Children's Socioemotional Development Research Articles

Developmental cascades of social inhibition and friendships in preterm and full‐term children

AbstractFriendships are crucial to children's socioemotional development and quality of life. Children born preterm (<37 weeks gestation) have an increased risk for social relationship difficulties, including fewer friends, but the mechanisms underlying the link between lower gestational age and fewer friendships are not clear. The prospective Bavarian Longitudinal Study investigated potential cascading effects on N = 1,181 children's friendships at 8 years. Path modelling indicated that higher gestational age predicted good early parent–infant relationship quality, good inhibitory control, and higher friendship scores. Good parent–infant relationship quality predicted good inhibitory control, which subsequently predicted low social inhibition at 6 years and higher friendship scores at 8 years. There is evidence of cascading effects from gestational age to early parent–infant relationships, to toddlers' inhibitory control, and to social inhibition, which partially explain differences in children's friendships at 8 years of age.Highlights Preterm children are at risk for social problems and fewer friends, but the mechanisms underlying this risk are not known. Path modelling showed that gestational age predicted good early parent–infant relationship and inhibitory control, which subsequently predicted low social inhibition and higher friendship scores. Cascading effects from gestational age to parent–infant relationships, to inhibitory control, and to social inhibition partially explain differences in friendships at 8 years.

Shyness, aggression, and empathy in children of shy mothers: Moderating influence of children's psychophysiological self‐regulation

Maternal psychological factors are known to play a critical role in children's socioemotional development, particularly in pro- and anti-social behaviors. Although shyness is a ubiquitous phenomenon and associated with social anxiety, relatively few have examined the relation between maternal shyness and children's socioemotional development. We explored the moderating influence of children's resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA change on the relation between maternal shyness and children's shyness, empathy, and aggression in 129 (62 males) typically developing 4- (n=81) and 6- (n=48)year-olds. We found that 6-year-olds' RSA change score from baseline to a cognitive challenge task acted as a moderator on the relation between mother's shyness and child observed empathy but not for maternal report of child aggression or child's observed shyness. These results were not found in the 4-year-olds. Six-year-olds with relatively high RSA change and relatively low maternal shyness displayed the highest levels of empathy. These results suggest that the maternal caregiving environment and biological characteristics of the child may confer individual differences in prosocial behaviors in children. Findings are discussed in terms of age-related differences in socioemotional behaviors in children of shy mothers.

Fatherhood Matters: An Integrative Review of Fatherhood Intervention Research.

Positive father involvement is critical to the healthy social, emotional, and academic outcomes of children at all stages of development. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify, categorize, and evaluate the potential impact of fatherhood interventions on father and child outcomes. A systematic search of four major research databases yielded 44 studies published between 1988 and 2018 that met study inclusion criteria. The most effective interventions were delivered in the community, with fathers convened in groups. Content focused on promoting positive parenting, co-parenting, and father/child relationships. Consequently, father involvement and child cognitive and socioemotional development were improved. Academic settings were underutilized in the fatherhood interventions in this review. We conclude that in order to optimize healthy child development, school officials must adopt a more inclusive stance toward the involvement of fathers in their children's education. Future randomized trials of fatherhood interventions delivered within school-based settings are warranted.

Mothers' and fathers' observed interaction with preschoolers: Similarities and differences in parenting behavior in a well-resourced sample.

Parenting behavior is a key factor in children’s socio-emotional development. However, little is known about similarities and differences in maternal and paternal parenting behavior, as most studies have focused on mothers. The present study investigated similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behavior during observed free play with their preschool children, in a Danish well-resourced sample. We examined differences in mean scores and associations between mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting assessed with the Coding Interactive Behavior instrument. Additionally, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis to test the model-fit between the measurement model and parental data. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate if maternal and paternal factor structures replicated the three parenting constructs, and to explore if certain parenting behaviors seemed specifically related to either mothering or fathering. Participants included 52 mothers, 41 fathers and their 5-year old children. Similar mean scores were found for mothers and fathers on all parenting constructs. Maternal and paternal parenting behavior were not correlated. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a poor model-fit. For both mothers and fathers, latent factors related to sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting emerged, which indicated that the Coding Interactive Behavior instrument was suitable for assessment of both maternal and paternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and limit-setting. However, item loadings suggested that the instrument assessed maternal sensitivity more accurately than paternal sensitivity in our sample. Two additional factors were retrieved for fathers, i.e. paternal performance and challenging behavior, and paternal teaching behavior. This finding may suggest that additional parenting constructs need to be developed for researchers to be able to thoroughly investigate similarities and differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting behavior. Despite difference in factor structure, we did not identify behaviors solely related to mothering or to fathering.

Attachment as Moderator of Perceived Social-Class Discrimination on Behavioral Outcomes Among Chinese Migrant Children

In this study, we examined the relations between perceived social-class discrimination, attachment, and behavior problems in a sample of Chinese migrant children in Beijing (age [Formula: see text] = 11.48, SD = 1.12; n = 179). Data were collected from two migrant schools in Beijing. The participants completed measures of perceived social-class discrimination, attachment to parents and peers, and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The results indicated that perceived social-class discrimination was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. In addition, attachments to mother, father, and peer were negatively associated with behavior problems. Results of hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that child-father attachment significantly moderated the associations between perceived social-class discrimination and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The negative effects of perceived social-class discrimination on child outcomes were mitigated when children reported higher levels of attachment to their fathers. Child-mother and child-peer attachment demonstrated no moderating effects. The findings provide some evidence of child-father attachment’s unique contribution to child socioemotional development and protection against behavior problems associated with social risks.

Prenatal SSRI antidepressant use and maternal internalizing symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum: Exploring effects on infant temperament trajectories for boys and girls

BackgroundThe severity and treatment of depression/anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum has important implications for maternal and child well-being. Yet, little is known about prenatal SSRI use and early child socioemotional development. This study explores effects of prenatal SSRI exposure, and pre- and postnatal internalizing symptoms on trajectories of infant temperament, identifying potential differences for boys and girls. MethodsUsing latent growth models, sex differences in infant temperament trajectories from 3- to 10-months were examined in relation to prenatal and postpartum internalizing symptoms and prenatal SSRI exposure among 185 mother-infant dyads. ResultsFor girls, prenatal internalizing symptoms were associated with greater initial distress to limitations, and lower duration of orienting, smiling/laughter, and soothability. Postnatal symptoms predicted slower decreases in girls’ duration of orienting. SSRI exposure predicted decreases in distress to limitations and slower increases in smiling and laughter. For boys, maternal internalizing symptoms did not generally affect temperament profiles. SSRI exposure was associated with higher initial activity level and slower declines in distress to limitations. LimitationsOnly parent-report indicators of infant temperament across 10 months of infancy were provided. Maternal internalizing symptoms were measured at discrete times during pregnancy and postpartum, with no analysis of changes in symptoms across time. ConclusionsPrenatal SSRI treatment, and both prenatal and postpartum internalizing symptoms, exert unique effects on infant temperament. Overall, the present study suggests sex-dependent fetal programming effects that should be further evaluated in future research. Results have implications for perinatal mental health treatment and perceived impacts on child socioemotional development.

Does Women Well-being Matter for Demand and Development of Children?

Women well-being has number of socioeconomic and developmental implications. Early child development is directly linked with well-being of mothers and educated women demand lower children. However, the existing literature hardly focused this area, therefore, the current study has investigated the impact of women wellbeing on fertility and early child development. For this purpose, this study constructed women well-being index to measure the well-being of the women by using four dimensions, economic well-being of women, social well-being of women, political awareness of women and satisfaction of women in different aspects of life. Moreover, early child development index has considered as proxy for child development which covers four dimensions of early child development, literacy-numeracy of children, physical growth of children, learning of children and socio-emotional development of children. In this connection, the data was collected from thirty-six districts across the Punjab province, Pakistan. By applying descriptive and regression analysis, the study found that women well-being has positive association with all domains of early child development. However, women well-being and its dimensions have negative relationship with fertility. Therefore, improvement in well-being of women may a suitable strategy especially for developing economies to enhance early child development and to reduce demand of children.

Heterogeneities in Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Development in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Severe Intellectual Disability as a Comorbidity.

Introduction: Intellectual disability (ID) is frequently associated as a comorbidity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study investigated a) how similar the heterogeneity in the cognitive and socio-emotional developmental profiles was for children with ASD and ID, b) the difference between the subjects’ profiles and those of typically developing children (TD) matched for developmental levels, c) the skills existing with the lowest and highest developmental levels, and d) the relationship between developmental profiles in ASD and the severity of autism, ID, and the overall developmental level. Participants: The sample was comprised of 119 children (101 boys and 18 girls) who ranged in chronological age (CA) from 21 months to 14 years (M = 5 years 2 months; SD = 2 years 6 months) with developmental levels lower than 24 months. They came from three countries (France = 40, Brazil = 40, and Algeria = 39). The control group was comprised of 40 TD children from these same countries who ranged in CA from 4 to 24 months (M = 1 year 3 months; SD = 5 months). The ASD diagnosis was carried out according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems-10th Edition (ICD-10), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th ed (DSM-5) criteria and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Measures: Children were tested using the Social Cognitive Evaluation Battery (SCEB; Adrien, 2007) by trained psychologists from public and private institutions specialized in the diagnosis of autism and interventions in this field. The SCEB explores 16 functional abilities, in both cognitive and socio-emotional areas, and allows the calculation of domain and area developmental levels and heterogeneity indices for the global, cognitive, and socio-emotional areas. Results: Children with ASD developmental profiles show very high heterogeneity as opposed to TD children. Regardless of the country of origin, there are similarities between the heterogeneous cognitive and socio-emotional developmental profiles of the children with ASD, whose profiles are characterized by lower developmental levels of language and vocal imitation skills, and a relationship between these developmental heterogeneities and the degree of severity of autistic symptomatology, intellectual disability, and overall development level. The implications of this study are presented for clinical assessment and intervention purposes in ASD and ID.

Father involvement in the first year of life: Associations with maternal mental health and child development outcomes in rural Pakistan

The contribution of fathers to child development and maternal mental health is increasingly acknowledged, although research on this topic outside of high income countries is limited. Using longitudinal data, we characterized father involvement in a rural setting in Pakistan and investigated the link between father involvement in the first year of life and child development and maternal depression. Data come from the Bachpan study, a birth cohort established in the context of a perinatal depression intervention. Father involvement was mother reported at 3 and 12 months postpartum and covered domains such as playing with or soothing the infant. Child outcomes included growth at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum, socioemotional development at 6 months (Ages and Stages Questionnaire-socioemotional), and developmental milestones at 12 months (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, BSID)). Maternal depression was assessed at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Roughly 20% of the fathers were temporarily non-resident. Among the rest, most mothers reported that fathers were involved: for example, approximately 40% reported that the father plays with the baby on a typical day. We observed no clear pattern of association between 3-month father involvement and child growth at any time point; however, 12-month father involvement was cross-sectionally inversely associated with child growth. We observed a protective pattern of association between 3-month father involvement and 6-month child socioemotional development. For the BSID domains, while almost all effect estimates suggested a protective association with higher levels of father involvement/father being temporarily non-resident, the magnitude of the estimates was smaller and most 95% confidence intervals crossed the null. Finally, there was a trend toward greater father involvement/being temporary non-resident predicting lower levels of maternal depression. Using longitudinal data, these results provide new evidence about the association between father involvement, and both child development and maternal mental health.

The Effect of Teacher–Child Race/Ethnicity Matching and Classroom Diversity on Children's Socioemotional and Academic Skills

Mounting evidence suggests teacher-child race/ethnicity matching and classroom diversity benefit Black and Latinx children's academic and socioemotional development. However, less is known about whether the effects of teacher-child matching differ across levels of classroom diversity. This study examined effects of matching on teacher-reported child outcomes in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of teachers and children, and classroom diversity moderation using multilevel models. Data were drawn from a professionallearning study involving 224 teachers (Mage =41.5) and 5,200 children (Mage =7.7) in 36 New York City elementary schools. Teacher-child race/ethnicity matching was associated with higher child engagement in learning, motivation, social skills, and fewer absences. Classroom diversity moderated matching such that teacher-child mismatch was related to lower engagement, motivation, social skills, math and reading scores in low-diversity classrooms, but not in high-diversity classrooms. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

The effects of two early parenting interventions on child aggression and risk for violence in Brazil (The PI\xc1 Trial): protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundChildren in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at high risk for exposure to violence and later violent behaviour. The World Health Organization has declared an urgent need for the evaluation and implementation of low-cost parenting interventions in LMICs to prevent violence. Two areas of significant early risk are harsh parenting and poor child cognitive and socio-emotional development. Parenting interventions suitable for LMIC contexts have been developed targeting these risk factors and have been shown to have promising effects. However, their impact on child aggression, a key precursor of violence, has yet to be determined. The Pelotas Trial of Parenting Interventions for Aggression (PIÁ) has been designed to address this issue.MethodsWe are conducting a randomised controlled trial to evaluate two early parenting interventions for mothers of children aged between 30 and 42 months in a Brazilian city. The first of these, dialogic book-sharing (DBS), aims to promote child cognitive and socio-emotional development; and the second, the ACT Raising Safe Kids Program (ACT), is designed to reduce harsh parenting. These interventions are being compared with a control group receiving neither intervention. Three hundred and sixty-nine families in a birth cohort are being randomly allocated to one of the three groups (DBS, ACT, Control). Facilitators deliver the interventions to groups of five to 10 mothers at weekly sessions for 8 weeks in DBS and 9 weeks in ACT. Independent assessments of parenting and child development are being made before the interventions, shortly afterwards, and at follow-up 6 months later. The primary outcome is child aggression, and the two main secondary outcomes are: (1) child cognitive and socio-emotional development and (2) harsh parenting. Longer-term outcomes will be investigated as the birth cohort is followed into late childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.DiscussionThe Pelotas Trial of Parenting Interventions for Aggression (PIÁ) aims to evaluate the impact of two early parenting interventions on child aggression and several other key risk factors for the development of violence, including aspects of parenting and child cognition and socio-emotional functioning. The study is being carried out in a LMIC context where violence constitutes a major social and health burden. Since the two interventions are brief and, with modest levels of training, readily deliverable in LMIC settings, a demonstration that they benefit parenting and reduce risk factors for violence would be of major significance.Trial registrationBrazilian Ministry of Health Register of Clinical Trials, ID: RBR-2kwfsk. Registered on 6 June 2018.

Research notes: John Bowlby's critical evaluation of the work of René Spitz.

In the history of psychology and theoretical discourse on the socioemotional development of children, the names Bowlby and Spitz are often mentioned in tandem. Both men were hugely interested in research on the consequences of maternal deprivation for young infants. However, though they would appear to have been thinking along the same lines and often referenced each other's work, it turns out they held very different views on the dynamic assessment and theoretical underpinning of their observations (Bowlby, 1960; Spitz, 1960). Even though some of this became public when they criticized each other after Bowlby's publication in 1960, newly uncovered archival material1 detailing Bowlby's reflections on several meetings with Spitz enables us to look more closely at their differences of opinion. These meetings took place in the spring of 1950, when Bowlby visited the United States for a research project for the World Health Organization (WHO). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Cohort Profile: Perinatal depression and child socioemotional development ; the Bachpan cohort study from rural Pakistan

PurposeThis is a prospective pregnancy–birth cohort designed to investigate the effects of depression on socioemotional development of children. Perinatal depression is a risk factor for poor child development and for...

Longitudinal relations of cultural orientation and emotional expressivity in Chinese American immigrant parents: Sociocultural influences on emotional development in adulthood.

Research in developmental psychology has traditionally focused on parents' roles as agents of emotion socialization in their children's socioemotional development. By contrast, little longitudinal research has examined sociocultural mechanisms shaping parents' own emotional development. Immigrant parents are an ideal population in which to examine these processes and advance conceptual models of culture and continuing emotional development in adulthood. Using developmental functionalism and bioecological models of development as theoretical frameworks, the present study examined how immigrant parents' and children's cultural orientations were prospectively related to parents' self-reported emotional expressivity in the family context. Chinese American immigrant parents (n = 210) with elementary-aged children were assessed at two time points approximately 2 years apart. Path analyses using longitudinal panel models indicated that immigrant parents' cultural orientation in various cultural domains (language, social relationships, media) prospectively predicted their emotional expressivity in the family context. Parents' emotional expressivity was also predicted by children's cultural orientation and by discrepancies between their own and their children's cultural orientations. Our results underscore pathways through which immigrants' interactions with the family and broader sociocultural context can contribute to continued emotional development in adulthood. We discuss implications of our findings for developmentally informed approaches to the study of culture and emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing means to scale early childhood development interventions in rural Kenya: the Msingi Bora cluster randomized controlled trial study design and protocol

BackgroundForty-three percent of children under five in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience compromised cognitive and psychosocial development. Early childhood development (ECD) interventions that promote parent-child psychosocial stimulation and nutrition activities can help remediate early disadvantages in child development and health outcomes, but are difficult to scale. Key questions are: 1) how to maximize the reach and cost-effectiveness of ECD interventions; 2) what pathways connect interventions to parental behavioral changes and child outcomes; and 3) how to sustain impacts long-term.MethodsMsingi Bora (“good foundation” in Swahili) is a multi-arm cluster randomized controlled trial across 60 villages and 1200 households in rural Western Kenya that tests different, potentially cost-effective and scalable models to deliver an ECD intervention in biweekly sessions lasting 7 months. The curriculum integrates child psychosocial stimulation with hygiene and nutrition education. The multi-arm study will test the cost-effectiveness of two models of delivery: a group-based model versus a mixed model combining group sessions with personalized home visits. Households in a third study arm will serve as a control group. Each arm will have 20 villages and 400 households with a child aged 6–24 months at baseline. Primary outcomes are child cognitive and socioemotional development and home stimulation practices. In a 2 × 2 design among the 40 treatment villages, we will also test the role of including fathers in the intervention. We will estimate intention-to-treat and local average treatment effects, and examine mediating pathways using Mediation Analysis. One treatment arm will receive quarterly booster visits for 6 months following the end of the sessions. A follow-up survey 2 years after the end of the main intervention period will examine sustainability of outcomes and any spillover impacts onto younger siblings.Study protocols have been approved by the Maseno Ethics Review Committee (MUERC) in Kenya (00539/18) and by RAND’s institutional review board. This study is funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (R01HD090045).DiscussionResults can provide policymakers with rigorous evidence of how best to design ECD interventions in low-resource rural settings.Trial registrationClinical Trial NCT03548558 registered June 7, 2018 at clinicaltrials.gov; AEA-RCT registry AEARCTR-0002913.

The relationship between responsive caregiving and child outcomes: evidence from direct observations of mother-child dyads in Pakistan

BackgroundResponsive caregiving, or interactions in which caregivers give appropriate responses to a child’s signals, is linked to improved psychosocial, cognitive and physical outcomes in children. However, much remains unknown about how responsive caregiving affects child development across cultural and socioeconomic contexts. The purpose of this study is to examine predictors of maternal responsive caregiving and investigate how these interactions are associated with children’s development.MethodsData for the current analyses came from a longitudinal study designed to follow mothers from the third trimester through the first three years of the child’s life. To assess responsive caregiving, the Observation of Mother-Child Interaction (OMCI) measure was used to examine maternal and child behaviors during a 5-min picture book activity at 24 months. Outcomes included child height-for-age z-score and child socioemotional development, using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Socioemotional (ASQ-SE) in which lower scores demonstrated better development. Using mean comparisons, the effects of baseline sociodemographic factors and maternal depression on responsive caregiving were tested. Analyses utilized hierarchical linear regressions to examine cross-sectional associations between responsive caregiving and child development outcomes at 24 months. Additional analyses controlled for the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), a common measure in low-income contexts of caregiving, to assess whether OMCI was uniquely predictive of child outcomes.ResultsHigher maternal education attainment, lower number of children, greater socioeconomic assets, and lack of maternal depression were associated with higher levels of observed responsive caregiving behaviors. Higher total OMCI scores were associated with positive child socioemotional outcomes in adjusted models (β: -0.84, 95% CI [− 1.40, − 0.29]). The finding was statistically significant, even after controlling for HOME score (β: -0.83, 95% CI [− 1.38, − 0.27]). There was no association between OMCI scores and child linear growth.ConclusionsResponsive caregiving is linked to positive child socioemotional development in rural Pakistan. Our findings suggest that incorporating responsive caregiving into child health interventions in LMIC may have valuable impacts on child socioemotional development. The OMCI may be useful in identifying important pathways for change to responsive caregiving behaviors and may be of service for future interventions that optimize child development through responsive caregiving.Trial registrationNCT02111915 (09/18/2015); NCT02658994 (01/22/2016). Trials were prospectively registered.

Cognitive Reappraisal in Children: Neuropsychological Evidence of Up-Regulating Positive Emotion From an ERP Study.

Emotion regulation is a critical mechanism in the socio-emotional development of children. Previous studies revealed that children use cognitive reappraisal to downregulate negative emotions. Moreover, the amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) shows a more obvious reduction following neutral interpretations than following negative interpretations. However, whether children can use cognitive reappraisal to regulate positive emotions remains unclear. In the present study, 46 8- to 12-year-old children were asked to reappraise the meaning of pleasant pictures. Electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected during the task. As predicted, LPP amplitudes increased more following reappraisal condition than following pleasant condition. The analysis of spatial-temporal shifting patterns showed that the effect occurred in the earlier window for the posterior region. As time progressed, this effect evidenced a trend from posterior region to the central and anterior regions, especially for the younger children. Furthermore, the greater brain activations occurred in left hemisphere when children upregulated positive emotions which partially supported previous research suggesting that increasing positive emotion engaged primarily left-lateralized prefrontal regions. Taken together, the findings suggest that children can use cognitive reappraisal to upregulate positive emotions.

The role of community-based music and sports programmes in parental views of children’s social skills and personality

Abstract In this article, we report on parental perceptions of socio-emotional skills and personality of children who were involved in community-based music and sports extracurricular (EC) programmes, and a group of children not participating in EC activities. This study is part of the USC brain and music project that investigated the effects of music education on the cognitive and socioemotional development of children from underserved neighbourhoods in Los Angeles for 5 consecutive years. Our primary aim with this study was to examine parental views on the potential effects of EC programmes on children’s socio-emotional skills and personality. Parents were interviewed yearly and were asked to rate their child’s skills and personality. After four years, parents of children involved in EC activities rated their children higher on the emotional stability personality trait, lower on aggression and lower on hyperactivity compared to children not involved in EC activities despite no differences in these measures at the beginning of the study and before children’s entry into their programmes. These and other findings are discussed in light of Bronfenbrenner and Morris’s Bioecological Model of Human Development. The implications for community music are also outlined.

Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Child's Cognitive Development - Results from the Evaluation of the Home Visiting Program "Pro Kind"

Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Child's Cognitive Development - Results from the Evaluation of the Home Visiting Program "Pro Kind" Intimate partner violence (IVP) is a socially relevant problem area of high prevalence. Direct or indirect IVP leads to well documented problems in child socioemotional development. Longitudinal studies on influences of IVP on child's cognitive development are rare. The present study adds to close this gap. We analyze data from n = 535 families living under psychosocial risk conditions. All families took part in the evaluation of the home visiting program "Pro Kind". We administered one item of a parent questionnaire to assess the occurrence of IVP. The child's cognitive development is assessed at the ages of 6, 12, and 24 months of age with the Bayley Scales-II. We test the hypothesis that IVP to the mother causally affects early cognitive development of children in a structural equation model with Cross-Lagged-Panel design. The results show a causal influence of IVP on child's cognitive development during the period from t3 (12 months of child's age) to t4 (24 months of child's age). The explanatory power of results is limited by methodological problems, e. g. the operationalization of IVP with only one item and a high panel mortality. Implications for early prevention and intervention of IVP are derived.

Socioemotional development in children with callous-unemotional traits: A case study of a multimodal intervention

A subgroup of children with conduct disorder (CD) has callous unemotional traits (CU, e.g., lack of empathy, caring behaviours and remorse), which predicts a negative evolution of this disorder. Responses to empirically supported interventions are very low in children with CD and CU traits. This case study presents an individualized intervention with an 11-year-old child who shows a stable and aggressive pattern of disruptive behaviour (CD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and severe CU traits. The goals of the intervention focused on both emotion recognition and parent training. The results of the treatment presented in this case study show advances in socioemotional development along with a decrease of problematic conduct, which improve the child’s ability to adapt to his environment. The need of personalizing and adjusting treatments aimed at modifying problematic conduct in children with CU is discussed to shed light on future approaches to clinical intervention.