Attachment to mother and father at transition to middle childhood

The present study investigated concordance between representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father, and convergence between two narrative-based methods addressing these representations in middle childhood: the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) and the Secure Base Script Test (SBST). One hundred and twenty 6-year-old children were assessed by separate administrations of the MCAST for mother and father, respectively, and results showed concordance of representations of attachment to mother and attachment to father at age 6.5 years. 75 children were additionally tested about 12 months later, with the SBST, which assesses scripted knowledge of secure base (and safe haven), not differentiating between mother and father attachment rela- tionships. Concerning attachment to father, dichotomous classifications (MCAST) and a continuous dimension cap- turing scripted secure base knowledge (MCAST) converged with secure base scriptedness (SBST), yet we could not show the same pattern of convergence concerning attach- ment to mother. Results suggest some convergence between the two narrative methods of assessment of secure base script but also highlight complications when using the MCAST for measuring attachment to father in middle childhood

When crises collide: How intimate partner violence and poverty intersect to shape women’s mental health and coping

Until recently, the connection between intimate partner violence (IPV) and persistent poverty had been largely ignored. Recent research indicates, however, that the two phenomena cooccur at high rates; produce parallel effects; and, in each other’s presence, constrain coping options. Therefore, both external situational, and internal psychological difficulties are missed when women contending with both poverty and IPV are viewed through the lens of just one or just the other. This article describes mental health consequences for women who contend with both partner violence and poverty. It proposes that the stress, powerlessness, and social isolation at the heart of both phenomena combine to produce posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and other emotional difficulties. The article also introduces the term ‘‘survival-focused coping’’ to describe women’s methods of coping with IPV in the context of poverty and highlights the role that domestic violence advocates, mental health providers, and researchers can play in addressing these tightly intertwined phenomena

Premiers cris, premières nourritures

Cet ouvrage offre une mise en perspective des pratiques d’allaitement et de sevrage des nourrissons et des jeunes enfants, de la Préhistoire à nos jours. Plus qu’une histoire de l’allaitement, il dresse un bilan des savoirs les plus actuels autour de ces pratiques, depuis les premières minutes de vie jusqu’à l’abandon définitif du lait maternel. Un moment unique, un regard croisé sur les modes d’alimentation des tout-petits et leurs déterminants, cette thématique, qui implique tant les sciences humaines et sociales que les sciences médicales, est abordée dans une perspective diachronique, pluridisciplinaire et internationale. Les contributions réunies dans cet ouvrage vont au-delà des connaissances déjà produites par les historiens. S’appuyant sur d’autres sources documentaires, comme celles contenues dans les milliers de squelettes humains issus des fouilles archéologiques, et les techniques d’analyse du contenu chimique des ossements, il est désormais possible d’explorer le temps long, et de nuancer parfois les informations fournies par les textes anciens. Le large panorama ici retracé permet de conclure qu’au-delà des normes imposées par le discours médical ou militant, l’allaitement maternel n’a jamais été le mode d’alimentation exclusif des nourrissons. De tout temps et sous toutes les latitudes, les comportements d’allaitement ont été modelés par des facteurs physiologiques, psychologiques, familiaux, d’ordre social et économique au « sein » desquels les politiques de santé ont également tenté de s’imposer