Transactional Modelsfor behaviour and emotional difficulties

Introduction:

No simple moncausal effects

Systems Model: Feedback loop

Nature vs. Nurture?

A. Examples of transactional Models for Behaviour

Malnourishment and Parental behaviour

Developing cognitive abilites or not

example in sameroff?

Model of a pathway to antisocial behaviour according to Patterson (1984)

"In this model, weak parenting skills are believed to encourage the child to become noncompliant to parental requests and to make unreasonable (coercive) demands on parents and othermembers of the family. The growing negative attention given to the child’s inappropriate behaviours combines with a failure to reward positive behaviours to produce an escalating cycle of parent–child conflict"

Johnston et al. Direction of behaviour not monocausalpage 80

ADHS

"Studies of the effects of drug therapy on mother–child interaction in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) illustrate the potential impact of child variables on the development of disturbed behaviour."

In a second study Johnston et al. (2000) evaluated the short-term therapeutic potential of the drug Ritalin (Methylphenidate),

Mother's attitudes changedwhen children wre drugged

Selection of activitieswho in turn inhance exisiting temperament of the children

temperament selecting forsuitable environment whichfeedback on experience

Keogh

Effects of temperament on school

"temperamental influences will have more indirect effectson academic attainment. For example, reactivity is morelikely to influence pupil–teacher and pupil–pupil interaction and thereby the social context within which learning takes place" (199)

Kochanska

"Kochanska (1995, 1997) highlighted how maternal behaviour and children’s temperament may intricately interact. She reported that fearful, inhibited children were more compliant when gentle low-power discipline was used whereas in fearless children the role of attachment was more significant in determining compliance. Whether a ‘difficult’ infant becomes a disturbed child appears to depend on the appropriateness of environmental adaptations to that temperament" (82)

Gallagher (2002)

Goodness of fit is more than mere interaction

"Gallagher (2002) argues, joint effects of parenting and temperamentare not simply examples of organism–environment interaction;parenting is intrinsically bi-directional and reciprocal" (82).

Dimensional Model of Transaction

Child

Difficult - Easy

Environment

Adverse- Favourable

However Simplification: "This is, of course, a gross oversimplification.Child ‘temperament’ and ‘environment’ are not single (but contextual), bipolar variables, nor are they static in time"

B. Examples for transactional Models in emotional difficulties

Chess and Thomas: "Goodness of fit (children temperament interacts with adult temperament)

Book 2 (64): "Difficulties arise when the behaviour and goals of the child lack ‘goodness of fit’ with the social environment to which the child is expected to adapt (Chess and Thomas, 1984)."

"If a person’s characteristics of individuality match, or fit, thedemands of a particular social context then positive interactions andadjustment are expected"

goodness of fit =context specific

"In short, any particular ‘problems’ that a child might present need to be understood in terms of the demands of the context, the history of similar experiences faced by the child, and the history of the adult whofinds the child’s behaviour disturbing"

Attachment (= behaviour +emotions)

Difficult child "creates" Insecure attachment

Pathway to behaviour problems: Mother depression assotiated with insecure infant attachment -"Insecure attachment has been consistently linked with psychological difficulties (Greenberg et al., 1993; Sund and Wichstrom, 2002).(72)" but also are children of depressed mother more likeley to have adifficult temperament - who effects whom?

Attitudes

"For example, a large-scale Australian longitudinal study (Bor et al., 2003) found that mothers who had negative attitudes towards their infants at 6 months old were more likely to report behaviour problems when their children were 5 years old, especially for boys. The following example sheds further light on how this sort of process might be operating" (73)

MacKinnon-Lewis et al.

neg. attitude fuels negative behaviour P75

Conclusion

"The interplay between risk and protective factors is not static. It needs to be understood within a developmental perspective in which children are susceptibleto different patterns of influence at different stages and transition points in life. For example, going to nursery or school is often an important gateway through which the ‘disturbed’ status of a troublesome child becomes confirmed. The particular demands, pressures and expectations for ‘good’ classroom behaviour (Klein and Ballantine, 1988) often amplify a child’s problems of social integration, because of the increased demands on the child to adapt."

Materials

Sameroff

Readings in Methodology book

Web

open2.net

http://www.open2.net/childofourtime/2005/extractfour.html

arcticle

http://www.acacamps.org/parents/expert/031112thurber6.php

Book 2

Chapters 2

pathways to negiative developement

chapter 1

model of transactional behaviour

Book 1

Chapters x

Explaining differences

Attachment

Cognition

Problem Behaviour

examples

Crockenburg

where?

Murray's research

where?

in methods? or guide?

effect of difficult child on maternal depression

Media Kit Part 2, Video Band 4: ‘First Relationships’;

Introduction

Nature versus Nurture

Attachment theroy

Traditionally much emphasis on role of mother or parants

Study Guide 2, Weeks 10 and 11.

Examples

It has also been found that parental perceptions of infant emotionality at 4 and 8 months infant age predict independent measures of infant emotionality at 8 and 12 months respectively (Pauli-Pott et al., 2003),b1 page 192

"For example, a large-scale Australian longitudinal study (Bor et al., 2003) found that mothers who had negative attitudes towards their infants at 6 months old were more likely to report behaviour problems when their children were 5 years old, especially for boys. The following example sheds further light on how this sort of process might be operating" (73)

rather take example from temperament in Book 1?

Concept of Reciprocity

Keogh

Effects of temperament on school

Selection of activitieswho in turn inhance exisiting temperament of the children

temperament selecting forsuitable environment whichfeedback on experience

"temperamental influences will have more indirect effectson academic attainment. For example, reactivity is morelikely to influence pupil–teacher and pupil–pupil interaction and thereby the social context within which learning takes place" (199)

Goodness of fit

Chess and Thomas: "Goodness of fit (children temperament interacts with adult temperament)

Book 2 (64): "Difficulties arise when the behaviour and goals of the child lack ‘goodness of fit’ with the social environment to which the child is expected to adapt (Chess and Thomas, 1984)."

"If a person’s characteristics of individuality match, or fit, thedemands of a particular social context then positive interactions andadjustment are expected"

Gallagher (2002)

Goodness of fit is more than mere interaction

"Gallagher (2002) argues, joint effects of parenting and temperamentare not simply examples of organism–environment interaction;parenting is intrinsically bi-directional and reciprocal" (82).

even interaction is a difficult concept

General example of interaction Example PKU

Concept of transaction

Transaction is more than reciprocity Sameroff (1987),

Reading A in the Methods and Skills Handbook: ‘The social context ofdevelopment’ (Sameroff)

def.

Systems Model: Feedback loop

def. Sameroff

Main

TM in attachment and temperament

Pros for TM

Evidence

Def: Concept of Temperament

Examples

Book 1, Chapter 5: ‘Temperament and Development’, Section 6;

Kochanska

"Kochanska (1995, 1997) highlighted how maternal behaviour and children’s temperament may intricately interact. She reported that fearful, inhibited children were more compliant when gentle low-power discipline was used whereas in fearless children the role of attachment was more significant in determining compliance. Whether a ‘difficult’ infant becomes a disturbed child appears to depend on the appropriateness of environmental adaptations to that temperament" (82)

Thomas and Chess "difficult child" (b1, pag 192)

Def: Attachment

Examples

Media Kit Part 2, Video Band 4: ‘First Relationships’;

Book 2, Chapter 1: ‘Parenting and attachment’;

Murray

Goldman and Alansky (b1, page 203)

Not all difficlut children will end up with insecure attachmen therefore ther must be TM

Depression

Concept of Sensitivity

Murray (1992) found that 18-month-old infants whose mothers hadearlier suffered bouts of postnatal depression were much more likely to be assessed as ‘insecurely attached’ in the ‘Strange Situation’. This effect was particularly evident for the boys in the sample

Murray also found that the children of depressed mothers were more often reported to have temper tantrums, eating difficulties, to suffer sleep disturbance and to be overly clinging, suggesting the possibility that infant temperamentmay also be causing problems

Depression and attachment (Greenberg et al., 1993; Sund and Wichstrom, 2002).(72)

Pathway to behaviour problems: Mother depression assotiated with insecure infant attachment -"Insecure attachment has been consistently linked with psychological difficulties (Greenberg et al., 1993; Sund and Wichstrom, 2002).(72)" but also are children of depressed mother more likeley to have adifficult temperament - who effects whom?

Crockenburg (84

influence of social support on attachment

cons for TM

end chapt 5: ' cases where gross deprivation, neglect,distorted patterns of care or abuse create an adverse enviroment in which even the most resilient child develops disturbed patterns of adaptations.'

Does the concept of interaction help here?

Simplyfication: TM still focuses mostly on simple 2 way interaction while there is far more tr

(see p.85) have argued that other 'environmental' factors e.g. discord between parents, are more important

Sameroff, page 77TM gives no ethical guidance as to where to intervene and works "normative" on exising cultural codes and doesn't challenge them

Just society?

Is giving ADHS to kis good or bad?

TM in Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Pros for TM

Examples

Book 2, Chapter 2: ‘Disturbed and Disturbing Behaviour’

Problem: Causation as depenent on several factors

methodology: what questionnaires assesment methods are used

in what context

who is asked

what kind of rules

MacKinnon-Lewis et al.

neg. attitude fuels negative behaviour P75

Model of a pathway to antisocial behaviour according to Patterson (1984)

"In this model, weak parenting skills are believed to encourage the child to become noncompliant to parental requests and to make unreasonable (coercive) demands on parents and othermembers of the family. The growing negative attention given to the child’s inappropriate behaviours combines with a failure to reward positive behaviours to produce an escalating cycle of parent–child conflict"

Medical problems: even medicalproblems can be "overcome"

Examples

p.85-86 highlights that other pathways e.g. language disorders are linked to behavioural problems

Malnourishment and Parental behaviour

Developing cognitive abilites or not

example in sameroff?

cons for TM

Problems with determining cause

Who is to blame - who should change - where to start intervention?

What about peers?

Issues with models and measurement

pros for tm

Examples

Models

Section 10 in the Methods and Skills Handbook: ‘Modelling development’

Assotiation not causation

Section 6 in the Methods and Skills Handbook: ‘Measures of association’

Conclusion

TM helpful

TM offer more levels of intervention

Sameroff