Risky beginnings
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Centre for Family Research
Abstract
Early childhood conduct problems are very common and predict multiple adverse life-course
outcomes, such that understanding their origins is an urgent challenge. This proposal extends
the applicants' previous work on family influences on children's abilities to regulate their thoughts and behaviours in several ways: by focusing on the first two years of life; by examining effects of paternal as well as maternal influences; by integrating this cognitive perspective with the co-investigators' expertise in assessing individual differences at biological and social levels; and finally by adopting
a multi-site design that provides a stringent test of the generalisability of study findings.
A sample of 400 expectant mothers and their partners (200 in the UK and 100 in the USA and
the Netherlands) will be recruited using an enriched sampling design to maximize the
participation of expectant parents showing low levels of well-being. Self-regulatory
skills will be assessed using validated experimental methods. We hope to examine the complex interplay between a range of social factors (e.g., quality of family relationships) cognitive factors (in both parents and infants) and biological factors (maternal and infant levels of the stress hormone cortisol) as predictors of infant adjustment and well-being.
A key strength of the study is its inclusion of fathers, as many basic questions regarding parental influences remain unanswered: For example are the relations between parental predictors and infant outcomes similar in nature and magnitude for fathers and mothers?
Building on the rapid growth of studies that highlight variation in children's susceptibility to environmental influences, the proposed study will explore contrasts in the nature and magnitude of family predictors of infant adjustment that relate to characteristics of the infant (e.g., stress reactivity), the parent (e.g., parenting style) and the culture (e.g., level of societal support for individuals making the transition to parenthood).
outcomes, such that understanding their origins is an urgent challenge. This proposal extends
the applicants' previous work on family influences on children's abilities to regulate their thoughts and behaviours in several ways: by focusing on the first two years of life; by examining effects of paternal as well as maternal influences; by integrating this cognitive perspective with the co-investigators' expertise in assessing individual differences at biological and social levels; and finally by adopting
a multi-site design that provides a stringent test of the generalisability of study findings.
A sample of 400 expectant mothers and their partners (200 in the UK and 100 in the USA and
the Netherlands) will be recruited using an enriched sampling design to maximize the
participation of expectant parents showing low levels of well-being. Self-regulatory
skills will be assessed using validated experimental methods. We hope to examine the complex interplay between a range of social factors (e.g., quality of family relationships) cognitive factors (in both parents and infants) and biological factors (maternal and infant levels of the stress hormone cortisol) as predictors of infant adjustment and well-being.
A key strength of the study is its inclusion of fathers, as many basic questions regarding parental influences remain unanswered: For example are the relations between parental predictors and infant outcomes similar in nature and magnitude for fathers and mothers?
Building on the rapid growth of studies that highlight variation in children's susceptibility to environmental influences, the proposed study will explore contrasts in the nature and magnitude of family predictors of infant adjustment that relate to characteristics of the infant (e.g., stress reactivity), the parent (e.g., parenting style) and the culture (e.g., level of societal support for individuals making the transition to parenthood).
Planned Impact
We have already established contact with the Cambridgeshire Director of Midwifery Services and with one of the consultant Neonatologists at Addenbrookes Hospital to discuss ways of engaging with stakeholders from the very beginning of the study; as well as with government policymakers (e.g., Early Years Foundation Trust) to discuss ways of ensuring that the dissemination of findings reaches as wide a pool of practitioners and policymakers as possible.
Key findings from the study that are likely to have social or economic implications include:
1) The importance of fathers' wellbeing, thoughts and behaviours towards their infants
2) Elucidating the relative importance of pre- and post-natal risk
3) Demonstrating social influences upon infants' early cognitive development
4) Identifying profiles associated with risky outcomes for infants
We expect beneficiaries to include those working with expectant parents (e.g., community midwives, health visitors), mental health professionals and educationalists working with the early years. Our discussions with stakeholders will focus on ensuring that benefits to these groups are maximised (e.g., sharing relevant findings, contributing to workshops and to the auditing of local services).
Key findings from the study that are likely to have social or economic implications include:
1) The importance of fathers' wellbeing, thoughts and behaviours towards their infants
2) Elucidating the relative importance of pre- and post-natal risk
3) Demonstrating social influences upon infants' early cognitive development
4) Identifying profiles associated with risky outcomes for infants
We expect beneficiaries to include those working with expectant parents (e.g., community midwives, health visitors), mental health professionals and educationalists working with the early years. Our discussions with stakeholders will focus on ensuring that benefits to these groups are maximised (e.g., sharing relevant findings, contributing to workshops and to the auditing of local services).
People |
ORCID iD |
| Claire Hughes (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Branger MCE
(2019)
Context matters: Maternal and paternal sensitivity to infants in four settings.
in Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
Braren SH
(2020)
Maternal psychological stress moderates diurnal cortisol linkage in expectant fathers and mothers during late pregnancy.
in Psychoneuroendocrinology
Braren SH
(2021)
Prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage predicts infant executive functions at 24 months.
in Developmental psychobiology
Devine RT
(2019)
Measuring and Predicting Individual Differences in Executive Functions at 14 Months: A Longitudinal Study.
in Child development
Devine, R.T.
(2018)
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Child Development (2nd ed)
Fink E
(2020)
Couple relationship quality and the infant home language environment: Gender-specific findings.
in Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
Fink E
(2024)
Parental sensitivity and family conversation: A naturalistic longitudinal study with both mothers and fathers across three time-points in early infancy
in Infant Mental Health Journal
Foley S
(2019)
Thinking about you baby: Expectant parents' narratives suggest prenatal spillover for fathers.
in Journal of Family Psychology
| Description | In this international study of heterosexual couples expecting their first child recruited from three countries (UK, USA, Netherlands) and seen at four time-points (third trimester and 4-, 14- and 24-months), our first set of results brings significant new findings to research on how the transition to parenthood affects mothers' and fathers' wellbeing. Specifically, we found that: (a) Dutch parents showed less prenatal anxiety/depression than their American counterparts; (b) mothers showed more problems than fathers; (c) wellbeing problems were stable over time for mothers but worsened in fathers across the 25-month study period; (d) couples were similar in both their prenatal wellbeing and in the patterns of change over time; (e) support from friends acted as a buffer for mothers, family support was especially salient for fathers; and (f) prenatal wellbeing problems in mothers (but not fathers) predicted child adjustment difficulties at 24-months, even when adjustment at 14-months was taken into account. Our second set of findings concerns early development of children's higher-order thinking skills (e.g., planning, holding information in mind, showing flexible shifting responses). These skills were tested using an original task battery, which enabled us both to demonstrate the feasibility of measuring higher-order thinking skills as early as 14-months of age and to show (for the first time) that memory skills at 14-months can be predicted by individual differences in attention at 4 months. Having measures of wellbeing for both mothers and fathers also allowed us to demonstrate, for the first time, that infant exposure to maternal (but not paternal) problems of wellbeing adversely affects infants' cognitive development. Our third set of findings concern fluctuations across the day in parents' physiological stress, indexed by salivary levels of the stress hormone cortisol. While this prenatal measure was unrelated to parents' self-reported stress, there was evidence of within-couple similarity in the daily pattern of change for both mothers' and fathers' cortisol levels. We are currently analysing the daily pattern of change in cortisol levels for infants (i.e. 14-month-olds). Our fourth set of findings concern contrasts between mothers and fathers and between parents from the three different countries in video- and transcript-based ratings of parent-infant relationships. Specifically, while mothers and fathers did not differ in sensitivity at 4-months, but mothers showed a modest but significant advantage by 14-months, which was also evident in their ability to support their infants' autonomy (e.g., independent problem-solving in a simple puzzle task). Likewise, at each time-point we assessed parents' 'mind-mindedness' (i.e., their ability to focus on their infant as an agent with individual thoughts and feelings) and found no difference between expectant mothers and fathers at the first time-point, but greater gains over time for mothers than for fathers. To examine the predictive utility of the above findings, the UK team is currently conducting follow-up nursery visits at 36-months to explore how early variation in infants' relationships with mothers and with fathers shapes later social and cognitive development. |
| Exploitation Route | Health workers should have greater awareness of fathers' difficulties in adjusting to parenthood, of similarities between couples in wellbeing and the importance of social support from families and friends. |
| Sectors | Education Healthcare |
| URL | https://www.cfr.cam.ac.uk/groups/esd |
| Description | Films and talks based on early findings from the study have been presented at 7 separate public engagement events in Cambridge, prompting audiences to engage in discussion and reflection about their own journeys to parenthood. In one of the most recent of these events, we invited all of the UK families to the Faculty of Education to learn about the findings from our study, to gain their views and experiences of taking part and, through an invited panel of early years education experts, to enable families to ask questions about the next important years of development as they begin to make the transition to school. In another event, organised by Cambridgeshire County Council's PSHE team, the PI presented findings to 30-40 early years educators - an event that was very well received and likely to enhance educational practice. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | National Childbirth Trust: New strategies for widening impact - document developed through Research Advisory Group discussions with special advisors. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Cambridge University Linguistics Society Incubator Award |
| Amount | £4,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | ESRC Impact Acceleration University of Cambridge:Compensating for Covid-19's impact on parents' peer learning: Co-creating an ecologically valid online assessment - Knowledge of Early Every-day Parenting (KEEP) |
| Amount | £18,284 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | XJAG/101/G100969 |
| Organisation | ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Cambridge |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2022 |
| End | 05/2023 |
| Description | School Readiness: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Well-being and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups |
| Amount | £453,051 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/T016175/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2021 |
| End | 11/2023 |
| Description | Seed for Science |
| Amount | £97,546 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2015 |
| End | 06/2017 |
| Title | executive function tasks for infants and toddlers |
| Description | We have developed a new battery of executive function tasks that is suitable for infants as young as 14 months but also appropriate for 2-year-olds. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This has been added to the directory of tasks that is being used for the US 'cohort of cohorts' study. As a result, some of the tasks from the battery may be translated into Spanish and other languages to be administered to as many as 50,000 infants in the USA. |
| Title | The new fathers and mothers study: Well-being, parenting and children's self-regulation 2014-2018 |
| Description | The New Fathers and Mothers dataset includes data from 876 first-time parents (438 couples) living in three sites: Cambridgeshire UK, New York USA and the Netherlands. Participants were recruited in the last trimester of pregnancy and completed semi-structured interviews at this prenatal time-point as well as when the infants were 4, 14, and 24 months old. The publicly available dataset includes demographic characteristics and both mothers' and fathers' ratings of their own depression, anxiety, stress and couple relationship quality, as well as infant temperament, adjustment, strengths and difficulties. For more information on published papers on this dataset see https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/853278/ |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | None |
| URL | http://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/id/eprint/853278 |
| Description | Investigating conversational environments for toddlers exposed to parental postnatal depression |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Faculty of Education |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Sharing study families to enable satellite study using talk pedometers |
| Collaborator Contribution | Additional data collection and analyses and recruitment of at-risk sample via NICU |
| Impact | Data collection still in progress |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Investigating links between parental playfulness and sensitivity |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Sharing videos, to enable a new coding scheme to rate parental playfulness to be developed |
| Collaborator Contribution | Coding a new dimension of parent-infant interactions |
| Impact | Still at data-analysis stage |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Alumni event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was part of a one-day workshop on 'New Families' - open to alumni of Newnham College, but also to PhD students from other colleges in the University. The event included break-out groups and lively discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | BPS_ESRC UK_Japan theory of mind workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 60 + delegates attended (including 25+ from Japan) - the workshop was aimed at promoting discussion regarding current research frontiers for the field and cross-cultural issues. It led to an invitation to give a keynote address in Japan (march 2020) - which was adjusted to a video talk because of corona virus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Child and parent predictors of internalising, externalising, and prosocial behaviours in toddlerhood. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | McHarg, G., Cheyney, M., Koutsoubelis, F., Foley, S., & Hughes, C. Child and parent predictors of internalising, externalising, and prosocial behaviours in toddlerhood. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. Interest in the use of bluetooth to simulate an infant crying in a novel empathy paradigm. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Conference Symposium at World Attachment & Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) conference in Dublin, July 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | about 70 participants (mostly clinicians and educators) attended this symposium, which included a lively discussion period |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Distress in Dutch and British 4-month old infants: Reactions to mothers and fathers in the Still Face Paradigm. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Hughes, C., Mesman, J., Steel, E., & Devine, R.T. (2017, September) Distress in Dutch and British 4-month old infants: Reactions to mothers and fathers in the Still Face Paradigm. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. Considerable interest in the differences between infants reactions to mothers and fathers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Engagement - poster interdisciplinary workshop organised by Cambridge Linguistics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | To foster interdisciplinary collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Erice, Sicily: The multi - faceted nature of parental influences on pre - schoolers' executive functions and academic success. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an invited talk attended by Prof Claire Hughes whcih was given as part of a one week Mind Brain Education international summer school on the topic of Neuroscience and Poverty, organized by Dr Sebastian Lipina from Buenos Aires in Argentina. The main intended purpose of the group meeting was to get international experts together to build scientific friendships and share knowledge. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Family Friendly Kapla play event - Newnham College Cambridge, 18th February 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This event was designed to encourage families to engage in playful and constructive interactions with their young children (focal age group 4-6 years). The event was led by the UK's only Kapla play workshop leader, and held in Newnham College. Recruitment was both via local support groups for families with young children and university social media. We were over-subscribed (60 attendees, 35 children and 25 adults) and the event was a great success, with families reporting that their children had learned team-work and persistence and the parents had gained a renewed appreciation of the importance of play, and of letting children take the lead. Several parents said that they were now more motivated to engage in other community events as a result. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Garden Party - participant engagement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | The largest and most exciting knowledge exchange activity the team organised so far was the garden party for the participating families (22nd and 23rd August, 2015). The garden party provided a chance for the research team to say thank you to the families but also gave the expectant and new parents an opportunity to meet other new parents in the area. Families had the chance to learn more about local services available to new parents as they took part in a taster session of "rhyme-time", provided by staff at Cambridge Central Library, and a "baby-yoga" class, provided by Birth Light. As well as enjoying music, lawn games and refreshments, the families also had a chance to learn more about the data collected as part of the prenatal wave of the study. Specifically, the team presented posters that focused on; (1) the cortisol analyses undertaken on the saliva samples couples had provided, (2) the content of their five minute speech samples, (3) expectant parent's prenatal worries and concerns and (4) the different ways in which parents had prepared for parenthood. The participants also had a chance to provide feedback on how they have found taking part in the study so far by using stickers to indicate yes or no to several questions, such as "Did the prenatal interview stimulate an conversation between you and your partner?". In addition to this, participants also had the chance to provide more open-ended feedback on the back of post-cards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Garden party - participant engagement and knowledge exchange |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | My PhD is framed within the New Fathers and Mothers Study, a prospective longitudinal study that will follow 220 first-time parents from the third-trimester of pregnancy through to their first child's 2nd birthday. Following on from the success of last year, this summer the team organised the second garden party for the participating families (6th August, 2016). The garden party provided a chance for the research team to say thank you to the families but also gave the parents an opportunity to meet other parents with toddlers the same age. Families had the chance to learn more about local services available to parents as they took part in a rhyme-time and music session. As well as enjoying music, lawn games and refreshments, the families also had a chance to provide feedback on how they have found taking part in the study so far by answering questions on the back of post-cards. Specifically, the team asked: "From taking part in this study, what have you learned about: you child? Yourself? Your partner?", "What will be the best thing about your child turning 2?" and "What will be the biggest challenge(s) when they turn 2?" A newsletter summarising these answers was sent out to the parents after the party and will also help inform the next (fourth) phase of the study when the families will be visited when their first-born turns 2 years old. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Harnessing new technology to better understand the family language environment. Invited talk at the Breaking Barriers: Innovations in Bio-Social Research Symposium, Cambridge, UK. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Fink, E. (2017, September) Harnessing new technology to better understand the family language environment. Invited talk at the Breaking Barriers: Innovations in Bio-Social Research Symposium, Cambridge, UK. Bringing teachers up to date with how technology can be used to measure childrens linguistic environments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Honest Conversations about Becoming a Parent: An Alternative Ante-Natal Class |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the ESRC Social Sciences Festival, my team organised a 3 hour event for new parents; this involved a panel of experts / stakeholders (e.g., obstretician, midwife, doula, father) and some brief presentations to spark interaction and Q&A sessions. This was a great success and feedback forms made it clear that the event had provided attendees with reassurance, information and food for thought - with many reporting. a change in attitudes and knowledge as a result of taking part. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | How playful are parents with their infants? Developing a parental playfulness scale. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Basilio, M. & Laverty, C. (2017, September) How playful are parents with their infants? Developing a parental playfulness scale. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference, Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK. Interest in the unexpected finding that mothers were more playful than fathers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Individual differences in executive function in early childhood. Invited seminar at the University of Sheffield, UK, 9th October, 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar - has led to discussions about future collaborative work |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | International Workshop to lauch Shenzhen University Department of Psychology (3 talks given) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this meeting was to forge a supportive network for the new discipline (in China) of developmental psychology. The audience was largely Chinese, but also included researchers from the USA, Europe and other parts of Asia. The discussion, assisted by interpreters, was very much appreciated by the audience. It's expected that this workshop will provide direction and focus for new Chinese PhD students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Invited presentation in symposium at international (virtual) conference on child development (SRCD) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The presentation was well received and the symposium discussion was lively and led to follow up virtual meetings with fellow researchers in Germany and the United States. Following the event, the organiser arranged a special issue on special issue on infant/toddler cognition and emotion interactions to be published in Infant Behavior and Development. I was invited to contribute and have submitted a paper to this SI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk - University of Cardiff Psychology Department - CogDev group. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk to the CogDev group - undegraduates/graduate students, postgraduate students, post-doctoral researchers and academics - who specialise in Cognitive Development in the University of Cardiff Psychology Department. Presented findings from paper: Foley et al., (2022) Expectant Mothers' Not Fathers' Mind-Mindedness Predicts Infant, Mother and Father Conversational Turns at 7 months. Infancy. 45-minute presentation followed by an engaging Q&A session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited virtual talk (Swansea University - perinatal mental health group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talk was given by Dr Sarah Foley, based on results from the Risky Beginnings Study and focused on links between expectant mothers' and fathers' thoughts and feelings (including parental mind-mindedness and mental health) and observed parent-child interaction quality. The talk was followed by a long discussion about the implications of some of the findings, alternative explanations and discussed plans for Dr Foley's potential involvement in future research plans by the group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Keynote address at the Early Association for Research on Learning and Instruction |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This keynote was the opening talk for this international conference and attracted lots of positive feedback. For example, I have just been asked to act as discussant for a special issue that has been accepted by the journal Metacognition and Learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Measuring and predicting individual differences in executive function in the second year of life - International Congress of Infant Studies, Philadelphia, 1st July 2018. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 70 people attended this conference presentation and the symposium sparked a lively discussion with the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Mind-mindedness across the transition to parenthood: exploring stability over time, similarity between partners and associations with wellbeing. Poster presented at the 15th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Prague. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Foley, S., Devine, R.T., & Hughes, C. (2016, June) Mind-mindedness across the transition to parenthood: exploring stability over time, similarity between partners and associations with wellbeing. Poster presented at the 15th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Prague. Qusetions about how you code parents' pre-natal speach samples and how their talk about their unborn child might reflect their adaptation to parenthood. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Mind-mindedness: concordance between expectant parents and associations with wellbeing. Paper presented at the 35th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Foley, S., Devine, R.T., & Hughes C. (2015, September) Mind-mindedness: concordance between expectant parents and associations with wellbeing. Paper presented at the 35th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Lively interest in the idea that parents could talk about their child before it was even born. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | New FAMS website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | In May 2015 the research team launched the New FAMS website, which provides participants with the chance to learn more about the study findings and to read articles that members of the team have found in the press and academic journals that may be of interest to new parents (https://newfams.wordpress.com/). Participants have reported back to the team that they have been online and enjoyed the material. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | New Fathers and Mothers Study Summer Party |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Research posters presented at a garden party for study participants and families, including interactive stall to gather views on how taking part in the study had helped them as parents |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | New Fathers and Mothers Study party and open house (December 2017), New York University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | New Fathers and Mothers Study party and open house (December 2017), New York University (about 50-60 people attended- about 25 families). To update and share knowledge with study participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Panel: Cambridge University Reproduction Special Strategic Research Initiative |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Foley was invited to give a talk as a member of panel for the Cambridge Reproduction Special Strategic Research Initiative. This is a multidisciplinary audience - academics, researchers, clinicians across the arts, humanities and social sciences, biology and medicine who explore the urgent challenges posed by reproduction today. The talk was delivered online earlier on in the UK lockdown (April 2020) and centred on research originating from my PhD and ongoing work with ESRC-ORA data exploring prenatal predictors of parent-child interaction quality. The talk had a lively question and answer session which led to follow-up discussions with several research groups about the use of the methodology I adapted for my PhD - this has now been implemented in a new study examining the experiences of pregnancy during COVID-19. Impact - plans made for future activity |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Parental mind-mindedness: Measurement, gender differences and associations with infant outcomes. Paper presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, Austin, Texas. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Foley, S., Devine, R.T., & Hughes, C. (2017, April) Parental mind-mindedness: Measurement, gender differences and associations with infant outcomes. Paper presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, Austin, Texas. What might be the consequences of the abscence of a gestational link e.g. surrogate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Participation in the National Childbirth Trust Research Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our presentation on fathers' experiences of the transition to parenthood was well received and will help to shape the NCT's new strategies for achieving greater inclusivity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Podcast panel member: mini-series 'Blood and Water' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Foley was invited to be a podcast panel member for an episode that formed part of a mini-series called 'Blood and Water' which explored diverse experiences of family. She discussed the transition to parenthood, parents' mental health, and the impact of variability in parent-child interactions for child outcomes and was joined by a range of LGBTQ+ artists e.g., spoken-word poet, comedian. The podcast was part of a wider festival Mesa Festival - an interactive, multi-arts festival exploring the concept of family. The festival included a range of interactive ways to engage with London's creative community and beyond. Impact - plans made for future related activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation given to alumni and donors of Fitzwilliam College by Gabrielle McHarg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing of information and findings from the study/engaging with alumni and sponsors |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Presentation in virtual international conference (Society for Research on Child Development, SRCD) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation as a part of a symposium on the theme: Transitions to parenting Symposium Title: Transition to parenting: International experiences of new parent well-being, co-parenting and relationships. Presentation title: Two's Company, Three's a Crowd? Maternal and Paternal Talk About Their Infant Differs in Associations With Wellbeing, Couple Relationship Quality, and Caregiving Sensitivity. Virtual format limited discussion, but talk was available online for a few weeks after the event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Psysiological and perceived stress in pregnancy predict toddler behavior regulation. Paper presented at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology Annual Meeting, Washington DC. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Ribner, A., Blair, C., & NewFAMS Investigators (2017, November) Psysiological and perceived stress in pregnancy predict toddler behavior regulation. Paper presented at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology Annual Meeting, Washington DC. Interest in physiological measures of stress predicting childrens cognitive performance |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Seminar - Rosie Hospital, NICU |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | During my internship I presented a seminar to the EPIC research group which had a dual focus: (1) my PhD research (2) reflections, as a psychologist, on the 3-months I'd spent on the NICU. The seminar encouraged an interesting discussion to take place on the transition to parenthood and the development of parental sensitivity (my main research interest) and how staff on the NICU may help or hinder this process. Following on from this, Dr Austin asked me to summarise the seminar and the discussion for all NICU and Rosie staff and so I wrote a piece entitled "Psychologist on the Wall" for the NICU newsletter "Neonatal Allsorts". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Seminar Talk - Birmingham University School of Psychology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Talk about Mentalising from Pre-School to Parenthood. Quote from one of the attendees: One post-doc fellow said it was really inspiring about how kind and encouraging you were when chatting with the audience. People notice these things and it's important to see senior academics as human! |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Seminar Talk - Trinity College Dublin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Postponed department Seminar given virtually followed by vibrant discussion and some useful networking |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Seminar at the Institute of Education and UCL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | My talk was well-attended (>50, a full-house for the lecture theatre) and sparked lots of interesting discussion from early career researchers and students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Short film for 50th Anniversary of the Centre for Family Research and the U. Cambridge Festival of Ideas |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This short film presents clips from interviews with parents talking about their journeys to parenthood. It has now been used in several public engagement events and has consistently attracted interest - often causing the audience to reflect on their own journeys. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Study families garden party |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Annual garden party for the families taking part - a chance for them to meet each other and engage their toddlers in developmentally appropriate activities led by local musicians, librarians, entertainers. Also a chance for us to gather their views on the study, what they had learned and what they hoped we'd be looking at in the next timepoint. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017 |
| Description | Symposium convenor & presenter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Symposium convenor & presenter: Lessons for attachment theory from including fathers and representational measures in mind-mindedness research, International Attachment Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. Invited international speakers to join symposium: Cristina Colonnesi, Ida Egmose Pedersen and Katrine Isabella Wendelboe. Multidisciplinary international audience at the conference with an interest in attachment, parenting, child development, included academics, psychologists, psychiatrists, public health, counsellors, midwives etc. The conference was hybrid and so the reach was greater than in person. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Symposium presentation at the Developmental Section of the British Psychological Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The discussion following this symposium has led to a new collaborative grant (ESRC) with Prof Peter Mitchell, which will use the talk pedometer system LENA in a new Anglo-Japanese cross-cultural study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Symposium presentation at the International Conference for Infant Studies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This symposium was valuable in forming a network of international researchers interested in prenatal mental health and for raising the profile of the New Fathers and Mothers Study within the US academic community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | The New Fathers and Mothers Study: Paradigms, procedures and early findings. Cambridge Facutly of Education. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | Hughes, C. (2017, January) The New Fathers and Mothers Study: Paradigms, procedures and early findings. Cambridge Facutly of Education. Expert panel/knowledge exchange regarding effective design for longitudinal studies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2019 |
| Description | s Parents' Talk To and About their Infants Related to Depr ession or Couple Satisfaction? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |