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Biomedical subjects

H L Bee

Publications and source records attributed to H L Bee.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

The impact of parental life change on the early development of children.

The effect of parental life change on children's mental and social development was explored in a longitudinal study of 193 families. Data on life changes, social supports, home environment, child development and interactions were obtained in a series of nine interviews from before the child's birth to 48 months after birth. For the sample as a whole, significant negative correlations were obtained between maternal life change in the first year of the child's life, and the child's IQ and receptive language at 4 years. An examination of subgroups revealed, however, that this relationship was strongest for mothers low in both personal coping resources and in social support. Findings suggest that both direct and indirect effects of maternal life change on the child contribute to the observed relationship.

Adult↗

The impact of temporally patterned stimulation on the development of preterm infants.

To test the efficacy of temporally patterned kinesthetic and auditory stimulation for promoting development of infants born prior to term, 88 preterm infants, below 35 weeks gestation, were assigned to 1 of 4 experimental or control groups. Control subjects received regular hospital care; fixed interval subjects received 15 min of rocking/heartbeat stimulation each hour; self-activating subjects received 15 min rocking/heartbeat when inactive for 90 sec, but only for 1 stimulation period per hour. Assessments included measures of neurological functioning, sleep-wake activity, mother-infant interaction, and mental and motor development at 8 and 24 months. All experimental infants, compared to controls, showed decreased rates of activity while in the hospital, fewer abnormal reflexes, and better orienting responses. At 24 months, experimental infants scored significantly higher on the Mental Development Index of the Bayley Scales. Few differences were found in parent-infant interaction patterns. The results indicate that both temporal patterning and contingent responsiveness in the preterm infant's early environment contribute positively to some aspects of the development of such infants.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Prediction of IQ and language skill from perinatal status, child performance, family characteristics, and mother-infant interaction.

193 basically healthy working-class and middle-class mothers and their infants participated in a 4-year longitudinal study which focused on the relative potency of several clusters of variables for predictions of intellectual and language outcome during the preschool years. The major results were: (1) Measures of perinatal or infant physical status were extremely weak predictors of 4-year IQ or language. (2) Assessments of child performance were poor predictors prior to 24 months, but excellent predictors from 24 months on. (3) Assessments of mother-infant interaction and general environmental quality were among the best predictors at each age tested, and were as good as measures of child performance at 24 and 36 months in predicting IQ and language. (4) Measures of the family ecology (level of stress, social support, maternal education) and parent perception of the child, especially when assessed at birth, were strongly related to child IQ and language within a low-education subsample, but not among mothers with more than high school education. Patterns of prediction were similar for 48-month IQ and 36-month receptive language; predictions were notably weaker for 36-month expressive language.

Child Development↗