Recent decades have seen the emergence of many new biobehavioral assessment tools for the newborn and young infant. These instruments have tremendous utility for scientists and practitioners engaged in exploring basic questions of development, studying medical and developmental conditions that place infants at risk, diagnosing the severity of biobehavioral insult, and evaluating the effectiveness of ameliorative interventions. Yet until now there has been no single volume providing an organized, critical examination of available assessment tools. Filling a crucial gap in the literature, this book describes a wide range of approaches to evaluating growth, sensation, arousal, regulation, learning, and attention in the prenatal period and the first year of life. Leading experts describe the historical background and development of each tool; review its diagnostic, methodological, and conceptual utility; highlight strengths and limitations for different uses; and consider broader implications for understanding the development of infants at risk.

This book brings together experts in developmental and clinical psychology and behavorial neuroscientists concerned with the course of developmental in the face of pre and perinatal adversity. For graduate-level researchers and academics

Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can interfere with parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing mental, behavioral and social problems. Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children highlights disparities in the prevalence, identification, treatment, and prevention of parental depression among different sociodemographic populations. It also outlines strategies for effective intervention and identifies the need for a more interdisciplinary approach that takes biological, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal, and social contexts into consideration. A major challenge to the effective management of parental depression is developing a treatment and prevention strategy that can be introduced within a two-generation framework, conducive for parents and their children. Thus far, both the federal and state response to the problem has been fragmented, poorly funded, and lacking proper oversight. This study examines options for widespread implementation of best practices as well as strategies that can be effective in diverse service settings for diverse populations of children and their families. The delivery of adequate screening and successful detection and treatment of a depressive illness and prevention of its effects on parenting and the health of children is a formidable challenge to modern health care systems. This study offers seven solid recommendations designed to increase awareness about and remove barriers to care for both the depressed adult and prevention of effects in the child. The report will be of particular interest to federal health officers, mental and behavioral health providers in diverse parts of health care delivery systems, health policy staff, state legislators, and the general public.

This book examines the complex impact of prenatal stress and the mechanism of its transmission on children’s development and well-being, including prenatal programming, epigenetics, infl ammatory processes, and the brain-gut microbiome. It analyzes current findings on prenatal stressors affecting pregnancy, including preconception stress, prenatal maternal depression, anxiety, and pregnancy-specific anxieties. Chapters explore how prenatal stress affects cognitive, affective, behavioral, and neurobiological development in children while pinpointing core processes of adaptation, resilience, and interventions that may reduce negative behaviors and promote optimal outcomes in children. Th is complex perspective on mechanisms by which early environmental influences interact with prenatal programming of susceptibility aims to inform clinical strategies and future research targeting prenatal stress and its cyclical impact on subsequent generations. Key areas of coverage include: The developmental effects of prenatal maternal stress on children. Epigenetic effects of prenatal stress. Intergenerational transmission of parental early life stress. The microbiome-gut-brain axis and the effects of prenatal stress on early neurodevelopment. The effect of prenatal stress on parenting. Gestational stress and resilience. Prenatal stress and children’s sleeping behavior. Prenatal, perinatal, and population-based interventions to prevent psychopathology. Prenatal Stress and Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, professors and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and related professionals in infancy and early childhood development, maternal and child health, developmental psychology, pediatrics, social work, child and adolescent psychiatry, developmental neuroscience, and related behavioral and social sciences and medical disciplines. Excerpt from the foreword: “I would make the plea that in addition to anyone with an interest in child development, this book should be essential reading for researchers pursuing “pre-clinical, basic science models of neurodevelopment and brain health”.... This book provides what in my mind is the most advanced compilation of existing knowledge and state-of-the-art science in the field of prenatal psychiatry/psychology (and perhaps in the entire field of prenatal medicine). This volume can brilliantly serve to focus future directions in our understanding of the perinatal determinants of brain health.” Michael J Meaney James McGill Professor of Medicine Translational Neuroscience Programme Adjunct Professor of Paediatrics

This book examines the complex impact of parenting stress and the effects of its transmission on young children’s development and well-being (e.g., emotion self-regulation; executive functioning; maltreatment; future parenting practices). It analyzes current findings on acute and chronic psychological and socioeconomic stressors affecting parents, including those associated with poverty and cultural disparities, pregnancy and motherhood, and caring for children with developmental disabilities. Contributors explore how parental stress affects cognitive, affective, behavioral, and neurological development in children while pinpointing core adaptation, resilience, and coping skills parents need to reduce abusive and other negative behaviors and promote optimal outcomes in their children. These nuanced bidirectional perspectives on parent/child dynamics aim to inform clinical strategies and future research targeting parental stress and its cyclical impact on subsequent generations. Included in the coverage: Parental stress and child temperament. How social structure and culture shape parental strain and the well-being of parents and children. The stress of parenting children with developmental disabilities. Consequences and mechanisms of child maltreatment and the implications for parenting. How being mothered affects the development of mothering. Prenatal maternal stress and psychobiological development during childhood. Parenting Stress and Early Child Development is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in infancy and early childhood development, developmental psychology, pediatrics, family studies, and developmental neuroscience.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.