North American Ed - Coping and competence

2.2 Family relationships

Human beings are social creatures born with a biological need and predisposition to relate to others. Newborns orient to human voices, faces and eyes, allowing infants to learn about people and from people. People are contagious. Our early relationships with parents or other primary caregivers shape how we learn to cope and become competent. Responsive and sensitive nurturing sets the foundation for optimal development.

As you watch the next video, think about how this busy mother manages the needs of her two young sons and her newborn baby.

Dr. Alison Fleming and her colleagues study mothering in her lab at the University of Toronto. In the following video, Fleming notes that “mothering” is complex and not a single concept.

Fleming is very interested in the biological aspect of mothering behaviours. In the next clip, she explains how one’s own early experiences and hormones influence how one mothers.

Attachment

Attachment refers to the intimate emotional bonds that infants develop with their parents and other primary caregivers. Individual interactions build attachment relationships. Secure attachment relationships between young children and their parents and caregivers are fundamental to helping children learn to cope with stress and regulate emotions, behaviour and attention.

An extensive body of research over the past two decades and more has established a clear link between secure patterns of attachment in infancy and early childhood and later social adaptation. Secure attachment has been associated with better developmental outcomes in areas that include self-reliance, self-efficacy, empathy and social competence…. Infants with nonsecure attachments have been shown to be more prone to later problems in adaptation that include conduct disorder, aggression, depression and anti-social behaviour” (Moran, 2020, para. 5).

Attachment is easier when parents are attuned to their babies. Attunement refers to how parents and other caregivers react to an infant’s signals. Well-attuned caregivers detect what their babies are feeling and are able to reflect those emotions back in their facial expressions, voices, and other behaviour.

Listen now as Dr. Jean Clinton, clinical professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience at McMaster University, discusses the importance of responding predictably to babies’ needs for the development of secure attachment.

The Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development offers an overview of attachment theory and research. The Synthesis defines attachment, describes three attachment patterns, and considers influences on attachment relationships.

Verbal and non-verbal communication contribute to attuned interactions and attachment relationships. The next video is an overview of attachment and stresses paying attention to the subtle signals of babies. As you view the video, notice how infants engage in chains of communication with caregivers by using vocalizations, gestures, facial expressions and body movements. Brief exchanges gradually develop into sustained, co-regulated chains of communication.

In the next video, Dr. Edward Tronick explains the Still Face Experiment – a way to investigate what happens when parents are not so “attuned” with their babies. It is hard to watch the mom and baby participating in this experiment – but as you watch, consider why this kind of research is important.

This classic research paradigm has been modified to look at other sorts of typical disruptions to parent-infant interactions that might occur in daily life. Myruski et al. (2018) looked at mobile device use as one example of when parents are present, but may be distracted and unresponsiveness. Their research with 50 infants found that this may have negative consequences for children’s social and emotional development.

A common situation reflective of parent-child attachment is when parents leave their child with caregivers as they head off to work. Watch the following parent-child separation scenes while considering your knowledge of attachment and parent-child communication.

Children’s close relationships with their parents continue well beyond infancy and the preschool years. How parents talk to their children about school seems to be more important than other forms of parent involvement. Dr. Carl Corter, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, explains.

The booklet below was developed for First Nations and Metis parents and caregivers in Manitoba. It presents information for parents and caregivers on bonding, forming secure attachments with children, and connecting with extended family and community. Learn about some of the traditional practices used to develop attachment, and some of the impacts from residential schools, medical institutions and foster homes that had devastating effects on families developing relationships and attachment.

The next reading discusses attachment and health outcomes, why attachment is important for Indigenous (Aboriginal) child and family wellbeing, how caregivers can strengthen and support healthy attachment relationships, and signs that attachment relationships might need help. The authors also make the point that parenting styles and attachment practices vary between different Indigenous (Aboriginal) communities and groups.

In the next video, Dr. Marlyn Bennett, the director of the University of Manitoba’s Master of Social Work Program Based in Indigenous Knowledges, defines kinship care and discusses the role of the extended family and wider community in caregiving. Bennett also explains that caregivers may require financial support to take care of their “kin”.

Parenting style

Dr. Dan Keating, professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, summarizes what a multitude of research studies reveal. Parenting matters a lot and carries forward throughout one’s life. He points to two important dimensions: warmth and responsiveness and setting limits or boundaries.

Almost fifty years ago, psychologist Dr. Diane Baumrind (1968) defined parenting skills along the same two dimensions that Keating outlines in the video:

• Responsiveness – parents’ ability to be attuned to a child and to respond to a child’s needs and signals
• Boundaries – parents’ ability to set and maintain limits that structure a child’s environment

In the next video, Clinton discusses how different parenting styles impact children, specifically brain development.

The relationships and interactions between parents/caregivers and children provide a foundation for development and learning. The next reading, from the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, explains that researching “optimal” parenting styles is challenging given the variety of variables that can influence child development outcomes. Try the review game after the reading to check your understanding.

Dr. Stephen Suomi, chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the United States, is a researcher who studies the social lives of rhesus monkeys. As Suomi says, “rhesus monkeys are clearly not furry little humans with tails” (Suomi, 1999), but we do share much of our genetic inheritance. His research reveals some very interesting insights into how infant temperament and mothering style can have a powerful impact on adult monkey behaviour and social status (Suomi describes his primate laboratory in the Brain Development module).

Watch as Suomi describes what happens when infant monkeys, who are genetically predisposed to be highly reactive, are placed in the care of highly nurturing foster mothers.

Fathers

Looking at fatherhood across time and cultural settings is important as it broadens our understanding of the changing role of fathers, and contributing factors to their different level of engagement within the family” (Roopnarine, 2016, para. 2).

The next video shows fathers from around the world talking about how meaningful it is for them to be closely involved with their young children. It is from the documentary, The Beginning of Life.

Research on fathers and the impact of fathering on child development is a relatively new research area. Jean Clinton describes some of the things we are learning about the unique role of fathers.

In the next video, Brian Russell from Dad’s Central Ontario, concurs with what Clinton says about different approaches to attachment for fathers and mothers. He explains what this means for those who develop programs to engage fathers. In the second video, Russell discusses father engagement in more detail.

The Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development provides an overview of research in this area, along with resources and recommendations for policies and programs.

Siblings

Sibling relationships play an integral role in how children learn to self-regulate, adjust to new circumstances and overcome challenges.

As you watch the next video of two siblings playing together, consider how each child might benefit from this experience.

While sibling rivalry is a common concern for parents and caregivers alike, recent research is beginning to highlight the positive role that sibling relations, and even sibling conflict, has on a child’s social and cognitive development. The next article from the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development looks at sibling relations.

Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, explains what her research is revealing about differences in parenting within families.