynamic construct, which needs to be further examined with respect to variables that influence the link between parental stress and attentional bias.Show less
