Development Of Children In Families Research Articles

Association of Sociodemographic Factors and Maternal Educational Attainment with Child Development among Families Living below the Poverty Line in the State of Ceará, Northeastern Brazil.

Maternal educational attainment has been identified as relevant to several child health and development outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the association of sociodemographic and maternal education factors with child development in families living below the poverty line. A cross-sectional study was conducted through telephone contact from May to July 2021 in Ceará, a state in Northeastern Brazil. The study population comprised families with children up to six years of age participating in the cash transfer program "Mais infância". The families selected to participate in this program must have a monthly per capita income of less than US$16.50. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire version 3 was applied to assess the children's development status. The mothers reported maternal educational attainment as the highest grade and or degree obtained. The final weighted and adjusted model showed that maternal schooling was associated with the risk of delay in all domains except for the fine motor domain. The risk of delay in at least one domain was 2.5-fold higher in mothers with a lower level of schooling (95% CI: 1.6-3.9). The findings of this study suggest that mothers with higher educational attainment have children with better child development outcomes.

How Do Interactions Between Early Caregiving Environment and Genes Influence Health and Behavior?

To promote optimal health and behavioral outcomes in children, nurses have long supported parents in providing the best possible care and nurturance to their offspring. A growing body of neuroscience research argues convincingly for the combined influences of genes and early caregiving on producing an individual's unique health and behavioral phenotype. In this article, we systematically review studies that demonstrate the relationship between qualities of early caregiving and genetic propensity to health and behavioral outcomes. From an initial set of 255 articles, 24 articles met our inclusion criteria. The outcomes fall into four distinct groups: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response to stress, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, and disorganized attachment. In the articles, authors examined genes that code for the 5-hydroxy tryptamine (serotonin) transporter genes linked polymorphic region [5-HTTLPR] serotonin transporter promoter, D4 dopamine receptor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and monoamine oxidase A promoter. The reviewed studies suggest that the effect of the early rearing environment on gene expression relates mainly to HPA response to stress, whereas interactions between genes and caregiving mainly relate to behavior and attachment. Findings have implications for nurses focused on advocacy, prevention, and intervention to support the healthy development of children in families faced with adversity.

Parenting and child development in families with a child conceived through embryo donation.

Concerns have been raised regarding the potentially negative effects of conception using donated embryos on parenting and child development. Findings are presented of an exploratory study of families with a child conceived through embryo donation. Twenty-one embryo donation families were compared with 28 adoptive families and 30 in vitro fertilization families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the parents' marital and psychological state, the quality of parent-child relationships, and the child's development. In all 3 groups, the children were aged 2-5 years. The differences indicated higher emotional overinvolvement and defensive responding in the embryo donation families, along with greater secrecy about the child's origins. The children were not at increased risk of psychological problems. The study provides interesting but preliminary findings on parent-child relationships and child development in a new family form.

Living conditions and receptive vocabulary of children aged two to five years

To assess the receptive vocabulary of children aged between two years and six months and five years and eleven months who were attending childcare centers and kindergarten schools. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out in the municipality of Embu, Southeastern Brazil. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and analysis of factors associated with children's performance were applied. The sample consisted of 201 children of both genders, aged between two and six years. Statistical analysis was performed using multivariate analysis and logistic regression model. The dependent variable analyzed was test performance and the independent variables were child's age, mother's level of education and family socio-demographic characteristics. It was observed that 44.3% of the children had performances in the test that were below what would be expected for their age. The factors associated with the best performances in the test were child's age (OR=2.4; 95% CI: 1.6-3.5) and mother's education level (OR= 3.2; 95% CI: 1.3-7.4). Mother's education level is important for child's language development. Settings such as childcare and kindergarten schools are protective factors for child development in families of low income and education.

Behavioral and cognitive development as well as family functioning of twins conceived by assisted reproduction: findings from a large population study

To establish the nature and extent of difficulties in parenting and child development in families with twins conceived by assisted reproduction. Comparisons were carried out between a representative sample of 344 families with 2- to 5-year-old twins conceived by IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and a matched comparison group of 344 families with singletons from IVF/ICSI. One twin was randomly selected for data analysis to avoid the bias associated with nonindependence of measures. A general population sample of IVF/ICSI families. Mothers and children. Mothers completed a questionnaire booklet. Standardized measures of the mother's psychological well-being (parenting stress, depression, and quality of marriage) and standardized measures of the child's psychological development (emotional/behavioral problems and cognitive development). Mothers of twins showed significantly higher levels of parenting stress and depression than mothers of singletons and were significantly more likely to find parenting difficult and significantly less likely to obtain pleasure from their child. Regarding the children, there was no difference in the level of emotional or behavioral problems between twins and singletons. However, twins showed significantly lower levels of cognitive functioning. Greater difficulties in parenting and child development were experienced by IVF/ICSI families with twins than by IVF/ICSI families with singletons.

Surrogacy families: parental functioning, parent–child relationships and children's psychological development at age 2

Findings are presented of the second phase of a longitudinal study of families created through surrogacy. At the time of the child's 2nd birthday, 37 surrogacy families were compared with 48 egg donation families and 68 natural conception families on standardised interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well-being of the parents, parent-child relationships and the psychological functioning of the child. The surrogacy mothers showed more positive parent-child relationships, and the surrogacy fathers reported lower levels of parenting stress, than their natural conception counterparts. The surrogacy children did not differ from the natural conception children with respect to socio-emotional or cognitive development. Surrogacy does not appear to impact negatively on parenting or child development in families with 2-year-old children.

The European study of assisted reproduction families: A comparison of family functioning and child development between Eastern and Western Europe

Developments in reproductive technology over the past 20 years have given infertile couples new opportunities to have children. Although assisted reproduction does not appear to lead to negative consequences with respect to parent-child relationships or the socioemotional development of the child, the outcome for children and their parents may well differ according to the social and cultural environment. The aim of the present study was to compare family functioning and the social and emotional development of children in families created as a result of assisted reproductive techniques in Western Europe with assisted reproduction families in an Eastern European country (Bulgaria) where there is a history of specific pronatalist interventions. The findings indicate greater difficulties in parental adjustment and child behavior in assisted conception families in Eastern Europe. In addition, Eastern European parents were more uncertain than Western European parents about whether they would tell the child, and Eastern European parents were much more secretive with respect to telling others. Thus the outcomes of assisted reproduction for family functioning and child development appear to be dependent, to some extent at least, on the social context in which these techniques are carried out.

The European study of assisted reproduction families: family functioning and child development.

Findings are presented of a European study (conducted in the UK, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands) of family relationships and the social and emotional development of children in families created as a result of the two most widely used reproductive technologies, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and donor insemination (DI), in comparison with control groups of families with naturally conceived child and adoptive families. Mothers of children conceived by assisted reproduction expressed greater warmth towards their child, were more emotionally involved with their child, interacted more with their child and reported less stress associated with parenting than mothers who conceived their child naturally. Similarly, assisted reproduction fathers were found to interact more with their child and to contribute more to parenting than fathers with a naturally conceived child. With respect to the children themselves, no group differences were found for either the presence of psychological disorder or for children's perceptions of the quality of family relationships. The findings relating to the quality of parenting and the socio-emotional development of the children were similar in each of the four countries studied.

Families Created by the New Reproductive Technologies: Quality of Parenting and Social and Emotional Development of the Children

The creation of families by means of the new reproductive technologies has raised important questions about the psychological consequences for children, particularly where gamete donation has been used in the child's conception. Findings are presented of a study of family relationships and the social and emotional development of children in families created as a result of the 2 most widely used reproductive technologies, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and donor insemination (DI), in comparison with control groups of families with a naturally conceived child and adoptive families. The quality of parenting was assessed using a standardized interview with the mother, and mothers and fathers completed questionnaire measures of stress associated with parenting, marital satisfaction, and emotional state. Data on children's psychiatric state were also obtained by standardized interview with the mother, and by questionnaires completed by the mothers and the children's teachers. The children were administered the Separation Anxiety Test, the Family Relations Test, and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance. The results showed that the quality of parenting in families with a child conceived by assisted conception is superior to that shown by families with a naturally conceived child. No group differences were found for any of the measures of children's emotions, behavior, or relationships with parents. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of genetic ties in family functioning and child development.

Child custody mediation: an interdisciplinary synthesis.

The high divorce rate and increasing number of children affected by divorce have paralleled major changes both in divorce law and in the ways in which social conflicts are resolved. Principles of contemporary law and conflict resolution are joined with the findings of research on child development in families of divorce in a conceptual synthesis relevant to the practice of child custody mediation.

Mental development of children in families and in infants' homes

THE institutions for permanent and part-time collective care, whose traditions date from the early Middle-Ages, were created for social and sanitary reasons-not for psychological and pedagogical ones. They offered a refuge and protection to children who otherwise would have been abandoned or seriously neglected. After World War I and particularly after World War II new social needs arose in connection with the increasing number of employed women. Until the beginning of this century the tragic mortality and morbidity rate was the main problem for collective education. It was not until the main sanitary questions were solved that it was possible to see the importance of psychological aspects in their full light. The children’s homes were no longer criticised by sanitary workers and many became examples of the high standards of the health service, but they began to be exposed to the criticism of the psychologists and psychiatrists. This criticism began as early as in the thirties of this century in the Viennese psychological school directed by Charlotte Biihler and was dramatically extended in the forties in the classical studies of R. A. Spitz, W. Goldfarb and J. Bowlby. John Bowlby’s monograph “Maternal care and mental health” (WHO, 1951) sums up the present knowledge in this field, the S.C. “maternal deprivation”. He comes to the convincing conclusion that the child in his first three years needs, above all, the warm, intimate and stable relationship with the mother (or with the person who takes her place). Collective care, in which the child as a rule suffers from the lack of such an emotional tie, leads to many disturbances of mental health, e.g. mental retardation, psychopathic development of the personality, great resistance to therapy, etc. Some extreme conclusions have been drawn from these findings e.g. a bad family is better than the best institution since it offers to the child the opportunity of having that unique emotional tie to the mother. A children’s home, even with the highest level of organisation, would not be able to do this. The radical limitation of institutional care for children and a great expansion of foster care followed logically from these ideas. In the following period, i.e. in the fifties the original “pessimistic” conception was modified to some extent. It became clear: 1. that the care for children in institutions is sometimes the only way of rescuing severely neglected or endangered children and that the physical and mental health of these children sometimes improves considerably in the