Parenting and preschoolers’ executive functioning : A case of differential susceptibility?

A growing body of theoretical and empirical work has been attempting to answer the questions of how and how much of the effects of children’s early experience may depend on their inner characteristics. Theory and evidence suggest that some children, notably those with difficult temperaments, are more susceptible to both negative and positive aspects of parenting. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether child temperament moderated the links between the quality of mother-infant interactions, observed when children were 1 year of age, and two components of child executive functioning (EF) at 3 years, namely impulse control and conflict EF, among 74 mother–child dyads. The results were consistent with the notion that children with more difficult temperaments may be more susceptible to maternal behaviors than children with less difficult temperaments, but only regarding the development of impulse control abilities. There was no clear evidence of such moderation for conflict EF. These results support the idea that distinct mechanisms may underlie the development of different dimensions of child EF

Attachment security and maternal behaviors as predictors of children's psychosocial adjustment at school entry

Objective. This paper aimed to examine the contributions of a second assessment time point of attachment security, along with assessments of maternal behavior (sensitivity and autonomy support), to the prediction of children’s behavior problems. Design. Maternal behavior and mother–child attachment were assessed in 73 mother–child dyads when children were between 15 months and 26 months old. Children’s internalizing and externalizing problems were reported by their teachers in kindergarten and first grade. Results. Each assessment time point of attachment security, as well as maternal behavior, explained comparable portions of the variance in children’s anxious/depressed behavior, jointly predicting more than three times the variance explained by either measure of attachment alone. Conclusion. Researchers should consider a multidimensional approach to the assessment of the quality of mother–child relationships, at least when attempting to explain the development of child internalizing problems

Maternal mind-mindedness and children’s school readiness: A longitudinal study of developmental processes

This study aimed to test a five-wave sequential mediation model linking maternal mind-mindedness during infancy to children’s school readiness in kindergarten through a serial mediation involving child language and effortful control in toddlerhood and the preschool years. Among a sample of 204 mother-child dyads, we assessed maternal mind-mindedness when children were aged 1 year, child expressive vocabulary at age 2, effortful control at ages 3 and 4, and finally cognitive school readiness in kindergarten. The results corroborated the model, suggesting that the prospective association between early mind-mindedness and later cognitive school readiness was entirely mediated by the proposed sequence of mediators, all of which were necessary to account for this longitudinal association. These findings suggest that the potential of parental mind-mindedness to support children’s cognitive development may have been under-estimated, and that its putative positive influence may take the form of a developmental cascade unfolding during the preschool years and entailing the acquisition of basic skills that serve as building blocks for further learning and development

Attachment working models as unconscious structures: An experimental test

Internal working models of attachment (IWMs) are presumed to be largely unconscious representations of childhood attachment experiences. Several instruments have been developed to assess IWMs; some of them are based on self-report and others on narrative interview techniques. This study investigated the capacity of a self-report measure, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987), and of a narrative interview method, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985), to measure unconscious attachment models. We compared scores on the two attachment instruments to response latencies in an attachment priming task. It was shown that attachment organisation assessed by the AAI correlates with priming effects, whereas the IPPA scales were inversely or not related to priming. The results are interpreted as support for the assumption that the AAI assesses, to a certain degree, unconscious working models of attachment

L'organisation cognitive du système d'attachement en tant que prédicteur des perceptions de soutien social et des comportements de recherche d'aide à l'adolescence

L'objectif général de ce mémoire est d'étudier la relation prédictive entre l'organisation cognitive du système d'attachement à l'adolescence et les perceptions et comportements de soutien social. Le premier article fait le point sur l'état actuel de la recherche concernant le Adult Attachement Interview (AAI), c'est-à-dire ses fondements théoriques, ses qualités métrologiques et ses champs d'application. Le deuxième article est de nature empirique et étudie la capacité de l'organisation cognitive du système d'attachement de prédire les perceptions de soutien social(PSS) et les comportements de recherche d'aide. Trente-six collégiens sont rencontrés en entrevue(AAI), dont 28 complètent des questionnaires de PSS. Les 36 sujets réfèrent également un pair qui complète des questionnaires de recherche d'aide. l'organisation cognitive du système d'attachement prédit le désir d'être aidé, la satisfaction et l'importance accordée au soutien, la confiance envers l'aidant, et le recours à l'aide des professeurs

L'utilisation des TIC à des fins de harcèlement criminel en situation de violence conjugale: la théorie des opportunités et des activités routinières de Cohen et Felson (1978) remaniée

Travail-dirigé présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maître ès sciences (M.Sc.) en criminologie, option criminalistique et informationIntroduite en 1978, la théorie des opportunités et des activités routinières de Cohen et Felson demeure encore aujourd’hui une des plus citées pour expliquer la commission d’actes criminels qui, pour leur part, ne cessent d’évoluer au fil du temps. L’introduction des technologies de l’information et des communications, les TIC, a ainsi contribué à grandement changer le portrait de diverses formes de criminalité traditionnelle, notamment celui du harcèlement criminel. Les TIC sont, entre autres, de plus en plus utilisées dans le cas de violences conjugales pour commettre du harcèlement auprès des victimes, et ce, même lorsque celles-ci vont chercher refuge en maison d’hébergement. Cette nouvelle réalité est dénoncée par les intervenantes et les directrices de maisons d’hébergement qui y voient une véritable menace non seulement pour les femmes, mais aussi pour la maison d’hébergement et pour leurs interventions. Avec la collaboration de policiers, d’un professeur de l’École des sciences criminelles de Lausanne et d’intervenantes en maison d’hébergement pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale, une collecte des données a été menée afin de préciser comment la théorie des opportunités et des activités routinières de Cohen et Felson peut être adaptée dans les cas de harcèlement criminel par le biais des TIC, en situation de violence conjugale post- séparation, lorsque les femmes sont accueillies en maisons d’hébergement. Le crime ciblé par cette étude, le harcèlement criminel, est d’abord explicité à partir du point de vue légal, puis à partir de la compréhension qu’en ont les policiers et les intervenantes en maison d’hébergement, afin d’en connaitre les particularités. Dans le cadre de cette étude, le délinquant motivé s’avère être le conjoint cherchant à contrôler sa victime en utilisant diverses technologies pour l’épier et la harceler même si elle a quitté le domicile familial et la situation de violence conjugale, pour se réfugier en maison d’hébergement. La cible attrayante se trouve alors être la conjointe rendue vulnérable par l’état émotionnel dans lequel elle est plongée par les agissements du conjoint. Les maisons d’hébergement pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale ainsi que l’enquête policière sont vues comme pouvant jouer un rôle de gardien efficace dans une telle situation. En effet, les femmes en maison d’hébergement se voient offrir la possibilité de se couper de toutes formes de technologies leur appartenant susceptibles de les mettre en danger. À l’inverse, bien utilisées, les TIC peuvent s’avérer une source de données riches en informations permettant de « mettre en boîte » l’agresseur, en utilisant les traces numériques que laisse l’utilisation des TIC pour constituer la preuve du délit. Ainsi se trouve revisitée la théorie de Cohen et Felson à l’ère des TIC et se célèbre la rencontre entre criminologie et criminalistique.Introduced in 1978, the lifestyle and routine activities theory of Cohen and Felson remains one of the most cited theory to explain criminal activities. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has transformed traditional forms of crime, such as criminal stalking and harassment. The ICT are often used in domestic violence cases to harass and stalk the victim, even when she is seeking security in shelters. This problematic was brought to our attention by shelter workers, who consider those technologies an actual threat for women and their children, but also for the shelter and the interventions. With the collaboration of police investigators, a professor from the École des sciences criminelles de Lausanne and shelter workers, data were collected through interviews then analyzed, in order to adapt the Cohen and Felson’s lifestyle and routine activities theory in cases of ICT use for stalking, in intimate partner violence relationships. The crime targeted by this study, criminal stalking and harassment committed through ICT, is developed according to the Criminal Code but also according to the police officer and the shelter workers, to understand its particularities. In this study, the motivated offender is the partner controlling his wife using various devices to track and harass her, even when she quit the violent situation to seek security in a shelter. In this case, her unstable emotional state and the fact that her partner knows her well make the present or former wife vulnerable and, therefore, a suitable target. Also, the emotional context surrounding the domestic violence situation can destabilize her when she receives text messages or e-mails from her partner, trying to convince her to come back. Finally, shelters and the police investigation are there seen as a capable guardian. In fact, women in shelters have the possibility to turn off their technology in a secure environment where they can get the support they need. Even if the ICT can, in one hand, impede the intervention, it can also be a rich source of information, on the other hand. Indeed, when a police investigation takes place, this digital information can be used as evidence in criminal court to prove the stalking. Thereby, Cohen and Felson’s theory of opportunities and routine activity is revisited in the ICT era and put forward the meeting of criminological and forensic science

Mécanismes moléculaires de la réplication préférentielle du VIH-1 dans les cellules à polarisation Th1Th17 versus Th1 : rôle de PPARG dans la régulation négative de la réplication virale

Les cellules T CD4+ humaines sont hétérogènes du point de vue de la permissivité à l’infection par le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine de type 1 (VIH-1). Notre laboratoire a préalablement démontré que les cellules Th1 à phénotype CXCR3+CCR6- sont relativement résistantes à l’infection par le VIH-1 alors que les cellules Th1Th17 à phénotype CXCR3+CCR6+ y sont hautement permissives. La réplication du VIH dépend de plusieurs facteurs cellulaires de restriction ou de permissivité agissant à différentes étapes du cycle viral. Toutefois, malgré plusieurs avancées, la compréhension des voies de signalisation cellulaire impliquées dans la régulation de la réplication du VIH est encore limitée. L’objectif majeur de ce projet de maîtrise est de caractériser les mécanismes moléculaires de la permissivité et de la résistance au VIH respectivement dans les cellules Th1Th17 et Th1. Ce mémoire est divisé en quatre parties qui visent: (i) l’identification des voies canoniques et des fonctions biologiques différemment régulées dans les cellules Th1Th17 versus Th1 par l’analyse de leur transcriptome au niveau du génome entier; (ii) la validation de l’expression différentielle des gènes d’intérêt identifiés par biopuces au niveau des transcrits et des protéines; (iii) la caractérisation du rôle fonctionnel de certains de ces facteurs (i.e., PPARG, AhR) sur la réplication du VIH dans les cellules Th1Th17 versus Th1; et (iv) l’identification du niveau auquel ces facteurs interfèrent avec le cycle de réplication du VIH. Nos résultats d’analyse du transcriptome du génome entier par Gene Set Enrichment Analysis et Ingenuity Pathway Analysis indiquent que les cellules à profil Th1Th17 sont plus susceptibles à l’activation cellulaire et à l’apoptose, favorisent plus l’inflammation et expriment moins fortement les gènes liés à la dégradation protéosomale comparé aux cellules à profil Th1. Ces différences dans la régulation de diverses voies et fonctions biologiques permettent en partie d’expliquer la susceptibilité à l’infection par le VIH dans ces cellules. Nous avons ensuite confirmé l’expression différentielle de certains gènes d’intérêt dans les cellules Th1Th17 (CXCR6, PPARG, ARNTL, CTSH, PTPN13, MAP3K4) versus Th1 (SERPINB6, PTK2) au niveau de l’ARNm et des protéines. Finalement, nous avons démontré le rôle des facteurs de transcription PPARG et AhR dans la régulation de la réplication du VIH. L’activation de la voie PPARG par la rosiglitazone induit la diminution importante de la réplication du VIH dans les cellules T CD4+, alors que l’activation de la voie AhR par les ligands exogènes TCDD et FICZ augmente de façon significative la réplication virale. Nous proposons que la voie PPARG agit comme un régulateur négatif de la réplication du VIH dans ces cellules, en interférant avec la polarisation Th17 et probablement en inhibant l’activité transcriptionnelle du facteur NF-kB. Les rôles des formes nucléaires versus cytoplasmiques du récepteur Ahr semblent être diamétralement opposés, dans la mesure où l’interférence ARN contre AhR s’associe également à l’augmentation de la réplication virale. Il est ainsi possible que la forme cytoplasmique d’AhR, connue par son activité E3 ligase, participe à la dégradation protéosomale des particules virales. Le mécanisme par lequel le AhR nucléaire versus cytoplasmique interfère avec la réplication virale est en cours d’étude au laboratoire. Cette étude représente la première caractérisation de l’expression différentielle de gènes au niveau du génome entier de sous-populations T CD4+ permissives versus résistantes à l’infection par le VIH. Nos résultats identifient de nouvelles cibles moléculaires pour de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques visant à limiter la réplication du VIH dans les lymphocytes T CD4+ primaires.Human CD4+ T cells are heterogeneous in terms of permissiveness to infection by the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Our laboratory previously demonstrated that Th1 cells (CXCR3+CCR6- phenotype) are relatively resistant to infection, whereas Th1Th17 cells (CXCR3+CCR6+ phenotype) are highly permissive to HIV-1. HIV replication depends on several cellular restriction or permissiveness factors acting at different stages of the viral life cycle. However, despite several advances, our knowledge on signaling pathways involved in HIV replication is still limited. The main objective of this MSc degree project is to characterize the molecular mechanisms of permissiveness and resistance to HIV in Th1Th17 and Th1 cells respectively. This thesis is divided into four parts, aiming at : (i) the identification of canonical pathways and biological functions differentially regulated in Th1Th17 vs Th1 cells through the analysis of their whole genome transcriptome; (ii) the validation of differential expression of relevant genes identified by microarrays at mRNA and protein levels; (iii) the characterization of the functional role of some of these factors (i.e. PPARG, AhR) on HIV replication in Th1Th17 versus Th1 cells; and (iv) the identification of the level at which these factors interfere with the HIV replication cycle. Our analysis of the large sets of microarray data by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis indicate that Th1Th17 compared to Th1 cells are more susceptible to cell activation and apoptosis, promote superior inflammation and express at low levels genes related to the proteosomal degradation. These differences in the regulation of various biological functions and pathways can partly explain the susceptibility to HIV infection in these cells. We then confirmed the differential expression of some genes of interest in Th1Th17 (CXCR6, PPARG, ARNTL, CTSH, PTPN13, MAP3K4) versus Th1 (SERPINB6, PTK2) cells at mRNA and protein levels. Finally, we demonstrated the role of the transcription factors PPARG and AhR in the regulation of HIV replication. The activation of PPARG by rosiglitazone induces an important decrease in HIV replication in CD4+ T cells, while AhR activation by its exogenous ligands TCDD and FICZ promotes viral replication. We propose that the PPARG pathway acts as a negative regulator of HIV replication in these cells by interfering with Th17 polarization and probably by inhibiting the transcriptional activity of NF-kB. The role of nuclear versus cytoplasmic AhR appears diametrically opposed, since RNA interference against AhR is also associated with a significant increase in HIV replication. It is thus possible that the cytoplasmic form of AhR, known for its E3 ubiquitine ligase activity, is involved in proteasomal degradation of the viral particles. The mechanism by which the nuclear versus cytoplasmic form of AhR interferes with viral replication is being studied in the laboratory. This study represents the first characterization of the differential expression of genes in the entire genome of CD4+ T subpopulations permissive (Th1Th17) versus resistant (Th1) to infection by HIV. Ours results identify new molecular targets for therapeutic strategies to limit HIV replication in primary CD4+ T lymphocytes

Disentangling the direction of associations between sleep and temperament in toddlers

Objectives/Background: Although much research has investigated the associations between children’s sleep and their temperament, the direction of these associations remains unclear, largely due to a lack of longitudinal studies with repeated assessments of both sleep and temperament. Aiming to clarify the temporal precedence of these two constructs, the current study investigated reciprocal associations between toddlers’ sleep and temperament with a longitudinal design. Participants: The sample consisted of 82 toddlers (39 girls) assessed twice. Methods: At both 2 (M = 25.23 months; SD = 1.11) and 3 years of age (M = 36.81 months; SD = 0.91), toddlers' sleep duration and quality were assessed using actigraphy and their temperament was reported by their mothers with the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire. Results: Shorter nighttime sleep duration (ß = -.28, p = .03) and lower sleep efficiency (ß = -.33, p = .01) at 2 years predicted more temperamental proneness to anger at 3 years, while greater temperamental social fear at 2 years was predictive of shorter 24-hour (ß = -.44, p = .02) and nighttime (ß = -.36, p = .04) sleep duration at 3 years. Associations between temperamental activity level and sleep variables were non-significant. Conclusion: The direction of the associations between toddlers’ sleep and their temperament may vary according to which dimension of temperament is considered. These findings should encourage practitioners to identify the beginning of the causal chain leading to sleep or temperamental difficulties so as to develop well-tailored intervention plans

From early relationships to preacademic knowledge : a socio-cognitive developmental cascade to school readiness

This study aimed to test a four-wave sequential mediation model linking mother–child attachment to children’s school readiness through child executive functioning (EF) and prosociality in toddlerhood and the preschool years. Mother–child attachment security was assessed when children (N = 255) were aged 15 months and 2 years, child EF at age 2, prosocial behavior at age 4, and finally cognitive school readiness in kindergarten (age 6). The results revealed three indirect pathways linking attachment to school readiness: one through EF only, one through prosocial behavior only, and a last pathway involving both EF and prosocial behavior serially. These findings suggest that secure attachment may equip children with both cognitive and social skills that are instrumental to their preparedness for school

The role of paternal mind‐mindedness in preschoolers' self‐regulated conduct

This study examined the prospective links between paternal mind‐mindedness (MM) and 2 indices of preschoolers' self‐regulated con-duct, namely, inhibitory control and rule‐compatible conduct.Ninety‐two families (47 boys) participated in 2 assessments. PaternalMM was assessed with a 10‐min father–child free‐play session whenchildren were aged 18 months. Children's rule‐compatible conductwas reported by mothers when children reached 3 years of age,and inhibitory control was measured with a Snack Delay task, alsoadministered at 3 years. The results suggested that after accountingfor the contribution of child temperament (social fearfulness),paternal MM was positively related to children's inhibitory control.In contrast, the relation between paternal MM and mother‐reportedrule‐compatible conduct was not significant. The results areinterpreted in light of the mechanisms that may account for the linksbetween paternal MM and preschoolers' emerging capacity tovoluntarily control their behaviour