Background: Most young children (0-3 years) attend formal childcare in Denmark, many of them fulltime. Yet recent reports of the quality of Danish childcare centers have shown that in more than one-third of nurseries, the interactions between caregivers and young children (0-3 years) are of "insufficient" quality, which constitutes a risk for affected children's well-being and development. Effective interventions to improve childcare providers' interactive skills are necessary.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch indicates increases in coercive parenting towards children and increases in child externalizing behavior during COVID-19 as compared to the pre-pandemic period. In this preregistered study, we extended previous knowledge by investigating to what extent, and under what conditions, changes in coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior are interrelated. Ninety-five mothers and fathers of children (of age 3 prior to the pandemic) reported on coercive parenting and child externalizing behavior before and during the pandemic, and trained assistants observed the quality of mother-child and father-child attachment relationship prior to the pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParental stress is a known risk factor for coercive parenting and for lower coparenting quality. In the present study, we examined whether and how changes in parental stress of mothers and fathers from the pre-COVID-19 period (T1) into the height of the first lockdown in the Netherlands (T2) were linked to changes in coercive parenting of mothers and fathers and to changes in coparenting quality. A total of 96 families (46.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is consensus in the literature that self-esteem stems from relationships with others. In particular, it is assumed that parents play an important role in the development of children's self-esteem, also in adolescence. Despite the importance of parent-child attachment relationships for adolescents' self-esteem, we know very little about the extent to which fathers and mothers uniquely contribute to adolescents' self-esteem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChild Youth Care Forum
November 2016
Background: Previous studies underscore the need to improve caregiver-child interactions in early child care centers.
Objective: In this study we used a randomized controlled trial to examine whether a 5-week video feedback training can improve six key interactive skills of caregivers in early child care centers: Sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, structuring and limit setting, verbal communication, developmental stimulation, and fostering positive peer interactions.
Method: A total of 139 caregivers from 68 early child care groups for 0- to 4-year-old children in Dutch child care centers participated in this RCT, 69 in the intervention condition and 70 in the control condition.