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 The findings highlight the importance of matching parenting and promotion of self-control for temperamental withdrawn children's optimal development.     

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.     

Integration versus conflict between schools of dream theory and dreamwork: integrating the psychological core qualities of dreams with the contemporary knowledge of the dreaming brain

The various ways schools of psychotherapy relate to dreams have been marked by isolationism and mutual conflict rather than self-examination and then integrating the discoveries and methods of other schools. Jung’s method was in opposition to Freud’s psychoanalysis. Existential psychology was dismissive of Freud’s and Jung’s discoveries, while cognitive dream interpretation and cognitive therapy sought other roads entirely. In addition, scientific and neuropsychological dream research has been only insignificantly tied to the psychotherapeutic dream theories. These conflicts and the lack of a comprehensive dream theory has made it convenient for the current rationalist collective consciousness and treatment systems to reject the often times challenging knowledge about ourselves that dreams can provide. This paper describes how contemporary theories of complex cybernetic information networks can create an overriding, constructive framework for uncovering common traits within the above-mentioned branches of dream research and dreamwork. Within this framework, ten core qualities are delineated, supported by both therapeutic knowledge as well as scientific research: 1) Dreams deal with matters important to us; 2) Dreams symbolize; 3) Dreams personify; 4) Dreams are trial runs in a safe place; 5) Dreams are online to unconscious intelligence; 6) Dreams are pattern recognition; 7) Dreams are high level communication; 8) Dreams are condensed information; 9) Dreams are experiences of wholeness; 10) Dreams are psychological energy landscapes. For each core quality I describe short dreamwork sequences from my own practice and a schematic image of how I perceive the overriding interaction between systems in the dreaming brain. For each core quality recommendations for practical dreamwork are provided. Finally, I draw attention to dreams as a huge psychological resource for humankind.     

Regression I. Experimental approaches to regression

The concept of regression is considered with an emphasis on the differences between the positions of Freud and Jung regarding its significance. The paper discusses the results of experimental analyses of individual experience dynamics (from gene expression changes and impulse neuronal activity in animals to prosocial behaviour in healthy humans at different ages, and humans in chronic pain) in those situations where regression occurs: stress, disease, learning, highly emotional states and alcohol intoxication. Common mechanisms of regression in all these situations are proposed. The mechanisms of regression can be described as reversible dedifferentiation, which is understood as a relative increase of the representation of low-differentiated (older) systems in the actualized experience. In all of the cases of dedifferentiation mentioned above, the complexity of the systemic organization of behaviour significantly decreases.     

Self,other and individuation: resolving narcissism through the lunar and solar paths of the Rosarium

This paper describes narcissism as our natural, infant-like behaviour, and specifies three characteristics relating to the evacuation and avoidance of distress, to control, and to distancing from relationship. It suggests that the processes of incarnation and individuation represent the development of the early ego and the ‘resolution’ of these narcissistic ways of being, including escape from the ‘mirror trap’. The development of the early, controlling ‘homunculus-ego’ entails the loosening and broadening of ego-identifications and the ego becoming subject to the Self. This is an embodied-relational-social-spiritual process outlined in detail by the full 20 woodcuts of the Rosarium Philosophorum, and specifically the lunar (relational) and solar (self-expressive) paths, which are explored herein. These processes are illustrated with respect to the interaction between infant and caregiver, clinical vignettes and examples from the political sphere.     

Development and initial reliability and validity of a new measure of distorted maternal representations: The Mother–Infant Relationship Scale

Distorted maternal representations (DMRs)—mother's ideas, understanding, and feelings about the infant—shape early interaction and the emerging relationship. Distorted interactions reportedly affect infant attachment and socioemotional development and may be associated with maternal early adversity and trauma. Limited measures are available that could be used as screening tools of DMRs. The aims of this study were to (a) describe the development of the Mother–Infant Relationship Scale (MIRS) and (b) to evaluate its psychometric properties. The development and validation of the MIRS closely followed standard guidelines for the development of psychometric tests. Psychometric properties were examined across two samples: 78 adult psychiatric patients with features of borderline personality and 86 individuals from a nonclinical sample (N = 164). The scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .91) for the clinical sample and adequate internal consistency (.78) for the nonclinical sample, excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = .81), and good concurrent validity with an observational (Pearson's correlation coefficients = −.35 to −.54) and a representational measure (.53). Factor analysis revealed three components: DMRs specific to (a) maternal hostility/rejection of the infant, (b) issues about parenting/attachment, and (c) anxiety/helplessness about infant care. Findings suggest that the MIRS is a reliable and valid screening tool of DMRs. Potential uses in clinical and research settings are discussed.