The role of acoustic features of maternal infant-directed singing in enhancing infant sensorimotor, language and socioemotional development.

The quality of infant-directed speech (IDS) and infant-directed singing (IDSi) are considered vital to children, but empirical studies on protomusical qualities of the IDSi influencing infant development are rare. The current prospective study examines the role of IDSi acoustic features, such as pitch variability, shape and movement, and vocal amplitude vibration, timbre, and resonance, in associating with infant sensorimotor, language, and socioemotional development at six and 18 months. The sample consists of 236 Palestinian mothers from Gaza Strip singing to their six-month-olds a song by their own choice.

War trauma and infant motor, cognitive, and socioemotional development: Maternal mental health and dyadic interaction as explanatory processes.

Background: Taking care of infants in conditions of war is highly demanding and a few studies reveal the negative impact of war trauma on maternal and infant well-being. Yet, little is known regarding the influence of trauma on infant development and the potential explanatory mechanisms. First, the present study examines how mothers' prenatal exposure to traumatic war events is associated with infant cognitive, motor, and socioemotional development.

It Takes Time to Unravel the Ecology of War in Gaza, Palestine: Long-Term Changes in Maternal, Newborn and Toddlers' Heavy Metal Loads, and Infant and Toddler Developmental Milestones in the Aftermath of the 2014 Military Attacks.

Toxicant, teratogen and carcinogen metal war remnants negatively affect human health. The current study analyzes, first, the persistence of heavy metal contamination in newborn hair in four cohorts across time in Gaza Palestine; second, the change in mothers' and infants' heavy metal contamination from birth to toddlerhood; and third, the impact of heavy metal contamination on infants' and toddlers' growth and development. The hair of newborns was analyzed for twelve heavy metals by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP/MS) in cohorts recruited at delivery in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018-2019.

The role of maternal attachment in mental health and dyadic relationships in war trauma.

Background: Infant care is a demanding task in dangerous war conditions, but research on the wellbeing of mother-infant dyads is mainly available in peaceful conditions. Knowledge on protective versus risking processes is especially vital for tailoring effective help, and the present study proposes the maternal attachment style to play an important role in dangerous war conditions.

Objective: The study analyses, first, how various traumatic war events, such as losses, horrors and life-threat, are associated with maternal mental health and dyadic mother-infant interaction quality, indicated by maternal emotional availability (EA).

Maternal experience of their infants' crying in the context of war trauma: Determinants and consequences.

We examined, first, how prenatal maternal mental health and war trauma predicted mothers' experience of their infant crying, indicated by emotions, cognitions, and behavior; and second, how these experiences influenced the mother-infant interaction and infant development. Participants were 511 Palestinian mothers from the Gaza Strip, reporting their war trauma, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and perceived stress during pregnancy (Time 1). They reported experiences of infant crying at 4 months (Time 2), and the mother-infant interaction and infant sensorimotor and language development at 12 months of infants' age (Time 3).

Is silence about trauma harmful for children? Transgenerational communication in Palestinian families.

Style of family communication is considered important in the transgenerational transmission of trauma. This study had three aims: first, to identify the contents of family communication about past national trauma; second, to examine how parents' current war trauma is associated with transgenerational communication; and third, to analyze the associations between transgenerational communication and children's mental health, measured as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and psychological distress. The study sample consisted of 170 Palestinian families in Gaza Strip, in which both mothers (n = 170) and fathers (n = 170) participated, each with their 11-13-year-old child.

Family systems approach to attachment relations, war trauma, and mental health among Palestinian children and parents.

: Trauma affects the family unit as a whole; however, most existing research uses individual or, at most, dyadic approaches to analyse families with histories of trauma. : This study aims to identify potentially distinct family types according to attachment, parenting, and sibling relations, to analyse how these family types differ with respect to war trauma, and to explore how children's mental health and cognitive processing differ across these family types. Participants included Palestinian mothers and fathers ( = 325) and their children (one per family; 49.

The protective role of maternal post-traumatic growth and cognitive trauma processing in Palestinian mothers and infants: a longitudinal study.

Background: Women at pre partum and post partum are especially susceptible to war trauma because they struggle to protect their infants from danger. Trauma research suggests increased problems in maternal mental health and infant development. Yet many cognitive-emotional processes affect the trauma survivors' mental health, such as post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic cognition.

A cross sectional study of the relationship between the exposure of pregnant women to military attacks in 2014 in Gaza and the load of heavy metal contaminants in the hair of mothers and newborns.

Objective: Metal contamination of humans in war areas has rarely been investigated. Weaponry's heavy metals become environmentally stable war remnants and accumulate in living things. They also pose health risks in terms of prenatal intake, with potential long term risks for reproductive and children's health.

The protective role of maternal posttraumatic growth and cognitive trauma processing among Palestinian mothers and infants.

War survivors use multiple cognitive and emotional processes to protect their mental health from the negative impacts of trauma. Because mothers and infants may be especially vulnerable to trauma in conditions of war, it is urgent to determine which cognitive and emotional processes are effective for preventing negative trauma impacts." This study examined whether mothers' high posttraumatic growth (PTG) and positive posttraumatic cognitions (PTC) protected (a) their own mental health and (b) their infants' stress regulation and sensorimotor and language development from the effects of war trauma.

War trauma and maternal-fetal attachment predicting maternal mental health, infant development, and dyadic interaction in Palestinian families.

Optimal maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) is believed to be beneficial for infant well-being and dyadic interaction, but research is scarce in general and among risk populations. Our study involved dyads living in war conditions and examined how traumatic war trauma associates with MFA and which factors mediate that association. It also modeled the role of MFA in predicting newborn health, infant development, mother-infant interaction, and maternal postpartum mental health.

Can functional emotion regulation protect children's mental health from war trauma? A Palestinian study.

Effective emotion regulation (ER) is expected to protect mental health in traumatic stress. We first analysed the protective (moderator) function of different ER strategies and the associations between ER and mental health. Second, we tested gender differences in the protective function of ER and the associations between ER strategies and mental health.

Maternal pre- and postnatal mental health and infant development in war conditions: The Gaza Infant Study.

Objective: Women and their infants need special protection in war context, as traumatic events can risk maternal mental and obstetric health and compromise infant development. This prospective study examined, first, how exposure to war trauma is associated with maternal mental health in pregnancy and postpartum, obstetric and newborn health, and infant development. Second, it tested the role of maternal mental health and obstetric risks in mediating between war trauma and infant development.

Negative Social Relationships Predict Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among War-Affected Children Via Posttraumatic Cognitions.

Post traumatic cognitions (PTCs) are important determinants of post traumatic stress symptoms (PTS symptoms). We tested whether risk factors of PTS symptoms (trauma, demographics, social and family-related factors) predict PTCs and whether PTCs mediate the association between risk factors and PTS symptoms among war-affected children. The participants were 240 Palestinian children 10-12 years old, half boys and half girls, and their parents.

Effectiveness of psychosocial intervention enhancing resilience among war-affected children and the moderating role of family factors.

The study examines, first, the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention based on Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) to increase resiliency among Palestinian children, exposed to a major trauma of war. Second, it analyses the role of family factors (maternal attachment and family atmosphere) as moderating the intervention impacts on resilience. School classes in Gaza were randomized into intervention (N=242) and control (N=240) groups.

Trajectories of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after major war among Palestinian children: Trauma, family- and child-related predictors.

Objective: Research shows great individual variation in changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) after major traumas of terrorist attacks, military combat, and natural disasters. Earlier studies have identified specific mental health trajectories both in children and adults. This study aimed, first, to identify potential PTSS-related trajectories by using latent class growth analyses among children in a three-wave assessment after the 2008/2009 War on Gaza, Palestine.

Intervention effectiveness among war-affected children: a cluster randomized controlled trial on improving mental health.

We examined the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention in reducing mental health symptoms among war-affected children, and the role of peritraumatic dissociation in moderating the intervention impact on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). School classes were randomized into intervention (n = 242) and waitlist control (n = 240) conditions in Gaza, Palestine. The intervention group participated in 16 extracurriculum sessions of teaching recovery techniques (TRT) and the controls received normal school-provided support.

Nature of torture, PTSD, and somatic symptoms among political ex-prisoners.

The authors examined how different types of torture methods are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and somatic symptoms among political ex-prisoners. Participants were 275 Palestinian men who reported their experiences in detention and imprisonment, PTSD (the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire), and somatic symptoms. A principal component analysis revealed physical torture, psychological torture, sensory discomfort and deprivation, and beatings as dimensions of exposure to torture.