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Recent studies showed that attachment security can change within persons, suggesting that there might be an interplay between a rather stable (trait) and rather variable (state) part of attachment. The study's first aim was to investigate whether attachment priming could influence the level of state attachment. The second aim was to explore possible moderators explaining individual differences in the relation between state attachment responses to attachment versus neutral primes. This can shed light on individual differences in attachment prime-induced state attachment. We conducted a within-subjects priming study in which children (9-13 years) were allocated to three priming procedures (neutral, secure, avoidant). Results showed an increase in secure state attachment after secure attachment priming. Individual differences in the strength of this effect were moderated by trait attachment and state attachment volatility. First findings cautiously suggest that state attachment security can change in response to environmental cues under certain circumstances.

Grandmothers are important in Chinese families. This study explored the early emerging mother-grandmother-infant network and its association with child's socioemotional development in multigenerational families in a non-WEIRD country. The analytic sample included 60 children (T1: M[subscript age] = 6.5 months) and their caregivers residing in Beijing. Measures used were the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP), the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (MBQS), and the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. Structural equation and path modeling revealed that (1) more grandmaternal neutral/watching coparenting behaviors at the first assessment were related to more secure infant-mother attachment relationships at the second assessment (T2: M[subscript age] = 1 year); (2) maternal sensitivity at T2 was a partial mediator between earlier undermining and neutral/watching coparenting behaviors and young children's externalizing problems at the final assessment (T3: M[subscript age] = 2 years). Findings are discussed in terms of the roles played by mother-grandmother coparenting network in the children's socioemotional development.

An unsettled question in attachment theory and research is the extent to which children's attachment patterns with mothers and fathers "jointly" predict developmental outcomes. In this study, we used individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess whether early attachment networks with mothers and fathers are associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Following a pre-registered protocol, data from 9 studies and 1,097 children (mean age: 28.67 months) with attachment classifications to both mothers and fathers were included in analyses. We used a linear mixed effects analysis to assess differences in children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems as assessed via the average of both maternal and paternal reports based on whether children had two, one, or no insecure (or disorganized) attachments. Results indicated that children with an insecure attachment relationship with one or both parents were at higher risk for elevated internalizing behavioral problems compared with children who were securely attached to both parents. Children whose attachment relationships with both parents were classified as disorganized had more externalizing behavioral problems compared to children with either one or no disorganized attachment relationship with their parents. Across attachment classification networks and behavioral problems, findings suggest (a) an increased vulnerability to behavioral problems when children have insecure or disorganized attachment to both parents, and (b) that mother-child and father-child attachment relationships may not differ in the roles they play in children's development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. [This article was co-authored by the Collaboration on Attachment to Multiple Parents and Outcomes Synthesis.]

Cost-utility analyses are slowly becoming part of randomized control trials evaluating physical and mental health treatments and (preventive) interventions in child and adolescent development. The British National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, for example, insists on the use of gains in Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) to compute the "value for money" of interventions. But what counts as a gain in quality of life? For one of the most widely used instruments, the EuroQol 5 Dimensions scale (EQ-5D), QALYs are estimated by healthy individuals who provide utility scores for specific health states, assuming that the best life is a life without self-experienced problems in five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. The worst imaginable outcome is defined as "a lot of problems" in each of these five domains. The impact of the individual's problems on the social network is not weighted, and important social-developmental domains (externalizing problems, social competence) are missing. Current cost-utility computations based on EQ-5D favor physical health over mental health, and they rely on adult weights for child and adolescent quality of life. Thus, a level playing field is absent, and developmental expertise is sorely missing.

Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined. This manifesto concludes with five proposals, calling for "integrative," "inclusive," "transdisciplinary," "transparent," and "actionable" developmental science. Specific recommendations, prospects, pitfalls, and challenges to reach this goal are discussed.

The evidence for negative influences of maternal stress during pregnancy on child cognition remains inconclusive. This study tested the association between maternal prenatal stress and child intelligence in 4,251 mother-child dyads from a multiethnic population-based cohort in the Netherlands. A latent factor of prenatal stress was constructed, and child IQ was tested at age 6 years. In Dutch and Caribbean participants, prenatal stress was not associated with child IQ after adjustment for maternal IQ and socioeconomic status. In other ethnicities no association was found; only in the Moroccan/Turkish group a small negative association between prenatal stress and child IQ was observed. These results suggest that prenatal stress does not predict child IQ, except in children from less acculturated minority groups.

Randomized controlled trials are a special case of designs using an unbiased instrument to take care of confounders even if they are unmeasured or unknown. Another example of studies using instrumental variables is the Mendelian experiment and Directed Acyclic Graphs show the power of such designs to enhance the internal validity. It is argued that internal validity is a necessary condition of ethically sound application of research findings in (clinical) practice and policy. Internal validity can only gradually and slowly be approximated through a spiraling process of ever more exact and varied replications, secondary analyses, meta-analyses, and umbrella reviews. This advocacy of slow science argues for distinct roles and responsibilities of practitioners and researchers in translational research.

This study examined dispositional and situational correlates of donating behavior in a sample of 221 eight-year-old children. Children were shown a promotional clip for a charity, including a donation call. For a random half of the children, the video fragment ended with a probe of a same-sex peer donating money to the charity. Seeing a peer donate was associated with higher donations. Empathy and inhibition were not related to donating. Anxiety and social responsiveness moderated the effect of the situational manipulation on donating. Anxious children and children with less social responsiveness problems donated more after seeing the donating peer than did less anxious children and children with more social responsiveness problems. Moreover, in absence of the donating peer, anxious children donated less money than did less anxious children. Our results indicate that donating behavior is dependent on situational demands, and the situational effect differs depending on children's levels of anxiety or social responsiveness.

In this article, we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory's notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory's description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children, were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct.

Background: The childcare environment offers a wide array of developmental opportunities for children. Providing children with a feeling of security to explore this environment is one of the most fundamental goals of childcare. Objective: In the current study the effectiveness of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting-Child Care (VIPP-CC) was tested on children's wellbeing in home-based childcare in a randomized controlled trial. Methods: Forty-seven children and their caregivers were randomly assigned to the intervention group or control group. Children's wellbeing, caregiver sensitivity, and global childcare quality were observed during a pretest and a posttest. Results: We did not find an overall intervention effect on child wellbeing, but a significant interaction effect with months spent with a trusted caregiver was present. Children who were less familiar with the caregiver showed an increase in wellbeing scores in both the intervention and control group, but for the group of children who were more familiar with the caregiver, wellbeing increased only in the intervention group. Conclusions: Although there was no overall effect of the VIPP-CC on children's wellbeing, the VIPP-CC seems effective in children who have been cared for by the same trusted caregiver for a longer period of time.

The current study provides a systematic examination of child care quality around the globe, using the Environment Rating Scales (ERS). Additional goals of this study are to examine associations between ERS process quality and structural features (group size, caregiver-child ratio) that underpin quality and between ERS and more proximal aspects of child care quality (caregiver sensitivity). Furthermore, we consider possible differences in ERS associations arising from scale characteristics (infant vs early childhood version, original version vs revised scale, full version vs shortened version). The reported meta-analysis combines results of ERS child care quality reported in 72 studies from 23 countries across five international geographic regions. Group center care appeared to be of average quality with higher quality levels in Australia/New Zealand and North America. Our results suggest that: (1) ERS characteristics are not associated with differences in ERS scores and (2) ERS scores are related to indicators of proximal quality of care (caregiver sensitivity) and, to a lesser degree, structural quality of care (caregiver-child ratio). The meta-analysis provided cross-cultural comparisons on child care quality on a common instrument as a means to advance discussion on child care quality internationally.

Research Findings: Two longitudinal studies are reported examining the effects of full-time day care in Mapuche and non-Mapuche families in Chile. First, the Magellan-Leiden Childcare Study (MLCS) used a sample of 95 mothers with children younger than 1 year old (n = 36 in day care). Second, we partially cross-validated our results in a large and representative sample of 10,723 mothers and their children from the Chilean Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia (Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey). In both studies, the quality of care for children provided at home was measured with the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment. In the MLCS study, additional indicators of the mother-child relationship were measured. Day care was not negatively associated with the mother-child relationship and maternal sensitivity, compared to maternal care, or with the quality of the home environment. Positive changes in attachment security were found in Mapuche children who attended day care centers. Practice or Policy: We were able to confirm that type of care was not differentially associated with quality of the home environment.

Background: Children without disabilities in out-of-home care have a higher risk of child sexual abuse [CSA (Euser et al. 2013)]. In this study, we examined the year prevalence of CSA in out-of-home care for children with a mild intellectual disability, and compared it with the prevalence in out-of-home care for non-disabled children and children in the general population. Materials and Methods: Professionals (N = 104) from out-of-home care facilities reported cases of CSA that occurred in 2010 for the children they worked with (N = 1,650). Results: In out-of-home care for children with a mild intellectual disability, 9.8 per 1,000 children were victims of CSA. This prevalence was significantly higher than in regular out-of-home care and in the general population. Conclusion: Children with a mild intellectual disability in out-of-home care have an increased risk of CSA. Adequate education and support for both children and caregivers is necessary to recognize and prevent further sexual abuse.

Little is known about the development of children's lying. The present study examined whether observed social and non-social fear in preschoolers predicts children's consistent cheating (N = 460; M = 4.3 years of age) and consistent lying about cheating. When left alone, 155 (34%) children cheated in both games conducted. Of these consistently cheating children, 54 (35%) children lied about their cheating after both games, whereas the remaining 101 children confessed to cheating after at least one game. Children's temperamental fear did not predict consistent cheating. However, non-social (but not social) fear did predict consistent lying. Children with lower levels of non-social fear were more likely to lie. These findings suggest that non-social fear plays a role in the development of children's antisocial lying.

In a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the early intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting adapted to Autism (VIPP-AUTI) with 78 primary caregivers and their child (16-61 months) with Autism Spectrum Disorder. VIPP-AUTI is a brief attachment-based intervention program, focusing on improving parent-child interaction and reducing the child's individual Autism Spectrum Disorder-related symptomatology in five home visits. VIPP-AUTI, as compared with usual care, demonstrated efficacy in reducing parental intrusiveness. Moreover, parents who received VIPP-AUTI showed increased feelings of self-efficacy in child rearing. No significant group differences were found on other aspects of parent-child interaction or on child play behavior. At 3-months follow-up, intervention effects were found on child-initiated joint attention skills, not mediated by intervention effects on parenting. Implementation of VIPP-AUTI in clinical practice is facilitated by the use of a detailed manual and a relatively brief training of interveners.

High and stable levels of aggression and the presence of aggressive behaviour in multiple settings according to different informants are risk factors for later problems. However, these two factors have not been investigated in early childhood. The present study investigates trajectories of parent-reported child aggression from 1.5 up to 6 years of age and their association with aggressive behaviour, attention problems and rule-breaking behaviour in a different setting, as reported by the teacher. In a longitudinal population-based cohort study, parent-reported measures of aggressive behaviour were obtained using the CBCL when children were 1.5, 3, and 6 years of age (n = 4,781). Teacher-reported problem behaviour at school was assessed at age 6.5, using the TRF questionnaire (n = 2,756). Growth mixture modelling yielded three aggression trajectories, with high increasing (3.0%), intermediate (21.3%), and low decreasing (75.7%) aggression levels. Children in trajectories with higher and increasing levels of aggression showed more teacher-reported aggressive behaviour, attention problems and rule breaking behaviour. However, parent-reported aggression at age six predicted problem behaviour at school to the same extent as did the aggression trajectories, suggesting that the incremental value of trajectories is not always self-evident.

When bilingual children enter formal reading education, host language proficiency becomes increasingly important. This study investigated the relation between socioeconomic status (SES), maternal language use, reading input, and vocabulary in a sample of 111 six-year-old children of first- and second-generation Turkish immigrant parents in the Netherlands. Mothers reported on their language use with the child, frequency of reading by both parents, and availability of children's books in the ethnic and the host language. Children's Dutch and Turkish vocabulary were tested during a home visit. SES was related to maternal language use and to host language reading input. Reading input mediated the relation between SES and host language vocabulary and between maternal language use and host language vocabulary, whereas only maternal language use was related to ethnic language vocabulary. During transition to formal reading education, one should be aware that children from low-SES families receive less host language reading input.

Objective: Maternal antenatal anxiety is associated with an increased risk of behavioral disturbances in offspring. Recent work has suggested that the effect of maternal antenatal anxiety on infant temperament at 6 months is moderated by the serotonin transporter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR, with carriers of the short allele more susceptible to the adverse behavioral outcomes of maternal antenatal anxiety. These findings, however, are yet to be replicated and extended beyond infancy. The aim of the current study was to assess this same potential moderator (5-HTTLPR) in a large population-based cohort study, and to determine whether or not the effects persist into childhood and early adolescence. Method: Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents (ALSPAC) cohort (N = 3,946) were used to assess whether the 5-HTTLPR genotype moderated the association between self-reported maternal antenatal anxiety (Crown Crisp Index) in pregnancy, and child temperament at 6 months (Infant Temperament Questionnaire), and also later behavioral and emotional problems on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire from age 4 to 13 years. Results: We found no evidence to suggest that the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism moderated the effects of maternal antenatal anxiety on infant temperament at 6 months or infant behavioral and emotional problems from childhood through to adolescence. Conclusion: Our results, based on a large prospective community sample that assessed children from infancy to early adolescence, provide a thorough test of, but no evidence for, a genetic moderation of the effects of maternal antenatal anxiety by 5-HTTLPR. (Contains 2 tables.)

Relations between maternal sensitivity and physiological reactivity to infant crying were examined using measures of heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in 49 mothers of second-born infants. Using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale, an independent assessment of maternal sensitivity was made during maternal free play and bathing of their infants. Physiological reactivity was measured while mothers listened to three blocks of infant cry sounds in a standard cry paradigm. Mothers scoring high on sensitivity were compared to less sensitive mothers on both their physiological reactivity to the presented crying sounds and their physiological mean-level differences. Significant interaction effects were found for both HR and RSA. Highly sensitive mothers showed a larger increase in HR and stronger RSA withdrawal in response to the first block of cry sounds compared to less sensitive mothers. Main effects showed that highly sensitive mothers had lower mean overall HR, and higher mean RSA levels across all three blocks of crying sounds compared to less sensitive mothers. RSA withdrawal and accompanying HR increases are discussed from a polyvagal perspective as indicative of a better capability in responding to infant signals of negative affect. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Oxytocin seems associated with parenting style, and experimental work showed positive effects of intranasally administered oxytocin on parenting style of fathers. Here, the first double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject experiment with intranasal oxytocin administration to fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is presented. Fathers with their typically developing toddler (n = 18), and fathers of toddlers diagnosed with ASD (n = 14), were observed in two play sessions of 15 min each with an intervening period of 1 week. In all fathers oxytocin elevated the quality of paternal sensitive play: fathers stimulated their child in a more optimal way, and they showed less hostility which suggests the positive effects of oxytocin on paternal sensitive play irrespective of clinical status of their child.

Clear associations of sleep, cognitive performance, and behavioral problems have been demonstrated in meta-analyses of studies in adults. This meta-analysis is the first to systematically summarize all relevant studies reporting on sleep, cognition, and behavioral problems in healthy school-age children (5-12 years old) and incorporates 86 studies on 35,936 children. Sleep duration shows a significant positive relation with cognitive performance (r = 0.08, confidence interval [CI] [0.06, 0.10]). Subsequent analyses on cognitive subdomains indicate specific associations of sleep duration with executive functioning (r = 0.07, CI [0.02, 0.13]), with performance on tasks that address multiple cognitive domains (r = 0.10, CI = [0.05, 0.16]), and with school performance (r = 0.09, CI [0.06, 0.12]), but not with intelligence. Quite unlike typical findings in adults, sleep duration was not associated with sustained attention and memory. Methodological issues and brain developmental immaturities are proposed to underlie the marked differences. Shorter sleep duration is associated with more behavioral problems (r = 0.09, CI [0.07, 0.11]). Subsequent analyses on subdomains of behavioral problems showed that the relation holds for both internalizing (r = 0.09, CI [0.06, 0.12]) and externalizing behavioral problems (r = 0.08, CI [0.06, 0.11]). Ancillary moderator analyses identified practices recommended to increase sensitivity of assessments and designs in future studies. In practical terms, the findings suggest that insufficient sleep in children is associated with deficits in higher-order and complex cognitive functions and an increase in behavioral problems. This is particularly relevant given society's tendency towards sleep curtailment. (Contains 5 figures and 5 tables.)

In a randomized control trial, the authors tested whether short- and long-term effects of an early literacy intervention are moderated by mild perinatal adversities in accordance with differential susceptibility theory. One-hundred 5-year-old children (58% male) who scored at or below the 30th percentile on early literacy measures were randomized to a Web-based remedial early literacy program Living Letters or a treated control group. Parents gave written informed consent to access the perinatal data of their children at the Perinatal Register in the Netherlands. Twenty-one children were, at birth, small for gestational age (between the 2.5th and 10th percentiles) or late preterm (between 34 and 37 weeks, 6 days). In this group with mild perinatal adversities, intervention children outperformed the control group immediately after the intervention and after 8 months of formal reading instruction, but a similar effect of the computerized literacy program in children without mild perinatal adversities was absent. In line with the theory of differential susceptibility, children with mild perinatal adversities seem to be more open to environmental input, for better "and" for worse. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables, and 2 footnotes.)

Reviewing the studies on differential susceptibility presented in this section, we argue that the time is ripe to go beyond correlational designs to differential susceptibility experiments. In such experiments, randomization prevents hidden moderator effects on the environment and guarantees the independence of moderator and outcome, while the environment is manipulated and assessed in standard ways. Correlational studies generate a priori expectations about crucial moderators (e.g., temperament, biological sensitivity, and genetics). We discuss the differential susceptibility experiments available up until now and conclude that these experiments are feasible and contribute in unique ways to our conceptions of differential susceptibility. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This meta-analytic review examines the association between attachment and internalizing symptomatology during childhood, and compares the strength of this association with that for externalizing symptomatology. Based on 42 independent samples (N = 4,614), the association between insecurity and internalizing symptoms was small, yet significant (d = 0.15, CI 0.06-0.25) and not moderated by assessment age of internalizing problems. Avoidance, but not resistance (d = 0.03, CI -0.11-0.17) or disorganization (d = 0.08, CI -0.06-0.22), was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms (d = 0.17, CI 0.03-0.31). Insecurity and disorganization were more strongly associated with externalizing than internalizing symptoms. Discussion focuses on the significance of attachment for the development of internalizing versus externalizing symptomatology.

The current study examined professional caregivers' perceived and physiological stress, and associations with the quality of care they provide. Participants were 55 female caregivers from childcare homes and 46 female caregivers from childcare centers in the Netherlands. In both types of settings, equivalent measures and procedures were used. On non-work days, caregivers' salivary cortisol levels decreased between 11 am and 3 pm, whereas on work days, caregivers' cortisol levels remained at the same level during this period. Caregivers' cortisol levels and perceived stress did not differ across the two types of settings. In home-based childcare, caregivers offered higher-quality caregiving, compared to caregivers in center-based childcare. In home-based childcare--but not in center care--caregivers' negative appraisal was associated with less positive caregiver behavior. These findings suggest that work at childcare influences cortisol secretion in professional caregivers, and that perceived stress but not cortisol is associated with quality of care. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

In the current study we tested whether "ADRA2B" moderates stress regulation of Holocaust survivors as indexed by their diurnal cortisol secretion and cortisol reactivity to a stressor. Salivary cortisol levels of 54 female Holocaust survivors and participants in the comparison group were assessed during a routine day and in response to a stress-evoking procedure (an adapted version of the Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]). "ADRA2B" did not moderate differences between Holocaust survivors and participants in the comparison group in terms of cortisol reactivity to the TSST. Holocaust survivors with the wildtype "ADRA2B", however, displayed higher diurnal cortisol levels than did participants in the comparison group with the same genotype, whereas no difference was found between these groups in carriers of the deletion variant, previously associated with more reexperiencing of traumatic events. Carriers of the deletion variant might have been driven in the long run to resolve their vividly remembered experiences, and therefore currently show less stress dysregulation as evident from their cortisol levels. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Institutional care has been shown to lead to insecure and disorganized attachments and indiscriminate friendliness. Some children, however, are surprisingly resilient to the adverse environment. Here the protective role of the long variant of the serotonin receptor gene (5HTT) is explored in a small hypothesis-generating study of 37 Ukrainian preschoolers reared in institutional settings or in their biological families. Attachment was observed with the Strange Situation Procedure, and indiscriminate social behavior was assessed in a semistructured interview with the caregiver. We found a moderating role of 5HTT for the association between adverse environment and attachment disorganization. Children with the ss or sl genotyope showed more attachment disorganization and less attachment security when they grew up in an institution compared to children who lived in a family, but children who were homozygous for the l allele appeared to be protected against the adverse institutional environment on attachment. We conclude that not all children may be equally vulnerable to extremely adverse rearing experiences. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

It is unclear whether there is hemispheric specialization for prosodic perception and, if so, what the nature of this hemispheric asymmetry is. Using the lesion-approach, many studies have attempted to test whether there is hemispheric specialization for emotional and linguistic prosodic perception by examining the impact of left vs. right hemispheric damage on prosodic perception task performance. However, so far no consensus has been reached. In an attempt to find a consistent pattern of lateralization for prosodic perception, a meta-analysis was performed on 38 lesion studies (including 450 left hemisphere damaged patients, 534 right hemisphere damaged patients and 491 controls) of prosodic perception. It was found that both left and right hemispheric damage compromise emotional and linguistic prosodic perception task performance. Furthermore, right hemispheric damage degraded emotional prosodic perception more than left hemispheric damage (trimmed g = -0.37, 95% CI [-0.66; -0.09], N = 620 patients). It is concluded that prosodic perception is under bihemispheric control with relative specialization of the right hemisphere for emotional prosodic perception. (Contains 5 tables and 13 figures.)

Not every child seems equally susceptible to the same parental, educational, or environmental influences even if cognitive level is similar. This study is the first randomized controlled trial to apply the differential susceptibility paradigm to education in relation to children's genotype and early literacy skills. A randomized pretest-posttest control group design was used to examine the effects of the Intelligent Tutoring System "Living Letters." Two intervention groups were created, 1 receiving feedback and 1 completing the program without feedback, and 1 control group. Carriers of the long variant of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4 7-repeat) profited most from the computer program with positive feedback, whereas they performed at the lowest level of early literacy skills in the absence of such feedback. Our findings suggest that behind modest overall educational intervention effects a strong effect on a subgroup of susceptible children may be hidden.

This study investigated the development and correlates of language use in bilingual Turkish-Dutch immigrant mothers and their toddlers. In this short-term longitudinal study 87 mothers completed questionnaires on their Dutch and Turkish language use, ethnic identity and use of childcare. Observational data were obtained for maternal supportive presence and observed language use with the child. We found evidence that mothers who felt more strongly connected to the Turkish culture spoke more Turkish and less Dutch with their toddlers. The amount of Dutch that was used in mother-toddler communication increased significantly between the ages of two and three years. Mothers of children who started visiting childcare or who lived in a neighbourhood with a low percentage of non-western immigrants showed a larger increase in use of the Dutch language with their toddlers. Our findings emphasise the importance of contextual factors in determining language use in ethnic minority families. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

Background: The rearing environment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children is often compromised, putting these children at additional risks. Positive caregiving may ameliorate the impact of adverse circumstances and promote attachment security. The goal of the present study was to examine the attachment relationships of HIV-infected children in biological families and institutions; to examine the effects of HIV infection and institutional rearing on attachment security and indiscriminate friendliness; and to assess the role of caregiving in the face of HIV-related adversities. Methods: We studied 64 Ukrainian uninfected and HIV-infected children reared in families and institutions (mean age 50.9 months). Physical and cognitive development of children as well as attachment-related domains and indiscriminate friendliness were assessed. Results: Institutional care but not the presence of HIV was associated with lower levels of attachment security and higher levels of indiscriminate friendliness. On average, the level of indiscriminate friendliness among institution-reared children was more than twice as high as among family-reared children. Only 24% of institution-reared children had clearly developed attachment patterns, as opposed to 97% among family-reared children. Controlling for physical and cognitive development, type of care (institution or family), and HIV status, positive caregiving was associated with higher levels of attachment security. Indiscriminate friendliness was associated with lower levels of attachment security among family-reared children, but with higher levels of positive caregiving among institution-reared children. Conclusions: Etiology and function of indiscriminate friendliness may differ for family-reared versus institution-reared children. The findings of this study suggest the necessity of early interventions improving the quality of care for HIV-infected children. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The current set of meta-analyses elucidates the long-term psychiatric, psychosocial, and physical consequences of the Holocaust for survivors. In 71 samples with 12,746 participants Holocaust survivors were compared with their counterparts (with no Holocaust background) on physical health, psychological well-being, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychopathological symptomatology, cognitive functioning, and stress-related physiology. Holocaust survivors were less well adjusted, as apparent from studies on nonselected samples (trimmed combined effect size d = 0.22, 95% CI [0.13, 0.31], N = 9,803) and from studies on selected samples (d = 0.45, 95% CI [0.32, 0.59], N = 2,943). In particular, they showed substantially more posttraumatic stress symptoms (nonselect studies: d = 0.72, 95% CI [0.46, 0.98], N = 1,763). They did not lag, however, much behind their comparisons in several other domains of functioning (i.e., physical health, stress-related physical measures, and cognitive functioning) and showed remarkable resilience. The coexistence of stress-related symptoms and good adaptation in some other areas of functioning may be explained by the unique characteristics of the symptoms of Holocaust survivors, who combine resilience with the use of defensive mechanisms. In most domains of functioning no differences were found between Israeli samples and samples from other countries. The exception was psychological well-being: For this domain it was found that living in Israel rather than elsewhere can serve as a protective factor. A biopsychological stress-diathesis model is used to interpret the findings, and future directions for research and social policy are discussed. (Contains 8 tables and 2 figures.)

In this paper we argue that moral behaviour is largely situation-specific. Genetic make-up, neurobiological factors, attachment security and rearing experiences have only limited influence on individual differences in moral performance. Moral behaviour does not develop in a linear and cumulative fashion and individual morality is not stable across time and situations. To illustrate our position we present two studies on children's willingness to donate their money to a charity (UNICEF) as a prime example of pro-social behaviour. In two samples of seven-year-old children we found no evidence for a role of attachment, temperament or parenting. Using a twin design we did not find any evidence for a genetic component either. The most striking finding in both studies was that very few children were inclined to donate any money after viewing a promotional UNICEF film about children suffering from poverty. Only after gentle probing by an experimenter were most children willing to donate some of their money. The situation appeared to be a much more powerful determinant of donating behaviour than any other factor. These findings are discussed in the broader context of evidence for situational canalisation of moral behaviour. We conclude that moral competence may be a universal human characteristic, but that it takes a situation with specific demand-characteristics to translate this "competence" into actual prosocial "performance". (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 1 note.)

A cross-country comparison of children's cortisol levels at child care was performed in relation to their cortisol levels at home and the quality and quantity of child care they received. Participants were toddlers visiting child care centers in Spanish Basque Country (N = 60) and the Netherlands (N = 25) with substantial variation in structural child care quality (group sizes, child:caregiver ratios). Salivary cortisol was measured at mid-morning and mid-afternoon, both at child care and at home. Children's actual experiences in child care (global quality), as measured with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised edition (ECERS-R), did not differ significantly across the two countries. Overall, children did not produce more cortisol at child care than at home. Results suggest that factors other than structural quality and quantity of care are responsible for cortisol diurnal changes. Global quality matters in explaining cortisol diurnal change in children visiting child care centers. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)

The central question in this study is whether individual variability in children's cortisol levels and wellbeing at childcare can be explained by indices of quality of care and child characteristics. Participants were 71 children from childcare homes and 45 children from childcare centers in the age range of 20-40 months. In both types of settings equivalent measures and procedures were used. In home-based childcare, children experienced higher caregiver sensitivity, lower noise levels, and showed higher wellbeing compared to children in childcare centers. Caregiver sensitivity in home-based childcare--but not in center care--was positively associated with children's wellbeing. Additionally, children displayed higher cortisol levels at childcare than at home, irrespective of type of care. In home-based childcare, lower caregiver sensitivity was associated with higher total production of salivary cortisol during the day. In center-based childcare, lower global quality of care was associated with a rise in cortisol between 11 AM and 3 PM during the day. Quality of care is an important factor in young children's wellbeing and HPA stress reactivity. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)

To study the effects of perinatal HIV-1 infection and early institutional rearing on the physical and cognitive development of children, 64 Ukrainian uninfected and HIV-infected institutionalized and family-reared children were examined (mean age = 50.9 months). Both HIV infection and institutional care were related to delays in physical and cognitive development, with a larger effect of the rearing environment. Family care, even of compromised quality, was found to be more favorable for children's physical and cognitive development than institutional care. The impact of the quality of child care on physical and cognitive development is discussed in light of future interventions. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

This study addresses the extent to which insecure and disorganized attachments increase risk for externalizing problems using meta-analysis. From 69 samples (N = 5,947), the association between insecurity and externalizing problems was significant, d = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.23, 0.40). Larger effects were found for boys (d = 0.35), clinical samples (d = 0.49), and from observation-based outcome assessments (d = 0.58). Larger effects were found for attachment assessments other than the Strange Situation. Overall, disorganized children appeared at elevated risk (d = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.50), with weaker effects for avoidance (d = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21) and resistance (d = 0.11, 95% CI: -0.04, 0.26). The results are discussed in terms of the potential significance of attachment for mental health.

The Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) designed by Tronick, Als, Adamson, Wise, and Brazelton (Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L., Wise, S., & Brazelton, T. B. (1978). Infants response to entrapment between contradictory messages in face-to-face interaction. "Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 17", 1-13) has been used for many different purposes in over 80 empirical studies. In the current paper, the nature and correlates of infant behavior in the SFP were examined in a systematic narrative review and a series of meta-analyses. The results of the meta-analyses confirmed the classic still-face effect of reduced positive affect and gaze, and increased negative affect, as well as a partial carry-over effect into the reunion episode consisting of lower positive and higher negative affect compared to baseline. The still-face effect is very robust as it was found regardless of most sample variations such as infant gender and risk status, and regardless of most procedural variations, such as the length of the SFP episodes and the use of intervals between episodes. The few moderator effects that were found in the meta-analyses tended to put findings from the narrative review in a new perspective. Additional meta-analyses confirmed the narrative review in finding that higher maternal sensitivity predicted more infant positive affect during the still-face. Infants' higher positive affect and lower negative affect during the still-face were predictive of secure attachment at age 1 year. The meta-analytic results for maternal depression were equivocal. Implications for future research include a need for studies testing the role of the adults' identity (parent versus stranger, mother versus father) to elucidate the relationship-specificity of the still-face effect. Also, the role of maternal sensitivity and temperament as potential moderators of the still-face effect need to be examined further. On a procedural level, the effects of the timing of the still-face and of the duration of the reunion on infant responses deserve future research attention. (Contains 8 tables and 1 figure.)

In an intriguing account, the hypothesis is proposed that elevating effects of quantity of childcare on aggression might not, as other research has suggested, be dissipating over time, but instead be diffusing across groups of children. Paradoxically, this diffusion may also affect children with little or no experience with non-maternal care. If supported, this hypothesis may cause great concern about the increasing childcare use in western countries. In this commentary, we take a closer look at this hypothesis, focusing on limitations in ethnic and cultural diversity of the available data, on the inconclusive role of temperament, on the causal nature of some conclusions, and on the role of the father as a non-maternal caregiver.

The authors assessed the quality of child care in a representative national sample of 42 child-care centers in the Netherlands and compared it with the quality of care that researchers have found using similar samples in 1995 (M. H. van IJzendoorn, L. W. C. Tavecchio, G. J. J. M. Stams, M. J. E. Verhoeven, & E. J. Reiling, 1998) and 2001 (M. J. J. M. Gevers Deynoot-Schaub & J. M. A. Riksen-Walraven, 2005). In the present study, results showed a low level of overall process quality for the 2005 sample, measured by the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (T. Harms, D. Cryer, & R. M. Clifford, 2003) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (T. Harms, R. M. Clifford, & D. Cryer, 1998). The present authors found a significant decline in process quality in comparison with the 1995 and 2001 findings. They concluded that, from an international perspective, the Netherlands has lost its leading position in child-care quality compared with that from 10 years ago. (Contains 8 tables and 2 figures.)

In this study, children's attachment relationships with their professional caregivers in center day care were observed for 48 children. We explored whether more positive caregiving was associated with a more secure attachment relationship and whether this association was stronger for more temperamentally irritable children compared to less irritable children. Trained observers coded the attachment relationship in the day care setting using the attachment Q-sort. The observational record of the caregiving environment was used to assess children's individual experience of positive caregiver-child interaction in the classroom. When caregivers showed more frequent positive caregiving behavior, children showed more secure attachment behavior toward their primary professional caregiver. Temperament was not related to attachment security, nor did it serve as a moderator. Consequently, no support for Belsky's susceptibility hypothesis was found.

In this meta-analysis of 75 studies on more than 3,888 children in 19 different countries, the intellectual development of children living in children's homes (orphanages) was compared with that of children living with their (foster) families. Children growing up in children's homes showed lower IQ's than did children growing up in a family (trimmed d = 0.74). The age at placement in the children's home, the age of the child at the time of assessment, and the developmental level of the country of residence were associated with the size of the delays. Children growing up in children's homes show a substantial lower level of IQ (average IQ of 84) than their peers reared in (foster) families (average IQ of 104), and the difference amounted to 20 IQ points. More research is needed to detect the causes of the large IQ delays and to test ways of improving the intellectual development of millions of children in orphanages around the world. (Contains 3 tables.)

The present longitudinal study examined resting heart rate and heart rate variability and reactivity to a stressful gambling task in adopted adolescents with aggressive, delinquent, or internalizing behavior problems and adopted adolescents without behavior problems (total N=151). Early-onset delinquent adolescents showed heart rate "hypo"reactivity to the stress-eliciting gambling task compared to late-onset delinquent adolescents and adolescents without behavior problems. Heart rate, heart rate variability, and reactivity to stress were not related to environmental factors such as early-childhood parental sensitivity, parental socioeconomic status, or adoptee's health status at arrival. We conclude that the distinction between delinquency and aggression and between childhood-onset and adolescence-onset delinquency is important for the study of stress reactivity in adolescents.

Play helps to develop social skills. Children with autism show deviances in their play behavior that may be associated with delays in their social development. In this study, we investigated manipulative, functional and symbolic play behavior of toddlers with and without autism (mean age: 26.45, SD 5.63). The results showed that the quality of interaction between the child and the caregiver was related to the development of play behavior. In particular, security of attachment was related to better play behavior. When the developmental level of the child is taken into account, the attachment relationship of the child with the caregiver at this young age is a better predictor of the level of play behavior than the child's disorder.

Recent studies have supported the intriguing hypothesis that highly reactive infants are most susceptible to the effect of parenting. This study replicates and extends an earlier study on 4-year-olds concerning higher susceptibility of more fearful children to the quality of their relationships with their mothers, as shown by their physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips. Two groups of children (4- and 7-year-olds) were shown the same fear-inducing and neutral film clips. During the film clips, their skin conductance and heart rate variability were measured. Both 4- and 7-year-olds responded to the fear-inducing film clips with increases in skin conductance and decreases in heart rate variability. A secure relationship affected the reactivity to fearful stimuli in temperamentally more fearful children but not in less fearful children irrespective of children's ages. Our findings add to the growing literature showing that children high in negative emotion are more susceptible to positive as well as negative rearing influences for better and for worse.

The current study examined whether adolescents' attachment representations were associated with differences in emotion regulation during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1996) and during a mother-adolescent conflict interaction task (Family Interaction Task [FIT]; J. P. Allen et al., 2003). Participants were one hundred and fifty-six 14-year-old adolescents. Dismissing adolescents showed less interbeat interval (IBI) reactivity (indicating less stress) during the AAI than secure adolescents. However, during the FIT, dismissing adolescents showed more IBI reactivity. No differences in physiological reactivity were found between individuals with resolved or unresolved loss or trauma during the AAI or FIT. The results indicate that dismissing adolescents may effectively use a defensive strategy during the AAI but less so in direct conflict interaction with their attachment figure.

In a randomized controlled trial we tested the role of genetic differences in explaining variability in intervention effects on child externalizing behavior. One hundred fifty-seven families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for their relatively high levels of externalizing behavior participated in a study implementing Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), with six 1.5-hr intervention sessions focusing on maternal sensitivity and discipline. A moderating role of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) exon III polymorphism was found: VIPP-SD proved to be effective in decreasing externalizing behavior in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele, a polymorphism that is associated with motivational and reward mechanisms and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. VIPP-SD effects were largest in children with the DRD4 7-repeat allele whose parents showed the largest increase in the use of positive discipline. The findings of this first experimental test of (measured) gene by (observed) environment interaction in human development indicate that children may be differentially susceptible to intervention effects depending on genetic differences.

Gene-environment interactions interpreted in terms of differential susceptibility may play a large part in the explanation of individual differences in human development. Reviewing studies on the behavioral and molecular genetics of attachment, we present evidence for interactions between genetic and environmental factors explaining individual differences in attachment security and disorganization. In particular, the DRD4 7-repeat polymorphism seems associated with an increased risk for disorganized attachment, but only when combined with environmental risk. Gene-environment (G x E) interactions may be interpreted as genetic vulnerability "or" differential susceptibility. We found support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis predicting not only more "negative" outcomes for susceptible children in unfavorable environments, but also "positive" outcomes for susceptible children in "favorable" environments.

Do adopted children show lower self-esteem than nonadopted peers, and do transracial adoptees show lower self-esteem than same-race adoptees? Adopted children are hypothesized to be at risk of low self-esteem. They may suffer from the consequences of neglect, abuse, and malnutrition in institutions before adoption. They have to cope with their adoptive status, which often includes difficulties associated with the lack of resemblance to their adoptive parents. Additionally, transracial and international adoptees may feel less integrated into their family, resulting in low self-esteem. In a series of metaanalyses, the authors found, however, no difference in self-esteem between adoptees (N = 10,977) and nonadopted comparisons (N = 33,862) across 88 studies. This was equally true for international, domestic, and transracial adoptees. Across 18 studies including 2,198 adoptees, no differences in self-esteem were found between transracial and same-race adoptees. In contrast, in a small set of 3 studies (N = 300), adoptees showed higher levels of self-esteem than nonadopted, institutionalized children. The authors' findings may be explained by adoptees' resilience to overcome early adversity, supported by the large investment of adoptive families. Adoption can be seen as an effective intervention, leading to normative self-esteem.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have severe and pervasive impairments in the development of social interaction, which may affect the attachment relationship with their parents and may have an impact on parenting. In the current investigation 89 families with young children (mean age 26.5 months) were involved, who were diagnosed as ASD, mentally retarded (MR), or language delayed (LD), or part of a non-clinical comparison group. Attachment security was observed with the Brief Attachment Screening Questionnaire, and several parental self-report questionnaires assessed the parenting style, parental efficacy, parental experiences of daily hassles, social support, and psychological problems. Children with ASD were rated as less secure compared to the other clinical and normal comparison groups. Parents of non-clinical children reported higher levels of authoritative parenting than parents in the ASD group and in the total clinical group, and they also received less social support. Parents of children with ASD coped remarkably well with the challenges of raising a child with ASD.