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1. Caregivers’ Role-taking during the Use of Discussion Prompts in At-Home Engineering Kits

   Kim, Soo Hyeon; Kim, Jungsun (January 2021, International Society of the Learning Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   This study presents a video-based case study of families who used discussion prompts in the at-home engineering kits. We examine different roles that caregivers took on during the implementation of the prompts to organize families’ engineering learning activities. Narrative accounts and transcriptions were analyzed to investigate the different roles that caregivers took. Three roles emerged: caregivers as monitor; caregivers as mentor; caregivers as partner. We further coded families’ talks to investigate how three different caregivers’ roles influenced families’ engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Preliminary findings illustrate how three caregivers’ roles enabled and constrained different types of engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Findings contribute to future considerations in designing discussion prompts for at-home engineering kits. 

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2. Caregivers’ positive emotion socialization tendencies are associated with positive affect in preschool age children

   https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.22036  

   Hill, Kaylin E.; Kujawa, Autumn; Humphreys, Kathryn L. (February 2023, Infant Mental Health Journal)

   Abstract Longstanding theories of emotion socialization postulate that caregiver emotional and behavioral reactions to a child's emotions together shape the child's emotion displays over time. Despite the notable importance of positive valence system function, the majority of research on caregiver emotion socialization focuses on negative valence system emotions. In the current project, we leveraged a relatively large cross‐sectional study of caregivers (N = 234; 93.59% White) of preschool aged children to investigate whether and to what degree, caregiver (1) emotional experiences, or (2) external behaviors, in the context of preschoolers’ positive emotion displays in caregiver–child interactions, are associated with children's general positive affect tendencies. Results indicated that, in the context of everyday caregiver–child interactions, caregiver‐reported positively valenced emotions but not approach behaviors were positively associated with child general positive affect tendencies. However, when examining specific caregiver behaviors in response to everyday child positive emotion displays, caregiver report of narrating the child's emotion and joining in the emotion with their child was positively associated with child general positive affect tendencies. Together, these results suggest that in everyday caregiver–child interactions, caregivers’ emotional experiences and attunement with the child play a role in shaping preschoolers’ overall tendencies toward positive affect. 

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3. Caregiver–child proximity as a dimension of early experience

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421001644  

   Barnett, Whitney; Hansen, Clare L.; Bailes, Lauren G.; Humphreys, Kathryn L. (May 2022, Development and Psychopathology)

   Abstract Human infancy and early childhood is both a time of heightened brain plasticity and responsivity to the environment as well as a developmental period of dependency on caregivers for survival, nurturance, and stimulation. Across primate species and human evolutionary history, close contact between infants and caregivers is species-expected. As children develop, caregiver–child proximity patterns change as children become more autonomous. In addition to developmental changes, there is variation in caregiver–child proximity across cultures and families, with potential implications for child functioning. We propose that caregiver–child proximity is an important dimension for understanding early environments, given that interactions between children and their caregivers are a primary source of experience-dependent learning. We review approaches for operationalizing this construct (e.g., touch, physical distance) and highlight studies that illustrate how caregiver–child proximity can be measured. Drawing on the concepts proposed in dimensional models of adversity, we consider how caregiver–child proximity may contribute to our understanding of children’s early experiences. Finally, we discuss future directions in caregiver–child proximity research with the goal of understanding the link between early experiences and child adaptive and maladaptive functioning. 

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4. At-home engineering: Caregivers’ support during problem-solving.

   Penney, L. (November 2023, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2023)

   Blikstein, P. (Ed.)

   The home environment is a critical context in which children engage in STEM activities. Caregivers serve as key influencers on their children’s engagement in these activities. This case study of four families explored how caregivers support their child(ren) during moments of problem-solving while completing engineering activities at home and illustrated the variation in caregiver support, caregiver participation/child agency, problem-solving strategies used, and integration of activities into the home. Our findings suggest we need to be purposeful in designing kit activities and supports for caregivers that will contribute to meaningful interactions during STEM activities that draw upon the unique relationship between caregivers and their children in the home. 

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5. Caregiving relationships are a cornerstone of developmental psychopathology

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424000300  

   Humphreys, Kathryn L; Garon-Bissonnette, Julia; Hill, Kaylin E; Bailes, Lauren G; Barnett, Whitney; Hare, Megan M (February 2024, Development and Psychopathology)

   Abstract The interdisciplinary field of developmental psychopathology has made great strides by including context into theoretical and empirical approaches to studying risk and resilience. Perhaps no context is more important to the developing child than their relationships with their caregivers (typically a child’s parents), as caregivers are a key source of stimulation and nurturance to young children. Coupled with the high degree of brain plasticity in the earliest years of life, these caregiving relationships have an immense influence on shaping behavioral outcomes relevant to developmental psychopathology. In this article, we discuss three areas within caregiving relationships: (1) caregiver–child interactions in everyday, naturalistic settings; (2) caregivers’ social cognitions about their child; and (3) caregivers’ broader social and cultural context. For each area, we provide an overview of its significance to the field, identify existing knowledge gaps, and offer potential approaches for bridging these gaps to foster growth in the field. Lastly, given that one value of a scientific discipline is its ability to produce research useful in guiding real-world decisions related to policy and practice, we encourage developmental psychopathology to consider that a focus on caregiving, a modifiable target, supports this mission. 

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