Hungarian Child Research Articles

Validation and psychometric properties of the sense of coherence scale in a Hungarian child and adolescent sample

AbstractSense of coherence (SOC) is a relevant contributor and predictor of the individuals' mental and physical health. There are a number of studies about SOC, but only two validation articles of the sense of coherence scale (SOCS) were found on adolescents and none on children. The aim of this research was to validate the SOC scale in youth under 18. We hypothesized that younger children and children without psychiatric problems will have higher SOC than older ones, and children with psychiatric symptoms. We also wanted to examine the factor structure of both the 13 and the 29 item versions of the scale to study which is more valid in child and adolescent population. 199 children and 198 adolescents were included in the study; the mean age was 14.3 (SD 2.1) years. The sample included average youth from schools and youth under psychiatric treatment. Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Inventory of Life Quality (ILK) were used for validation of the SOCS. SOCS-13 was applied to compare SOC of children and adolescents. Children had higher SOC than adolescents in both samples. Males had higher SOC than females in children but not in adolescents. Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms were associated with a lower SOC regardless of age. Confirmatory factor analysis proved a three-factor structure model for both the 13 and the 28 item versions of the SOCS. The short form of the sense of coherence scale is valid and reliable to be used with children and adolescents from 10 to 18 years of age.

A little more of that, a bit less of this: A probe into demonstrative use in Hungarian child language

This paper reports on the results of a pioneering pilot production study and a corpus study aimed at exploring demonstrative use in child Hungarian. Production data from an elicitation task have revealed that children use proportionally more distal demonstrative items than members of the adult control group. We have found a similar difference between child language and child-directed adult language data in an independent corpus study that we have conducted. The experimental results indicate that the demonstrative use of 4-year-old children is divergent: adopting the terminology introduced by Clark and Sengul (1978), some children are at the NO CONTRAST stage, others show signs of being at the transitional, PARTIAL CONTRAST stage, and 6 children out of 13 participants have already developed adult-like patterns, they are at the FULL CONTRAST stage.

Deinstitutionalisation in Hungarian child protection: Policy and practice changes in historical contexts

The aim of the study is to present the historical changes in child protection in Hungary and the process of deinstitutionalisation, which is still shaping child protection work in this country. The research seeks to answer the question of how the process of institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation was implemented in Hungary in the socialist era and after the introduction of Act XXXI of 1997 on the Protection of Children and on the Directorate for Guardianship (Act XXXI of 1997), which was a milestone in the Hungarian child protection for the 0-3-year olds. The study employs a case study methodology with secondary data corpus including legislation and data provided by the Central Statistical Office in Hungary. The scientific approach of the study is mainly historical, presenting the main features of child protection in three distinct periods 1950-1970, 1980-1995 and 1996-2018. The findings indicate that the socialist era has had a prevailing influence on child protection for many decades, but the years following the transition into democracy brought major transformation in child protection, a "transition of the child protection system", paving the way for the process of deinstitutionalisation and the emergence of alternative forms of care.

Epidemiology and clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized children across four waves in Hungary: A retrospective, comparative study from March 2020 to December 2021.

From 2019 till the present, infections induced by the novel coronavirus and its mutations have posed a new challenge for healthcare. However, comparative studies on pediatric infections throughout waves are few. During four different pandemic waves, we intended to investigate the clinical and epidemiological characteristic of the pediatric population hospitalized for severe acute respiratorysyndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) virus infection. Between March 2020 and December 2021, we performed our retrospective research on children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the University of Szeged. We analyzed the data of all patients who required hospitalization due to positive results of SARS-CoV-2 tests (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test or rapid antigen test). Data analysis included demographic data, medical history, clinical findings, length of hospitalization, and complications, using medical records. In this study, data from 358 coronavirus-infected children were analyzed. The most affected age group was children over 1 month and under 1 year (30.2%). The highest number of cases was recorded in the fourth wave (53.6%). Fever (65.6%), cough (51.4%), nasal discharge (35.3%), nausea and vomiting (31.3%), and decreased oral intake (28.9%) were the most common symptoms. The most common complications were dehydration (50.5%), pneumonia (14.9%), and bronchitis/bronchiolitis (14.5%). Based on RR values, there are considerable differences in the prevalence of the symptoms and complications between the different age groups and waves. Cox proportional hazard model analyzes showed that fever and tachypnoea had a relevant effect on days to recovery. We found trends similar to those previously published, overall statistics. The proportion of children requiring hospitalization varied from wave to wave, with the fourth wave affecting the Hungarian child population the most. Our findings suggest that hospitalization time is unrelated to age, but that certain symptoms (fever and tachypnoea) are associated with longer hospitalization. The onset of certain symptoms may differ by age group.

A szórvány magyar tanköteles gyermekek családon kívüli elhelyezése Baranyában az 1941–1942-es tanévben

The framework for the placing of Hungarian compulsory school children outside the family was based on the 25.360/1941. Religion and Public Education Ministerial decree, which constituted new provisions from the 1941/1942 school year for the education of native Hungarian children living in non-Hungarian environment. The reason for issuing the decree was the growing demand of the nationalities for education in their native language, which the Hungarian state – after the failure of the unified education system introduced in 1935 – made available to them in 1941. This measure was supported by nationalities as well, but at the same time we must not forget that the Horthy-era represented a strong national policy, and the patriotic, national education began in elementary school. Thus, the education of Hungarian children could not be neglected while striving to fulfil the needs of nationalities. According to paragraph 1 of the 25.360/1941. Religion and Public Education Ministerial decree on the education of Hungarian children: ‘A native Hungarian compulsory school child living in Hungary, who stays in a not native Hungarian environment must be educated in a Hungarian school or class, by a traveling teacher, in a Hungarian boarding school, or in another native Hungarian environment.’ The placing of children outside the family was only necessary if there was no school with Hungarian educational language in the municipality, because in that case ‘a native Hungarian child living in the municipality (city) can only be sent by his or her tutelary to such a school, until reaching the age of compulsory schooling.’ In accordance with the decree, from the summer of 1941 the Education Inspectorate collected data on the native Hungarian compulsory school children who lived in a non-Hungarian environment to provide them enrolment elsewhere. The first version of the options listed in the decree (Hungarian school or class in municipality) is not the subject of the study, since in that case, the child remains in the family. The second version – a traveling teacher – would not cause change either, but I did not find any example of this in the archives anyway. What may be more interesting in the terms of Family law is the placing in a boarding school or with a family of a relative or acquaintance in native Hungarian environment - this is indicated by the phrase in an otherwise ‘native Hungarian environment’. I give examples of these cases – boarding school and placement in Hungarian families – from practice based on archival records.

Egy gyermekcsoport szerepe a családsegítésben részesülő családokban nevelkedő hátrányos helyzetű gyermekek körében 1995–2005 között

The aim of this paper is to analyse the methods and effects of a children group, which existedfrom 1995 till 2005. The relevance of this group is, that the beginning of this period preludes theconstitution of the Hungarian child protection law. After the transmission period the emergingsocial service system provided (or at least tried) supports and services. Those families whosechildren were involved in this child group were dealing with unemployment, poverty, lack ofproper housing, abuse, deviance and addictions. The significance of this group that the givenservice was easily ductile to the needs of the children and families.

New ways towards a service-oriented, participatory child protection in Hungary

The core aspect of the child welfare and protection thought focusing on the family and channelling community resources is that in order to preserve the unity of the family, it is necessary to widely introduce from the local community the services into the family’s life, thus mobilizing the internal resources of the family, and acknowledging parenting, as a social value. Integrative child protection is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional process. The research examines how the Hungarian child protection professionals in child welfare services and centres, child protection institutions and foster care system reflect on the professional work, and on the dysfunctions identified in child protection field work. I also examine how social work training and practice can help to incorporate professional values into field work. I analyse how social assistance can be adequate in general, and how social work became asocial in the late modernity and in a rapidly changing, unpredictable service environment.

Social Problems and Economic Performance: Social Innovations in the Hungarian Child Protection System

Social Problems and Economic Performance: Social Innovations in the Hungarian Child Protection System

A gyermekvédelmi rendszer prevenciós szerepe a bűnmegelőzésben a Csemegi-kódextől napjainkig

The delinquency of children of tender age and juveniles is a social phenomenon of specific concern. This is the group of offenders concerning which jurisprudence, jurisdiction, social services and any other organizations coming into contact with juvenile offenders are able to do the most in order to have the youth become law-abiding citizens as adults. The authority measures that are performed in the frame of the administrative procedure provide a part in the Hungarian child protection system. The authority measures of the Hungarian child protection care system can be grouped according to its reason and system of instrument as a kind of protecting-safeguarding action furthermore as measures that result in the removal of the child from his family. Preventive patronage has been of legal force since the 1st of January 201. In Hungarian areas of law this new legal institution has roots in criminal law and it got placed into the system of child protection based on the authorization of the 1430/2011 (XII. 13.) governmental decision despite the fact that the reasons of its creation were first and foremost the reduction of child- and juvenal criminality and the effective reintegration of the perpetrators.

The Ethical Dimension of Professional Integrity in the Hungarian Child Protection System

Abstract Following a discussion about ethics and social work, in this article, we will present the main results of three researches conducted in the past few years on the Hungarian child protection system. These studies highlight the professional gaps, the prejudiced beliefs related to the primary (children) and secondary (parents) client systems of child protection, the value crisis in professional mentalities, and the crisis of the profession in general. We argue that a change in mentalities and professional treatment in the operational practice requires a thorough reconsideration of the ethical dimensions of child protection to the extent of developing and introducing their own code of ethics. As the helping profession is actively involved in the transformation of the welfare state, in parallel with restructuring welfare conditions, we should reconsider how the scarce methodological framework for practice at the national level can cope with problems and how it can emancipate the clients and serve their well-being. The research results indicate that the direction of development is to create an activating and mobilizing helper system that can preserve the core values of the profession as well as adapt to social changes and reflect on the expectations of the public policy thereof.

‘Happiness again’: photographing and narrating the arrival of Hungarian child refugees and their families 1956–1957

The Australian government has long been involved in creating, collecting and circulating photographs of newly arrived immigrants, displaced people and refugees. Many of these images have been used for internal and external promotional/propaganda purposes. In this article I use news reports and visual photographic material depicting Hungarian refugee children and their families, alongside an analysis of government agendas and communication strategies, to examine how these ‘new Australians’ were understood and presented to the nation. After the 1956 anti-Communist uprising in Hungary, just over 14,000 Hungarian refugees were resettled in Australia. The federal government specially sought out a number of ‘compassionate cases such as children’, and many groups and individuals within the host population offered support to care for what they imagined would be large numbers of orphaned and unaccompanied Hungarian children. These Hungarian refugees came to Australia in the context of increased government interest in public relations and publicity around immigration. A Public Relations director in the Department of Immigration was appointed in 1955 and a publicity section was also established as part of the Planning and Research Division. Discussions by the Immigration Planning Council during 1956 plainly stated that ‘business’ was now the driving force for immigration rather than ‘the “refugee” concept’. Tasman Heyes, the Secretary of the Department of Immigration, agreed but also felt that these two forces were and could be combined, pointing out that since 1951 Australia had received ‘international credit for contributing to the solution of an international problem’ by achieving the integration of these aims. This article examines how refugee children and families were positioned in relation to the fraught pairing of economic and humanitarian concerns, thus interrogating broader understandings of immigration, children and families within the Australian nation that are revealed in these moments of photographic capture and circulation.

A gyermekvédelem peremén

The paper studies how negative life events affect risk behaviour of children and young people. Calculations on the database of the ‘Hungarian youth 2012’ research suggest that negative life events are strong predictors of different types of risk behaviour like alcohol, drug abuse and suicide. According to the data people who have experienced several and more serious negative life events, more likely refuse and turn away from the norms of the adult society than those whose life proves to be less stressful. To place these results into child protection context, the study calls attention to the fact that the Hungarian child protection system does not treat each group in the fragmented society equally, although, on the basis of the incidence of threat it should. Another important message of this paper is to highlight that in addition to scientific values large-scale sociological research studies have professional and practical values as well. To support it, from the questions of the well-known Holmes-Rahe scale the authors re-developed an exploration scale (Reduced Life Events Scale). The application of the Reduced Life Event Scale (or the original Holmes-Rahe scale) allows experts to focus more on the studied issues in the process of planning services, prevention and case work. The tool might propose solutions to use the insufficient resources in a more targeted way.

Does the Hungarian child protection system provide appropriate responses to the problem of street children?

Does the Hungarian child protection system provide appropriate responses to the problem of street children?

Child protection in light of the Theory of Change

It is essential that the child’s individual needs determine the required services and how these can give adequate responses to children’s problems. In Hungary, the child protection system is driven by less established professional principles, service planning and provision are of an ad hoc nature, child protection services lack any conscious design. The present study is based upon main qualitative results obtained from the research subject of “Is the State a Good Parent?”. Our goal is to reveal how the child’s needs are met in the system of the Hungarian child protection services (institutional and foster care), in what way the system can serve best the interests of the child, what systemic flaws can be identified according to child protection experts opinion.

The pronoun interpretation problem in child Hungarian

In a number of languages, children have problems with the interpretation of pronouns if a potential local antecedent is present. There is an intensive debate on whether this effect is due to a delayed acquisition of Principle B, or it is the result of pragmatic or processing difficulties that children face in interpretation tasks. We conducted two experiments involving a picture-sentence verification task to investigate whether the Pronoun Interpretation Problem exists in Hungarian child language. We found that the Problem is present if the test sentences are given in isolation, but it disappears if a minimally coherent discourse is created. We argue that our results support the view that the binding principles are innate and do not need to be acquired, but children have problems with computing coreference options in certain contexts (Reinhart 2004; 2006; 2011). Coherent discourse allows children to accommodate pronouns with close to adult-like success because in this case they do not calculate local coreference possibilities for pronouns.

Somatic mosaicism of the PIK3CA gene identified in a Hungarian girl with macrodactyly and syndactyly

Isolated macrodactyly (OMIM 155500) belongs to a heterogeneous group of overgrowth syndromes. It is a congenital anomaly resulting in enlargement of all tissues localized to the terminal portions of a limb and caused by somatic mutations in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic alpha (PIK3CA, OMIM 171834) gene. Here we report a Hungarian girl with macrodactyly and syndactyly. Genetic screening at hotspots in the PIK3CA gene identified a mosaic mutation (c.1624G > A, p.Glu542Lys) in the affected tissue, but not in the peripheral blood. To date, this somatic mutation has been reported in eight patients affected by different forms of segmental overgrowth syndromes. Detailed analysis of the Hungarian child and previously reported cases suggests high phenotypic diversity associated with the p.Glu542Lys somatic mutation. The identification of the mutation provides a novel therapeutic modality for the affected patients: those who carry somatic mutations in the PIK3CA gene are potential recipients of a novel “repurposing” approach of rapamycin treatment.

SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN HUNGARY FROM A CHILD PROTECTION PERSPECTIVE

This paper deals with the issue of social exclusion from a child protection perspective. With the help of publications, statistical data, and the presentation of the main research results, the issue of child poverty is discussed, the main emphasis being on the situation of children removed from or leaving their families, especially those living in residential care homes. In Hungary, the number of studies related to the child protection system is limited and little is known about the school career, employment, or family establishment of those with a care background. We have little information about how well the system prepares them for independent life and how to classify their social integration. The paper also discusses the development of and challenges facing Hungarian child protection on a systemic level.

Concept of Corporate Parenting in the Hungarian Child Protection System

Concept of Corporate Parenting in the Hungarian Child Protection System

Early detection of Angelman syndrome resulting from de novo paternal isodisomic 15q UPD and review of comparable cases

BackgroundAngelman syndrome is a rare neurogenetic disorder that results in intellectual and developmental disturbances, seizures, jerky movements and frequent smiling. Angelman syndrome is caused by two genetic disturbances: either genes on the maternally inherited chromosome 15 are deleted or inactivated or two paternal copies of the corresponding genes are inherited (paternal uniparental disomy). A 16-month-old child was referred with minor facial anomalies, neurodevelopmental delay and speech impairment. The clinical symptoms suggested angelman syndrome. The aim of our study was to elucidate the genetic background of this case.ResultsThis study reports the earliest diagnosed angelman syndrome in a 16-month-old Hungarian child. Cytogenetic results suggested a de novo Robertsonian-like translocation involving both q arms of chromosome 15: 45,XY,der(15;15)(q10;q10). Molecular genetic studies with polymorphic short tandem repeat markers of the fibrillin-1 gene, located in the 15q21.1, revealed that both arms of the translocated chromosome were derived from a single paternal chromosome 15 (isodisomy) and led to the diagnosis of angelman syndrome caused by paternal uniparental disomy.ConclusionsAS resulting from paternal uniparental disomy caused by de novo balanced translocation t(15q;15q) of a single paternal chromosome has been reported by other groups. This paper reviews 19 previously published comparable cases of the literature. Our paper contributes to the deeper understanding of the phenotype-genotype correlation in angelman syndrome for non-deletion subclasses and suggests that patients with uniparental disomy have milder symptoms and higher BMI than the ones with other underlying genetic abnormalities.

Changes in anthropometrical data of the Hungarian child and adult population during the last thirty years based on family studies conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine at Budapest

Studies of the Hungarian child and adult population have revealed striking changes over the past thirty years with respect to body height and body mass, an observation, which has also been confirmed by other investigations (Gyenis & Joubert 2003, Maródi et. al. 2002). Based on these deviations the authors were interested in the variability of some anthropometrical head measures, which are of particular importance for forensic anthropological questions concerning face reconstruction (Editorial 2001, Jayprakash et. al. 2001, Szilvdssy & Kritscher 1997, Szilvdssy et al. 1997). The majority of such reconstruction methods, however, do not take into consideration the process of secular trend. It is the aim of this study to improve the anthropological basis for exact reconstruction methods by elaboration of temporal changes of face, head and body measures of the Hungarian population collected during the past thirty years. For this data from 2353 adults and 861 children investigated in 1974, and 869 adults 287 children investigated between 1994 and 2004 are available.