Children’s psychosocial functioning in is known to be influenced by parental emotion discussion in early childhood. However, the associations between parental emotion discussion and children’s...Show moreChildren’s psychosocial functioning in is known to be influenced by parental emotion discussion in early childhood. However, the associations between parental emotion discussion and children’s psychosocial functioning have mainly been studied in the typically hearing (TH) population of children. Little is known about this association in the deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) child population, who tend to be at risk of having lower psychosocial functioning. Our study investigated the impact of parental emotion discussion on three areas of DHH and TH children’s psychosocial functioning (externalizing behavior, peer problems, and prosocial behavior) with a cross-sectional study design using parent report data on 215 preschoolers aged 1–7.5 years (49.3% girls, 88 DHH). Contrary to what was previously reported in the literature, we found that DHH and TH children did not differ in psychosocial functioning, nor did their parents differ in their level of emotion discussion with their children. In line with previous research, our results indicated that more parental emotion discussion was related to less externalizing, and more prosocial behavior in their children, but no association was found between parental emotion discussion and peer problems in the children. Furthermore, the hearing status of the children did not affect the associations between parental emotion discussion and children’s psychosocial functioning in our study. Future studies should address the heterogeneity of the DHH population and their families, and clinical focus should be placed to optimize family based early intervention programs for DHH youth.Show less
Shame and guilt are moral emotions that arise when people evaluate their behaviour as morally right or wrong. These emotions are critical for the display of prosocial behaviours, or else, social...Show moreShame and guilt are moral emotions that arise when people evaluate their behaviour as morally right or wrong. These emotions are critical for the display of prosocial behaviours, or else, social competence. However, the relation between moral emotions and social competence in preschool children has not been studied extensively in typically hearing (TH) populations, let alone in deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. The present study investigated whether TH and DHH preschoolers differ in their levels of shame, guilt, and social competence. Furthermore, the association between moral emotions and social competence, for these two groups, was examined. This study is a part of a larger longitudinal cross-cultural project, which aims at understanding the (early) social-emotional developments of children with hearing loss and autism in China and the Netherlands, while also exploring cultural and societal factors. A total of 282 TH and DHH Chinese preschoolers, between the ages of 1.5-6.5 years old, participated in the study. The data were collected via parent-report questionnaires, where parents reported online or on paper the levels of the studied variables in their children. The results showed that DHH preschoolers expressed less shame and guilt, while also displaying lower levels of social competence than the TH group. For both groups, no relation was found between shame and social competence, while guilt was found to be positively related with social competence. Notably, this positive relation was stronger in DHH than in TH preschoolers, revealing the potentially crucial role of guilt for the promotion of social competence in DHH children. This study serves as a preliminary step toward understanding the relations between moral emotions and social competence for TH and DHH preschoolers, while also providing recommendations for future research.Show less
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often not included in social interactions. This is mainly because non-autistic people frequently misunderstand them and because of this do not...Show moreChildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often not included in social interactions. This is mainly because non-autistic people frequently misunderstand them and because of this do not accept, or even reject and dismiss them (Cage et al., 2018). This can make social participation for children with ASD unpleasant and stressful, even though social participation is vital for their development (Eisenberg et al., 1998; Kawachi & Berkman, 2001). To date, only a few studies have examined the impact of limited access to school participation on the psychosocial development of school-aged children with ASD. Furthermore, one may wonder whether certain factors, e.g., individual, family, or school factors, could influence the relation between social participation and psychosocial functioning in children with ASD. To address this gap of knowledge, this study examined the relation between social participation and psychosocial functioning of Dutch children with ASD aged between 4 and 16 years. Furthermore, this study explored whether and to what extent children’s individual characteristics such as IQ, their family characteristics such as parent self-efficacy, and the school characteristics, such as the social environment of the school, could moderate this relation. Two hundred parents of children with ASD from different areas of the Netherlands filled in questionnaires to report about their children’s socioemotional development through the online platform NAR (Dutch Autism Register). The results showed that the more children with ASD participated in social interactions, the fewer psychosocial problems they had. Higher parent self-efficacy predicted fewer psychosocial problems in children with ASD. However, no moderating effects were found. The current study highlights the importance of promoting social participation at school for children with ASD. It also highlights the importance of providing support to the parents of children with ASD and increasing these parents’ self-confidence in supporting their child with ASD.Show less
Sense of belonging at school is an important factor in the school context. Especially for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a sense of belonging is important in order to have positive...Show moreSense of belonging at school is an important factor in the school context. Especially for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a sense of belonging is important in order to have positive experiences at school. The most important contributor to a sense of belonging at school is the staff-pupil interaction. The purpose of the current research is to investigate the relationship between a sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction for pupils with ASD. The relationship will be investigated for boys and girls at primary school and secondary school. Participants are parents of 200 children with ASD between the age of three and seventeen years old. The parents filled in questionnaires about the well-being of their children in the school context. The current research showed that there is a strong positive relationship between sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction for pupils with ASD. No differences were found in the levels of sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction between boys and girls and between primary and secondary school.Show less
Although participation in school is critical for supporting children's psychosocial development, this relationship is understudied in the autistic population. The present study investigated the...Show moreAlthough participation in school is critical for supporting children's psychosocial development, this relationship is understudied in the autistic population. The present study investigated the relationship between school participation and psychosocial functioning of Dutch autistic children aged 4-16 years. The potential moderating effect of the child's age, family socioeconomic status, and school physical environment on the relationship were also examined. Parents of a total of 200 autistic children participated in the study, who filled in information of their child on an online survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the link between school participation and psychosocial functioning and the moderating role of child’s age, family socioeconomic status, and school physical environment. The results showed that autistic children’s school participation was negatively associated with psychosocial problems. However, no moderating effect of child’s age, parental education, or school physical environment was found. This study was among the first to provide empirical evidence on the contributing role of school participation in psychosocial development of autistic pupils. Despite its limitations, it serves as a preliminary investigation into the relationship, and it provides methodological recommendations for future research to yield more accurate findings.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Having an extra sex chromosome is known as sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This may result in 47,XXY, 47,XXX, or 47,XYY. Previous research suggested that social attention to the eyes is reduced in ...Show moreHaving an extra sex chromosome is known as sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This may result in 47,XXY, 47,XXX, or 47,XYY. Previous research suggested that social attention to the eyes is reduced in (young) adults with SCT and that individuals with SCT have more autistic characteristics compared to typically developing (TD) controls. It was unknown whether the group differences were also present in early childhood. The current study aimed to explore social attention, autistic traits, and their relation in three subgroups of children with SCT (47,XXY, 47,XXX, and 47,XYY; N = 70), aged 3 to 7 years, in comparison to TD peers (N = 62). Social attention to the eyes was measured using three eye-tracking video paradigms: A single-face condition, a multiple-face condition and a social interaction condition. Autistic traits were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition. Results showed a difference in social attention between children with SCT and TD children during the social interaction condition. There was no difference in social attention between the SCT subgroups. The SCT group showed more autistic traits than the TD group and the 47,XXX subgroup had more autistic traits than the 47,XXY subgroup. There was a significant relation between social attention during the single-face condition and autistic traits in the 47,XYY subgroup only. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the importance of monitoring socio-cognitive challenges related to SCT in early childhood.Show less
Autistic children tend to experience difficulties in interaction with peers, which makes them vulnerable to experience feelings of loneliness. This study investigates quantitative and qualitative...Show moreAutistic children tend to experience difficulties in interaction with peers, which makes them vulnerable to experience feelings of loneliness. This study investigates quantitative and qualitative variables related to friendship in relation to self-evaluated feelings of loneliness in both autistic and non-autistic children. Questionnaires and sensor data were used to examine the differences in quantity of friendships (network size, time spent in interaction, number of interaction partners and network centrality) and quality of friendship (reciprocal nominations and acceptance) between autistic and non-autistic children in special education as well as how the variables related to self-evaluated feelings of loneliness. No differences were found between feelings of loneliness in autistic and non-autistic children. Autistic children had fewer interaction partners and spent less time in interaction, but did not have a less central position in their networks or a smaller network size. Besides, autistic children might not have had a lower quality of friendships, as they did not have fewer reciprocal nominations than non-autistic children. Concerning the relationship between feelings of loneliness and quantitative variables, only a significant relationship was found between feelings of loneliness and network size for autistic children. No relationship was found for feelings of loneliness and quantitative variables for non-autistic children. No relationships were found between feelings of loneliness and qualitative variables for both autistic and non-autistic children. Further research should involve examining the differences in feelings of loneliness between autistic children in special and mainstream education.Show less
Sense of belonging at school is an important factor in the school context. Especially for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a sense of belonging is important in order to have positive...Show moreSense of belonging at school is an important factor in the school context. Especially for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a sense of belonging is important in order to have positive experiences at school. The most important contributor to a sense of belonging at school is the staff-pupil interaction. The purpose of the current research is to investigate the relationship between a sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction for pupils with ASD. The relationship will be investigated for boys and girls at primary school and secondary school. Participants are parents of 200 children with ASD between the age of three and seventeen years old. The parents filled in questionnaires about the well-being of their children in the school context. The current research showed that there is a strong positive relationship between sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction for pupils with ASD. No differences were found in the levels of sense of belonging at school and staff-pupil interaction between boys and girls and between primary and secondary school.Show less
One’s self-esteem is definitive for a great deal of aspects in life, ranging from health to relationships. Our self-esteem can be influenced by a lot of factors, intelligence – especially...Show moreOne’s self-esteem is definitive for a great deal of aspects in life, ranging from health to relationships. Our self-esteem can be influenced by a lot of factors, intelligence – especially giftedness – being one. As we navigate through adolescence, a lot of things change, including our attachment. All these big shifts in our lives causes our self-esteem to fluctuate. The current study examined the impact of self-esteem on peer attachment, and whether giftedness affects this relationship. Participants included Dutch preadolescents (N = 96) that either attended a regular (N = 45) or a gifted (N = 51) primary school. Self-esteem and peer attachment were measured using the Competency Experience Scale Child (CBSK) and the Inventory of Peer and Parent Attachment (IPPA) respectively. These results were then compared between gifted and typically developing children using a linear regression analysis (LRA). The findings indicated a significant relationship between self-esteem and peer attachment for typically developing children, but a nonsignificant relationship for gifted children, suggesting that giftedness does influence this relationship. The current study emphasizes the need for more knowledge on giftedness.Show less
