Background: previous research showed the relationship between the risk status of the mother and child aggression. Attachment has also been related to child aggression and this includes prenatal...Show moreBackground: previous research showed the relationship between the risk status of the mother and child aggression. Attachment has also been related to child aggression and this includes prenatal attachment. If prenatal attachment moderates the relationship between risk status and child aggression, an intervention could be implemented to improve the prenatal attachment in order to prevent or reduce aggression by the child. Research question: Does prenatal attachment moderate the relationship between the risk status of the mother and the aggression of 20-month-old children? Methods: Maternal risk status and prenatal attachment were assessed during pregnancy and aggression was assessed when the children were 20 months old. The mothers were divided into two groups, one group consisted of high risk mothers and the other of low risk mothers (based on criteria by the World Health Organization and a weighted count of the number of risk factors). The mothers completed the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS) during the first assessment (pregnancy) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) during the 4th assessment when the children were approximately 20 months old. Analyses of variance were used to examine whether prenatal attachment moderated the association between risk status and child aggression. Results: The risk status of the mother predicted the aggression of the 20-month-old child. There also was a significant relationship between prenatal attachment and risk status. There were no significant relations between prenatal attachment and aggression. Lastly, prenatal attachment did not moderate the relation between the risk status of the mother and the aggression of the child. Conclusion: The results of this study confirm the relation between the risk status of the mother and the aggression of the 20-month-old child. An intervention could be introduced when a mother is categorized as high risk. Further research is needed to see which factors could moderate the relationship between the risk status of the mother and the aggression of the child.Show less
This study researched the relation between cognitive functioning, parental perceptions and the sensitivity of young mothers. Studying this relationship is relevant because parental sensitivity is...Show moreThis study researched the relation between cognitive functioning, parental perceptions and the sensitivity of young mothers. Studying this relationship is relevant because parental sensitivity is an important aspect in the development of children's attachment and social-emotional behavior. It was investigated whether cognitive functioning and parental perception separately and together are predictors of sensitivity and whether the relationship between the cognitive functioning and the sensitivity of the mother is mediated by parental perception. The sample consisted of 193 first-time mothers with a age between 18.6 en 28.9 years (M= 24.9, SD=2.29) and their infants aged between 18.7 en 24 months (M=20.4, SD=0.7). Sensitivity was observed during two tasks (Free Play and Teaching Task), cognitive functioning was measured with (part of) the WAIS-III and parental perception was measured with a validated questionnaire (the Parental Cognitions and Conduct Toward the Infant Scale, PACOTIS). Single and multiple regressions showed that cognitive functioning is a significant but weak predictor of sensitivity, parental perception is not a significant predictor and cognitive functioning and parental perception together are significant predictors. However, there was no significant indirect effect of cognitive functioning on sensitivity through parental perception. Mothers with a lower IQ have a risk concerning diminished sensitivity towards their child. However more research is required to investigate which other factors contribute to the development of healthy attachment behavior in general and sensitivity specifically.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
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Individual differences in behavior are best explained through a multisystem approach by integrating neurobiological, neurocognitive, and social environmental factors. This longitudinal study...Show moreIndividual differences in behavior are best explained through a multisystem approach by integrating neurobiological, neurocognitive, and social environmental factors. This longitudinal study examined whether early physical aggression could be predicted by stress regulation, inhibitory control, risk background, and sex. In addition, this study is among the first to investigate whether the four stress response patterns of the Adaptive Calibration Model (Del Giudice et al., 2011) could be generalized to 12-month-old children by studying: autonomic nervous system (ANS), sympathetic nervous system (SNS), parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. ANS was indexed by heart rate, SNS by salivary alpha-amylase and pre-ejection period, PNS by respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and HPA axis by salivary cortisol. The sample consisted of 214 mother-child dyads (116 boys) with an equal number of high- and low-risk backgrounds. Physical aggression was assessed through maternal reports at 12, 20, and 30 months of age. At 12 months, children performed an inhibitory control task and the fear task (robot paradigm) was used to measure baseline, response, and recovery levels of the stress systems. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: (1) ANS Responders, (2) Moderate Arousal, and (3) Hormonal Responders. No significant differences were found between the profiles with regard to inhibitory control, average age of mother and child, number of boys and girls, and number of high- and low-risk children. Results showed that higher physical aggression scores were associated at 12 months with ANS Responders and lower inhibitory control, at 20 months with Hormonal Responders, boys and high-risk, and at 30 months with boys and high-risk. In addition, an interaction effect was found at 20 months: higher inhibitory control in girls was associated with lower physical aggression scores, but not in the Hormonal Responders. The discussion highlights the importance of using a multisystem approach to explain individual differences in early physical aggression.Show less
