Genetic variation does affect the way ordinary children bond with their parents – but one study finds that maltreatment by parents overpowers the contribution of genes. The good news is that interventions improve bonding for maltreated babies of all genetic types.
May 2013
16 May 2013
Latino parents are less likely than their non-Latino white counterparts to put their children in formal, center-based early care. Some say this results from parents’ cultural choices – but research shows it may have more to do with cost.
10 May 2013
Investment in early education for disadvantaged children is one policy decision for which a moral argument can be made. Another perspective comes from economists such as James Heckman, who focus on how such investments can increase equity and are good for the overall economy.
08 May 2013
Ensuring babies and toddlers develop good sleeping patterns is crucial to their future well-being. But, as research reveals, marital difficulties can act as a significant impediment to infants getting a good night’s sleep.
03 May 2013
Evidence-based programs that attempt to reduce achievement gaps between disadvantaged children and their better-off counterparts in the early years are effective, but their impact is, at best, modest. The director of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child argues that new interventions should shift their focus – from just stimulating the minds of these children to also protecting their brains.
02 May 2013
Studies show that an investment in high quality childcare can help to break the cycle of poverty and depression that afflicts families under stress.
01 May 2013
It’s one of the hardest sells in the prevention world—the task of recruiting families to parenting programs. But one intervention is fighting the dismal statistics with a common sense approach. Instead of waiting for the families to come to them, they are going where almost every family is created, and where most have to go multiple times, the local hospital.
