Leiden Consortium Individual Development

Most children develop well and find their way into society without many
problems, but not all children manage to do so. We know that this difference is
related to a combination of the child*s disposition and the environment in
which he or she is raised. Children are not equally vulnerable to adverse
rearing enviornment, and they do not equally profit from supportive
environments.

In the current study we examine the effect of a behavioral intervention aimed
to improve parental sensitivity on parenting behavior and development of social
competence and behavioral control in children. Central questions are: Which
parents and which children are most susceptible for the intervention, and what
neurobiological mechanisms play a role in the intervention effect on parenting
and child development?

In the current longitudinal randomized trial, families will be followed during
a period of six years. There will be annual measurements, during home or
laboratory visits. In the week following each annual visit, parents will
perform several ambulatory measurements at home. Further, the experimental
group (40% of the families) will receive an intervention between the second and
third measurement (Video-feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting
and Sensitive Dicipline [VIPP-SD]; Juffer et al., 2008). This intervention aims
to improve parental sensivity and sensitive discipline. In addition, a group of
100 (40 experimental group and 60 control group) randomly selected parents will
be invited for two parentvisits, one before the intervention and one after the
intervention.

Families in the experimental condition will receive the VIPP-SD (Juffer et al.,
2008), a behavioral intervention aimed at improving parental sensitivity and
sensitive discipline. Families in the control condition will receive a dummy
intervention during the same period and with the same frequency. This dummy
intervention consists of phone calls from a research assistant, in which the
parent is asked about the development of his/her children.

There are no risks associated with participation. The annual visits will last
no longer than half a day (3 hours). Parents are asked to fill out some
questionnaires before each of the visits. Further, parents receive materials to
perform some ambulatory measures in the week following each annual visit. These
ambulatory measures will take approximately three and a half hours per child,
distributed over a period of four days. The two parent visits before and after
the intervention or dummy intervention will take place at Leiden University and
last 1,5 hours each. Multiple randomized controlled trial demonstrated the
effectiveness of the VIPP-SD in improving parental sensivity and indicated that
the invervention has no negative effects (zie e.g., Bakermans-Kranenburg, Van
IJzendoorn, Mesman, Alink, & Juffer, 2008; Juffer et al., 2009; Kalinauskiene
et al., 2009; Van Zeijl et al., 2006).