̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Centre for Family Research

Beyond the nuclear family at the Fitzwilliam Museum

ta385 — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 05:00:00 +0000

An unprecedented Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition explores the family, informed by psychological research from the ̽��ֱ��'s Centre for Family Research. Its curator hopes to open minds to newer family forms including those with LGBTQ+ parents and families created by assisted reproduction.

Assisted reproduction kids grow up just fine – but it may be better to tell them early about biological origins

cg605 — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 05:00:52 +0000

̽��ֱ��study, by ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge researchers, is the first to examine the long-term effects of different types of third-party assisted reproduction on parenting and child adjustment, as well as the first to investigate prospectively the effect of the age at which children were told that they were conceived by egg donation, sperm donation or surrogacy.

̽��ֱ��results, published today in Developmental Psychology, suggest that the absence of a biological connection between children and parents in assisted reproduction families does not interfere with the development of positive relationships between them or psychological adjustment in adulthood. These findings are consistent with previous assessments at age one, two, three, seven, ten and 14.

̽��ֱ��findings overturn previous widely held assumptions that children born by third-party assisted reproduction are at a disadvantage when it comes to wellbeing and family relationships because they lack a biological connection to their parents.

“Despite people's concerns, families with children born through third-party assisted reproduction – whether that be an egg donor, sperm donor or a surrogate – are doing well right up to adulthood,” said Susan Golombok, Professor Emerita of Family Research and former Director of the Centre for Family Research, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, who led the study.

However, they found that mothers who began to tell their children about their biological origins in their preschool years had more positive relationships with them as assessed by interview at age 20, and the mothers showed lower levels of anxiety and depression. Most of the parents who had disclosed did so by age four and found that the child took the news well. This suggests that being open with children about their origins when they are young is advantageous.

In addition, in the final stage of this 20-year study, mothers who had disclosed their child’s origins by seven years old obtained slightly more positive scores on questionnaire measures of quality of family relationships, parental acceptance (mother’s feelings towards young adult), and family communication. For example, only 7% of mothers who had disclosed by age 7 reported problems in family relationships, compared with 22% of those who disclosed after age 7.

̽��ֱ��young adults who had been told about their origins before seven obtained slightly more positive scores on questionnaire measures of parental acceptance (young adult’s perception of mother’s feelings towards them), communication (the extent to which they feel listened to, know what’s happening in their family and receive honest answers to questions), and psychological wellbeing. They were also less likely to report problems on the family relationships questionnaire; whereas 50% of young adults told after age 7 reported such problems, this was true of only 12.5% of those told before age 7.

“There does seem to be a positive effect of being open with children when they’re young – before they go to school – about their conception. It’s something that’s been shown by studies of adoptive families too,” said Golmobok.

Researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge followed 65 UK families with children born by assisted reproduction – 22 by surrogacy, 17 by egg donation and 26 by sperm donation – from infancy through to early adulthood (20 years old). They compared these families with 52 UK unassisted conception families over the same period.

“ ̽��ֱ��assisted reproduction families were functioning well, but where we did see differences, these were slightly more positive for families who had disclosed,” said Golombok.

Reflecting on their feelings about their biological origins, the young adults were generally unconcerned. As one young adult born through surrogacy put it, “It doesn’t faze me really, people are born in all different ways and if I was born a little bit differently - that’s OK, I understand.”

Another young adult born through sperm donation said, “My dad’s my dad, my mum’s my mum, I've never really thought about how anything’s different so, it's hard to put, I don’t really care.”

Some young adults actively embraced the method of their conception as it made them feel special, “I think it was amazing, I think the whole thing is absolutely incredible. Erm…I don’t have anything negative to say about it at all.”

Researchers found that egg donation mothers reported less positive family relationships than sperm donation mothers. They suggest that this could be due to some mothers’ insecurities about the absence of a genetic connection to their child. This was not reflected in the young adults’ perceptions of the quality of family relationships.

̽��ֱ��team also found that young adults conceived by sperm donation reported poorer family communication than those conceived by egg donation. This could be explained by the greater secrecy around sperm donation than egg donation, sometimes driven by greater reluctance of fathers than mothers to disclose to their child that they are not their genetic parent, and a greater reluctance to talk about it once they have disclosed.

In fact, researchers found that only 42% of sperm donor parents disclosed by age 20, compared to 88% of egg donation parents and 100% of surrogate parents.

“Today there are so many more families created by assisted reproduction that it just seems quite ordinary,” said Golombok. “But twenty years ago, when we started this study, attitudes were very different. It was thought that having a genetic link was very important and without one, relationships wouldn’t work well.

“What this research means is that having children in different or new ways doesn’t actually interfere with how families function. Really wanting children seems to trump everything – that’s what really matters.”

This research was funded by a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award.

Golombok, S; Jones, C; Hall, P; Foley, S; Imrie, S and Jadva, V. A longitudinal study of families formed through third-party assisted reproduction: Mother-child relationships and child adjustment from infancy to adulthood. Developmental Psychology DOI: 10.1037/dev0001526

̽��ֱ��Centre for Family Research is collaborating with the Fitzwilliam Museum on a new exhibition, Real Families: Stories of Change (October – 7 January 2024), curated by Professor Golombok. ̽��ֱ��exhibition will explore the intricacies of families and family relationships through the eyes of artists including Paula Rego, Chantal Joffe, JJ Levine, Lucian Freud and Tracey Emin.

Professor Susan Golombok is author of We Are Family: What Really Matters for Parents and Children (Scribe) which describes researching new family forms from the 1970s to the present day.

Landmark study finds no difference in psychological wellbeing or quality of family relationships between children born by assisted reproduction (egg or sperm donation or surrogacy) and those born naturally at age 20. However, findings suggest that telling children about their biological origins early – before they start school – can be advantageous for family relationships and healthy adjustment.

Having children in different or new ways doesn’t actually interfere with how families function. Really wanting children seems to trump everything – that’s what really matters.

Professor Susan Golombok

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / DigitalVision via Getty Images

Father and son talking

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Lockdown wellbeing: children who spent more time in nature fared best

jg533 — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 05:01:31 +0000

A study has found that children who increased their connection to nature during the first COVID-19 lockdown were likely to have lower levels of behavioural and emotional problems, compared to those whose connection to nature stayed the same or decreased - regardless of their socio-economic status.

̽��ֱ��study, by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the ̽��ֱ�� of Sussex, also found that children from affluent families tended to have increased their connection to nature during the pandemic more than their less affluent peers.

Nearly two thirds of parents reported a change in their child’s connection to nature during lockdown, while a third of children whose connection to nature decreased displayed increased problems of wellbeing - either through ‘acting out’ or by increased sadness or anxiety.

̽��ֱ��results strengthen the case for nature as a low-cost method of mental health support for children, and suggest that more effort should be made to support children in connecting with nature - both at home and at school.

̽��ֱ��researchers’ suggestions for achieving this include: reducing the number of structured extracurricular activities for children to allow for more time outside, provision of gardening projects in schools, and funding for schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, to implement nature-based learning programmes.

̽��ֱ��study, published today in the journal People and Nature, also offers important guidance in relation to potential future restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We know that access to and engagement with nature is associated with wide-ranging benefits in children and adults, including lowering levels of anxiety and depression, and reducing stress,” said Samantha Friedman, a researcher in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research, first author of the study.

She added: “ ̽��ֱ��COVID-19 lockdowns meant that children no longer had their normal school activities, routines and social interactions. ̽��ֱ��removal of these barriers gave us a novel context to look at how changes in connection with nature affected mental health.

“Connecting with nature may have helped buffer some UK children against the effects of the lockdown, but we found that children from less affluent families were less likely to have increased their connection to nature during that time.”

An increased connection to nature was reflected in reports of children spending time gardening, playing in the garden or doing physical activities outdoors. This was commonly linked to having more time available for these activities during lockdown. Conversely, according to parents, a decreased connection to nature was explained by an inability to access some natural spaces due to travel restrictions in place at the time.

“Connecting to nature may be an effective way of supporting children’s wellbeing, particularly as children return to normal routines, such as school and extracurricular activities,” said Dr Elian Fink, a Lecturer in Psychology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Sussex who was also involved in the study.

She added: “Our findings could be helpful in redesigning lockdown rules should the UK need to return to these conditions in the future, and particularly to countries whose lockdown restrictions prevented children from accessing nature at all.

“Extending the amount of time that children can access nature, or extending the distance that children could be allowed to travel to access nature, could have a beneficial impact on their mental health.”

̽��ֱ��study used an online survey to collect responses from 376 families in the UK, with children between three and seven years old, between April and July 2020. Over half of these families reported that their child’s connection to nature increased during the first COVID-19 lockdown. ̽��ֱ��remaining parents whose children’s connection to nature decreased or stayed the same during this period also reported that their children were experiencing greater wellbeing problems.

A widely-used, gold standard questionnaire was used as a measure of each child’s mental health - assessing emotional problems such as unhappiness, worrying, anxiety and depression; and behavioural problems such as anger and hyperactivity.

“Mental health problems can manifest in different ways in different children. We found that a greater connection with nature was associated with reductions in both emotional and behavioural problems,” said Fink.

She added: “In reality the contrasting experiences of access to nature between different socio-economic groups may be even starker than our study found because respondents to our online study were largely drawn from more affluent societal groups.”

Parents with children between three and seven years old responded to the study survey with reference to one particular child. ̽��ֱ��researchers focused on this age group because they were likely to experience a lot of disruption due to the pandemic, and also have less understanding of what was happening.

“Our study revealed the wide range of ways that parents can help children get more connected to nature. This might be a bit daunting to some, but it doesn’t have to be camping in the woods and foraging for food – it really can be as simple as going for a walk near your house or sitting outside for ten minutes a day,” said Friedman.

This research was funded by Newnham College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Reference

Friedman, S et al: ‘Understanding changes to children’s connection to nature during the Covid-19 pandemic and implications for child well-being.’ People and Nature, Oct 2021. DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10270

Children from less affluent backgrounds are likely to have found COVID-19 lockdowns more challenging to their mental health because they experienced a lower connection with nature than their wealthier peers, a new study suggests.

Children from less affluent families were less likely to have increased their connection to nature during lockdown

Samantha Friedman

Ben Wicks on Unsplash

Children outdoors in muddy wellies

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Set up for life

cjb250 — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 08:13:14 +0000

We’re used to the idea that as adults we have some control over our destiny: what we eat and drink and how much we exercise can affect our health. But the risks of heart disease and diabetes can be programmed much earlier – even before we are born.

Stigma of broken family relationships compounded by lockdown

jg533 — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 05:00:54 +0000

̽��ֱ��report, by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Edge Hill ̽��ֱ�� and the UK-based charity Stand Alone, brings together over 800 responses to a survey sent out to the charity’s UK community. ̽��ֱ��survey asked individuals about the experience of being estranged from family during the current crisis, and how it has impacted them and their family relationships. Over half of the respondents said they felt more isolated now than they had before lockdown.

During the pandemic many estranged people have become more conscious of not having family to support them, for example to help with grocery shopping while they can’t go to the supermarket themselves. For some it has brought the realisation that their well-being is not important to other family members, and compounded the feeling of being unloved and uncared for.

78% of respondents had maintained the same level of non-contact with their estranged family member during lockdown, and 6% had experienced even less contact. One respondent said they hadn’t spoken to another person for over two months.

“There’s a lot of stigma around estrangement, and people in this situation have experienced it in a heightened way during lockdown. Many have become more aware that they have smaller support networks than others,” said Dr Susan Imrie at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research, who was involved in the study.

̽��ֱ��researchers say the importance of family relationships has been highlighted repeatedly throughout lockdown in television advertising, news headlines and social media. But for those who were already estranged from family, the pandemic and the messages surrounding it have compounded feelings of stigma and social isolation.

“Since lockdown began there has been a lot of talk about what family members should be doing to support each other at this time of crisis. We’ve all been encouraged to keep in touch with relatives through Skype and FaceTime. But this has really compounded feelings of isolation for those who don’t have close family relationships,” said Dr Sarah Foley at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research, who was also involved in the study.

It is estimated that over five million people in the UK are estranged from a family member, but despite being so common it is not something that is widely known about or discussed.

“Despite the assumption that family members will be a source of support during the COVID-19 crisis, this is not always the case. One in five families across the UK have no contact with an estranged family member, and this new report finds that very little has changed for them during the pandemic,” said Dr Becca Bland, CEO of Stand Alone.

Stand Alone supports people who have more challenging experiences of family, and who are estranged from their entire family or a key family member. ̽��ֱ��reasons behind estrangement in the community are varied: some are surviving abuse and neglect, others have been distanced for coming out as LGBT+ or for rejecting cultural, religious and political values. It is the only charity in the UK that works to support people who are estranged from family members.

̽��ֱ��results of this study will help Stand Alone understand how best to target support during the pandemic. ̽��ֱ��researchers also hope it will raise awareness of family estrangement so that it can be handled more sensitively as lockdown continues.

̽��ֱ��researchers say it is difficult to know the extent to which the survey respondents reflect the level of estrangement from family across the UK population as a whole.

A minority of the survey respondents who were estranged from family said they actually felt more connected during lockdown because everyone else was suddenly unable to see their family too. They hoped this might help others understand their situation better.

“Different people are being affected differently by the lockdown. Advice about coping shouldn’t assume that everyone has family relationships that are close and loving. Even subtle changes in the language used could have a really positive effect on people’s experiences,” said Dr Lucy Blake, Senior Lecturer in Children, Young People and Families at Edge Hill ̽��ֱ��, who was also involved in the study.

Reference
Family Estrangement and the COVID-19 Crisis: A closer look at how broken family relationships have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Report by Dr Lucy Blake (Edge Hill ̽��ֱ��), Dr Becca Bland (Stand Alone), Dr Sarah Foley and Dr Susan Imrie (Centre for Family Research, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge).

Lockdown restrictions have not brought estranged family members closer together, and recent focus on the importance of family support has made dealing with the pandemic even more difficult for those with challenging family situations, a new study published today has found.

Pixabay

Woman at home alone

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‘Terrible twos’ not inevitable: with engaged parenting, happy babies can become happy toddlers

jg533 — Wed, 06 May 2020 07:47:18 +0000

̽��ֱ��flexible method of parenting, known as ‘autonomy support’, places emphasis on the child taking the lead. As the child engages in tasks, parents should watch and adjust how they respond according to how the child is managing, say the researchers. They acknowledge that this method of helping the child to be in control is not necessarily easy.

“It’s not about doing everything for your child, or directing their actions. It’s more of a to-and-fro between parent and child. Parents who do best at this can sit back and watch when they see their child succeeding with something, but increase support or adapt the task when they see the child struggling,” said Professor Claire Hughes, Deputy Director of the Centre for Family Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and joint first author of the study with Dr Rory Devine at the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham’s School of Psychology.

̽��ֱ��study, published in the journal Developmental Science, found a link between parental autonomy support in 14-month-old children, and reduced behavioural problems ten months later. But this link only applied to children who had been rated as ‘easy babies’- those in a generally happy mood, who adapted easily to new experiences and quickly established routines. Children who demonstrated high levels of self-control at 14 months were less likely than their peers to have behaviour problems at 24 months.

“If you’re blessed with a happy baby, then you can get them through the ‘terrible twos’ without things getting too bad or lasting too long, by being flexible about the way you play with your child between the age of 14 and 24 months. A puzzle game, for example, can turn into quite a different game if you allow your child to take the lead,” said Hughes.

Many toddlers have temper tantrums and exhibit frustration and defiant behaviour, in what is commonly known as the ‘terrible twos’. Unfortunately, the autonomy support strategy isn’t equally effective for all children: those born with a more irritable temperament are still more likely to be difficult toddlers.

Parenting must be tailored according to the child, say the researchers. Parents who don’t remember their baby having an easy temperament should let go of the idea of achieving specific goals during play, and allow their children to develop at their own pace.

“As we cope with the upheavals of being in lockdown, we’re having to be patient with ourselves in so many ways. Parents particularly need to be more patient with the toddlers who found life a bit more challenging, even in ordinary times,” said Hughes.

Over 400 expectant couples were recruited for the study from the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands. Each couple was visited when their new baby was 4 months, 14 months and 24 months old, and filmed interacting as their young children carried out a range of specific tasks. ̽��ֱ��research team carefully rated the level of parental support for each interaction. In addition, parents rated their child’s temperament as a baby, and behavioural problems at 14 and 24 months.

Simple tasks were used to test the level of autonomy support parents gave to their child. In one, each child was given farm animal pieces that fitted into cut-out shapes on a board. Some of the parents appeared quite anxious for their child to put the pieces in the right places, and gave them a lot of help. Others spotted that the task was too difficult for their child, and let the game evolve by following the child’s lead.

“We had some children who took two animal pieces from a wooden farm puzzle and started clapping them together, and making a game out of the fact that they made a clapping noise. Here, parents might respond by encouraging the child to make animal noises that match the animals being clapped together,” said Devine. ”Autonomy supportive parenting is about being flexible, following a child’s lead, and providing just the right amount of challenge.”

During lockdown, many parents are having to look after young children at home rather than leaving them in nursery care during working hours. Trying to keep children motivated and engaged all day can be a daunting task. Yet having more time to spend with young children can also be seen as a rare opportunity to explore new ways of engaging with them, say the researchers.

“Rather than trying to make a child achieve a rigidly defined task, autonomy support is more of a playful interaction. It promotes the child’s problem solving and their ability to learn, by letting games or tasks evolve into experiences that engage them,” said Hughes.

Previous studies have looked at links between executive function and antisocial behaviour, and separately at family influences on conduct problems. This study is unique in its direct observational measures of parent-child interactions, in combination with a group of executive function tasks.

̽��ֱ��researchers found the link between executive function at 14 months and reduced problem behaviours at 24 months held up even when controlling for other factors like a child's language skills, and the quality of mother-child interactions.

This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Science Foundation and the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Reference
Hughes, C., Devine, R.T., Mesman, J., & Blair, C.; ‘Understanding the Terrible Twos: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of early executive function and parent-child interactions.’ Developmental Science, April 2020. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12979

Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research is launching a new online study of parents with one or more child between the ages of four and seven, to explore how the coronavirus is affecting family relationships and home learning. This will help provide the evidence base to guide effective educational and health policies. Find out more.

How you can support Cambridge’s COVID-19 research

Parents should not feel pressured to make their young children undertake structured learning or achieve specific tasks, particularly during lockdown. A new study of children under the age of two has found that parents who take a more flexible approach to their child’s learning can - for children who were easy babies - minimise behavioural problems during toddlerhood.

Rather than trying to make a child achieve a rigidly defined task...promote the child’s problem solving and their ability to learn by letting games or tasks evolve into experiences that engage them

Claire Hughes

Maisie, by Sarah Foley

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Experts call for more mental health support for parents of children with genetic learning disabilities

cjb250 — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:02:58 +0000

As many as one in 20 families worldwide is thought to include a child with a learning disability, but little is known about how this affects the parents’ mental health and wellbeing. Although some parents experience depression and anxiety, it is not clear why some are at greater risk than others.

Professor Claire Hughes from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Centre for Family Research, said: “It’s important that we understand why some parents are at greater risk of mental health problems than others. If a parent experiences long-term mental health problems, this could have a knock-on effect on the whole family, affecting partner relationships, the wellbeing of their child with disability, and the experiences of siblings. That’s why interventions are often more successful when they are designed to help parents in order to help children.”

To address this question, Professor Hughes assembled an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham to analyse information from 888 families taking part in the IMAGINE-ID study – a UK-wide project examining the links between genetic diagnoses, learning disabilities and mental health. Parents were asked to rate their everyday feelings and the nature and impact of their child’s difficulties, as well as to provide information about their family’s social circumstances.

One parent who participated in IMAGINE-ID said that professionals tended to focus on the child’s needs and did not consider the wider needs of families: “It’s very much about getting support for your child. At no point were we ever offered any mental health support, even though we have such a massive role to play in bringing up our children. We need support as well.”

̽��ֱ��study data shows that rates of negative symptoms such as worry, anxiety and stress were much higher in the IMAGINE-ID group of parents than in the general population of parents. Mothers in the IMAGINE-ID study – who were more likely to be the main caregiver – were particularly affected. Contrary to evidence from previous studies, social factors did not predict a parent’s risk of low mood and stress: more important were the type of genetic disorder that affected their child, their child’s physical and medical needs, and their child’s behaviour.

For the first time, the researchers were able to demonstrate that the cause of a child’s disabilities is one factor that predicts the emotional wellbeing of parents. A subgroup of genetic disorders is caused by short missing or duplicated sections of DNA (known as ‘copy number variants’). Parents within this subgroup reported that their child’s difficulties had a high level of impact on family life as well as restricting their child’s activities and friendships, and these impacts were the source of their own distress.

̽��ֱ��researchers say there could be a number of explanations for these findings, varying from the complex effects of chromosomal differences on children’s development through to the availability of support for these families. They have called for more multi-disciplinary, family-focused research to determine how genetic diagnoses are linked to parents’ mental health, so that support for families can be improved in future.

Dr Kate Baker, lead author of the research paper, based at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “These results suggest that we need to start looking at genetic diagnoses as useful not just for predicting a child’s needs and informing the support that they might receive, but also for predicting the broader impact that the diagnosis will have on their family.”

Francesca Wicks, former research coordinator for IMAGINE-ID and now Family Support and Information Officer for Unique, the rare chromosome and single gene disorder support charity, said: “It’s clear that not enough care and support is being offered to parents before, during and after their child’s diagnosis. ̽��ֱ��help and support offered by organisations such as Unique is incredibly valuable, but much more needs to be done within health and statutory services. Many of the families I have met have expressed feelings of anxiety and depression over the years, which is why we have produced our Carers Wellbeing guide.”

̽��ֱ��IMAGINE-ID study is funded by the UK Medical Research Council and Medical Research Foundation.

Reference
Baker, K et al. Childhood intellectual disability and parents’ mental health: integrating social, psychological and genetic influences. BJPsych; 11 March 2020; DOI: 10.1192/bjp.2020.38

Parents of children with genetic conditions that cause learning disabilities are at risk of mental health problems, suggests new research published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry. ̽��ֱ��teams behind the study have called for greater support for parents whose child receives a genetic diagnosis for their learning disability.

If a parent experiences long-term mental health problems, this could have a knock-on effect on the whole family, affecting partner relationships, the wellbeing of their child with disability, and the experiences of siblings

Claire Hughes

freestocks-photos

Parent and child

Researcher profile: Dr Kate Baker

Image: Kate Baker (centre) with research assistant Elise Ng-Cordell (left) and post-doctoral research associate Diandra Brkic (right) on Rare Disease Day

Dr Kate Baker, a researcher at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, decided early on that she wanted to be a scientist as well as a doctor. At the time, she was a medical student and helping out in a brain research laboratory.

“There are just too many unanswered questions about genes, brains, and mental health, and patients deserve better answers and better treatments,” she says. “Initially I learned to study slices of post-mortem brain tissue – then I discovered that doing research with whole people is a lot more fun, even if they are more noisy and complicated.”

Kate says she has been extremely lucky to work with “fantastic” colleagues and research participants who share the same curiosities and motivations – “We want to understand brain development and improve care for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families. It’s a slow process but it is also very exciting and rewarding.”

Her research looks at the genetic differences that can affect children’s development by changing the way that their brain grows and functions. “ ̽��ֱ��most surprising aspect is how an extremely tiny change in one gene can have a devastating impact, whilst sometimes much larger genetic changes have only subtle effects which vary a lot from one person to another.”

Kate leads a small research team of psychologists and neuroscientists, but particularly enjoys joining forces with scientists from different research fields who use very different approaches to understand the same core problem, “working together to join the dots and build up a more complete answer”.

One such collaboration is with Professor Claire Hughes from the Centre for Family Research. Cambridge collaborations can begin in unlikely places. “Claire and I started discussing the research questions we have addressed in our new paper after a Sunday morning yoga class, not knowing we would be able to work together to actually find some answers!”

Kate hopes her research will make a difference for children and families affected by severe neurodevelopmental disorders, by changing the way we understand these conditions, and also by improving the treatments and support they can receive.

“Until now, treatments have been mainly ‘symptom-focused’, which don’t always work because the same problems, such as limited communication skills or impulsive behaviours, can come about because of many different underlying reasons. If we had a better understanding of each child’s disorder ‘under the surface’, I hope we can improve their quality of life, even for a small number of patients and families.”

As if this wasn’t enough, Kate and her family have embarked on a challenging project. “My husband, children and I have recently built our own home, on the outskirts of Cambridge. So you’re likely to find me nailing plasterboard, wheelbarrowing mud, making curtains, or (more likely) feeding all the friends and family who have come to help us with the project.”

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Unhappy mothers talk more to their baby boys, study finds

cjb250 — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 23:55:07 +0000

It is well known that having a child can put a strain on the parents’ relationship, but whether this then has an impact on the child’s own development in its first few years is not known. ̽��ֱ��quality of a couple’s relationship is known to be related to developmental outcomes such as their behaviour and educational attainment in school-aged children, but has been little studied in relation to parent-infant talk, despite parent-infant talk being important for the child’s development.

To examine the relationship between the quality of a couple’s relationship and parent-infant talk, researchers from the Centre for Family Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge studied 93 first-time, heterosexual parents and their interactions with their infants. ̽��ֱ��team asked parents about the quality of their couple relationship and how satisfied they were and then gave the infants at age seven months a wearable ‘talk pedometer’ that recorded naturalistic parent-infant talk for a full day in which both parents were at home.

̽��ֱ��researchers used software to provide an automated analysis of the frequency of adult spoken words to their infant and of parent-infant ‘conversations’.

̽��ֱ��findings of the research, which was supported by Wellcome and the Economic and Social Research Council, are published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

After taking depression into account (because of its links with both couple relationship quality and parent-infant talk), the researchers found that the more dissatisfied a couple reported their relationship to be, the more the mother spoke to her infant. Mothers who reported the quality of their relationship to be ‘low’ used around 35% more words than a mother whose relationship was ‘average’ and started around 20% more conversations. However, these effects were only found with infant sons, not daughters.

̽��ֱ��researchers did not analyse the content of the mother-infant talk, so it is not possible to say whether the mother was complaining to her infant or talking positively.

“It’s possible that the mum is trying to compensate for the poor relationship she has with her partner by putting more time and effort into her relationship with her other close male social partner, her son,” says Dr Elian Fink from the Centre for Family Research and the Faculty of Education.

“What is particularly interesting is that mums only seem to compensate when they have infant sons, not daughters. It could be that mothers view their daughters as mini versions of themselves rather than of their partners.”

Regardless of infant gender, fathers showed significantly less overall talk and initiated fewer conversations than did mothers, even though the fathers are increasingly becoming involved in parenting and the recordings were taken specifically on a day when both parents were at home. However, the amount that they spoke to their infants was unrelated to the quality of the couple’s relationship.

“Even when dads spend more time around their infants, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are interacting with them more,” adds Dr Fink. “One possible reason may be that there’s still an imbalance in who responds to the basic care needs of their infant. So, for example, if it’s the mother who still shoulders the burden of changing the nappy, this at least offers an opportune time to engage in direct communication with her infant.”

Dr Fink hopes the findings will encourage parents to make a conscious effort to talk more to their infants, whether they are boys or girls.

“Parent-child interaction is important for a child’s development, with conversation playing a particular role for the child’s language development,” she says. “Finding time to talk to children is very important. Using opportunities within the daily routine, such as mealtimes and bedtime, to have conversations with your child may help foster later child talk.”

Reference
Fink, E et al. Couple relationship quality and the infant home language environment: Gender-specific findings. Journal of Family Psychology; 22 Aug 2019; DOI: 10.1037/fam0000590

Mothers who are dissatisfied with their male partners spend more time talking to their infants – but only if the child is a boy, according to a new study from researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

It’s possible that the mum is trying to compensate for the poor relationship she has with her partner by putting more time and effort into her relationship with her other close male social partner, her son

Elian Fink

Paul Hanaoka (Unsplash)

Mother and child

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