MEDIATING ROLE OF MATERNAL SENSITIVITY: ENHANCING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN AT‐RISK FAMILIES

Home‐visiting programs have gained increasing importance in family‐centered prevention and intervention. However, few studies have examined the mechanisms underlying early intervention treatment effects. The goal of this study is to analyze the mediating role of maternal sensitivity in enhancing language development with the home‐visiting program Parents as Teachers (PAT). Data were collected and analyzed within the ongoing, long‐term ZEPPELIN study, a randomized controlled trial with 251 participating at‐risk families. Via longitudinal mediation analysis, we examined whether effects of the PAT on receptive and expressive language outcomes at 24 and 36 months were mediated by maternal sensitivity at 12 months. Within a moderated mediation framework, we investigated whether the level of family psychosocial stress affects this mediation. Results showed that intervention effects on language outcomes are mediated by maternal sensitivity—weakly and through specific pathways. Moderation and moderated mediation analyses indicated that effects of the PAT and also specific mediation effects increase with the level of psychosocial stress. Implications of the results for practice are discussed.     

Early Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) intervention in a disaster mental health care context

‘Early psychological intervention’ is defined as commencing treatment within three months of the traumatic event, with the aim to prevent or treat posttraumatic stress disorder, ongoing distress or acute stress disorder. In natural disaster situations, specific issues may limit the amount of time available for treatment and the possibility of interventions. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used without regard to these limits. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of EMDR, Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP) provided within three months of the traumatic event to a large sample of individuals exposed to the earthquake that hit Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy) in 2012. This study is based on a retrospective review of medical records collected during the activities of psychological and psychosocial unit in the immediate aftermath of earthquake. In total, 529 participants completed the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) (pre e post treatment). In order to provide a comparison similar to a waitlist-like control group, a method of cohort analysis was applied. In addition, possible time dependent effect was tested. ET (early-treated sample, participants treated within one month after the earthquake) and LT (late-treated sample, participants treated after the first month from the earthquake) reported at post-treatment an improvement to a level below the IES-R cutoff (65.8% of the ET sample and 64.02% of the LT sample). Control group analogue and time-outcome correlation suggest that positive changes in symptoms were likely due to the treatment provided and not merely to the time lapse from the traumatic event. The results of this study suggest that EMDR is a viable treatment option in response to a disaster crisis and in reducing psychological distress of acutely traumatized individuals within the context of a natural disaster.     

A new look at the schema therapy model: organization and role of early maladaptive schemas

This study reexamined the organization of Young’s 18 early maladaptive schemas and their hypothesized associations with experiences of need-thwarting parental experiences in childhood and the “vulnerable child” mode of emotional distress in adulthood. A large Danish sample (N = 1054) of 658 clinical- and 391 nonclinical adults completed measures of early maladaptive schemas, parenting styles, and the vulnerable child mode. We identified four higher-order schema domains as most appropriate in terms of interpretability and empirical indices (“Disconnection & Rejection”, “Impaired Autonomy & Performance”, “Excessive Responsibility & Standards”, and “Impaired Limits”). All four schema domains were differentially associated with conceptually relevant need-thwarting parental experiences. Apart from “Impaired Limits”, the schema domains meaningfully accounted for the association between need-thwarting parental experiences in childhood and emotional states of feeling like a “vulnerable child” in adulthood. We conclude that four domains of early maladaptive schemas are empirically and conceptually consistent with Young’s schema therapy model of personality pathology and longstanding emotional disorders. Findings warrant replication using different populations and if possible a prospective multi-method design. A scoring key for computing the four schema domains is provided.     

青少年早期同伴拒绝、同伴侵害与抑郁的关系：交叉滞后分析

采用间隔1年的追踪设计,使用结构方程建模对1068名青少年早期个体的同伴拒绝、同伴侵害与抑郁间的关系进行交叉滞后分析。结果发现,（1）在不同时间点上,同伴拒绝、同伴侵害和青少年抑郁之间存在显著正相关;（2）先前的抑郁水平对随后个体遭受的身体侵害和关系侵害均有显著预测作用,而先前的同伴侵害不能显著预测随后青少年的抑郁水平。抑郁对同伴拒绝、以及同伴拒绝对抑郁的预测作用均不显著。（3）同伴拒绝、同伴侵害与抑郁间的关系具有跨性别的一致性。这表明,青少年早期同伴侵害和抑郁间存在单向预测关系,抑郁导致同伴侵害。     

The Polish adaptation of the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ): Psychometric properties,age and gender differences and convergence between the questionnaire and the observational data

The main aim of the study was to determine the psychometric properties of the version of the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) adapted to Polish culture. Since temperament in toddlers was being observed in a laboratory, an external validity of the ECBQ was also provided. Kagan’s observational paradigm was used to test 215 18-month-old children. Their parents completed the ECBQ twice, when the children were 26 and 30 months old. The results showed good internal consistency and confirmed the longitudinal stability of the scale. The same three-factor solution was found in the structure of the scale as in the original American study. The convergence between the observational and parent report data supported the ECBQ’s external validity. Similarities in the structure of the scale observed between the Polish and American data are discussed from a cross-cultural perspective. The usefulness of the Polish ECBQ and the limitations of the obtained results are discussed.     

儿童早期"心理理论"发展研究中的几个基本问题

儿童"心理理论"的发展研究是当今发展心理学中最活跃的领域之一.近年来,该领域的研究重点已逐渐由一般的发展描述,转向关于"心理理论"的缘起与发展机制的研究.由此,有许多密切相关的关于早期"心理理论"发生发展及其评估的基本问题,横亘于研究者面前,迄今仍悬而未决,并引发诸多争议.如何解决这些问题并理顺它们之间的关系,将极大地影响着该领域今后的研究进展.     

Relations with Parents and with Peers,Temperament, and Trajectories of Depressed Mood During Early Adolescence

The present study examined (a) whether groups of children can be empirically identified with distinct longitudinal profiles of depressed mood from late childhood through early adolescence, (b) to what extent these different longitudinal depression profiles are predicted by problematic relations with parents, same-sex peers, and other-sex peers, and (c) what role individuals' temperamental characteristics play in this context. Based on a sample of 414 early adolescents (197 girls), four groups were identified with distinct longitudinal profiles of depressed mood between ages 11 and 14: One group with consistently low levels of depressed mood, another with consistently moderate levels of depressed mood, a third group whose depressed mood increased sharply from late childhood through early adolescence, and a fourth group who already showed clinical-range levels of depressed mood during late childhood and whose depressive feelings increased even slightly more thereafter. Subsequent analyses revealed that rejection by same-sex peers was related to the odds of following an increasing trajectory of depressed mood, but only for girls with a highly reactive temperament. A problematic relationship with parents increased the odds of an elevated trajectory of depressed mood regardless of individual temperament. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Clarifying Parent–Child Reciprocities During Early Childhood: The Early Childhood Coercion Model

Consistent with existing theory, the quality of parent-child interactions during early childhood affects children's social relationships and behavioral adjustment during middle childhood and adolescence. Harsh parenting and a propensity toward emotional overarousal interact very early in life to affect risk for later conduct problems. Less empirical work has evaluated the emergence of early childhood coercive parent-child reciprocities. The proposed early childhood coercion model describes the processes by which coercive parent-child reciprocities emerge. Specifically, the interaction between parenting and infants' propensities toward reactivity influences the development of emotion regulation in children and disciplinary styles in parents. Highly reactive children are expected to experience more difficulty learning to regulate emotions and to evoke harsher parenting. Through a process of mutual reinforcement, harsh parenting, negative emotional reactivity, and poor emotion regulation become coercive parent-child reciprocities during early childhood. The emergence of coercive parent-child interactions further diminishes children's emotional regulatory capacities and affects the formation of peer relationships during kindergarten.     

A Developmental Approach to Prevention Research: Configural Antecedents of Early Parenthood

A developmental framework emphasizing the combined impact of correlated constraints within and without the individual was applied to a prospective longitudinal study of early parenthood. The purpose was to use a person-approach to the analysis of longitudinal data to clarify risk for early parenthood and to generate hypotheses about potentially useful intervention strategies. Respondents were 475 youth who were assessed annually from seventh grade through the end of high school and, again, at ages 20 and 24. The risk patterns associated with parenthood were the same for both sexes. Individuals with a middle-school configuration of low socioeconomic status, high aggression, low academic skills, low popularity, and prior grade failure were most likely to become parents by early adulthood. Risk for early parenthood increased substantially for respondents who dropped out of school early, regardless of their initial risk status.