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Parental burnout (PB) is a chronic stress-related condition resulting from long-lasting exposure to overwhelming parenting stress. Previous studies showing the seriousness of this condition stressed the urgent need to provide researchers and practitioners with effective assessment tools. Validated PB measures are the Parental Burnout Inventory (PBI) and the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA). The good psychometric properties of these instruments have been replicated across different samples and countries, but thresholds for identifying impairing PB levels (i.e., cutoff scores) have not yet been established. The present study aims to fill this gap by adopting a multi-informant and multimethod approach to a sample of 192 burned-out and control parents. PBI and PBA cutoffs were derived from the combination of several PB indicators, based on a preregistered analysis strategy. Results identified a score of 74.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) = [69.48–79.68]) for the PBI and 86.3 (95% CI = [79.49–93.03]) for the PBA as indicators of the most severe PB levels.

Background: Sustained withdrawal behavior is an obstacle for child development. The present study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the prevalence of social withdrawal tendency in young Chinese children using the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) and describe the characteristics of socially withdrawn children.Method: This was a cross-sectional analysis as part of a prospective cohort study. A total of 114 children aged 3–24 months were included. The following instruments were administered: the Chinese version of ADBB, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3), the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), and the Infant Temperamental Questionnaire. The tendency of social withdrawal in children was assessed using the ADBB. Social withdrawal was defined as an ADBB score of 5 or above. Student's t-test, χ2 test, and Fisher's exact test were performed to identify the differences in maternal and child characteristics between the children with and without social withdrawal. Age-specific indicators of development in these two groups were also presented.Results: About 16.7% of the children were socially withdrawn. Compared with those without social withdrawal, children with social withdrawal were older and had higher proportions of boys (68.4 vs. 42.1%) and social-emotional development delay (63.2 vs. 0%). In age-specific analyses, social-emotional development was poorer in children with social withdrawal across all age groups from 3 to 24 months.Conclusion: Assessed by the ADBB, the prevalence of social withdrawal tendency in young Chinese children was similar to that reported in the European population; children with social withdrawal tended to have poorer social-emotional development. Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to validate the scale and confirm these findings.

As a result of evolution, human babies are born with outstanding abilities for human communication and cooperation. The other side of the coin is their great sensitivity to any clear and durable violation in their relationship with caregivers. Infant sustained social withdrawal behavior (ISSWB) was first described in infants who had been separated from their caregivers, as in Spitz's description of “hospitalism” and “anaclitic depression.” Later, ISSWB was pointed to as a major clinical psychological feature in failure-to-thrive infants. Fraiberg also described freezing behavior as one of the earliest modes of infant defense in the face of adverse situations threatening the infant's ability to synchronize with caregivers. We hypothesize that ISSWB behaviors are associated with poor vagal brake functioning and that an impaired social engagement system is induced by an impoverished and/or dangerous environment. Recent research using animal models highlight the neurobiology and the genetics of the social Approach/Withdrawal Behavior in infants. The present paper is therefore a plea for social withdrawal behavior to be attributed a more important role as a major psychological defensive mechanism in infancy, and for research into early development and early intervention to make more practical and theoretical use of this concept, thus decreasing the challenge of translation in social neurosciences. This work presents several situations involving developmental hazards in which assessment of ISSWB by means of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) has proven useful, i.e., malnutrition, effects of major maternal depression and or traumatization, assessing social withdrawal in infants with an chronic organic illness (congenital heart disease, Prader-Willi syndrome, cleft lip and/or palate Prader-Willy syndrome, Fetal alcohol syndrome) or assessing ISSWB in out of home placed infants during parental visitation. Relationships between ISSWB and other biophysiological behavioral systems are discussed, particularly links with attachment processes and Porges's polyvagal theory.

The impact of children’s interactions with parents in the context of out-of-home placements is receiving much-needed cross-disciplinary attention. However, the paucity of instruments that can reliably represent young children’s experiences of such interactions precludes a nuanced evaluation of their impact on wellbeing and development. In response to this empirical gap, the present study investigates children’s relational withdrawal as a clinically salient, easily observable and conceptually valid measure of infants’ and toddlers’ responses to parents. Relational withdrawal, challenging behaviors and salivary cortisol were assessed before, during and after parental visits. Conceptually, the findings suggest that observations of relational withdrawal correlate meaningfully with measure of neurobiological reactivity. Clinically, three profiles of cross-variable responses in children appeared, distinguishing between groups that experience increased, decreased or unchanged levels of stress in response to parental visits. Taken together, the findings lend empirical support to systematic observations of relational withdrawal to bolster evaluations of young children’s experience of parental visitation during out-of-home placements.

Quel temps devrait durer l’allaitement pour le bien-être de l’enfant ? Après un rappel des positons sur le sujet, nous essayerons d’apporter des données scientifiques, anthropologiques, culturelles pour réfléchir à cette question. Nous tenterons ensuite d’étayer l’hypothèse d’une fonction « attachement » à l’allaitement, la biologie du caregiving venant à l’appui de cette réflexion. Nous proposerons de repenser le sevrage de l’enfant en cas d’allaitement tardif sous un angle attachementiste, et d’envisager les allaitements prolongés comme un type de relation mère-enfant à l’équilibre psychologique et affectif spécifique. Enfin, sur un plan clinique et pédopsychiatrique, nous proposons l’idée que la longueur de l’allaitement ne nous semble pas être un critère pertinent d’évaluation de la qualité de la relation entre une mère et son enfant, et que la qualité de l’attachement quel que soit le mode de nourrissage nous semble bien plus utile à considérer.

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