THE QUALITY OF FATHER–CHILD ROUGH‐AND‐TUMBLE PLAY AND TODDLERS’ AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN CHINA

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of the quality of early father–child rough‐and‐tumble play (RTP) on toddler aggressive behaviors and more fully understand how child, mother, and father characteristics were associated with higher quality father–child RTP among contemporary urban Chinese families. Participants included 42 families in Changsha, China. Play observations of fathers and their children were coded for RTP quality. The specific RTP quality of father–child reciprocity of dominance was associated with fewer toddler aggressive behaviors, as rated by both fathers and mothers. Mothers’ democratic parenting attitudes were associated with higher quality father–child RTP. These findings suggest that higher quality father–child RTP may be one way in which some fathers influence children's expression of aggressive behaviors, and the quality of father–child RTP may be influenced by the broader family, social, and cultural contexts.     

Lay counselors: Thoughts on the crossing of ecological frameworks and the use of lay counselors in the scale up of early infant mental health interventions

The recent call for the scale-up of evidence-based early childhood development interventions, in lower and middle-income countries and for minority groups in high-income countries, has seen numerous suggestions to train greater numbers of lay mental health workers to fulfill these functions. While studies have found that concepts from developed country settings, such as attachment, parental sensitivity, and containment, find purchase and relevance within developing settings, the management of contextual and cultural factors and the tensions of cultural interfacing in the rollout of these programs in developing country settings require consideration. Drawing on the experiences of two successful South African mother–infant home-visiting programs as examples, this article discusses some of the challenges in provision of attachment-based infant mental health programs and highlights the need for careful consideration of a number of factors pertaining to the recruitment, supervision, and management of lay mental health workers before large-scale rollout is conducted.     

Infant withdrawal and behavior problems in urban Chinese toddlers: Roles of maternal sensitivity to infant distress and emerging delay ability

Using a longitudinal design, this study examined the associations between infant temperamental withdrawal and behavior problems during toddlerhood and tested the moderating effects of maternal sensitivity to infant distress (MSID) and toddlers’ ability to delay gratification (ADG) in urban Chinese families. Participants were 84 Chinese children (37 boys, 47 girls) and their mothers. When the infants were 6 months old (T1: infancy), their mothers reported their temperamental withdrawal, and research assistants observed and coded MSID by using a subscale of the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort during free-play interaction. When the toddlers were 1 year old (T2: early toddlerhood), their mothers reported their internalizing and externalizing problems. When the toddlers were 2 years old (T3: late toddlerhood), their mothers again reported their internalizing and externalizing problems, and their abilities of delay gratification were assessed through a laboratory-based procedure. Infant temperamental withdrawal was associated with increased internalizing problems in early toddlerhood and increased externalizing problems during middle to late toddlerhood; infants whose mothers were extremely high sensitive or low sensitive to their distress or those with late poor ability of delay gratification were at particular risk. The findings highlight the importance of matching parenting and promotion of self-control for temperamental withdrawn children's optimal development.     

CAREGIVER'S DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AND YOUNG CHILDREN'S SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT DELAYS: A CROSS‐SECTIONAL STUDY IN POOR RURAL AREAS OF CHINA

Poverty and its associated factors put people at risk for depression. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of depressive symptoms (DS) of primary caregivers and socioemotional development (SED) delays of young children in poor rural areas of China, and to explore the association between them. Cross‐sectional data of 2,664 children aged 3 to 35 months and their primary caregivers were used for analysis. Characteristics of the child, caregiver, and family were collected through face‐to‐face caregiver interviews. DS were assessed by the Zung Self‐Rating Depression Scale (W.W. Zung, 1965, as cited in World Health Organization, 2016b ), and SED was evaluated by the Ages and Stage Questionnaires: Social‐Emotional (J. Squires, D. Bricker, & L. Potter, 1997). The χ² test, stratification analysis, and logistic regression analyses were used to explore the association. Among the caregivers, 40.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] [38.4, 42.1]), reported DS. Caregivers who were male, older and ethnic minorities as well as had a low level of education, a low family income, or more children were more likely to have DS. Of the children, 24.4% (95% CI [22.8, 26.0]) were recognized with SED delays. Older children displayed more delays than did younger children, but no significant differences between males and females were found. SED delays were significantly associated with mother outmigrating, male caregivers, older age, ethnic minorities, and low education or families with a single parent, low‐income, and having more children. Caregivers having DS, odds ratio (OR) = 2.40, 95% CI [1.99, 2.88], was a significant predictor of increased odds of SED delays; other factors were single‐parent family, OR = 1.99, 95% CI [1.37, 2.89], inadequate care, OR = 1.69, 95% CI [1.30, 2.21], physical punishment, OR = 1.61, 95% CI [1.33, 1.95], ethnic minorities, OR = 1.41, 95% CI [1.17, 1.71], and child age in months, OR = 1.03, 95% CI [1.02, 1.04], according to the logistic regression analysis. DS are prevalent among caregivers with young children in poor rural areas. Interventions to improve the mental health of caregivers and their parenting behaviors are needed to improve children's SED.     

IGNORING CHILDREN'S BEDTIME CRYING: THE POWER OF WESTERN‐ORIENTED BELIEFS

Ignoring children's bedtime crying (ICBC) is an issue that polarizes parents as well as pediatricians. While most studies have focused on the effectiveness of sleep interventions, no study has yet questioned which parents use ICBC. Parents often find children's sleep difficulties to be very challenging, but factors such as the influence of Western approaches to infant care, stress, and sensitivity have not been analyzed in terms of ICBC. A sample of 586 parents completed a questionnaire to investigate the relationships between parental factors and the method of ICBC. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Latent variables were used to measure parental stress (Parental Stress Scale; J.O. Berry & W.H. Jones, 1995), sensitivity (Situation‐Reaction‐Questionnaire; Y. Hänggi, K. Schweinberger, N. Gugger, & M. Perrez, 2010), Western‐oriented parental beliefs (Rigidity), and children's temperament (Parenting Stress Index; H. Tröster & R.R. Abidin). ICBC was used by 32.6% (n = 191) of parents in this study. Parents’ Western‐oriented beliefs predicted ICBC. Attitudes such as feeding a child on a time schedule and not carrying it out to prevent dependence were associated with letting the child cry to fall asleep. Low‐sensitivity parents as well as parents of children with a difficult temperament used ICBC more frequently. Path analysis shows that parental stress did not predict ICBC. The results suggest that ICBC has become part of Western childrearing tradition.     

Proclaiming and cultivating ‘childlikeness’: a subversive thread in Christian anthropology

If contemporary public discourse struggles with truncated notions of what it means to be human, nowhere is this more obvious than in our discussion and treatment of children. By and large, in our public discourse, we treat children as ‘little adults’ – as consumers, objects of beauty and fashion, career aspirants and sometimes even as sexual beings. By contrast, Jesus put children – as children – at the centre of his project in proclaiming the kingdom of God. He preserved a special place for children in his ministry, and in all three synoptics, he called his followers to ‘childlikeness’. This paper examines a subversive thread in historic theological anthropology. The nature of ‘childlikeness’ is explored and possible ways to cultivate childlikeness for adults are discussed. The notion of childlikeness has been rediscovered in recent times by the ‘Child Theology Movement’, but, in this paper, I wish to examine three linked authors who wrote on ‘childlikeness’ in the 19th and 20th centuries, predating the Child Theology Movement by some decades: George MacDonald, Baron Friedrich von Hügel and Gwendolen Greene.     

C. G. Jung and intuition: from the mindscape of the paranormal to the heart of psychology

Intuition is central in the work, practice, and philosophical legacy of C. G. Jung. In this paper, I will first discuss the importance of intuition for Jung in the paradigm usually designated the ‘paranormal’. Jung was attracted to intuition as an extra‐ordinary gift or function in the traditional sense, and this is considered here in relation to his 1896‐1899 Zofingia Lectures and 1902 On the Psychology and Pathology of So‐called Occult Phenomena: A Psychiatric Study. A significant development then occurred in 1913, when esotericist intuitions were turned toward psychological use with Jung's Red Book. There, his personal and private use of intuition – and we know how extraordinarily intuitive he was – led Jung to fully incorporate intuition at the core of his psychology. Not only in his practice, in the crucial intuitive form of empathy, but as we will see, also at the very heart of his theory. In 1921, Jung wrote Psychological Types, where intuition became one – the first – of the four fundamental functions and types of the psyche next to thinking, feeling, and sensation. In 1921, Jung proved to the world in rational argument that intuition was no longer a psychologist's hobby for table turning, but the most significant function of the psyche.