Making Sense of the World: Infant Learning From a Predictive Processing Perspective

For human infants, the first years after birth are a period of intense exploration-getting to understand their own competencies in interaction with a complex physical and social environment. In contemporary neuroscience, the predictive-processing framework has been proposed as a general working principle of the human brain, the optimization of predictions about the consequences of one's own actions, and sensory inputs from the environment. However, the predictive-processing framework has rarely been applied to infancy research. We argue that a predictive-processing framework may provide a unifying perspective on several phenomena of infant development and learning that may seem unrelated at first sight. These phenomena include statistical learning principles, infants' motor and proprioceptive learning, and infants' basic understanding of their physical and social environment. We discuss how a predictive-processing perspective can advance the understanding of infants' early learning processes in theory, research, and application.

Effects of maltreatment on coping and emotion regulation in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic review

BACKGROUND

Child maltreatment is consistently linked to adverse mental and physical health problems, making the identification of risk and resilience processes crucial for prevention efforts. The ways that individuals cope and regulate emotions in response to stress may buffer against pre-existing risk, while deficits in these processes have the potential to amplify risk. Thus, a candidate mechanism to explain the association between early-life abuse and neglect and later maladjustment is the way in which previously-maltreated youth respond to stress throughout development.

OBJECTIVE

The current review provides a quantitative analysis of the impact of early-life maltreatment on coping and emotion regulation processes during childhood and adolescence (5-18 years).

METHODS

Thirty-five studies (N = 11,344) met criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Effect sizes were calculated between maltreatment and broad domains (e.g., "emotion dysregulation"), intermediate factors (e.g., "problem-focused coping"), and specific strategies (e.g., "emotional suppression") of coping and emotion regulation.

RESULTS

Maltreatment was significantly related to decreased emotion regulation (r = -.24, p < .001) and increased emotion dysregulation (r = .28, p < .001) at the domain level. No significant findings emerged at the factor level. At the strategy level, maltreatment was significantly related to increased avoidance (r = .25, p < .001), emotional suppression (r = .24, p < .001), and emotional expression (r = .25, p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate that maltreatment is broadly associated with poor emotion regulation as well as increased avoidance, emotional suppression, and expression of negative emotions in response to stress. Implications of these findings are discussed and an agenda for future research is proposed.

[Establishing an observation group in the nursery]

In the nursery, the implementation of a working group on observation was a real step forward in the proposed support. Observation is both taking into account the child's internal world, a way of valuing his or her skills and the possibility of co-constructing finer representations, common to all professionals.

A family-centered prevention ameliorates the associations of low self-control during childhood with employment income and poverty status in young African American adults

OBJECTIVE

Children with low self-control who grow up in poverty are at elevated risk for living in poverty when they are adults. The purpose of this study was to further understanding of the intergenerational continuity of poverty by (a) examining the likelihood that children with low levels of self-control at age 11 earn less employment income and are more likely to live in poverty 14 years later, at age 25; and (b) determining, via a preventive intervention, whether enhancing supportive parenting during childhood will ameliorate these associations.

METHODS

Parents and their 11-year-old children from 381 families participated in the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program or a control condition. Teachers assessed children's self-control at 11 years; parents reported their use of supportive parenting when children were 11 and 13 years; emerging adults provided data on cognitive and emotional self-control at 19, 20, and 21 years; and young adults indicated their employment income at 25 years.

RESULTS

Significant two-way interactions were detected between children's self-control and prevention condition for employment income (b = -183.18, 95% CI [-363.82, -2.53], p < .05) and poverty status (b = 0.257, 95% CI [0.018, 0.497], p < .05). Low self-control at age 11 forecast less employment income and a greater likelihood of living in poverty among children in the control condition, but not among low self-control SAAF participants. Mediated moderation analyses confirmed that enhanced supportive parenting accounted for SAAF's effects on employment income (indirect effect = 63.057, 95% BCA [19.385, 124.748]) and poverty status (indirect effect = -0.071, 95% BCA [-0.165, -0.016]).

CONCLUSIONS

This study is unique in using a randomized controlled trial to show that preventive interventions designed to enhance parenting and strengthen families can buffer the long-term economic consequences of low self-control.

[How to talk about a serious event to a child?]

How to talk about a serious event to a child? Talking to a child about a serious event is difficult. Should we be afraid of causing him trauma? We will present two clinical situations each involving a pedophile father. The contrasting evolutions make it possible to highlight the important elements to be taken into account in this type of situation, by insisting on the variables relating to the child rather than the pressure that can be put by the entourage and the urgency of the event. Then, we will discuss the case of the death of a loved one and an other on the announcement to a child of a collective disaster: the spread of the Covid-19.

The Effects of Foods Embedded in Entertainment Media on Children's Food Choices and Food Intake: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

While watching or playing with media, children are often confronted with food appearances. These food portrayals might be a potential factor that affects a child's dietary behaviors. We aimed to comprehensively expound the effects of these types of food appearances on dietary outcomes of children. Our objectives were to synthetize the evidence of the experiments that study the effects of foods embedded in children's entertainment media throughout a systematic review, to conduct two meta-analyses (food choice and intake) in order to quantify the effects, and to examine to what extent the effects of foods embedded in entertainment media varies across different moderating variables. We conducted a systematic search of five databases for studies published up to July 2018 regarding terms related to children and foods embedded in entertainment media. We identified 26 eligible articles, of which 13 (20 effect sizes) and 7 (13 effect sizes) were considered for a meta-analysis on food choice and intake, respectively. Most of the studies were assessed as having a middle risk of bias. Overall, food being embedded in entertainment media is a strategy that affects the eating behaviors of children. As most of the embedded foods in the included studies had low nutritional values, urgent measures are needed to address the problem of childhood obesity.

Development of voice perception is dissociated across gender cues in school-age children

Children's ability to distinguish speakers' voices continues to develop throughout childhood, yet it remains unclear how children's sensitivity to voice cues, such as differences in speakers' gender, develops over time. This so-called voice gender is primarily characterized by speakers' mean fundamental frequency (F0), related to glottal pulse rate, and vocal-tract length (VTL), related to speakers' size. Here we show that children's acquisition of adult-like performance for discrimination, a lower-order perceptual task, and categorization, a higher-order cognitive task, differs across voice gender cues. Children's discrimination was adult-like around the age of 8 for VTL but still differed from adults at the age of 12 for F0. Children's perceptual weight attributed to F0 for gender categorization was adult-like around the age of 6 but around the age of 10 for VTL. Children's discrimination and weighting of F0 and VTL were only correlated for 4- to 6-year-olds. Hence, children's development of discrimination and weighting of voice gender cues are dissociated, i.e., adult-like performance for F0 and VTL is acquired at different rates and does not seem to be closely related. The different developmental patterns for auditory discrimination and categorization highlight the complexity of the relationship between perceptual and cognitive mechanisms of voice perception.

[The game of houses in the Métissages group]

The house is a symbol strongly invested by the children we receive in transcultural devices. Its structure echoes both the psychological and physical structure of the child but also that of family ties. The clinical situation of a family from Tunisia makes it possible to describe the system of the Métissages group and the symbol of the "mother house", both through drawings and games.

The synergistic effect of poor motor coordination, gender and age on self-concept in children: A longitudinal analysis

BACKGROUND

Self-concept is a critical psychosocial outcome in childhood that is shaped by many factors. Gender, motor coordination and age have been identified as three important contributors.

AIM

The present study examined whether poor motor coordination (i.e., being classified as at risk for Developmental Coordination Disorder [rDCD]), gender and age have a synergistic effect on domains of self-concept and self-worth in children.

METHODS

Data were derived from the Physical Health and Activity Study Team longitudinal open cohort project. Children enrolled in grade 4 (M_age = 9.88 ± 0.35) at baseline (n = 1978) completed the Self-Perception Profile for Children 7 times over 4 years to evaluate their competence across multiple domains. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency - Short Form was completed once to evaluate children's motor coordination. Participants scoring ≤15th percentile were classified as rDCD.

RESULTS

A significant 3-way interaction between rDCD, gender and age was observed for athletic ability, physical appearance and academic competence, but not social competence, behavioural conduct or global self-worth. Findings revealed developmental trajectories for self-perceptions of athletic ability, physical appearance, and academic competence were lowest among rDCD girls. Boys classified as rDCD also demonstrated lower athletic, academic and physical self-perceptions in comparison to typically developing children.

CONCLUSIONS

Age intensifies disparities in self held athletic, physical and academic perceptions attributable to differences in gender and rDCD status, however, differences in these domains appear to be independent of children's overall views of themselves.

"Wonderful! We've just missed the bus." - Parental use of irony and children's irony comprehension

Irony is one of the linguistic means in which intended and expressed meaning diverge. It serves social-communicative functions, requires the understanding of the speaker's mental state and its comprehension takes place at an advanced stage of language acquisition. In the present study, we investigated 8-year old’s irony comprehension and social skills and asked their parents about their preferred use of irony towards their children. We then compared children with the highest scores in irony comprehension test with those with lower scores. The full sample included 46 families from Poland. Results show positive associations between children’s levels of irony comprehension and levels of mothers irony use. No such relations were found for fathers. No differences were found in ToM scores between proficient and non-proficient irony comprehenders. Our findings provide a base for future studies to study the use of irony in child-parent talk in more diverse culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

The Effect of the Economic Crisis on Adolescents' Perceived Health and Risk Behaviors: A Multilevel Analysis

Background: Previous studies have analyzed the impact of economic crises on adult’s health and lifestyles, but evidence among children and adolescents is limited. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the economic crisis on self-perceived health and some risk behaviors in the Spanish adolescent population. Methods: We used data from four waves (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in Spain. Separate multilevel logistic and linear regression models were applied for health complaints, self-rated health, life satisfaction, smoking, alcohol consumption, and breakfast skipping. Annual change in Spanish regional unemployment rates was used as a proxy of the economic crisis. An increasing set of control variables were included, consisting of individual, socioeconomic, and family and peer relationships indicators. Median odds ratios were estimated to quantify the cross-region and cross-school variation. Results: Increases in unemployment rates were linked to a higher risk of poorer health and bad habits in the simplest models. The effect was no longer statistically significant when indicators of family and peer relationships were included, suggesting a protective effect against the impact of the economic crisis. Our findings also show that schools had a larger effect on health and lifestyles than regions. Conclusion: The child’s social context—family, peers, school, and region—play an important role on the effects of the economic crisis on health and risk behaviors.

[Continuity in care or how to build oneself in the pleasure of the bond]

Caring for children necessarily raises questions about the importance of continuity. Continuity in care allows the child to integrate a base of security and thus to live a psychological continuity, which will allow him to face the outside world. Acquiring a sense of self-confidence is a construct, fostered by the commitment and reflection of professionals.

Effects of interviewer familiarity and supportiveness on children's recall across repeated interviews

OBJECTIVES

Child witnesses often describe their experiences across multiple interviews. It is unknown whether talking with a familiar interviewer increases disclosures, however, or whether any benefits of a familiar interviewer could be achieved by ensuring that interviewers (regardless of familiarity) behave in socially supportive ways. This study tested the effects of interviewer familiarity and social support on children's reports of an adult's transgressions.

HYPOTHESES

We predicted that familiarity and supportiveness would increase transgression reports at a second interview and that children who spoke with familiar, supportive interviewers would disclose the most transgressions.

METHOD

Children (N = 160, 5 to 9 years) participated in a science event involving 6 transgressions. Across 2 interviews, they spoke with the same trained university student interviewer or different interviewers, and these interviewers engaged in supportive or neutral behaviors. Interviews were coded for overall information reported, number of transgressions, and confabulations.

RESULTS

There were no effects of support in the first interview or on total details reported in either interview. Children reported more transgressions to supportive than neutral interviewers in the second interview (IRR = 1.19), even during open-ended prompting (IRR = 1.26), and they omitted fewer transgressions that had been reported in the first interview (IRR = 0.69). Confabulations were infrequent. There were no condition differences in the total number of confabulations reported across interviews, but these errors occurred more often in the second interview in the supportive condition.

CONCLUSIONS

Interviewer support may play a greater role than familiarity in facilitating children's testimony. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

[The psychological trauma of the child]

When subjected to potentially traumatic events, children can develop psychological trauma with varying levels of severity. For preventive and therapeutic purposes, these psychological traumas must be assessed and managed by psychologists and/or psychiatrists who are well-trained and experienced.

Remembering the forgotten victims: Child-Related themes in domestic violence fatality reviews

BACKGROUND

The needs of children exposed to domestic violence have been historically overlooked. One way in which service provision for children exposed to this violence can be explored is through an examination of Domestic Violence Fatality Review Teams (DVFRT's), who review cases of fatal domestic violence to identify possible areas for improvement.

OBJECTIVE

This study explored key themes relative to children exposed to domestic violence and homicide published by DVFRT's in order to identify the services that exist for children exposed to domestic violence, barriers to providing these services, and recommendations for improvement.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

This study reviewed annual reports from three DVFRT jurisdictions with regular annual reports from 2004 to 2016.

METHODS

A generic thematic analysis was performed by the primary author, in consultation with the second author, in order to identify dominant themes present in the DVFRT annual reports. The analysis utilized a codebook that was created beforehand in order to capture pertinent information within the reports. Trustworthiness of the data was established through a consistent application and thorough reporting of the coding procedures.

RESULTS

The analysis highlighted key barriers to child-specific service provision among agencies involved (e.g., lack of professional training and public awareness), recommendations for enhanced intervention (e.g., enhanced child-specific services) and promising practices (e.g., policy and legislation development).

CONCLUSIONS

The three DVFRTs identified several gaps in service provision for children affected by fatal domestic violence that will require increased engagement and resources targeting these vulnerable children.

Maternal prenatal and early postnatal distress and child stress responses at age 6

Individuals differ in their physiological and behavioral stress responses. Alterations in these responses have been associated with mental and physical health. Therefore, it is important to understand how stress responses develop. This study investigated whether in a healthy, non-risk population, 6-year-old's physiological (cortisol) and behavioral (gazing) stress responses were associated with stress early in the child's life, in the form of maternal prenatal and early postnatal distress. Additionally, associations between the two stress responses were studied. At age 6, children (n = 149; M_age = 6.09; 70 girls) in a longitudinal project that started prenatally (n = 193), participated in a social evaluative stress test (Children's Reactions to Evaluation Stress Test, CREST) in front of a judge. To operationalize physiological stress responses six cortisol saliva samples were collected and cortisol stress reactivity and total stress cortisol scores were calculated. To operationalize behavioral stress responses, gazing at the judge during the stress test was observed. Maternal prenatal distress (week 37) was measured using questionnaires and physiological measures, that is, cortisol saliva samples. Early postnatal maternal distress (first 6 months) was measured using questionnaires. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that less maternal prenatal fear of giving birth, higher maternal prenatal evening cortisol concentrations, and more maternal feelings of anxiety in the first 6 postnatal months were all uniquely associated with higher total stress cortisol concentrations in children at age 6. Additionally, correlations indicated that children with higher cortisol stress reactivity gazed less in the direction of the judge. Results indicate that maternal prenatal and early postnatal distress are associated with children's later hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis functioning and that in children gazing and physiological stress reactivity are related. Lay summary We examined whether maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy, as measured by means of maternal self-reports and saliva cortisol samples, as well as maternal stress and anxiety in the first 6 months of the child's life, measured using maternal self-reports, were associated with children's physiological (cortisol) and behavioral (gazing) responses during a stressful laboratory situation at the age of 6. Results showed that mothers with higher levels of distress in late pregnancy and/or the early postnatal period had children with higher cortisol concentrations during the stressful situation. This suggests that maternal prenatal and early postnatal distress are associated with children's later hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis functioning.

Longitudinal associations between ability in arts activities, behavioural difficulties and self-esteem: analyses from the 1970 British Cohort Study

Arts engagement has been shown to have benefits for young people's psychological and behavioural adjustment. However, it is unknown whether it is frequency of arts engagement or individual ability in arts activities that is associated with these benefits. This study therefore examines the link between arts ability and children's behavioural difficulties and self-esteem independent of frequency of engagement. We analysed data from the 1970 British Cohort Study with an overall sample size of 7700 for the behavioural difficulties outcome, and of 4991 for the self-esteem outcome. Baseline measures were taken when the children were aged 10 and followed up at age 16. OLS regression analysis adjusted for identified confounders shows that ability in the arts at age 10 was associated with a lower level of behavioural difficulties at age 16 independent of baseline behaviours, identified confounders and frequency of arts engagement. An association between arts ability and self-esteem was only found amongst children who have higher educational ability. These result suggest that there may be a value to encouraging the cultivation of arts skills at the onset of adolescence as a way of helping to foster children's positive behavioural development.

The intergenerational impact of trauma and family violence on parents and their children

BACKGROUND

Children who experience Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) are at an increased risk of becoming a victim of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) or a perpetrator of IPV or CAN. Moreover, maltreated children are at risk for developing long-lasting trauma symptoms, which can subsequently affect their own children's lives. Understanding the mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of violence and trauma is a prerequisite for the development of interventions.

OBJECTIVE

We examine whether the relation between historical CAN and current trauma symptoms of mothers is mediated by current IPV. Furthermore, we investigate whether current CAN mediates the relation between current maternal trauma symptoms and child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. These mechanisms are compared for mothers and fathers.

PARTICIPANTS

We have recruited 101 fathers and 360 mothers (426 children, 50% boys, mean age 7 years) through child protection services.

METHODS

Respondents completed questionnaires about IPV, (historical) CAN and trauma symptoms.

RESULTS

Structural equation models revealed that historical CAN of father and mothers was related to trauma symptoms. Only for mothers, this association was mediated by IPV. Trauma symptoms of both fathers and mothers were related to child PTSD symptoms. This effect was not mediated by current CAN.

CONCLUSION

In violent families, maternal and paternal trauma can be transmitted over generations. However, intergenerational transmission of violence is found for mothers only. When family violence is reported, professionals should take the violence into account, as well as the history of parents and trauma symptoms of all family members.

Bullying victimization and depression among left-behind children in rural China: Roles of self-compassion and hope

BACKGROUND

Bullying victimization among school-aged children is an important public health issue that may affect their well-being and mental health. However, few studies have been conducted on left-behind children in rural China, who are defined as the children who stay in rural areas for more than six months and have one or both parents migrating to urban areas for work. The mechanisms through which bullying victimization will influence depression have disproportionally adopted a psychopathological perspective, and the protective factors are understudied.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims at investigating the factors that might contribute to breaking up the vicious circle between bullying victimization and developmental problems, focusing on the protective role of self-compassion and hope in the association between bullying victimization and depression.

METHODS

Using questionnaires, data were collected from a sample of 1091 school-aged left-behind children from west and central China.

RESULTS

Compared with rural children living with their parents, left-behind children reported a higher level of bullying victimization. Bullying victimization was positively associated with depression through decreased self-compassion and hope, and self- compassion played a more crucial role than hope in the linkage between bullying victimization and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study's findings suggest that it is necessary to incorporate self-compassion and hope in mental health prevention and intervention programs targeting left-behind children with bullying victimization experiences.

Fathers detained, contact restrained: Experiences of Palestinian children visiting their fathers in Israeli detention

BACKGROUND

Very little is known about the experiences of children of political prisoners internationally, because of the challenges of researching within politically oppressive contexts.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this secondary analysis was to explore and understand Palestinian children's experiences visiting their fathers in Israeli detention.

PARTICIPANTS, SETTING AND METHODS

Qualitative data from sixteen in-depth interviews with thirty-one children were analyzed. Structural and longitudinal coding cycles were employed and focused upon the timeline of the visitation process.

RESULTS

Three overarching themes emerged, which included: Children's experiences 'before the visit', 'during the visit', and 'after the visit'. Subthemes related to the distressing and at times traumatic experiences the children suffered throughout the process of preparation for, going through, and the aftermath of the visit. This included reports of experiencing punitive measures at checkpoints and waiting areas and humiliation and maltreatment by the Israeli authorities during the visitation process. These findings are discussed with reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was clear that the children's best interests were denied and contact and interaction with their fathers was restrained under the Israeli visitation scheme. Despite the arduous visitation process that children often hated, they loved to see their fathers.

CONCLUSIONS

Even though the children's rights were infringed upon, they still endured hardships to maintain whatever contact was possible. International advocacy for the realization of the 'rights of the child' for Palestinian children, as well as other children of political detainees is warranted.