Five-year-old Costa Rican children, who had either chronic, severe iron deficiency or good iron status in infancy, were observed with their mothers during a structured interaction task in a laboratory setting and everyday interactions in their home. Child affect and behavior as well as the quality of mother-child interaction of the formerly chronic iron-deficient children (n = 40) were compared to those with good iron status in infancy (n = 102). Children who had chronic iron deficiency in infancy were more likely to display lower levels of physical activity, positive affect, and verbalization during the structured task at 5 years, despite iron therapy that corrected their iron deficiency anemia in infancy. Mother-child reciprocity during the structured task (e.g., eye contact, shared positive affect, turn taking) was more likely to be lower in the chronic iron deficiency group compared to the good iron group. Mothers of children in the chronic iron deficiency group showed less responsivity in both settings. These results show that children with chronic, severe iron deficiency in infancy continue at behavioral disadvantage relative to their peers at school entry. Sustained differences in mother-child interaction might contribute to the long-lasting behavioral and developmental alterations reported in children with chronic, severe iron deficiency in infancy.
A Task Force of the American Psychological Association Division 35, Psychology of Women, has been collecting resources that address issues of human rights and mental health among Latin American women living in situations of war and/or state‐sponsored violence. This work is being conducted primarily by women's groups, progressive organizations, and individual women in these contexts of institutionalized political violence. This paper describes our reflections on themes that emerged from our reading of this work. We discuss the false dichotomy between public and private violence, the silencing of women as an inevitable consequence of state‐imposed violence, and the collective efforts of women to resist violence and heal its effects. These themes suggest that extreme violence against women can be most adequately understood and responded to within a psychosocial and cultural framework. We examined three issues that emerge from the material gathered by the Task Force that suggest how some Latin American psychologists and activists have begun to articulate such a framework: (a) exile within and outside of one's country of origin; (b) torture, the most extreme form of state‐sponsored violence; and (c) nontraditional, culturally appropriate interventions that are alternatives to Anglo‐Saxon theory and practice. The work of Latin American individuals is described here as a resource for all who are engaged in the struggle to achieve justice for women.
This study determined the psychometric properties of the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) Inventory in a Latin American sample. HOME data for 183 healthy Costa Rican infants were compared to the original HOME standardisation sample from Little Rock. The Costa Rican total HOME average of 29.8 ± 6.7 was similar to the scores of families in Little Rock (mean = 31.2 ± 7.3). Measures or internal consistency and factor structure were similar in US and Costa Rican samples. In contrast to these similarities, Costa Rican HOME scores showed no significant correlation with developmental test scores in infancy (Bayley MDI), and the correlation with Full Scale IQ (WPPSI) at five years was modest, albeit statistically significant (r = 0.28, P < 0.05). These relationships were similar to those of Mexican-American children in a recent collaborative study by Bradley et al., 1989 and not as strong as for US white and black populations. However, when the concept of outcome was broadened beyond IQ scores to include child health and development in general, the HOME seemed sensitive to important environmental differences in this Costa Rican group. Lower HOME scores related to a shorter duration of breastfeeding and differentiated children with iron deficiency anaemia in infancy, a condition associated with long-lasting developmental disadvantage. Thus, the HOME was helpful in identifying children at risk for delayed development in this Latin American sample.
This article focuses on expressions of resilience in a sample of 30 women from El Salvador and Guatemala who survived multiple types of violence, including war trauma, before taking refuge in the US. Traumatic impact, recovery, and resilience were assessed using the Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resilience Interview (MTRR-I) and rating scale, MTRR-99. Exposure to violence was assessed by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and the MTRR-I. The study established that the women had suffered multiple and extreme forms of violence prior to and en route to the United States and yet were highly resilient on multiple MTRR domains when compared with a US sample. Implications for future research for assessment of trauma exposure and resilience among war-afflicted populations are discussed.
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