A Mother's Attitude Towards Her Infant and Child Behaviour Five Years Later

Objective The relationship between maternal attitude to the infant at 6 months of age and behavioural outcomes at 5 years is explored, controlling for numerous demographic, child and psychosocial family factors. Method Data was used from the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy, an Australian longitudinal study of over 7000 mothers and children followed from pregnancy to when the children were 5 years. Measures ranging from the key variables of maternal attitude and child behaviour as well as numerous confounders were dichotomised. Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between maternal negative attitude toward the infant and clinically significant levels of child behaviour problems and other infant risks, early social risks, and concurrent social risks. Results The results suggest that maternal negative attitude towards the infant at 6 months is an independent predictor of child behaviour problems at 5 years. This association remained significant for boys' externalizing behaviours and girls' internalizing behaviours. Conclusions The findings lend support to the concept of a sensitive period in early infancy; the need for a broad perspective in the assessment of the mother-infant relationship and the need for early intervention with dysfunctional mother-infant dyads

Perceptions and Practices of Stimulating Children’s Cognitive Development Among Moroccan Immigrant Mothers

We explored the perceptions of children’s cognitive development among Moroccan Arabic and Berber immigrant mothers who cannot read, who are less educated, middle educated or highly educated in the Netherlands. A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with 22 mothers with young children (mean age = 5 years and 6 months). Qualitative data analyses revealed five major themes that are of significant importance to these mothers: moral attitudes, social values and religiousness; conversation, reading and playing as stimulating activities; importance attached to education; parental expectations; attributions of school success. The parental perceptions about the cognitive development of young children differed according to their own educational level. Mothers who cannot read and mothers with less education emphasized the development of moral, social and religious values for strengthening the cultural identity of their children. This sense of identity would enable them to function within their own cultural group and help them to perform well at school. School success was attributed in large part to a combination of the efforts of the child and the school. Middle and highly educated mothers, on the other hand, valued scholastic development and attributed school success to their own efforts and to the kind of support the child received. The ethnic background of the parents, whether Arabic or Berber, did not make a difference in the perceptions

Urban inequities; urban rights: a conceptual analysis and review of impacts on children, and policies to address them.

This paper explores current conceptual understanding of urban social, environmental, and health inequality and inequity, and looks at the impact of these processes on urban children and young people in the 21st century. This conceptual analysis was commissioned for a discussion paper for UNICEF's flagship publication: State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World. The aim of the paper is to examine evidence on the meaning of urban inequality and inequity for urban children and young people. It further looks at the controversial policies of targeting "vulnerable" young people, and policies to achieve the urban MDGs. Finally, the paper looks briefly at the potential of concepts such as environment justice and rights to change our understanding of urban inequality and inequity