The child dream and the child transference

This paper explores the symbolic meaning of dreams in which children appear with special attention to the way children in dreams symbolize the self, particularly the dependent and developing self. It is suggested that patients' growth in analysis can be monitored by observing what happens to the children in their dreams. This paper also explores the vicissitudes of the child transference, in which the patient treats the analyst as a child. An analysis is described in which the child dream and the child transference played an important role in elucidating the patient's neurotic behaviors. The author contends that the child dream and the child transference are common and clinically useful phenomena, especially important in the analysis of dependency conflicts. An additional thesis of this paper is that the child transference is most likely to be found in instances where a patient played a parental role with one of their parents during childhood.     

Parental fear of negative child evaluation in child social anxiety

Parental anxiety has been linked to child anxiety in various studies. However, specific mechanisms responsible for this relationship in the context of child social anxiety are still largely unknown. A potential mediator between parental and child social anxiety may be parental fear of negative child evaluation (FNCE). To investigate this concept, we collected self-reported data from families with 9- to 16-year old children in a non-clinical sample (458 mother-child dyads and 336 father-child dyads). While both paternal and maternal FNCE predicted child social anxiety, only maternal FNCE mediated the association between maternal and child social anxiety. Maternal report of FNCE was also found to mediate the association between maternal social anxiety and general childhood emotional problems but not externalising problems. Overall, this study is the first to identify a mediator variable that may explain the association between mother and child social anxiety in school-age children. The results shed new light on the mechanisms by which fear and anxiety may be transmitted across generations.     

Early child care and early child development: Major findings of the NICHD study of early child care

The changing landscape of maternal employment in the USA has led to more and more children at younger and younger ages experiencing routine, non-maternal care. Great debate about the effects of day care beginning very early in life led to the launch of a major study in the USA, following more than 1000 children from birth. Study findings through the start of school are summarized. These highlight the fact that good quality child care and exposure to centre-based care predict somewhat advanced cognitive-linguistic functioning, but that lots of time spent in any kind of care (irrespective of its quality) and greater exposure to centre-based care are related to elevated—but not clinical—levels of externalizing problem behaviour. Clearly, risks and benefits are associated with early child care, at least as routinely experienced in the USA. It is critically important to distinguish distinctive aspects of the child-care experience (i.e., quality, quantity, type) in order to understand its complex effect on child development.     

Sequelae of child sexual abuse: a child and parent assessment

We present a case example of a 9-year-old, biracial girl and her mother. We integrate data collected from rating scales (e.g., Child Behavior Checklist; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), a free response measure (Thematic Apperception Test; Murray, 1943), and a direct observation measure (Parent-Child Interaction Assessment-II; Holigrocki, Kaminski, & Frieswyk, 1999, 2002) and reveal how a child sexual abuse victim's internal representations and symptoms manifest in both an interpersonal context and in the realm of play. We discuss assessment findings regarding how they provide for an idiographic understanding of the child.     

Exploring the relationships between maternal and child metacognitions and child anxiety

Research has shown that anxiety may be transmitted through verbal information pathways, for example, when parents share their anxious cognitions with their child. Less is known about the influence of parental metacognitions, that is, beliefs regarding thoughts, on child anxiety. We explored the relations between metacognitions in mothers and their children and anxiety in the children. Our study included 111 non‐clinical children aged 8 to 12 years and their mothers. Children rated their metacognitions, worry and anxiety, and mothers rated their metacognitions. Results indicated agreement between maternal and child metacognitions. Maternal metacognitions were positively associated with children's anxiety symptoms and worry, and this relation was mediated by the children's metacognitions. Our results warrant further examination of the role of parental metacognitions in child anxiety.     

From child pornography offending to child sexual abuse: A review of child pornography offender characteristics and risks for cross-over

In this review, concrete directions are provided for individual risk assessment, treatment planning, and future research on child pornography offending. First, based on reviewing offender characteristics, including demographics, socio-affective difficulties, cognitive distortions and psychosexual issues, it is concluded that despite individual differences, many child pornography offenders have psychological difficulties in multiple areas of functioning. Based on earlier child pornography offender typologies, it is proposed that risk factors of individual offenders can be viewed along the lines of two continua: (1) features related to criminal behavior, and (2) sexual deviance/fantasy. These continua not only give insight into psychological differences between offender types, but also allow for variation in the severity of psychological difficulties within offender types and therefore may enhance individual risk assessment and treatment planning. Moreover, risk factors for cross-over are discussed, including individual characteristics, factors related to engagement with the internet, and the offline environment. Future research should focus on the integration of risk domains within particular offending types. Specifically, research is needed on non-offending pedophiles in order to gain more insight into the relationship between pedophilia and child pornography offending in general.     

Conceiving a child to save a child: reproductive and filial ethics

I conclude that Mary and Abe's decision to conceive a child to save a child does not impose harm on persons or on relationships in the family. Nor does it evince a lack of respect for the child they have conceived. The ethical guidelines that support this conclusion can now be summarized. First, actions should not depersonalize or otherwise endanger personal relationships. Second, although ideally personal relationships are initiated and continued for their own sake, after a personal relationship has been established and sustained the motives for establishing it recede in importance. Third, the requirement of honesty looms especially large in the context of personal relationships. Fourth, privacy protects personal relationships in the family from intrusion by the state. Fifth, even if those with whom we stand in personal relationships are not fully rational or self-conscious, we should treat them with respect. Finally, persons often are called upon to make greater sacrifices in personal relationships. These principles represent only the barest beginnings of an ethics for filial relationships. Nonetheless, they mark progress in the direction of developing a more complete account. We should not suppose that ethics in the family always will be spontaneous or "natural". Over a century ago, Mill warned that nature and natural are "one of the most copious sources of false taste, false philosophy, false morality, and even bad law". Especially in the wake of medical advances, such as recombinant DNA and new reproductive technologies, the complexity of filial ethics will only increase. The demographics of an aging society will add further complexity to filial contexts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The relevance of current clinical practice in child psychotherapy to child psychiatry

SUMMARY

The role of child psychiatrists is evolving. Economic and psychosocial factors such as marital breakdown, inner city decline, unemployment, plus increased awareness of conditions such as Substance Abuse and all forms of Child Abuse have led to stress for children and their caretakers. There is also increasing recognition that with help many troubled children and their families can emerge better able to function. Child psychiatrists occupy a pivotal position in the child mental health team and need to be familiar with all the treatment options available to ensure their effective use. This paper presents examples of current work being undertaken by child psychotherapists and discusses the implications of this for the training of child psychiatrists as well as for clinical work.     

Taking parent personality and child temperament into account in child language development

Individual differences have become increasingly important in the study of child development and language. However, despite the important role parents play in children’s language, no work has examined how parent personality impacts language development. The current study examines the impact of parent personality as well as child temperament on language development in 460 16- to 30-month-old children and 328 31- to 42-month-old children. Findings from both groups suggest multiple aspects of children’s language abilities are correlated with their parent’s personality. Specifically, parent consciousness, openness, and agreeableness positively correlate with child vocabulary size and other language abilities. Results also replicate and expand research on child temperament and language – child effortful control and surgency were positively correlated, and negative affect negatively correlated with most language abilities even after controlling for parent personality. Critically, parent and child traits appear to impact a child’s language abilities above and beyond well-known predictors of language, such as age.