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Biomedical subjects

Dante Cicchetti

Publications and source records attributed to Dante Cicchetti.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Fostering secure attachment in infants in maltreating families through preventive interventions.

The malleability of insecure and disorganized attachment among infants from maltreating families was investigated through a randomized preventive intervention trial. Findings from research on the effects of maltreatment on infant attachment were incorporated into the design and evaluation of the intervention. One-year-old infants from maltreating families (N = 137) and their mothers were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: (a) infant-parent psychotherapy (IPP), (b) psychoeducational parenting intervention (PPI), and (c) community standard (CS) controls. A fourth group of infants from nonmaltreating families (N = 52) and their mothers served as an additional low-income normative comparison (NC) group. At baseline, mothers in the maltreatment group, relative to the nonmaltreatment group mothers, reported greater abuse and neglect in their own childhoods, more insecure relationships with their own mothers, more maladaptive parenting attitudes, more parenting stress, and lower family support, and they were observed to evince lower maternal sensitivity. Infants in the maltreatment groups had significantly higher rates of disorganized attachment than infants in the NC group. At postintervention follow-up at age 26 months, children in the IPP and PPI groups demonstrated substantial increases in secure attachment, whereas increases in secure attachment were not found for the CS and NC groups. Moreover, disorganized attachment continued to predominate in the CS group. These results were maintained when intent to treat analyses were conducted. The findings are discussed in terms of the utility of translating basic research into the design and evaluation of clinical trials, as well as the importance of preventive interventions for altering attachment organization and promoting an adaptive developmental course for infants in maltreating families.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Cognitive and emotional differences in young maltreated children: a translational application of dynamic skill theory.

Through a translational approach, dynamic skill theory enhances the understanding of the variation in the behavioral and cognitive presentations of a high-risk population-maltreated children. Two studies illustrate the application of normative developmental constructs from a dynamic skills perspective to samples of young maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Each study examines the emotional and cognitive development of maltreated children with attention to their developing world view or negativity bias and cognitive skills. Across both studies, maltreated children demonstrate negativity bias when compared to their nonmaltreated counterparts. Cognitive complexity demonstrated by the maltreated children is dependent upon a positive or negative context. Positive problem solving is more difficult for maltreated children when compared to their nonmaltreated counterparts. Differences by maltreatment type, severity, timing of the abuse, and identity of the perpetrator are also delineated, and variation in the resulting developmental trajectories in each case is explored. This translation of dynamic skill theory, as applied to maltreated children, enhances our basic understanding of their functioning, clarifies the nature of their developmental differences, and underscores the need for early intervention.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The implications of emotional security theory for understanding and treating childhood psychopathology.

Understanding why interparental difficulties pose a risk to children in families experiencing domestic violence is an urgent task for ameliorating childhood psychopathology, particularly in light of the paucity of knowledge on the unfolding mediating mechanisms and the potentiating and protective conditions that underlie the multiplicity of pathways between domestic violence and child maladjustment. Toward addressing this significant gap, this paper examines how the emotional security theory (EST) may foster advances in our understanding of the genesis, course, and treatment of children's psychological problems in families experiencing domestic violence. Following an overview of the theoretical assumptions and significance of translating the emotional security theory to high-risk contexts, we address how children's difficulties in preserving security may emerge in the face of domestic violence and accompanying forms of severe family adversity, and illustrate the implications of emotional insecurity for childhood psychopathology in homes characterized by domestic violences. In the final section, we address how the EST may be useful in informing public policy and intervention initiatives designed to reduce the burden of mental illness.

Affect↗
PubMed2006

Children's basic memory processes, stress, and maltreatment.

Building upon methods and research utilized with normative populations, we examine extant assumptions regarding the effects of child maltreatment on memory. The effects of stress on basic memory processes is examined, and potential neurobiological changes relevant to memory development are examined. The impact of maltreatment-related sequelae (including dissociation and depression) on basic memory processes as well as false memories and suggestibility are also outlined. Although there is a clear need for additional research, the investigations that do exist reveal that maltreated children's basic memory processes are not reliably different from that of other, nonmaltreated children.

Child↗
PubMed2006

Mother-child play and emerging social behaviors among infants from maltreating families.

Mother-child play of 12-month-old infants (N=130) from maltreating (N=78) and non-maltreating (N=52) families was analyzed as a context that integrates infants' developing social and cognitive skills. Play was coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms. No group differences were found in infants' play maturity. Infants from abusing families demonstrated more imitative play than infants from non-maltreating families, and engaged in less independent play than infants from both neglecting and non-maltreating families, suggesting a delay in emerging social behaviors. Mothers from abusing and non-maltreating families differed in attention directing behaviors. Maternal behaviors predicted child play style variables, but did not mediate the effects of maltreatment. Findings discuss the influence of an early maltreating environment upon the development of the emergent self. Implications for early intervention are underscored.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy to reorganize attachment in the young offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder: a randomized preventive trial.

The development of insecure attachment relationships in the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (MDD) may initiate a negative trajectory leading to future psychopathology. Therefore, the provision of theoretically guided interventions designed to promote secure attachment is of paramount importance. Mothers who had experienced MDD since their child's birth were recruited (n = 130) and randomized to toddler-parent psychotherapy (DI) or to a control group (DC). Nondepressed mothers with no current or history of major mental disorder and their toddlers also were recruited for a nondepressed comparison group (NC; n = 68). Children averaged 20.34 months of age at the initial assessment. Higher rates of insecure attachment were present in both the DI and the DC groups at baseline, relative to the NC group. At postintervention, at age 36 months, insecure attachment continued to predominate in the DC group. In contrast, the rate of secure attachment had increased substantially in the DI group and was higher than that for the DC and the NC groups. These results demonstrate the efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy in fostering secure attachment relationships in young children of depressed mothers.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

An event-related potential study of the processing of affective facial expressions in young children who experienced maltreatment during the first year of life.

This investigation examined the effects of maltreatment during the first year of life on the neural correlates of processing facial expressions of emotion at 30 months of age. Event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to children passively viewing standardized pictures of female models posing angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions were examined. Four ERP waveform components were derived: early negative (N150), early positive (P260), negative central (Nc), and positive slow wave (PSW). Differences in these waveforms between a group of 35 maltreated and 24 nonmaltreated children were reported. The groups did not differ on the early perceptual negative component (N150), whereas the maltreated children had greater P260 amplitude at frontal leads compared to the nonmaltreated children in response to viewing angry facial expressions. For the Nc component, the nonmaltreated comparison children exhibited greater amplitude while viewing pictures of happy faces compared to angry and neutral faces, whereas the maltreated children showed greater Nc amplitude at central sites while viewing angry faces. For the PSW, the nonmaltreated group showed a greater area score in the right hemisphere in response to viewing angry facial expressions compared to the maltreated group. The results are discussed in terms of brain development and function, as well as their implications for the design and evaluation of preventive interventions.

Affect↗
PubMed2005

Child maltreatment, attention networks, and potential precursors to borderline personality disorder.

Potential precursors to borderline personality disorder (BPD) were investigated in a sample of 185 maltreated and 175 nonmaltreated school-aged children attending a summer camp research program. Self-report, peer-report, and counselor-report measures were utilized to assess developmental constructs conceptualized to constitute vulnerability for later emerging BPD. These areas, including personality features, representational models of self, parent, and peers, interpersonal relationship difficulties with peers and adults, and suicidal/self-harm behavior, were used to develop a BPD precursors composite. Additionally, the efficiency of three attention networks was assessed with a computerized task. Maltreated children had higher mean scores on the BPD precursors composite, and children classified as having high levels of these precursors were more prevalent in the maltreatment group. No maltreatment group differences were found for the efficiency of the three attention networks; however, children with high levels of BPD precursors evinced less efficient processing of the conflict attention network, comparable to findings observed among adult patients with BPD. Child maltreatment and efficiency of the conflict attention network independently predicted scores on the BPD precursors composite. Experiential and biological contributions to risk for BPD and recommendations for prevention and intervention are discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed2005

Predictors of resilience in maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children.

To date, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of child maltreatment and processes influencing maladaptation and resilience in Latino children. In the current investigation, multiple aspects of functioning, personal resources, and relationship features were examined in school-age maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children. Maltreated Latino children were found to have fewer areas of resilient functioning. Ego-resiliency and ego-control, as personal resources, and the ability to form a positive relationship with an adult figure outside of the immediate family predicted resilience. However, certain aspects of interpersonal functioning were differentially related to resilience for maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children. These findings have implications for understanding how resilience can be promoted in maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Expressed emotion in multiple subsystems of the families of toddlers with depressed mothers.

Expressed emotion was examined in families of toddlers (N = 101) whose mothers had experienced major depressive disorder occurring since the child's birth, and contrasted with expressed emotion in demographically comparable families (N = 54) with no history of parental mental disorder to elucidate family systems processes as contributors to child functioning. Both mothers and fathers provided Five-Minute Speech Samples on their child, their spouse, and themselves, and completed measures of marital adjustment, trait affect, relationship quality with their own parents in childhood, and child behavior problems. Maternal-expressed emotion criticism regarding child, self, and spouse was higher in the families with depressed mothers; paternal criticism regarding self and spouse also was higher in the depressed families. Mothers and fathers in the depressed group also differed on relational/ affective features, exhibiting lower marital satisfaction, higher trait negative affect, and more negative childhood relationship representations, relative to the nondepressed group, and mothers reported more child behavior problems. Mediational models were evaluated separately for the different targets of maternal and paternal criticism and child behavior problems, and findings supported both individual parent and spouse contributions as mediators of the relation between depression group status and expressed criticism and child behavior problems. The findings are discussed in terms of the multiple levels of family system influence on negativity in the emotional environment of toddlers of depressed mothers, developmental risk, and the need for family-level interventions.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Child maltreatment and emergent personality organization: perspectives from the five-factor model.

The Five-Factor Model was used to examine personality organization in 211 six-year-old children (135 maltreated and 76 nonmaltreated). Longitudinal assessments were conducted at ages 7, 8, and 9. Six-year-old maltreated children exhibited lower agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience and higher neuroticism than did nonmaltreated children. Maltreated children also were more frequently represented in less adaptive personality clusters than were their nonmaltreated counterparts. A particularly vulnerable profile occurred predominantly among maltreated children and was related to experiencing both abuse and neglect. Child maltreatment and personality clusters were related to individual differences perceived by peers. Longitudinal stability of the personality dimensions also was assessed. At age nine, evidence was found for maintenance of the organization of the personality clusters obtained at age six and for continuity of maltreated children's personality liabilities.

Child↗