Development Of Emotional Behavior Research Articles

Long-Lasting Effects of Changes in Daily Routine during the Pandemic-Related Lockdown on Preschoolers’ Language and Emotional–Behavioral Development: A Moderation Analysis

The quantity and quality of environmental stimuli and contexts are crucial for children's development. Following the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), restrictive measures have been implemented, constraining children's social lives and changing their daily routines. To date, there is a lack of research assessing the long-lasting impacts that these changes have had on children's language and emotional-behavioral development. In a large sample of preschoolers (N = 677), we investigated (a) the long-lasting effects of changes in family and social life and in daily activities over the first Italian nationwide COVID-19-pandemic-related lockdown upon children's linguistic and emotional-behavioral profiles and (b) how children's demographic variables and lifelong family characteristics moderated these associations within a multiple-moderator framework. Our findings showed a relationship between the time spent watching TV/playing video games and affective problems that was moderated by the number of siblings. Our findings showed that children who could be at high risk in more normal circumstances, such as only children, have been particularly harmed. Therefore, assessing the long-term effects of lockdown-related measures and how these could have been moderated by potential risk/protective factors added significant information to the existing literature.

Working against forgetting – Infants’ feeding and weight gain at the time of Juhan Aul

A hundred and twenty-five years ago, European infants grew differently from modern infants. We show weight gains of 20 healthy children weighed longitudinally from birth to age 1 year published by Camerer in 1882. The data illustrate the prevalent historic concepts of infant nutrition practiced by German civil servants, lawyers, merchants, university professors, physicians, foresters and farmers. Breastfeeding by the mother was not truly appreciated in those days; children were often breastfed by wet nurses or received bottled milk of various composition. Bottle feeding mainly consisted of diluted cow’s milk with some added carbohydrates without evidence that appropriate amounts of oil, butter or other fatty components had been added. French children from 1914 showed similar weight gain patterns suggesting similar feeding practices. The historical data suggest that energy deficient infant formula had regularly been fed in the late 19th and the early 20th century Europe regardless of wealth and social class. The data question current concerns that temporarily feeding energy deficient infant formula may warrant serious anxieties regarding long-term cognitive, social and emotional behavioral development.

Evidence of chronic undernutrition in late 19th century German infants of all social classes

125 years ago, European infants grew differently from modern infants. We show weight gains of 20 healthy children weighed longitudinally from birth to age 1 year, published by Camerer in 1882. The data illustrate the historically prevalent concepts of infant nutrition practiced by German civil servants, lawyers, merchants, university professors, physicians, foresters and farmers. Breastfeeding by the mother was not truly appreciated in those days; children were often breastfed by wet nurses or received bottled milk. Bottle feeding mainly used diluted cow’s milk with some added carbohydrates, without evidence that appropriate amounts of oil, butter or other fatty components were added. French children from 1914 showed similar weight gain patterns suggesting similar feeding practices. The historical data suggest that energy deficient infant formula was fed regularly in the late 19th and early 20th century Europe, regardless of wealth and social class. The data question current concerns that temporarily feeding energy deficient infant formula may warrant serious anxieties regarding long-term cognitive, social and emotional behavioral development.

Behind the curtain of early childhood coaching: a multi-method analysis of 5,000 feedback statements

ABSTRACTIn a previously published report, our researcher–practitioner partnership demonstrated the effectiveness of a coursework plus higher-dosage coaching professional development intervention (Expanding Quality, EQ) at improving the quality of teacher interactions with children birth-to-3 in center- and home-based child care settings. The current study examined the 4,796 written feedback statements from 515 coaching sessions, provided to the two groups that received coaching (n = 68) to attempt to shed light on how variation in feedback may have contributed to the coaching’s effectiveness. In the first study of its kind, detailed content of coach-to-coachee feedback was analyzed in relation to changes in the quality of teacher–child interactions. Twelve types of feedback were qualitatively coded, and consolidated into three, nonexclusive categories: Positively influential (e.g., suggesting specific changes, explaining why teacher actions are good for children); noninfluential (e.g., related to professional development outside of teacher–child interactions, vague comments); and CLASS-related (i.e., referring to support of children’s language and learning, or emotional-behavioral development). Results indicated that coaching feedback was strongly aligned with the strengths-based, behaviorally-anchored model put forth by EQ as well as the measures of interaction quality. Nevertheless, there were variations in coaching feedback, primarily due to coach, and which impacted the two coaching dosages (5 vs. 15 hours) differently. For three of the four interactional outcomes, the impact of the shorter coaching dosage on interaction quality was more vulnerable to different amounts and types of feedback, whereas the longer dosage’s effectiveness was not impacted by feedback differences. For the fourth outcome—support of language and learning at 4 months postcoaching—positive impacts were seen only when the dosage was longer, and when more influential feedback was intensified.

Emotional and behavioral resilience among children with perinatally acquired HIV in Thailand and Cambodia.

Psychosocial challenges associated with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) infection are well known, yet many children infected with HIV since birth demonstrate positive outcomes, referred to as resilience. The purpose of this study was to evaluate emotional-behavioral development and identify salient predictors of resilience among long-term survivors of PHIV. Prospective investigation of children with PHIV compared with demographically similar perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected (PHEU) and HIV-unexposed, uninfected (HUU) children, all from Thailand and Cambodia. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; parent version) was administered at baseline and annual follow-up visits (median follow-up of 3 years) to children age 6-14. Resilience was defined as consistent CBCL scores on the Internalizing, Externalizing or Total Problem T scales within normative ranges (T-scores <60) at every time point. Generalized estimating equations examined CBCL scores over time and logistic models examined demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural predictors of resilience. Participants included 448 children (236 PHIV, 98 PHEU, 114 HUU), with median (interquartile range) age at first evaluation of 7 (6-9) years. Children with PHIV exhibited similar rates of resilience as PHEU and HUU on the Externalizing and Total Problems scales. Resilience on the Internalizing scale was more likely in PHEU (71%) compared with PHIV (59%) or HUU (56%), P = 0.049. Factors associated with resilience in adjusted models included: HIV-exposed but uninfected status, higher household income, Cambodian nationality, female sex, and caregiver type. Despite biopsychosocial risks, resilience is observed among PHIV and PHEU children. Further study is needed to understand mechanisms underlying associated factors and intervention priorities.

Neonatal perirhinal cortex lesions impair monkeys' ability to modulate their emotional responses.

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is a collection of brain regions best known for their role in perception, memory, and emotional behavior. Within the MTL, the perirhinal cortex (PRh) plays a critical role in perceptual representation and recognition memory, although its contribution to emotional regulation is still debated. Here, rhesus monkeys with neonatal perirhinal lesions (Neo-PRh) and controls (Neo-C) were tested on the Human Intruder (HI) task at 2 months, 4.5 months, and 5 years of age to assess the role of the PRh in the development of emotional behaviors. The HI task presents a tiered social threat to which typically developing animals modulate their emotional responses according to the level of threat. Unlike animals with neonatal amygdala or hippocampal lesions, Neo-PRh animals were not broadly hyper- or hyporesponsive to the threat presented by the HI task as compared with controls. Instead, Neo-PRh animals displayed an impaired ability to modulate their freezing and anxiety-like behavioral responses according to the varying levels of threat. Impaired transmission of perceptual representation generated by the PRh to the amygdala and hippocampus may explain the animals' inability to appropriately assess and react to complex social stimuli. Neo-PRh animals also displayed fewer hostile behaviors in infancy and more coo vocalizations in adulthood. Neither stress-reactive nor basal cortisol levels were affected by the Neo-PRh lesions. Overall, these results suggest that the PRh is indirectly involved in the expression of emotional behavior and that effects of Neo-PRh lesions are dissociable from neonatal lesions to other temporal lobe structures. (PsycINFO Database Record

매트운동프로그램이 경계선 지능아의 협응능력 및 정서행동 발달에 미치는 영향

이 연구는 경계선 지능아를 대상으로 매트운동 프로그램을 적용하여 운동기능체력의 향상과 정서행동 발달정도를 측정 및 분석함으로써 매트운동프로그램의 효과를 규명하는데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 선정한 피험자는 전라북도 관내 초등(특수)학교 특수학급에 재학 중인 만 9세에서 12세 사이의 경계선 지능아 아동 총 20명을 목적적 표집으로 구성하여 12주간 실시하였다. 측정도구 및 측정은 사전검사를 실시하기 전 대상 선별을 위한 검사로 사회성숙도 검사 및 기초운동기능체력 검사를 실시하였다. 측정은 사전·사후 각 1회 실시하여 사전 검사에 대한 동질성 검사로 독립표본 t-test검증을 실시하였으며 집단 간 평균차 검증으로 대응표본 t-test를 실시하고 사전검사요인의 영향을 제거한 후 측정한 결과를 알아보기 위하여 반복측정분산분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 첫째, 매트운동 프로그램은 경계선 지능아의 운동체력 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 매트운동 프로그램은 경계선 지능아의 정서행동 발달에 긍정적 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 지적 장애아동을 대상으로 연구뿐만 아니라 정상아와 지적장애아 사이에 놓인 경계선 지능아에 대한 좀 더 세부화 된 매뉴얼 개발 및 지속적인 학문적 관심을 가져야 할 필요가 있다.

Troubles du comportement alimentaire restrictif du nourrisson et du jeune enfant : évaluation quantitative des interactions parent/nourrisson pendant le repas

IntroductionInterest in the study of early feeding disorders (FD) has steadily increased during recent decades. During this period, research described the importance of the transactional relationships and the complex interplay between caregiver and child over time. On the basis of the previous studies, our study tried to explore the associations between the characteristics of the parents and the temperamental characteristics of the infants with early FD. GoalsA first aim of the present study was to show if parental perception of child temperament (including ability for arousal self-regulation) and parental characteristics (emotional and eating attitudes) are associated with early FD. A second aim was to identify emotional/behavioral difficulties in children with early FD by comparing children with a normal development and children with a diagnosed FD, and to investigate whether there are any correlations between parental emotional and feeding characteristics and a child's eating and emotional-behavioral development. A final aim was to explore if feeding conflict is bound to both infant ability for arousal self-regulatation and caregiver emotional status during meals. MethodParticipants: 58 clinical dyads (children aged 1–36 months) and 60 in the control group participated in the study. The sample of 58 infants and young children and their parents was recruited in a pediatric hospital. They were compared to healthy children recruited in several nurseries. Procedure: all parent-child pairs in the clinical sample were observed in a 20-minute video-recording during a meal using the procedure of the Chatoor Feeding Scale. After the videotaping, parents completed a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing their child's and their own psychological symptom status. Measures: Child's malnutrition assessment was based on the Waterlow criteria. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 1½–5) was used to assess a child's emotional/behavioral functioning. The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), a widely used parent-report measure of infant temperament, was used to identify the structure of infant temperament. The Eating Attitude Test-40, a self-report symptom inventory, was used to identify concerns with eating and weight in the adult population. The Chatoor Feeding Scale was used to assess mother–child feeding interactions during a meal based on the analysis of the videotaped feeding session. ResultsAnalyses revealed that children with FD did not have a difficult temperament, especially no disability for arousal of self-regulatation, but their emotional-behavioral functioning is characterized by internalizing problems. Analyses of the EAT-40 showed that mothers of the children diagnosed with FD had significantly higher scores than mothers of the control sample; it means these mothers showed more dysfunctional eating attitudes. In addition, meals were characterized by negative effects in parents in the clinical group. When compared to the control sample, the feeding interactions between children with FD and their parents were characterized by low dyadic reciprocity, high maternal non-contingency, great interactional conflict and struggles with food. However, no significant correlation emerged either between the severity of malnutrition in infants or the conflict during feeding. ConclusionOur study confirms the relations established in previous research. Finally, future longitudinal studies are needed to further clarify and investigate others factors that may be involved in early feeding disorders.

영아의 기질, 아버지의 양육참여와 영아의 사회·정서 행동발달간의 구조적 관계

영아의 기질, 아버지의 양육참여와 영아의 사회·정서 행동발달간의 구조적 관계

The Role of Nutrition in Brain Development: The Golden Opportunity of the “First 1000 Days”

Every child has a right to optimal cognitive, social, and emotional behavioral development. The cognitive, social, and emotional parts of the brain continue to develop across the lifespan. However, the brain's growth and development trajectory is heterogeneous across time. A great deal of the brain's ultimate structure and capacity is shaped early in life before the age of 3 years. 1 Fox S.E. Levitt P. Nelson C.A. How the timing and quality of early experiences influence the development of brain architecture. Child Dev. 2010; 81: 28-40 Crossref PubMed Scopus (579) Google Scholar The identification and definition of this particularly sensitive time period has sharpened the approach that public policies are taking related to promoting healthy brain development. The ramifications are large, because failure to optimize brain development early in life appears to have long-term consequences with respect to education, job potential, and adult mental health. 2 Walker S.P. Wachs T.D. Gardner J.M. Lozoff B. Wasserman G.A. Pollitt E.A. et al. Child development: risk factors for adverse outcomes in developing countries. Lancet. 2007; 369: 145-157 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1274) Google Scholar These long-term consequences are the “ultimate cost to society” of early life adversity.

Evidence for a Role of Adolescent Endocannabinoid Signaling in Regulating HPA Axis Stress Responsivity and Emotional Behavior Development.

Adolescence is a period characterized by many distinct physical, behavioral, and neural changes during the transition from child- to adulthood. In particular, adolescent neural changes often confer greater plasticity and flexibility, yet with this comes the potential for heightened vulnerability to external perturbations such as stress exposure or recreational drug use. There is substantial evidence to suggest that factors such as adolescent stress exposure have longer lasting and sometimes more deleterious effects on an organism than stress exposure during adulthood. Moreover, the adolescent neuroendocrine response to stress exposure is different from that of adults, suggesting that further maturation of the adolescent hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is required. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is a potential candidate underlying these age-dependent differences given that it is an important regulator of the adult HPA axis and neuronal development. Therefore, this review will focus on (1) the functionality of the adolescent HPA axis, (2) eCB regulation of the adult HPA axis, (3) dynamic changes in eCB signaling during the adolescent period, (4) the effects of adolescent stress exposure on the eCB system, and (5) modulation of HPA axis activity and emotional behavior by adolescent cannabinoid treatment. Collectively, the emerging picture suggests that the eCB system mediates interactions between HPA axis stress responsivity, emotionality, and maturational stage. These findings may be particularly relevant to our understanding of the development of affective disorders and the risks of adolescent cannabis consumption on emotional health and stress responsivity.

Increased Anxiety in Offspring Reared by Circadian Clock Mutant Mice

The maternal care that offspring receive from their mothers early in life influences the offspring’s development of emotional behavior in adulthood. Here we found that offspring reared by circadian clock-impaired mice show elevated anxiety-related behavior. Clock mutant mice harboring a mutation in Clock, a key component of the molecular circadian clock, display altered daily patterns of nursing behavior that is fragmented during the light period, instead of long bouts of nursing behavior in wild-type mice. Adult wild-type offspring fostered by Clock mutant mice exhibit increased anxiety-related behavior. This is coupled with reduced levels of brain serotonin at postnatal day 14, whose homeostasis during the early postnatal period is critical for normal emotional behavior in adulthood. Together, disruption of the circadian clock in mothers has an adverse impact on establishing normal anxiety levels in offspring, which may increase their risk of developing anxiety disorders.

The influence of sandplay and imaginative storytelling on children's learning and emotional-behavioral development in an Icelandic primary school

The motivation behind the study on sandplay and storytelling was the assumption that creative imagination is a powerful tool in the process of learning and emotional-behavioral development, an assumption grounded in scholarship that emphasizes the importance of play in child development and learning.The study investigated and evaluated the use of sandplay and storytelling and its influence on children's learning and emotional-behavioral development. The study took place in a primary school in Iceland. The pupils observed had learning disabilities, poor reading competence, attention and/or emotional problems.Each pupil made 12 sandplay creations and stories during the school year. Among the assessment tools were psychological tests: WISC, Achenbach and ADHD scales. All participants made progress in one or more area under observation. It is of special interest that eight pupils made significant improvement in their WISC scores. The most striking result occurred in perceptual scores, as 16 of 19 participants made progress in this area. The outcome of the psychological tests suggests that sandplay and imaginative storytelling facilitate children's emotional-behavioral development.

Non-human primate models of childhood psychopathology: the promise and the limitations.

Although non-human primate models have been used previously to investigate the neurobiology of several sensory and cognitive developmental pathologies, they have been employed only sparingly to study the etiology of childhood psychopathologies for which deficits in social behavior and emotion regulation are major symptoms. Previous investigations of both adult human and non-human primates have indicated that primate social behavior and emotion are regulated by a complex neural network, in which the amygdala and orbital frontal cortex play major roles. Therefore, this review will provide information generated from the study of macaque monkeys regarding the timing of normal social and emotional behavior development, the normal pattern of anatomical and functional maturation of the amygdala and orbital frontal cortex, as well as information regarding the neural and behavioral effects of early perturbations of these two neural structures. We will also highlight 'critical periods' of macaque development, during which major refinements in the behavioral repertoire appear to coincide with significant neural maturation of the amygdala and/or orbital frontal cortex. The identification of these 'critical periods' may allow one to better predict the specific behavioral impairments likely to appear after neonatal damage to one or both of these neural areas at different time points during development. This experimental approach may provide a new and important way to inform and stimulate research on childhood psychopathologies, such as autism, schizophrenia and Williams syndrome, in which the development of normal social skills and emotional regulation is severely perturbed. Finally, the promise and limitations inherent to the use of non-human primate models of childhood psychopathology will be discussed.

Neonatal social isolation alters both maternal and pup behaviors in rats.

The development of emotional behavior is dependent on the early experiences of the infant and the quality of maternal care. In these experiments, the effects of social isolation during the preweaning period on both pup behavior and maternal responsivity were examined. In the first study, the number of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted after brief maternal separation was measured in neonatal rats with differing histories of social isolation. The social isolation procedure consisted of 5 days of daily separation from the dam and littermates for either 3 or 6 hr. At both ages tested, socially isolated pups vocalized significantly less than control pups. In the second study, the effects of prior isolation either daily for 5 previous days (Chronic Isolation) or for 4 hr prior to testing (Acute Isolation) were examined in a T-maze choice test. Pup vocalizations in the presence of the dam and dams' maternal behavior were assessed. When the dam was confined to the start box or during the maternal free access period, both Chronic and Acute Isolates vocalized less than pups that had never left the home nest. Dams spent more time with and licked and groomed more frequently and for a longer time both Chronic and Acute Isolates compared to pups that had always been with dams in the home nest. These results suggest that early isolation experience can alter subsequent responses to separation stress in neonatal rats and that maternal behavior is sensitive to the prior experiences of offspring.

Infant Vocalization, Adult Aggression, and Fear Behavior of an Oxytocin Null Mutant Mouse

Previous studies have shown that oxytocin (OT)-deficient female mice produced by homologous recombination fail to lactate but exhibit normal parturition and reproductive behaviors. We examined the ultrasonic vocalizations of infant mice and the subsequent aggressive and fear behavior of adult male OT knockout (OT-KO) mice. Infant OT-KO mice were less vocal than wild-type (WT) control mice during separations from the mother and peers. Adult OT-KO males were generally more aggressive in isolation-induced and resident–intruder tests of aggression and less fearful in the plus maze and acoustic startle reflex tests than WT controls. Although the increase in tests of aggression was robust for OT-KO males from obligate litters (progeny of homozygous × homozygous crossings), the increase in aggression was reduced during tests for OT-KO males derived from nonobligate mating (progeny of heterozygous × heterozygous crossings), suggesting that the OT-KO genotype was not, by itself, responsible for the changes in adult behavior. We conclude that the absence of exposure to OT during development was associated with abnormalities in the development of emotional behavior.

Androgen modulates N-methyl-D-aspartate-mediated depolarization in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells.

Previously, research elucidating steroid hormone actions in the central nervous system has focused on their role in sexual reproduction and maintaining homeostasis. The hippocampus is a target of steroid modulation and is involved in the development of emotional behavior and memory storage. Area CA1 of the hippocampus contains a high density of androgen receptor (AR) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. NMDA receptors underlie excitatory synaptic transmission and excitotoxicity in CA1 neurons. The effects of AR activation on the neurophysiology of hippocampal pyramidal neurons is unknown. Standard intracellular recording techniques in hippocampal slices were used to investigate the effects of the non-aromatizable androgen, 5-alpha-dihydrotestos-terone-proprionate (DHTP), on CA1 pyramidal cell characteristics and NMDA receptor-mediated responses. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were unoperated, sham-operated (SHAM), gonadectomized (GDX), or gonadectomized with DHTP replacement therapy (GDX + DHTP). Neuronal AR was saturated by DHTP treatment as determined by binding studies and immunocytochemistry. Chronic DHTP treatment increased the action potential duration and decreased the fast afterhyperpolarization (fAHP) amplitude. To test the effect of DHTP on glutamate receptor-mediated responses, hippocampal slices were exposed to increasing concentrations of NMDA. In pyramidal cells from SHAM and GDX-treated animals, 30 microM NMDA induced an irreversible depolarization; the membrane potential of pyramidal cells from GDX + DHTP-treated animals recovered to baseline. The effect of DHTP was time dependent, implicating protein synthetic mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that androgens can influence pyramidal cell characteristics and neurotransmitter-evoked actions in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells.

Androgen modulates N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate‐mediated depolarization in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells

Previously, research elucidating steroid hormone actions in the central nervous system has focused on their role in sexual reproduction and maintaining homeostasis. The hippocampus is a target of steroid modulation and is involved in the development of emotional behavior and memory storage. Area CA1 of the hippocampus contains a high density of androgen receptor (AR) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. NMDA receptors underlie excitatory synaptic transmission and excitotoxicity in CA1 neurons. The effects of AR activation on the neurophysiology of hippocampal pyramidal neurons is unknown. Standard intracellular recording techniques in hippocampal slices were used to investigate the effects of the non-aromatizable androgen, 5-α-dihydrotestosterone-proprionate (DHTP), on CA1 pyramidal cell characteristics and NMDA receptor-mediated responses. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were unoperated, sham-operated (SHAM), gonadectomized (GDX), or gonadectomized with DHTP replacement therapy (GDX + DHTP). Neuronal AR was saturated by DHTP treatment as determined by binding studies and immunocytochemistry. Chronic DHTP treatment increased the action potential duration and decreased the fast afterhyperpolarization (fAHP) amplitude. To test the effect of DHTP on glutamate receptor-mediated responses, hippocampal slices were exposed to increasing concentrations of NMDA. In pyramidal cells from SHAM and GDX-treated animals, 30 μM NMDA induced an irreversible depolarization; the membrane potential of pyramidal cells from GDX + DHTP-treated animals recovered to baseline. The effect of DHTP was time dependent, implicating protein synthetic mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that androgens can influence pyramidal cell characteristics and neurotransmitter-evoked actions in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.