Sheila R. van Berkel

Boys Don’t Play with Dolls: Mothers’ and Fathers’ Gender Talk during Picture Book Reading

SYNOPSIS Objective. This study examines mothers’ and fathers’ gender talk with their daughters and sons and investigates the association between parental gender talk and parental implicit gender stereotypes. Design. Mothers’ and fathers’ gender talk was examined in 304 families with two children aged 2 and 4 years old, using the newly developed Gender Stereotypes Picture Book. Parental implicit gender stereotypes were assessed with the action inference paradigm. Results. The picture book elicited different forms of gender talk, including use of gender labels, evaluative comments related to gender, and comments about gender stereotypes. Mothers used positive evaluative comments more than fathers to convey messages about gender, but fathers made more comments confirming gender stereotypes than mothers. Fathers with two boys were more inclined to emphasize appropriate male behavior in their gender talk than fathers in other family types. Implicit gender stereotypes were associated with gender talk to the children only for mothers. Conclusion. The assessment of gender talk with the Gender Stereotypes Picture Book can provide insights into the roles of mothers and fathers in child gender socialization.

Child Maltreatment in Vietnam: Prevalence and Cross-Cultural Comparison

ABSTRACT This Vietnam prevalence study on child maltreatment (VPM-2014) was designed to examine the prevalence of child maltreatment in Vietnam and to compare it with the child maltreatment prevalence in the Netherlands using the same measures and procedure. Questionnaires were filled out by 1,851 students aged 12 to 17 years (47.3% were boys). Results indicated that half of the students (49.9%) reported at least 1 event of child maltreatment in the past year. Emotional abuse was most frequently reported (31.8%), followed by physical abuse, neglect, and witnessing parental conflict. Sexual abuse was the least prevalent (2.6%). Compared with the Netherlands, the prevalence rates of most types of child maltreatment were higher in Vietnam: The largest difference was with emotional abuse, followed by neglect, physical abuse, and witnessing parental conflict. Only the past-year sexual abuse prevalence in Vietnam was lower. These findings highlight the alarming problem of child maltreatment in Vietnam.

Neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity in children prenatally exposed to tobacco

This study examined neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity in children who had been prenatally exposed to tobacco. Neurobiological stress reactivity was measured using salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase levels at five different time points throughout a stressful neuropsychological test session, which involved a competition against a videotaped opponent. Participants (mean age: 10.6 years, SD 1.3) were 14 prenatally exposed (PE) children, 9 children with disruptive behavior problems (DBD), and 15 normal controls (NC). For cortisol responses, no significant differences between the three groups were observed. Normal controls, however, had significantly higher alpha-amylase levels than PE-children throughout the test session, and their alpha-amylase levels also increased throughout the session, whereas these remained low and stable for PE-children. Alpha-amylase levels and trajectory of PE-children were similar to those observed for DBD-children. PE-children also showed significantly increased behavioral stress reactivity compared to NC-children, and neurobiological and behavioral stress reactivity were inversely related in PE-children, again similar to what was observed for DBD-children. These results support the hypothesis that prenatal smoking may lead to long-lasting neurobiological and behavioral changes in exposed offspring.

Mothers' and Fathers' Sensitivity with Their Two Children: A Longitudinal Study from Infancy to Early Childhood.

To examine the effects of child age and birth order on sensitive parenting, 364 families with 2 children were visited when the second-born children were 12, 24, and 36 months old, and their older siblings were on average 2 years older. Mothers showed higher levels of sensitivity than fathers at all assessments. Parental sensitivity increased from infancy to toddlerhood, and then decreased into early childhood. The changes in parental sensitivity with child age were similar for mothers and fathers, and mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity levels were related over time. However, the changes in parental sensitivity toward the firstborn and second-born child were not related to each other, suggesting that parents’ experiences with the firstborn child do not have implications for their sensitivity toward their second-born child. Instead, the child’s own unique characteristics and developmental stage seem to play a more important role. These findings highlight the importance of considering developmental child characteristics in the study of parenting, and suggest that individual differences in attaining developmental milestones may affect parental sensitivity.

Sibling Gender Configuration and Family Processes

The current study focuses on the effects of sibling gender configuration on family processes during early childhood. In a sample of 369 two-parent families with two children (youngest 12 months, oldest about 2 years older), both siblings’ noncompliant and oppositional behaviors and fathers’ and mothers’ sensitivity and discipline strategies were observed. Both siblings’ aggressive behaviors and empathy of the oldest sibling were assessed with parent-reports. Children in families with two sons showed more problematic interaction patterns compared with children in families with an oldest girl. In families with two boys, older siblings were more aggressive and fathers were less sensitive toward their youngest child in comparison with families with two girls. Furthermore, in boy–boy families older siblings showed more oppositional behavior and younger siblings more noncompliance compared with girl–boy families. These findings highlight the importance of sibling gender configuration in the development of child behavior and parent–child interactions.

To share or not to share : Parental, sibling, and situational influences on sharing with a younger sibling

Sharing is an important indicator of internalised prosocial values. We examined predictors of sharing of 302 preschoolers with their younger siblings in a one-year longitudinal study. Sharing was observed during different home visits, once with father and once with mother. We examined the following predictors: both children’s externalising behaviour, observed parental sensitivity, and situational factors. Preschoolers’ sharing was stable and increased with age. Preschoolers shared more when sharing was preceded by a structured interaction with a parent compared to free play with an unfamiliar adult. At age 4 they shared more in fathers’ presence than in mothers’ presence. Neither parental sensitivity nor child behaviour were related to sharing. These findings demonstrate stability and the importance of situational factors in the development of prosocial behaviour.

The Combination of Sibling Victimization and Parental Child Maltreatment on Mental Health Problems and Delinquency

This study examined how the combination of sibling victimization and parental child maltreatment is related to mental health problems and delinquency in childhood and adolescence. Co-occurrence, additive associations, and interactive associations of sibling victimization and parental child maltreatment were investigated using a sample of 2,053 children aged 5–17 years from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence. The results provide primarily evidence for additive associations and only suggest some co-occurrence and interactive associations of sibling victimization and child maltreatment. Evidence for co-occurrence was weak and, when controlling for the other type of maltreatment, only found for neglect. Sibling victimization was related to more mental health problems and delinquency over and above the effect of child abuse and neglect. Moderation by sibling victimization depended on child age and was only found for the relation between both types of child maltreatment by parents and delinquency. For mental health, no interactive associations were found. These results highlight the unique and combined associations between sibling victimization on child development.

Negative parental attributions mediate associations between risk factors and dysfunctional parenting: A replication and extension

The primary goal of the current study was to replicate our previous study in which was found that negative maternal attributions mediate the association between parenting stress and harsh and abusive discipline. In addition, we investigated this association in fathers, and added observational parenting data. During two home visits mothers and fathers were observed with their children (age 1.5-6.0 years), filled in questionnaires, and completed the Parental Attributions of Child behavior Task (PACT; a computerized attribution task). Similar to our previous study, negative parental attributions mediated the relation between parenting stress and self-reported harsh and abusive parenting for both mothers and fathers. For mothers, this mediation effect was also found in the relation between parenting stress and lower levels of observed supportive parenting in a challenging disciplinary task. In addition, the relation of partner-related stress and abuse risk with harsh, abusive, and (low) supportive parenting were also mediated by maternal negative attributions. When parenting stress, partner-related stress, and abuse risk were studied in one model, only parenting stress remained significant. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of targeting parental attributions for prevention and intervention purposes in families experiencing stress.

Changes in the prevalence of child maltreatment in Vietnam over 10 years

OBJECTIVES In the context of the shortage of studies on child maltreatment changes over time in limited resource settings, this paper explored the changes in the prevalence of multiple types of child maltreatment over a period of 10 years in Vietnam and tested the moderating role of some demographic characteristics in these changes. METHODS We used data from two prevalence studies conducted in 2004 and in 2014 using similar methodologies. Both studies used self-report questionnaires which were completed by randomly selected students aged 12-17 years from different provinces in Vietnam. We also compared Hanoi subgroups to examine the trend using the most equivalent samples. RESULTS While the prevalence estimates of sexual abuse and neglect were unchanged over 10 years, the prevalence of physical abuse and emotional abuse declined. The decrease in the prevalence of physical abuse was larger for younger adolescents and boys than for their counterparts. For sexual abuse, older adolescents reported an increase in the prevalence of sexual abuse. In the Hanoi sample comparison, only the prevalence of emotional abuse declined and this reduction was smaller for younger adolescents than for the older group. CONCLUSION Despite the reduction of emotional and physical abuse in the whole sample and emotional abuse in the Hanoi sample, all types of child maltreatment were still highly prevalent in Vietnam. We argue that interventions on all types of child maltreatment should be further implemented. Similar studies could be conducted to evaluate the effect of child protection policies on the prevalence of child maltreatment.