Parenting stress and competence among mothers of young children with substance use disorders: The roles of trauma and reflective functioning

Posttraumatic stress symptoms are prominent in the lives of parents of young children with substance use disorders (SUD). Parenting experiences, particularly stress and competence, impact parenting behaviors and concomitant child growth and development. Factors that promote positive experiences of parenting, such as parental reflective functioning (PRF), and protect the mother and child from negative outcomes are crucial to understand to develop effective therapeutic interventions. The current US study analyzed baseline data from a parenting intervention evaluation to examine how length of substance misuse, PRF, and trauma symptoms were associated with parenting stress and parenting sense of competence among mothers in treatment for SUDs. Measures included the Addiction Severity Index, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report, Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index/Short Form, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. The sample included 54 predominantly White mothers with SUDs who had young children. Two multivariate regression analyses found that (1) lower parental reflective functioning and higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with higher parenting stress, and (2) only higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with lower levels of parenting sense of competence. Findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma symptoms and PRF when aiming to improve parenting experiences for women with an SUD.     

Revisiting the African origins of attachment research—50 years on from Ainsworth: A descriptive review

Culture plays a significant role in the variations observed in the manifestation, expression, and meaning of attachment behaviors. Africa is home to multiple cultures, with distinct organizations of caregiving relationships underlying the development of attachment. This review aims to consolidate knowledge about African attachment by describing studies of infant attachment conducted in Africa since Mary Ainsworth's Ugandan findings in 1967. Electronic databases were searched with the terms “Africa” (“attachment” or “bond”) and “infant.” Nine studies that assessed infant attachment style with self-report or observation methods were included, but spanned only five countries. The Strange Situation Procedure was most frequently used. Most studies described dyads living in peri-urban or township areas. Multiple socioeconomic factors affecting living conditions were identified, including, unemployment, financial difficulties, limited education, poor housing, single parenthood, lack of partner support, substance abuse, and depression. Overall distributions of attachment classification proportions appear consistent with global attachment-classification patterns. Despite adverse conditions, secure attachment was relatively widespread, and some populations had low rates of avoidant attachment. Relatively high rates of disorganized attachment were found when the category was included. Africa remains an understudied continent regarding infant attachment. The continent's cultural diversity may hold important truths necessary for understanding the complex relationship between infant and attachment figure.     

EARLY REGULATION IN CHILDREN WHO ARE LATER DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER. A LONGITUDINAL STUDY WITHIN THE DANISH NATIONAL BIRTH COHORT

Studies have shown that children later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in their first years of life might show symptoms in main developmental areas and that these signs might be sensed by the parents. The present study investigated in a large birth cohort if children later diagnosed with ASD had deviations at 6 and 18 months in areas such as the ability to self‐regulate emotions, feeding, and sleeping. The study was based on prospective information collected from 76,322 mothers who participated in the Danish National Birth Cohort. When the children reached an average age of 11 years, 973 children with ASD and a control group of 300 children with intellectual disability (IDnoASD) were identified via Danish health registries. Associations were found between short periods of breast‐feeding and the children later diagnosed with ASD and IDnoASD as well as associations at 18 months to deviations in regulation of emotions and activity. The similarities in these associations emphasize how difficult it is to distinguish between diagnoses early in life.     

读帛书《缪和》篇

帛书《易》的出土,使我们看到了汉初今文本的原貌,而最可贵者,乃是帛书《易传》各篇中多有对经文的解释,虽不系统完整,但亦可使我们窥见不少汉初今文《易》义。今试举《缪和》篇中数条较为完整可观的卦例,并将其与《经典释文》、《周易集解》所引汉魏诸家之解作一对比,以期为我们重新认识汉《易》,特别是今文《易》与古文《易》,提供一些重要启发与借鉴。     

Beziehungsorientierte Prävention und Intervention in der frühen Kindheit

Zusammenfassung Präventions- und Interventionsansätze in der frühen Kindheit messen der Beziehung zwischen Eltern und Kind entscheidende Bedeutung bei. Forschungsbefunde, insbesondere aus der Bindungstheorie, belegen einen Zusammenhang zwischen früher Bindungsunsicherheit oder Störungen in der Eltern-Kind-Interaktion und späteren Verhaltensproblemen beim Kind. Dabei gilt frühe (hoch-) unsichere Bindung dann als Risikofaktor, wenn sie in Kumulation und in Wechselwirkung mit anderen psychosozialen Risiken auftritt. Diese Befunde, ebenso wie jüngere Forschungsergebnisse über die Bedeutung sensibler Perioden in der Gehirnentwicklung, sprechen für die Notwendigkeit beziehungsorientierter und früher Intervention, besonders in Familien mit psychosozialen Risiken. Dabei wird frühe und präventive Intervention in Anlehnung an Stern als ein klinisches Feld mit qualitativ neuen Anforderungen diskutiert. Diese lassen sich aus den Besonderheiten der Entwicklungspsycho(patho)logie der frühen Kindheit ableiten. Es werden beispielhaft Interventionsansätze vorgestellt, die den Prinzipien von theoretischer Konzeptualisierung und Wirksamkeitsüberprüfung entsprechen, wie sie in Leitlinien für präventive Intervention gefordert werden. Aspekte der nachhaltigen Einbindung präventiver Interventionsansätze in bestehende Hilfesysteme werden abschließend diskutiert.     

Maternal and infant characteristics connected to shared pleasure in dyadic interaction

The aim of the study was to analyze which maternal factors (depressive symptoms, effect of life events, maternal sensitivity and structuring) and infant characteristics (temperament, social withdrawal symptoms, interactive behavior, genotype, gender) contribute to shared pleasure (SP) in parent–infant interaction. Participants were 113 mother–infant dyads. The mothers filled in the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, and the Life Events Questionnaire. The dyads were videotaped in a free-play situation, and the videos were analyzed using the Alarm Distress Baby Scale and the Emotional Availability Scales. The infants were genotyped for four genes involved in emotion regulation. The occurrence and duration of SP (SP-MD) in mother–infant interactions were analyzed from the videotapes. Higher maternal sensitivity and depressive symptoms, better infant responsiveness, and the infant having the GG variant of the gene tryptophan hydroxylase isoform 2 (TPH2) -307 were associated with the occurrence of SP. Lower level depressive symptoms, better maternal structuring, and greater infant involvement were associated with the longer duration of SP. Those dyads where the mother and infant were best able to read each other's positive cues and to respond to them were more likely to experience mutual positive affect, as seen in SP.