childhood path-psychology Flashcards
intrauterine and perinatal factors that affect child psychology
Maternal health – Maternal antibodies, obesity, diabetes
Substance misuse – alcohol, marijuana
Toxins – lead, mercury and PCB’s
Drugs - esp psychotropics/antiepileptics (lipid soluble)
Epigenetics – folate controlled methylation
Endocrine environment – esp androgens
Immune environment
Premature birth/ Perinatal complications
Twinning
Impressive levels of resilience
How does fetal alcohol syndrome present?
Growth retardation body, head, brain (inc cerebellum) eyes Multiple neuro-developmental effects: Sensorimotor Cognitive Development Executive function Language
ADHD, DCD, LD
what is white matter connectivity important for?
Important for functions that require interplay between brain areas e.g. working memory between hippocampus and anterior cingulate
Low connectivity associated with more neural ‘noise’ in the system, intra-individual variability and ‘cognitive instability’.
In developing brains this is typically associated with ADHD – poor concentration, distractibility.
environmental factors that can affect child psychology
Carer - child relationship (attachment) Parenting skill and parental mental disorder e.g. post-natal depression, substance misuse. Marital harmony, family function. Nutrition, poverty, deprivation. Abuse, neglect, Discipline Day-care and schooling Peer relationships, Life events, Physical disability
difference between normal stress and toxic stress
Normal stress includes everyday frustrations and disappointments and minor illness. These stressors can in fact be good life lessons for children and do not cause harm
But toxic stress is long-term and undermines a child’s sense of safety and support.
what does prolongs stress mean?
Prolonged stress leads to the production of stress hormones such as cortisol. Normally, these hormones help the body prepare to take action and get out of harm’s way.
But prolonged exposure reduces our immunity to disease and leads to problems with digestion, blood pressure, and muscle tensions.In early childhood, our brains are building wiring systems in response to our environments. A child who undergoes chronic, intense stress can develop a low threshold to stress within the brain circuitry. Such a child may be nervous or hyper-vigilant.Having a caring, supportive parent or other caregiver can reduce the impact of toxic stress.
attachment styles
Proximity-seeking behaviour-
The infant seeking contact with parent when frightened, injured or ill.
Foundation of attachment theory
Attachment is described as secure or insecure according to direct observation of behaviour during “Strange situation”.
Much variability of mental health has been attributed to early attachment patterns “lack of bonding”.
Little evidence for this.
Stigmatises mothers and causes unnecessary worry.
Attachment changes across the life span. Very difficult to disentangle from multiple other influences.
early experience of adversity trains the brain to adapt to a hostile environment by
Perceived behaviour
Perceived aggression
Limbic response
Heightened amygdala activity
Cortical response
Preparation of aggressive response
Behavioural response
Aggression
relationship between traumatic brain injury and behaviour
poor behaviour
Around half or more people inprisonsmayhave had a TBIcompared to less than 1 in 10 of people in the generalpopulation.
Possibly 2 in 10 people inprison have hada seriousTBI
Operant Conditioning (rewards and punishment)
Dopamine neurons fire when you associate an action with a subsequent reward
addiction examples
Obesity (food and sugar “addiction”)
Drug and alcohol
Gambling
Porn
Executive and Cortical Control
Taking control over ‘automatic’ and learned behaviours
Applied in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Inhibit prepotent responses
Intentional decision-making and forward planning.
Requires self-awareness and capacity to self-monitor.
the social brain- timeline of sharing emotion and brain in children
Infant mother interaction
Emotion contagion: picks up emotions from carer
6 weeks: Sensorimotor control emerging. Smiling intentionally 24 months: Secondary representation Able to recognise and label emotions 3-4 years: Metarepresentation Self-awareness of emotion; able to deceive, understands and feels. Understanding motive and context
conduct disorders
including oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
frequent loss of temper, arguing, becoming easily angered or annoyed, showing vindictive or other negativistic behaviours.
ADD
distractibility, sustaining attention to tasks that don’t provide high level of stimulation or frequent rewards, distractibility and problems with organization.
