Recent articles
Listed below are articles which have been recently published. When permitted the full text of the article is added to the website.
HIV Infection and early institutional rearing in Ukraine
Dobrova-Krol, N., Van IJzendoorn, M.H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Juffer, F. (2010). Effects of perinatal HIV infection and early institutional rearing on physical and cognitive development of children in Ukraine. Child Development, 81, 237-251.
Abstract
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 ¼ 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.
Copyright 2010 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families
Cyr, C., Euser, E.M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, M.H. (2010). Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta-analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 87-108.
Abstract
The current meta-analytic study examined the differential impact of maltreatment and various socioeconomic risks on attachment security and disorganization. Fifty-five studies with 4,792 children were traced, yielding 59 samples with nonmaltreated high-risk children (n ¼ 4,336) and 10 samples with maltreated children (n ¼ 456). We tested whether proportions of secure versus insecure (avoidant, resistant, and disorganized) and organized versus disorganized attachments varied as a function of risks. Results showed that children living under high-risk conditions (including maltreatment studies) showed fewer secure (d ¼ 0.67) and more disorganized (d ¼ 0.77) attachments than children living in low-risk families. Large effects sizes were found for the set of maltreatment studies: maltreated children were less secure (d ¼ 2.10) and more disorganized (d ¼ 2.19) than other high-risk children (d ¼ 0.48 and d ¼ 0.48, respectively). However, children exposed to five socioeconomic risks (k ¼ 8 studies, d ¼ 1.20) were not significantly less likely to be disorganized than maltreated children. Overall, these meta-analyses show the destructive impact of maltreatment for attachment security as well as disorganization, but the accumulation of socioeconomic risks appears to have a similar impact on attachment disorganization.
Copyright 2010 Cambridge University Press. Full text
Dopamine system genes associated with parenting in the context of daily hassles
Van IJzendoorn, M.H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. & Mesman, J. (2008). Dopamine system genes associated with parenting in the context of daily hassles. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 7, 403.410.
Abstract
The current study examined the molecular genetic foundations of sensitive parenting in humans and is the first to test the interaction between genes and environment in modulating parental sensitive responses to children. In a community sample of 176 Caucasian, middle class mothers with their 23-month-old toddlers at risk for externalizing behavior problems, the association between daily hassles and sensitive parenting was investigated. We tested whether two dopamine-related genes, dopmaine D4 receptor (DRD4) and catechol-Omethyltransferase (COMT) gene polymorphisms, modulate parents' vulnerability to the negative influence of daily hassles on sensitive parenting behavior to their offspring. Sensitive parenting was observed in structured settings, and parents reported on their daily hassles through a standard questionairre. In parents with the combination of genes leading to the least efficient dopaminergic system functioning (COMT val/val or val/met, DRD4-7Repeat), more daily hassles were associated less sensitive parenting, and lower levels of daily hassles were associated with more sensitive parenting d 5 1.12. The other combinations of COMT and DRD4 polymorphisms did not show significant associations between daily hassles and maternal sensitivity, suggesting differential suspectibility to hassles depending on parents' dopaminergic system genes. It is concluded that the study of (mutiple) gene-environment interactions (in the current case: gene by gene environment interaction, G3 G3 E) may explain why some parents are more and others less impacted by daily stresses in responding sensitively to their offsprings' signals.
Published by Blackwell Publishing for the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society
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