ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0328-9685
Current Organisations
University of Sussex
,
University of Sydney
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-10-2014
DOI: 10.1111/CDEV.12302
Abstract: The role of false belief in establishing children's social relationships during the transition to school was examined and compared to other social cognitive constructs. One hundred and fourteen 5-year-olds were recruited during their 1st year of school (Time 1) 106 children were retained 1 year later. False belief, emotion expression recognition, empathy, verbal ability, and peer-rated social preference were measured at both times. False belief at Time 1 had a direct influence on concurrent social preference, over and above the influence of emotion expression recognition and empathy. False belief made no independent contribution to later social preference accounting for stability in social preference. The role of social cognitive development is discussed with respect to how children establish and maintain their position in a peer group.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-01-2016
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 30-08-2019
Abstract: Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth's surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present. Science , this issue p. 897 see also p. 865
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-04-2014
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1037/EDU0000204
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-10-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-015-0598-Z
Abstract: Callous-unemotional traits (CU) are defined by low responsiveness to, and unfeeling disregard for the emotions of others. There is controversial evidence, however, that children with high CU traits can demonstrate affective responsiveness under certain conditions, namely those associated with attachment threat. We tested this using 'fear + amusing' and 'attachment rich' stimuli from the Lion King film. Of N = 76, 4-14 years old children, 56 were clinic-referred children ided into high and low CU traits groups, and 20 children were drawn from the community. Participants watched film sequences of fearful, attachment-related and neutral stimuli and their affective responses and emotion-regulation strategies were coded by independent observers. Children in the high CU traits group were able to disengage from the fear stimuli by showing more 'happiness' to a brief slapstick interlude. In the attachment scenario, high CU children expressed similar or trends toward higher emotional responses and emotion regulation strategies, compared to low-CU children and control children. The results support the idea that high CU children may have the potential for emotional responsiveness to complex emotional stimuli in attachment contexts. Implications of these results for the development of interventions are discussed.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-11-2015
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 03-2201
DOI: 10.1037/FAM0000590
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-10-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-015-0774-5
Abstract: Quality of life is typically reduced in children with mental health problems. Understanding the relationship between quality of life and mental health problems and the factors that moderate this association is a pressing priority. This was a cross-sectional study involving 45,398 children aged 8-13 years from 880 schools in England. Self-reported quality of life was assessed using nine items from the KIDSCREEN-10 and mental health was assessed using the Me and My School Questionnaire. Demographic information (gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status) was also recorded. Quality of life was highest in children with no problems and lowest in children with both internalising and externalising problems. There was indication that quality of life may be reduced in children with internalising problems compared with externalising problems. Approximately 12 % children with mental health problems reported high quality of life. The link between mental health and quality of life was moderated by gender and age but not by socio-economic status or ethnicity. This study supports previous work showing mental health and quality of life are related but not synonymous. The findings have implications for measuring quality of life in child mental health settings and the need for approaches to support children with mental health problems that are at particular risk of poor quality of life.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 06-09-2019
Abstract: Most research on children’s play takes a context-dependent, adult-focused observational approach to the measurement of play. The current two studies present the development and psychometric properties of the Chid Self-Report Playfulness (CSRP) scale which was presented via ‘puppet-show’ to two s les of children. Study 1, across 98 children between 5 and 7 years of age, showed that the items of the CSRP had good internal consistency, were stable across the 6-week test-retest period and, for the most part, showed no differential item functioning across age, sex and language ability. Study 2 involved a longitudinal s le of children followed from Reception (age 5, N = 244) to Year 1 (age 6). Findings revealed favourable psychometric properties using longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance. Associations between playfulness and children’s teacher- and peer-rated social behaviour were examined, and showed specific associations between playfulness and teacher-rated play interaction, rather than peer social maturity, problem behaviour or peer-rated social preference. Overall, the CSRP appears to be a promising approach to the measurement of play.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-11-2012
DOI: 10.1002/DEV.21088
Abstract: The present study evaluated the possibility of collecting cardiac vagal tone data using a photoplethysmograph, and its stability and continuity in a longitudinal s le of early-school aged children. A method for the optical (i.e., blood volume pulse) estimation of heart rate was established in a pilot study. Then the longitudinal stability and continuity in photoplethysmograph-derived vagal tone was assessed in 114 children (56 girls) at three sessions between 5 and 7 years of age. Results indicate that this method possesses substantial measurement reliability and in idual stability, as children report low intra-in idual variation over time. Children also report a mean decrease in vagal tone from 5 to 7 years of age, consistent with increased attentional capacity. Overall, this suggests blood volume pulse estimation of vagal tone is both accurate and appropriate for naturalistic developmental research.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-08-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-015-0758-5
Abstract: This study explores children's externalising symptom development pathways between 8 and 11 years of age (three time points across 2 years) and examines their sociodemographic correlates and associations with change in academic attainment. Externalising symptoms were assessed for 5485 children across three consecutive years (M age = 8.7 years, SD = 0.30 at time 1). National standardised test scores served as an index of academic attainment. Using latent class growth analysis, six distinct trajectories of externalising symptom development were identified. Children who showed increasing externalising symptomatology across the three time points were more likely to be male or have special educational needs. These derived trajectories differentially predicted children's subsequent academic attainment (controlling for earlier attainment). Children with increasing externalising symptomatology were significantly more likely to demonstrate negative change in academic achievement compared with children with consistently low externalising problems. The study helps to clarify the longitudinal association between externalising symptom development and academic attainment, and highlights the importance of early intervention for children with increasing externalising symptoms across middle childhood.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.JADOHEALTH.2015.01.023
Abstract: To examine the changes in mental health difficulties in early adolescence between 2009 and 2014 in England. Analysis reports on data from two cross-sectional s les of adolescents (aged 11-13 years) collected 5 years apart in 2009 and 2014 in secondary schools across England. S les were matched using propensity scoring, resulting in a total pooled s le of 3,366 adolescents. Mental health difficulties were reported by participants using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Overall, there were similar levels of mental health difficulties experienced by adolescents in 2009 and 2014. Notable exceptions were a significant increase in emotional problems in girls and a decrease in total difficulties in boys in 2014 compared to 2009. The increased prevalence of emotional problems in girls mirrors a trend found in other similar studies, and the results are discussed in the context of recent economic and societal changes. The small decrease in total difficulties in boys, although promising, clearly warrants further research.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-11-2019
DOI: 10.1111/SODE.12420
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.RIDD.2014.10.048
Abstract: Children with special educational needs (SEN) are more likely to experience victimisation at school and there is some evidence to suggest that these children are also more likely to engage in bullying behaviours however, no measure of bullying experiences has been designed specifically for use with these children. The Bullying Behaviour and Experiences Scale (BBES) was specifically developed as a self-report measure of victimisation and bullying behaviour for children with SEN. This study examines the initial psychometric properties of the BBES using a s le of 348 children (67 of which had SEN, mean age=10 years), and compares the incidence of both victimisation and bullying in children with SEN to their peers, controlling for behavioural and emotional difficulties. Overall, the BBES showed favourable psychometric properties using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses and differential item functioning. Comparing the frequency of victimisation and bullying using the BBES showed that children with SEN were not more likely to experience victimisation compared to their peers but when extant behavioural and emotional difficulties were controlled for then they were significantly more likely to report victimisation. Conversely, children with SEN were more likely to report bullying compared to their peers, but this effect disappeared when extant behavioural and emotional difficulties were controlled. Overall, the BBES appears to be a promising measure of victimisation and bullying for children with SEN. This study also highlights the need to consider SEN status independently of behavioural and emotional problems to help understand the nature and extent of bullying and victimisation in this important population of children.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-10-2020
DOI: 10.1111/BJDP.12352
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-08-2019
DOI: 10.1111/SODE.12323
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 13-04-2015
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 13-01-2023
Abstract: Research shows that children’s block construction skills are positively associated with their concurrent and later mathematics performance (e.g., Nath & Szucs, 2014 Verdine et al., 2014). Furthermore, there is evidence that block construction training is particularly beneficial for improving early mathematics skills in children from low-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups who are known to have lower maths performance than their peers (Bower et al. 2020a Dickerson & Popli, 2016). This study investigates the association between block construction and mathematics in children who are approaching the age of formal education in the UK (4 years). It also investigates whether the relation between block construction and mathematics differs between children from more compared to less affluent families. Participants included 116 children (M = 3 years 11 months, SD = 3 months). All participants completed numeracy, block construction, and receptive vocabulary tasks. Socio-economic status and demographic information (child age, gender, ethnicity) were also obtained from parents. Regression analysis showed block construction accuracy explained 5.3% of the variation in numeracy after controlling for covariates. When separated by SES group, for children from less affluent families, block construction explained 14.9% of the variation in numeracy after covariates. For children from more affluent families, block construction explained no additional variation in numeracy. These findings highlight one possible intervention target for promoting maths-readiness in children of this age. More specifically, interventions involving block construction skills may help to reduce attainment gaps in UK children’s mathematics achievement.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 11-05-2023
Abstract: Background: Wellbeing is a key aspect of children’s education, yet measurement issues have limited studies in early primary school. Aims: The current 12-month longitudinal study assesses the temporal stability of child- and parent-reported school wellbeing and examines developmental links with academic self-concept and parent-rated prosocial behaviour. S le(s): We tracked a s le of 206 children across the transition from the first (T1) to second (T2) year of primary school (T1 child Mage = 5.3, SD = .46, 54.3% girls), and gathered ratings of wellbeing, prosocial behaviour and academic self-concept at both timepoints. Methods: We used cross-lagged analyses to investigate developmental links between these three constructs. Results: Parent and child reports of children’s wellbeing showed similar temporal stability and converged over time, such that informants’ reports showed a modest but significant correlation at T2. Girls reported greater wellbeing than boys at both timepoints and received higher parental ratings of wellbeing than boys at T2. For both girls and boys, associations between the constructs were asymmetric: early wellbeing predicted later self-concept and prosocial behaviour, but the reciprocal associations were not significant. Conclusions: These findings support the validity of young children’s self-reported wellbeing, highlight the early onset of gender differences in school wellbeing, and demonstrate that early wellbeing heralds later prosocial behaviour and positive academic self-concepts.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.JECP.2016.10.001
Abstract: Although key differences have been found in boys' and girls' prosocial behavior toward peers, few studies have systematically examined gender differences in how intrinsic perspective-taking abilities-theory of mind (ToM) and emotion understanding (EU)-and the extrinsic peer environment relate to prosocial behavior. In this prospective longitudinal study, we studied gender differences in the relations between children's observed prosocial behavior and their ToM, EU, and social preference ratings in 114 children (58 boys and 56 girls). We used conventional ToM and EU tasks at 5 and 7years of age. Observed prosocial behavior in triadic peer interactions was assessed at both time points. Controlling for gender, age, verbal ability, and earlier prosocial behavior, ToM at 5years was found to predict prosocial behavior at 7years. Results also revealed gender-differentiated associations at 7years, whereby only girls' prosocial behavior was positively associated with EU. Results are discussed in terms of gender-differentiated patterns of socialization.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 10-08-2023
DOI: 10.3390/JINTELLIGENCE11080161
Abstract: Research shows that children’s block construction skills are positively associated with their concurrent and later mathematics performance. Furthermore, there is evidence that block construction training is particularly beneficial for improving early mathematics skills in children from low-Socio Economic Status (SES) groups who are known to have lower maths performance than their peers. The current study investigates (a) the association between block construction and mathematics in children just before the start of formal schooling (4 years-of-age in the UK) and (b) whether the association between block construction and mathematics differs between children from more compared to less affluent families. Participants in this study included 116 children (M = 3 years 11 months, SD = 3 months) who all completed numeracy, block construction, and receptive vocabulary tasks. Socio-economic status and demographic information (child age, gender, ethnicity) were also obtained from parents. Findings show a strong positive association between block construction and early numeracy skills. Block construction skills explained approximately 5% of the variation in numeracy, even after controlling for age in months, household income, and child receptive vocabulary. When separated by SES group, for children from less affluent families, block construction explained a significant amount of variability (14.5%) in numeracy performance after covariates. For children from more affluent families, block construction did not explain a significant amount of variation in numeracy. These findings suggest that, interventions involving block construction skills may help to reduce SES-based attainment gaps in UK children’s mathematics achievement.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-03-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S10803-014-2084-Z
Abstract: The empirical literature has presented inconsistent evidence for deficits in the recognition of basic emotion expressions in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which may be due to the focus on research with relatively small s le sizes. Additionally, it is proposed that although children with ASD may correctly identify emotion expression they rely on more deliberate, more time-consuming strategies in order to accurately recognize emotion expressions when compared to typically developing children. In the current study, we examine both emotion recognition accuracy and response time in a large s le of children, and explore the moderating influence of verbal ability on these findings. The s le consisted of 86 children with ASD (M age = 10.65) and 114 typically developing children (M age = 10.32) between 7 and 13 years of age. All children completed a pre-test (emotion word-word matching), and test phase consisting of basic emotion recognition, whereby they were required to match a target emotion expression to the correct emotion word accuracy and response time were recorded. Verbal IQ was controlled for in the analyses. We found no evidence of a systematic deficit in emotion recognition accuracy or response time for children with ASD, controlling for verbal ability. However, when controlling for children's accuracy in word-word matching, children with ASD had significantly lower emotion recognition accuracy when compared to typically developing children. The findings suggest that the social impairments observed in children with ASD are not the result of marked deficits in basic emotion recognition accuracy or longer response times. However, children with ASD may be relying on other perceptual skills (such as advanced word-word matching) to complete emotion recognition tasks at a similar level as typically developing children.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-08-2013
DOI: 10.1002/ICD.1809
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2012
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-08-2016
Abstract: This study examined the frequency of bullying, victimisation and defending behaviours among children with autism spectrum disorder and normal intelligence, using both self-report and peer-report information. Peer-report and self-report data were collected on a single classroom of 26 early adolescent boys attending a special school for children with autism and compared with 23 typically developing boys attending a single mainstream secondary school. Results showed that self- and peer-reported bully and victimisation rates did not differ between boys with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing boys. However, self-reported defending behaviour was less likely to be reported by boys in the autism spectrum disorder school compared to boys in the mainstream school, although there was no such difference for peer-reported defending.
Publisher: Psychology Press
Date: 04-05-2012
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 30-10-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-04-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ICD.2181
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/BJDP.12060
Abstract: Chronic friendlessness in childhood predicts adverse mental health outcomes throughout life, yet its earliest roots are poorly understood. In theory, developing a theory of mind (ToM) should help children gain mutual friends and one preschool study (Peterson & Siegal, 2002. Br J Dev Psychol, 20, 205) suggested a cross-sectional connection. We therefore used a 2-year prospective longitudinal design to explore ToM as a predictor of mutual friendship in 114 children from age 5 to 7 years after controlling potential confounds including language ability and group popularity. Confirming friendship's distinctiveness from group sociometric status, numerous group-rejected children (53%) had a mutual friend whereas 23% of those highest in group status did not. Five-year-olds with a mutual friend significantly outperformed their friendless peers on a comprehensive ToM battery (basic and advanced false belief). Longitudinally, chronically friendless 7-year-olds (no friends at either testing time) stood out for their exceptionally poor Time 1 ToM understanding even after controlling for group popularity, age, and language skill. Extending previous evidence of ToM's predictive links with later social and cognitive outcomes, these results for mutual friendship suggest possible interventions to help reduce the lifelong mental health costs of chronic friendlessness.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JECP.2018.11.002
Abstract: The ability to display caring responses to another child's distress is a key aspect of early empathy that is facilitated by parental socialization. However, existing studies typically involve lab settings and focus on toddlers' unsupported responses to adult simulations of distress, raising questions about their ecological validity. Framed within the New Fathers and Mothers Study, the current study involved 156 British toddlers (M
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-02-2015
DOI: 10.1111/BJDP.12080
Abstract: Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, and de Rosnay (2014) conducted a prospective longitudinal study showing that theory-of-mind (ToM) development at school entry (mean age 5.61 years) significantly predicted friendlessness both concurrently and 2 years later. Friendlessness (defined as lacking any friendship that is mutually reciprocated) is conceptually and empirically distinct from group popularity and independently predicts adverse mental health outcomes throughout life. Here, we respond to the thoughtful commentaries by Wellman (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015 33, 24-26), Mizokawa and Koyasu (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015 33, 21-23), and Lerner and Lillard (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015 33, 18-20) with a focus on three key issues, namely (a) the definition and measurement of friendship, (b) the measurement of advanced ToM development beyond the preschool years, and (c) the exciting future potential for ToM-based training and intervention studies to combat chronic friendlessness.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-01-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-020-01708-Z
Abstract: Victimization by peers and siblings is associated with poorer mental health outcomes in adolescence. What is less clear is whether mental health outcomes improve if victimization experiences cease (e.g., being victimized in primary school but not secondary school). This study aims to explore how changes in victimization experiences are associated with changes in mental health outcomes in early adolescence. Data are from 13,912 participants in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative cohort of in iduals born in the UK. Self-reported victimization by peers and siblings, as well as mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and body image), were collected at age 11 and age 14. Victimization at either time point was associated with poorer mental health across the range of outcomes, with effects largest for those who were consistently victimized. Those who reported increasing victimization had greater deterioration in their mental health compared with their peers who were never victimized. Conversely, children whose victimization decreased showed similar mental health development over this period as those who were never victimized. There was a cumulative effect of victimization by peers and siblings, with effect sizes generally larger for experiences with peers. Victimization in adolescence is associated with enduring reductions in mental health. Nonetheless, the promising outcomes associated with reductions in victimization suggest the potential for bullying interventions in schools to limit the deterioration in mental health in victimized groups.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 02-05-2023
Abstract: Transition to school research has largely overlooked parents’ experiences, particularly fathers. We gathered speech s les from UK parents (93 mothers, Mage= 37.1 years SD = 4.6 years and 68 fathers, Mage= 38.0 years SD = 3.59 years) that captured their experiences of the school transition. This study (a) compared mothers’ and fathers’ experiences and (b) examined experiences alongside parental self-reported psychological distress and household disorder. Parents’ experiences differed in valence: Emotional Reaction (mixed), Experiences with the School (positive), Support and Relationships (mixed), and Routines and Responsibilities (negative). Relationships and Support elicited heightened emotions from mothers than fathers. Only maternal experiences were associated with psychological distress and household disorder. Within couples (n = 64), only negative talk about Routines and Responsibilities was shared all other experiences were in idual. Our speech s le coding shows the significant, mixed and independent impact of the transition on parents and highlights the importance of coparenting effects.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 14-11-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S0305000913000433
Abstract: Links between young children's everyday use of mindful conversational skills and their success on laboratory tests of theory of mind understanding (ToM) were evaluated. Using published scales, teachers rated the conversational behavior and shyness of 129 children aged 60 to 101 months (M = 78·8 months) who were in their first years of primary school. The children also took batteries of first- and second-order false-belief tests along with tests of emotion understanding and general language ability. Correlational and regression analyses showed that performance on false-belief tests of ToM significantly predicted children's competence at reading others' minds in their everyday conversational interactions. Furthermore, these links transcended in idual differences in language ability, shy personality, emotion understanding, and age. These findings augment and extend a growing body of evidence linking performance on laboratory ToM tests to socially competent real-world behavior.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-05-2018
Abstract: This study examined the association between peer-reported bullying-related behaviours (bully, victim, outsider and defender), age, gender, autism severity and teacher-rated emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, using a multi-informant approach. The s le comprised 120 adolescents (11% girls, M age = 15.6 years, standard deviation = 1.89 years) attending a special school for children with autism. Results show that bullying decreased with age and was associated with behavioural problems, while victimisation was only associated with peer problems – a pattern of results comparable to studies exploring these associations in typically developing children. However, there were few associations among study variables for outsider or defender behaviours in this s le. Notably, children’s autism severity did not significantly predict bullying-related behaviours.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-10-2021
DOI: 10.1002/PAN3.10270
Abstract: While psychological connection to nature is known to be associated with both pro‐environmental behaviours and well‐being, there is an urgent need to extend this research to consider impacts from the COVID‐19 lockdown period. Examining whether children's connection to nature changed during this period, identifying the drivers of these changes and determining the links between connection to nature and child well‐being can each serve to guide post‐lockdown initiatives to promote children's connection to nature. Three findings emerged from this UK s le of 376 families with young children. First, nearly two thirds of parents reported a change (most typically, an increase) in their child's connection to nature. Explanations for this increase included having more time, increased enjoyment of nature and increased awareness or interest in nature. Second, a third of children whose connection to nature decreased during the pandemic displayed increased problems of well‐being—manifest as either ‘acting out’ (externalising problems) or sadness/anxiety (internalising problems). Third, an increase in connection to nature during the pandemic was more evident for children from affluent families than for their less affluent peers. While connecting to nature may be an effective means of addressing child problems of well‐being, the ergent findings for children from different family backgrounds indicate that efforts to enhance connection to nature should focus on the barriers experienced by children from less affluent families. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 13-09-0100
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-03-2023
DOI: 10.1111/BJDP.12443
Abstract: Effective reciprocal communication is a vital component in forming and maintaining social relationships. Peer social play may provide a particularly important context for communicative skill development, as sophisticated negotiation and exchange are required to coordinate play. We focus on connectedness, a property of conversation referring to the topical relation between speakers' turns, to understand how partners coordinate ideas to build a shared play experience. The present study uses a longitudinal secondary analysis approach to drive forward our understanding of the in idual and shared influences that contribute to connectedness during peer social play. Using data from a three‐wave, longitudinal study of children's play and social relationships during the first 3 years of school in the United Kingdom ( osf.io/3p4q8/ ), we coded connectedness from transcripts of video observations of 148 children playing in pairs at wave three (mean age 6.79 years) and model in idual differences in language ability, theory of mind, and emotion comprehension from all three waves as potential predictors of connectedness. Our results show substantial dyadic effects on connectedness, but in idual differences in socio‐cognitive measures were not significant predictors of connectedness. These findings indicate the importance of dyadic and partner effects in children's social interactions and implicate the dyad as an essential focus for future research.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-03-2020
DOI: 10.1111/BJDP.12328
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2022
DOI: 10.1111/INFA.12498
Abstract: Parental mind‐mindedness (MM), defined as the propensity to view one's child as an agent with thoughts, feelings, and desires, is associated with positive child outcomes (McMahon & Bernier, 2017) and can be assessed in expectant parents by using five‐minute speech s les (Magaña et al., 1986). In idual differences in MM appear stable across the transition to parenthood (Foley et al., in press), offering an exciting intervention opportunity, as expectant mothers' thoughts and feelings about their unborn infants are associated with the quality of mother‐infant interactions. To assess prenatal MM as a predictor of parent‐infant conversation at 7 months, we followed 93 low‐risk British heterosexual couples across the transition to parenthood. Mothers' and fathers' MM was measured both in the third trimester of pregnancy and at 4 months. Wearable LENA devices were used to gather detailed measures of mother‐, father‐, and infant‐initiated conversations at 7 months. Prenatal MM in both parents was associated with more frequent infant‐initiated conversations at 7 months, while prenatal maternal (not paternal) MM was also associated with more mother‐ and father‐initiated conversations. While longitudinal research with more erse s les is needed, these findings highlight the importance of parental mentalizing in the prenatal period for early family interactions.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Elian Fink.