Readings

Kochanska and Kim - what did they investigate

wanted to see if attachment to parents predicted long term outcomes and if there were any difference in attachment and outcomes with mothers or fathers

Kochanska and Kim - method (3)

• measured attachment via strange situation in both parents at 15 months

• at 6.5 years, they collected teacher reports of externalising and internalising behavioural problems

• at 8.5 years, they collected self and parent reports of externalising and internalising behavioural problems

Kochanska and Kim - results (3)

• found benefits of secure attachment to both mother and father

• children with insecure attachment to both parents showed increased likelihood of behaviour problems

• but if a child has a secure attachment to one parent, it appeared to able to offset the risks, demonstrating that neither parent was more important

Kochanska and Kim - limitations

• the study looked at a traditional family unit and left out alot of other family structures

• attachment was only one of the many aspects of parent child relationship

Bulow et al - what did they investigate

• wanted to see if the associations between parental warmth and autonomy support is universal

• and that if the same patterns exist across individuals with the same strength

what theory did Bulow et al look at

self determination theory that identified 3 basic needs autonomy, competence and relatedness

Bulow et al - method (2)

• examined parent teen dyads for 100 days

• collected daily reports of parental warmth, autonomy support and positive and negative affect

Bulow et al - findings (4)

• concluded that there is universality without uniformity

  • where parental warmth and autonomy support are still universally beneficial for every adolescent’s well being but the strength of this positive association is not uniform and differs between families

• essentially, all families showed a positive relationship between parental warmth and autonomy support with teen affect

• but there were differences in strength of the relationship that may be related to environmental sensitivity

  • where adolescents who are more sensitive to their environment are more reactive

Bulow et al - limitations (7)

• issues with generalisability as focused on western populations

• how can we infer universality with just one sample size

• confounds/ noise that affects parenting and child’s feelings

• different perception of warmth and autonomy

• social desirability bias in daily reporting

• need for replication to determine strong effects

• cannot make claims about long term benefits as only assessed daily effects

Brodizinsky - two views of adoption identified

• adoption as a societal intervention for children in need of permanency

• adoption as a developmental risk factor in life of the person

Brodizinsky - effects of age at adoption (2)

• little evidence that shift in caregiving at first few months of life have adverse effects

• language is strongly affected by age at adoption

Brodizinsky - brain changes and early adversity (3)

• early deprivation reduced brain volume, cortical thickness and altered brain wiring

• may not emerge until adolescence

• abuse and threat impacts the amygdala

Brodizinsky - age at adoption and recovery

there is no one critical or sensitive period that determines when recovery of function in general is impossible

Brodizinsky - differential plasticity in post adoption (2)

• growth rebounds once children are placed in a supportive family, exception is head size

• IQ is significantly impaired by early deprivation and inadequate cognitive stimulation and improves post adoption

Brodizinsky - context of recovery (2)

• positive qualities of the family environment (e.g. warm and sensitive parenting, parental secure state of mind etc) all predict better developmental outcomes

• it goes beyond the initial years but even past puberty

Brodizinsky - how lived experience of adoption may be shaped by factors related to the child

individual differences in how adoption is understood and internalised

Brodizinsky - how lived experience of adoption may be shaped by factors related to the family (2)

• extent and quality of parenting styles

• parent’s transparency

Brodizinsky - how lived experience of adoption may be shaped by factors related to the broader systems (2)

• acceptance of society on transracial adoption

• contact with brith family

Bernier et al - overview and methods (4)

• examined the relationship between childcare and mother child attachment

• did the study in quebec where there is government subsidised childcare with more regulation in the quality of childcare

• considering mother child sensitivity and mother child autonomy support

• assessed at 15 months and 25 months

Bernier et al - findings (4)

• overall no effect of childcare on mother child attachment

• but found interactions with maternal sensitivity

  • some evidence that children with less sensitive or less autonomy supportive mothers, not attending childcare is linked to less secure attachment

  • and that when children of less sensitive or less autonomy supportive mothers attended childcare, their attachment security scores were as high as peers with more sensitive or autonomy supportive mothers

Bernier et al - strength

strong home based observational assessment for parenting and attachment

Bernier et al - limitations (3)

• generalisability issue as in the quebec system, childcare quality is generally good so would we see the protective effect with lower quality childcare

• did not consider father child attachment

• not experimental, only correlation so cannot infer cause and effect

Munzer et al - conceptual framework for the new guidelines (3)

• follows the socioecological model

• circle includes a child’s characteristics, their caregivers, the digital ecosystem and the larger system and structures

• emphasis on the sociotechnical and relational context of digital media

Munzer et al - important aspects of digital and broader systems that may impact youth (8)

• low quality content

• harmful content

• commercial content and advertising

• automated algorithms

• engagement prolonging design

• behavioural reinforcers

• misinformation

• privacy

Munzer et al - recommendations for familes (9)

• foster digital literacy

• create a family media plan

• find quality content

• create screen free time

• set time boundaries

• use parental controls

• protect sleep

• relationship building

• focus on other activites

Munzer et al - policy recommendations (10)

• fund prosocial third spaces

• fund child centred media

• support healthy relationships

• protect learning

• create a consensus

• develop effective age assurance

• harmful content

• universal erasure

• fund research

• institute transparency, safety reports and certification requirements

Peters et al - overview and methods (3)

• aimed to investigate whether action video game training, esp those with increased demands on dynamic visual attention via eye movements would result in greater improvements in children with dyslexia compared to treatment as usual group

• children with dyslexia played fruit ninja for 5 hrs, 10×30 mins sessions

• those in AVG training group with increased attentional demands played fruit ninga using eye tracking to control the cursor while those in the regular AVG training group played using a mouse

Peters et al - findings (2)

• action video game training led to increases in reading skills

• no significant difference between action games as controlled via computer vs via eye movements

Peters et al - limitation (3)

• unsure of long term outcomes

• what counts as AVG

• can the same AVG carry benefits but also risks at the same time