A developmental origins perspective on the emergence of violent behavior in males with prenatal substance exposure

Children with prenatal substance exposure are at increased risk for externalizing behavior problems and violence. However, the contribution of early life experiences for placing these individuals at risk is not well understood. Utilizing a sample of 1,388 children with prenatal substance exposure from the Maternal Lifestyle Study, we attempt to shed light on these contributing factors by examining the impact of infant temperament, maternal sensitivity, and early life stress on the expression of violent behavior at ages 12 through 14 years. Males may be more at risk for increases in violent behavior in early adolescence through a number of early life experiences, such as variability in responses to maternal flexibility and engagement related to individual differences in temperament, as well as exposure to early adversity. Comparing two prevailing developmental theoretical frameworks, deficit models and differential susceptibility, we aim to understand the developmental origins of violent behavior in males by identifying children who may be most susceptible to early caregiving experiences.     

Parental Responsibility and the Morality of Selective Abortion

It is now a common opinion in Western countries that a child's impairment would probably place an unexpected burden on her parents, a burden that the parents have not committed themselves to dealing with. Therefore, selective abortion is in general a morally justified option for the parents. I argue that this view is based on biased information about the quality of life of individuals with impairments and their families. Also, a conscious decision to procreate should bring about conscious assent to assuming obligations as a parent. This implies a duty of caring for any kind of child. Consequently, if the child's condition is not such that it would make its life not worth living, and if the parents live in an environment where they are able to provide their child and themselves an adequate well-being, they do not have a morally sufficient reason to terminate the pregnancy on the grounds of fetal abnormality.     

Modern medicine and biotechnology: an ethical conflict of interest?

When confronting the issues related to developments in modern medicine and biotechnology, we must repeatedly ask ourselves anew what can and cannot be justified in an ethical sense. For radically new ethical questions seem to arise through innovative techniques such as stem cell research or preimplantation diagnosis — and with them new areas of conflicting interests. If one scrutinizes the previous positions related to this subject, it becomes conspicuous that a multitude of questions has quickly piled up — however, (as in the case of Germany) comprehensive and differentiated views have mostly been lacking. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002.     

The development of visual search in infants and very young children.

In two experiments, 90 1- to 3-year-olds were trained in a new nonverbal task to touch a video screen that displayed a unique target resembling a popular television character. The target appeared among varying numbers of distractors that resembled another familiar television character and was either a uniquely colored shape (the feature search task) or a unique color-shape combination (the conjunction search task). Each correct response triggered a sound and produced four animated objects on the screen. Irrespective of age and experimental design (between-subjects or within-subjects), children's reaction time (RT) patterns resembled those obtained from adults in corresponding search tasks: The RT slope for feature search was flat and independent of distractor number, whereas the RT slope for conjunction search increased linearly with distractor number. These results extend visual search effects found with adults to infants and very young children and suggest that the basic perceptual processes underlying visual search are qualitatively invariant over ontogeny.     

朱熹对邵雍先天象数学的继承和发展

朱熹从探究《易》之本义的角度,继承和发展了邵雍的先天象数学,提出了《周易》本来是卜筮之书的思想,主张“三圣易”和经传相分,探析了河图、洛书及其关系,进而对伏羲画卦的内在机制以及大衍之数五十的来源做了阐释,从而不仅为象数易学增添了新内容,而且为学人提供了一种合理的解《易》方法。     

Screens across the pond: Findings from longitudinal screen time research in the US and UK

Digital media are increasingly pervasive in the lives of young children. This increase in the availability of digital media might have long-run implications for child development; however, it is too soon to definitively conclude the direction of effects. In part due to this lack of certainty, leading health organizations have chosen to make different recommendations to parents of young children: Many international health organizations (e.g., the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization) recommend very young children be limited to under one hour of screen time daily, whereas others (e.g., Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) have intentionally opted not to make recommendations about specific limits. These guidelines might contribute to parents in different countries making meaningfully different choices about children’s use of digital media. Using a sample of N = 303 families recruited in Cambridgeshire, England and New York City prior to the birth of couples’ first child, we explore predictors of digital media use across the first two years of life. Data were collected when children were 4, 14, and 24 months of age. Results of latent growth curve analyses show that generally, children spend more time engaging with digital media as they grow older; however, growth mixture models reveal most children fit into one of two classes: One group of children (High Media Users; 52.2 %) engages with a substantial amount of digital media, whereas the other (Low Media Users; 48.8 %) engages with relatively little. Children in the US were approximately 30 % more likely to be in the Low Media Users group and there were no differences in group membership on the basis of parents’ psychosocial wellbeing. While these differences could be due to a number of factors, these findings may reflect the power of pediatric recommendations.     

Associations among average parental educational attainment,maternal stress,and infant screen exposure at 6 months of age

Evidence suggests that increased use of screens early in life may have negative developmental consequences for children. However, little is known concerning parental factors that predict initial screen exposure in infancy. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether parental educational attainment and maternal stress were associated with infant screen exposure by 6 months of age. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 93) was recruited prenatally. In a follow-up visit when the infants were six months of age (N = 82), we examined factors that may be associated with initial infant exposure to screens. First, mothers reported whether they had already exposed their infants to screens. Thereafter, those mothers who reported already having exposed their infants to screens were further queried to determine the extent of infant screen use. Results demonstrated that among infants exposed to screens, mothers reported an average of nearly 3 h of daily screen use. Average parental educational attainment, but not maternal stress, was significantly associated with initial infant exposure. Of those families who endorsed screen exposure by 6 months, 70 % reported a screen in the room where the child sleeps, nearly half reported using screens to help calm the infant, and about a third reported using a screen at least sometimes during meals, when going to sleep, and while waiting. Parental education around infant screen use behaviors may be important to help promote child development and outcomes.     

Prenatal Smoke Exposure Predicts Hyperactive/Impulsive but Not Inattentive ADHD Symptoms in Adolescent and Young Adult Girls

We examined the longitudinal associations between prenatal tobacco smoke exposure (PSE) and attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom domains in adolescence and young adulthood. A sample of girls with ADHD combined presentation (N = 93), ADHD predominantly inattentive presentation (N = 47), and matched comparisons (N = 88) was assessed prospectively. Symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), inattention (IA), and oppositionality (oppositional defiant disorder) were measured via multiple informants 5 (M age = 14 years; retention rate = 92%) and 10 years (M age = 20 years; retention rate = 95%) following childhood ascertainment. PSE was captured via maternal self‐report. We used linear regressions to examine the prediction from PSE to both HI and IA in adolescence and early adulthood after stringent control of relevant confounding variables. PSE significantly predicted HI during adolescence and young adulthood across multiple informants but did not predict IA at either wave. Symptoms of HI may have partial etiological independence from IA symptoms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nascent body ego: Metapsychological and neurophysiological aspects

For Freud, body ego was the organizing basis of the structural theory. He defi ned it as a psychic projection of the body surface. Isakower's and Lewin's classical fi ndings suggest that the body surface experiences of nursing provide the infant with sensory-affective stimulation that initiates a projection of sensory processes towards the psychic realm. During nursing, somato-sensory, gustatory and olfactory modalities merge with a primitive somatic affect of satiation, whereas auditory modality is involved more indirectly and visual contact more gradually. Repeated regularly, such nascent experiences are likely to play a part in the organization of the primitive protosymbolic mental experience. In support of this hypothesis, the authors review fi ndings from a neurophysiological study of infants before, during and after nursing. Nursing is associated with a signifi cant amplitude change in the newborn electroencephalogram (EEG), which wanes before the age of 3 months, and is transformed at the age of 6 months into rhythmic 3-5 Hz hedonic θ-activity. Sucking requires active physiological work, which is shown in a regular rise in heart rate. The hypothesis of a sensory-affective organization of the nascent body ego, enhanced by nursing and active sucking, seems concordant with neurophysiological phenomena related to nursing.