Less is more: meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood

Is early preventive intervention effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security, and if so, what type of intervention is most successful? Seventy studies were traced, producing 88 intervention effects on sensitivity (n = 7,636) and/or attachment (n = 1,503). Randomized interventions appeared rather effective in changing insensitive parenting (d = 0.33) and infant attachment insecurity (d = 0.20). The most effective interventions used a moderate number of sessions and a clear-cut behavioral focus in families with, as well as without, multiple problems. Interventions that were more effective in enhancing parental sensitivity were also more effective in enhancing attachment security, which supports the notion of a causal role of sensitivity in shaping attachment.     

Portraits of Life: Patterns of Events Over the Lifespan

This explorative content-analytic study completes earlier studies on the lifespan distributions of number and affect of past and future life-events, collected by means of the Life-line Interview Method (LIM), for three age groups of men and women (young, middle and late adulthood). LIM events were classified into 40 subcategories divided over 9 categories: Relations, School, Work, Health, Growth, Home, Birth, Death and Other. Compression of the full data set by age group, gender, affect, decade, and time perspective, disclosed various patterns of events underlying the human life-course, e.g., the 'bump,' 'rosy view' and 'gender phase contrast' patterns. The compressed data set provided detailed material for the composition of three written group portraits of life, reflecting the modal life story of young, middle-aged and older men and women. Patterns and portraits show a content shift of past memories and future expectations over the lifespan, supporting a more dynamic view on the human life-course.     

Pity or peanuts? Oxytocin induces different neural responses to the same infant crying labeled as sick or bored

The neuropeptide oxytocin plays an important role in mother–infant bonding. However, recent studies indicate that the effects of oxytocin on prosociality are dependent on perceived social context. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined differential effects of intranasally administered oxytocin on neural responding to 500 and 700 Hz crying that was indicated as emanating from a sick infant and 500 and 700 Hz crying emanating from a bored infant. We found that oxytocin significantly increased insula and inferior frontal gyrus responding to sick infant crying, but decreased activation in these brain regions during exposure to crying of an infant that was labeled as bored. In addition, oxytocin decreased amygdala responding to 500 Hz crying, but increased amygdala responding to 700 Hz crying. These findings indicate that labeling the same infant crying as ‘sick’ or as ‘bored’ drastically changes neural activity in response to intranasal oxytocin administration. Oxytocin increases empathic reactions to sick infants' crying, but lowers the perceived urgency of crying of an infant perceived as bored, thus flexibly adapting adult responses to infant crying labeled in various ways.     

A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Providers’ Perspectives on the Implications of Genome-Wide Testing in Pediatric Clinical Practice

The utilization of genome-wide chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) in pediatric clinical practice provides an opportunity to consider how genetic diagnostics is evolving, and to prepare for the clinical integration of genome-wide sequencing technologies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 healthcare providers (7 genetic counselors, 4 medical geneticists, and 4 non-genetics providers) to investigate the impact of CMA on clinical practice, and implications for providers, patients and families. Interviews were analyzed qualitatively using content analysis. Most providers reported that genomic testing enhanced their professional experience and was beneficial to patients, primarily due to the improved diagnostic rate compared with earlier chromosomal studies. Other effects on practice included moving towards genotype-first diagnosis and broadening indications for chromosomal testing. Opinions varied concerning informed consent and disclosure of results. The duty to disclose incidental findings (IFs) was noted; however concerns were raised about potential psychosocial harms of disclosing pre-symptomatic findings. Tensions were revealed between the need for comprehensive informed consent for all families and the challenges of communicating time-consuming and potentially anxiety-provoking information regarding uncertain and incidental findings that may be relevant only in rare cases. Genetic counselors can play an important role in liaising with families, health professionals and testing laboratories, providing education and guidance to non-genetics providers, and enabling families to receive adequate pre-and post-test information and follow-up care.     

Children’s strategy use when playing strategic games

Strategic games require reasoning about other people’s and one’s own beliefs or intentions. Although they have clear commonalities with psychological tests of theory of mind, they are not clearly related to theory of mind tests for children between 9 and 10 years of age “Flobbe et al. J Logic Language Inform 17(4):417–442 (2008)”. We studied children’s (5–12 years of age) individual differences in how they played a strategic game by analyzing the strategies that they applied in a zero, first, and second-order reasoning task. For the zero-order task, we found two subgroups with different accuracy levels. For the first-order task, subgroups of children applied different suboptimal strategies or an optimal strategy. For the second-order task only suboptimal strategies were present. Strategy use for all tasks was related to age. The 5- and 6-year old children were additionally tested on theory of mind understanding and executive functioning. Strategy-use in these children was related to working memory, but not to theory of mind after correction for age, verbal ability and general IQ.     

The im-materiality of urban religion: towards an ethnography of urban religious aspirations

In recent years, scholars from a wide variety of disciplines have engaged in the study of urban religion. Taken together, these studies form a paradigm that intertwines (1) the politics of belonging, (2) regimes of space and territoriality, (3) materiality and sensorial power and (4) visibility. We argue that while scholars have conceptualised these aspects in very nuanced ways, there is a need to address in a more rigorous way immaterial dimensions of urban religion. We encapsulate these immaterial dimensions in the notion of ‘urban religious aspirations’, meaning the multiple ideational sources that underpin people’s religious investments in urban life. We illustrate the relevance of studying aspirations with an ethnographic example of two Hong Kong Christian women and their involvement in the Umbrella Movement. Exploring their narratives demonstrates the need to take immaterial aspects of religious life into account when researching urban religion, especially in contexts where the distinction between the religious and the secular is less clearly defined.     

Time Costs for Genetic Counseling in Preconception Carrier Screening with Genome Sequencing

Advances in technology and the promise of personalized health care are driving greater use of genome sequencing (GS) for a variety of clinical scenarios. As health systems consider adopting GS, they need to understand the impact of GS on the organization and cost of care. While research has documented a dramatic decrease in the cost of sequencing and interpreting GS, few studies have examined how GS impacts genetic counseling workloads. This study examined the time needed to provide genetic counseling for GS in the context of preconception carrier screening. Genetic counselors prospectively reported on the time spent in the results disclosure process with 107 study participants who were part of the NextGen study. We found that the median time for results disclosure was 64 min (ranged from 5 to 229 min). Preparation work was the most time-consuming activity. Qualitative data from journal entries, debrief interviews with genetic counselors, and detailed case conference notes provided information on factors influencing time for results disclosure and implications for practice. Results suggest that expanded carrier screening could require significant increases in genetic counseling time, unless we are able to generate new resources to reduce preparation work or develop other strategies such as the creation of new models to deliver this type of service.