Tovah P. Klein

Mothers' Reflections on Raising a Child With a Craniofacial Anomaly

Objective: To conduct a qualitative evaluation of parenting among families with school-aged and young adolescent children with craniofacial anomalies (CFAs). Methods: Interview responses were obtained from nine mothers of children ages 9 to 14 years old with CFAs. Mothers were asked to describe their perceptions of their children, their childrens special needs because of CFAs, and their parenting strategies. Narratives were coded into categories, including maternal concerns and worries, childrens strengths, proactive maternal behaviors, and role of CFAs in the families’ lives. Results and Conclusions: Mothers’ responses indicated concern and protectiveness because of the challenges of having a CFA, as well as parenting strategies intended to promote autonomy and positive social and emotional adjustment.

YOUNG CHILDREN'S RESPONSES TO SEPTEMBER 11TH: THE NEW YORK CITY EXPERIENCE

Although the knowledge base regarding very young childrens responses to trauma has been expanding, descriptions of their responses to terrorism remain sparse. Yet, their vulnerability makes this an important group to study. Recent events in the United States (9/11, Hurricane Katrina) make this question highly relevant. This study aims to provide extensive descriptions of how children 5 years or younger on September 11th who were living in close proximity to Ground Zero responded that day and in the following months. Sixty-seven New York City parents (with 104 children) participated in focus groups between November 2001 and May 2002. Focus groups also provided a foundation for an in-depth study examining young childrens adaptation following 9/11 and changes in parenting behaviors after the disaster. Findings on childrens behavioral and emotional reactions on 9/11 and in the 8 months after as well as their need to return to normalcy are reported. Consistent with current understanding of trauma symptoms in young children, parents reported behaviors including chronic sleep disruptions, fearful reactions, development of new fears, and increased clinginess and separation anxiety following the disaster. On the actual day, childrens responses were described as ranging from calm and cooperative to difficult and panicky. Implications for working with parents and young children affected by terrorism or community-level trauma and directions for future research are discussed.

Psychological Impact of Terrorism on Children and Families in the United States

Summary This article reviews the literature on the psychological impact of terrorism on children and families in the United States. It includes studies of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, as well as the September 11 attacks. These studies explore the impact of various forms and degrees of exposure to terrorism on children across the development spectrum and on the relationships between parental and child reactions. The article concludes with a framework for future research on childrens adaptation following mass trauma.

Cognitive imitation in 2-year-old children (Homo sapiens): a comparison with rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Here we compare the performance of 2-year-old human children with that of adult rhesus macaques on a cognitive imitation task. The task was to respond, in a particular order, to arbitrary sets of photographs that were presented simultaneously on a touch sensitive video monitor. Because the spatial position of list items was varied from trial to trial, subjects could not learn this task as a series of specific motor responses. On some lists, subjects with no knowledge of the ordinal position of the items were given the opportunity to learn the order of those items by observing an expert model. Children, like monkeys, learned new lists more rapidly in a social condition where they had the opportunity to observe an experienced model perform the list in question, than under a baseline condition in which they had to learn new lists entirely by trial and error. No differences were observed between the accuracy of each species’ responses to individual items or in the frequencies with which they made different types of errors. These results provide clear evidence that monkeys and humans share the ability to imitate novel cognitive rules (cognitive imitation).

Post-September 11 Mental Health Service Help Seeking Among a Group of Highly Exposed New York City Parents

The current study examines factors related to mental health help seeking among highly exposed New York City parents of young children (< 5 years) after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Data were gathered from 180 parents through in-depth interviews 9 to 12 months postdisaster. Parents described family disaster-related experiences, mental health, changes in parenting and couple function, and mental health service use. In a multivariate model, child direct exposure to the World Trade Center disaster, as well as parent and child mental health symptoms 1 to 3 months post-September 11, were significant predictors of parent help seeking. Findings suggest the need to design disaster relief services that consider family disaster exposure and postdisaster family mental health symptoms, including the functioning of young children and related parental stress in the postdisaster context.

A Qualitative Study of Children's Perspectives on Their Peer Relationships in the Context of Living With a Craniofacial Anomaly

Objective To gain understanding of perspectives on peer relationships from children with congenital craniofacial anomalies (CFA). Design This was qualitative research based in a phenomenological approach, using narratives that captured childrens responses to open-ended and objective questions about peer relations and life with a CFA. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were coded according to thematic categories. Setting Children were patients at a reconstructive plastic surgery center in an urban hospital and medical school and were recruited from a regional support organization for families of children with CFA that was associated with the hospital. Patients, Participants Nine children with congenital CFA aged 9 to 14 years. Main Outcome Measures: Thematic coding categories were developed from the narratives using an open coding strategy; these categories focused on aspects of childrens interactions with peers and their appraisals of the role of their CFA in their lives. Results Children reported satisfaction with most aspects of their peer relationships and expressed confidence in their ability to manage challenges. They acknowledged some difficulties with living with a CFA but tended to hold a balanced perspective on the impact of a CFA on their lives, and they expressed optimism about their future lives. Conclusions This sample of children with CFA exhibited much resilience. Although they may not be representative of all children with CFA, they provide examples that can be used to generate hypotheses for future research.