Femmie Juffer
Biographic Data
| ID | 1661659 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Femmie Juffer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Femmie |
| FAMILY NAME | Juffer |
| SIGNATURE | JUFFER F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0246-498X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 478 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Positive parenting in foster care
The current randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline in Foster Care (VIPP-FC) on parenting behavior and attitudes in foster parents (N = 60, 31–61 years, 83% female). The intervention group (n = 30) received VIPP-FC, consisting of six sessions. During the first four sessions, a specific theme from Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Par…
Adoption in Romania
In this article we present a brief history and recent statistics of child abandonment and adoption in Romania. After a rise in international adoptions in the 90s, a moratorium on adoption was established and in 2004 international adoptions became virtually impossible. Based on statistics of the Romanian National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption, we noted that since 2004 international adoptions were rare, whereas dome…
The relation between adult adoptees’ feelings about relinquishment, adoption and satisfaction with life
Previous studies have revealed that despite adversity in early childhood, after adoption intercountry adoptees show a substantial catch-up in physical, socio-emotional and cognitive development and do relatively well in life. However, these favourable situations do not necessarily match positive views of their earlier experiences when recalled as adults. This study explores this relationship: namely adult adoptees’ appraisal of relinquishment and…
Adopted Children’s Behavioral Adjustment Over Time
We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children’s adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care ( n = 50) or foster care ( n = 42) in China to the Netherlands, participated 2 months (Time 1, N = 92), 6 mo…
Adoption in the service of child protection
Existing over many centuries, adoption has been challenged in recent years by evidence about practices that do not respond to the principles, ethics and laws under which it should be enacted. Written from a multidisciplinary and international perspective, this article outlines the place of adoption in the child protection system, as well as its core elements of permanence and stability. Recent demographic changes in adoption throughout the world …
The effectiveness of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting for Foster Care (Vipp-FC)
NTR3899
Behavioral adjustment of Chinese adoptees
Young offenders caught in the act
Cross-Informant Ratings of Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior in Adolescent–Parent Pairs in Six Countries. Does Being Adopted Make a Difference
Low agreement between self-reports and parent reports of the behavioral adjustment of adolescents has been widely documented in the literature. However, it has been little studied in connection with adoptees. In the current research, the magnitude of agreement between reports of adolescents’ behavioral problems given by the adolescents themselves and their parents and the direction of the possible discrepancies between these reports were studied.…
Mental health problems of Dutch young adult domestic adoptees compared to non-adopted peers and international adoptees
We examined the mental health problems of Dutch young adult domestic adoptees ( N = 75) relative to Dutch non-adopted peers and Dutch international adoptees. We found small differences in favor of the non-adopted peers ( N = 2021), while a minority of male domestic adoptees were at risk of anxiety/depression problems. Domestic adoptees showed somewhat less problems behavior than international adoptees ( N = 1331). Domestic and international adopt…
Cognitive and health-related outcomes after exposure to early malnutrition
Sensitive parenting is the foundation for secure attachment relationships and positive social-emotional development of children
Purpose – The quality of the attachment relationship between children and their parents is important for children's social-emotional development and can have profound consequences for adaptational processes in later life. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the current knowledge about sensitive parenting and its role in affecting infants’ attachment security, and developmental outcomes of attachment. The authors end with a brief d…
Race and bicultural socialization in the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States of America in the adoptions of children from India
A cross-national sample of 622 internationally adopted children from India with White parents in The Netherlands (n = 409), Norway (n = 146), and the United States (n = 67) was used to contrast country-specific bicultural socialization (BCS) practices among families of transracial intercountry adoption. The 3 countries vary in their degrees of minority (US > Netherlands > Norway) and Indian populations (US > Norway > Netherlands). The current stu…
More than two decades after adoption
The Development of Adolescents’ Internalizing Behavior
Remembering Loss
Delinquent and aggressive behaviors in early-adopted adolescents
Children's and parents' thoughts and feelings about adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination in families with internationally adopted children
We examined the perceptions of adoption and related issues in 68 families with internationally adopted children in Spain (48 transracial and 20 same‐race adoptions). The adopted children, between the ages of 8 and 12 years, and their parents answered questions about the children's thoughts and feelings about adoption. Descriptive data and scores on four scales – family, adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination – were obtained. Compared…
Remaining or becoming secure
In a longitudinal study with 125 early adopted adolescents, we examined continuity of attachment from infancy to adolescence and the role of parental sensitive support in explaining continuity or discontinuity of attachment. Assessments of maternal sensitive support and infant attachment (Strange Situation Procedure) were completed when infants were 12 months old. When the children were 14 years old, we observed mothers' sensitive support during …
I. Children in Institutional Care
Children exposed to institutional care often suffer from “structural neglect” which may include minimum physical resources, unfavorable and unstable staffing patterns, and socially emotionally inadequate caregiver-child interactions. This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the ill effects of early institutional experiences on resident children’s development. Delays in the important areas of physical, hormonal, cognitive, and emotional developm…
Internationally adopted adults who did not suffer severe early deprivation
Fostering security? A meta-analysis of attachment in adopted children
Being adopted
English Dutch adoptive parents of 1233 children adopted from China and 412 children adopted from India reported on their children’s interest in adoption and feelings about being adopted. Girls showed more interest in adoption than boys and many children expressed the wish to look white or non-Chinese. French Les parents adoptifs hollandais de 1233 enfants adoptés en provenance de la Chine et de 412 enfants adoptés en provenance de l’Inde rendent …
Maternal Sensitivity Moderates the Relation between Negative Discipline and Aggression in Early Childhood
Three models regarding the relation between maternal (in)sensitivity, negative discipline, and child aggression were examined in a sample of 117 mother–child pairs with high scores on child externalizing behavior: (1) Sensitivity and discipline are uniquely related to child aggression (the additive model); (2) the relation between discipline and aggression is moderated by maternal sensitivity (the moderating model); (3) the relation between sensi…
Problem Behavior and Heart Rate Reactivity in Adopted Adolescents
The present longitudinal study examined resting heart rate and heart rate variability and reactivity to a stressful gambling task in adopted adolescents with aggressive, delinquent, or internalizing behavior problems and adopted adolescents without behavior problems (total N =151). Early‐onset delinquent adolescents showed heart rate hypo reactivity to the stress‐eliciting gambling task compared to late‐onset delinquent adolescents and adolescent…
Less is more
Is early preventive intervention effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security, and if so, what type of intervention is most successful? Seventy studies were traced, producing 88 intervention effects on sensitivity (n = 7,636) and/or attachment (n = 1,503). Randomized interventions appeared rather effective in changing insensitive parenting (d = 0.33) and infant attachment insecurity (d = 0.20). The most effective int…
Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood
In a longitudinal study, internationally adopted children (N = 146) placed before 6 months of age were followed from infancy to age 7. Results showed that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament was associated with higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Higher quality of child-mother relationships, in terms of attachment security and mat…
Fostering security? A meta-analysis of attachment in adopted children
Adoption and Cognitive Development
This meta-analysis of 62 studies (N=17,767 adopted children) examined whether the cognitive development of adopted children differed from that of (a) children who remained in institutional care or in the birth family and (b) their current (environmental) nonadopted siblings or peers. Adopted children scored higher on IQ tests than their nonadopted siblings or peers who stayed behind, and their school performance was better. Adopted children did n…
Experimental evidence for differential susceptibility
In a randomized controlled trial we tested the role of genetic differences in explaining variability in intervention effects on child externalizing behavior. One hundred fifty-seven families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for their relatively high levels of externalizing behavior participated in a study implementing Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), with six 1.5-hr intervention …
Remaining or becoming secure
In a longitudinal study with 125 early adopted adolescents, we examined continuity of attachment from infancy to adolescence and the role of parental sensitive support in explaining continuity or discontinuity of attachment. Assessments of maternal sensitive support and infant attachment (Strange Situation Procedure) were completed when infants were 12 months old. When the children were 14 years old, we observed mothers' sensitive support during …
Social development from infancy to adolescence
In the present longitudinal study, early adopted children (N = 160) were followed from infancy to adolescence to assess the influence of previous and concurrent factors on the children's social development. This study allowed for more conclusive evidence of the influence of early and concurrent rearing experiences and temperament on adolescents' social development, independent of shared genetic factors between children and parents. Results showed…
Being adopted
English Dutch adoptive parents of 1233 children adopted from China and 412 children adopted from India reported on their children’s interest in adoption and feelings about being adopted. Girls showed more interest in adoption than boys and many children expressed the wish to look white or non-Chinese. French Les parents adoptifs hollandais de 1233 enfants adoptés en provenance de la Chine et de 412 enfants adoptés en provenance de l’Inde rendent …
Adoption in the service of child protection
Existing over many centuries, adoption has been challenged in recent years by evidence about practices that do not respond to the principles, ethics and laws under which it should be enacted. Written from a multidisciplinary and international perspective, this article outlines the place of adoption in the child protection system, as well as its core elements of permanence and stability. Recent demographic changes in adoption throughout the world …
Mental health problems of Dutch young adult domestic adoptees compared to non-adopted peers and international adoptees
We examined the mental health problems of Dutch young adult domestic adoptees ( N = 75) relative to Dutch non-adopted peers and Dutch international adoptees. We found small differences in favor of the non-adopted peers ( N = 2021), while a minority of male domestic adoptees were at risk of anxiety/depression problems. Domestic adoptees showed somewhat less problems behavior than international adoptees ( N = 1331). Domestic and international adopt…
Adoptees do not lack self-esteem
The relation between adult adoptees’ feelings about relinquishment, adoption and satisfaction with life
Previous studies have revealed that despite adversity in early childhood, after adoption intercountry adoptees show a substantial catch-up in physical, socio-emotional and cognitive development and do relatively well in life. However, these favourable situations do not necessarily match positive views of their earlier experiences when recalled as adults. This study explores this relationship: namely adult adoptees’ appraisal of relinquishment and…
Children's Awareness of Adoption and Their Problem Behavior in Families with 7-Year-Old Internationally Adopted Children
Associations between children's awareness of adoption and their problem behavior were examined in 176 Dutch families with 7-year-old early-adopted children from Sri Lanka, Korea, and Colombia. The adoptive mothers were involved in an interview and both mothers and teachers completed a questionnaire on behavior problems. According to the mothers, the majority of the adopted children did not experience negative reactions from others. All but two ch…
The Development of Adolescents’ Internalizing Behavior
Sensitive parenting is the foundation for secure attachment relationships and positive social-emotional development of children
Purpose – The quality of the attachment relationship between children and their parents is important for children's social-emotional development and can have profound consequences for adaptational processes in later life. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the current knowledge about sensitive parenting and its role in affecting infants’ attachment security, and developmental outcomes of attachment. The authors end with a brief d…
Children's and parents' thoughts and feelings about adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination in families with internationally adopted children
We examined the perceptions of adoption and related issues in 68 families with internationally adopted children in Spain (48 transracial and 20 same‐race adoptions). The adopted children, between the ages of 8 and 12 years, and their parents answered questions about the children's thoughts and feelings about adoption. Descriptive data and scores on four scales – family, adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination – were obtained. Compared…
Delinquent and aggressive behaviors in early-adopted adolescents
Race and bicultural socialization in the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States of America in the adoptions of children from India
A cross-national sample of 622 internationally adopted children from India with White parents in The Netherlands (n = 409), Norway (n = 146), and the United States (n = 67) was used to contrast country-specific bicultural socialization (BCS) practices among families of transracial intercountry adoption. The 3 countries vary in their degrees of minority (US > Netherlands > Norway) and Indian populations (US > Norway > Netherlands). The current stu…
Internationally adopted adults who did not suffer severe early deprivation
Adopted Children’s Behavioral Adjustment Over Time
We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children’s adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care ( n = 50) or foster care ( n = 42) in China to the Netherlands, participated 2 months (Time 1, N = 92), 6 mo…
Early parenting intervention aimed at maternal sensitivity and discipline
This study investigated the influence of the intervention process on the effectiveness of a program aimed at promoting positive parenting. The study involved a homogeneous intervention sample ( N =120) of mothers and their 1‐, 2‐, or 3‐year‐old children screened for high levels of externalizing problems. The alliance between mother and intervener, mothers' active skills implementation, and father involvement were examined in relation to changes i…
Preventing preschool externalizing behavior problems through video-feedback intervention in infancy
In the present study (1) intervention effects on children's preschool behavior problems were evaluated in a high risk sample with an overrepresentation of insecure adult attachment representations in 77 first-time mothers, and (2) predictors and correlates of child problem behavior were examined. Early short-term video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting (VIPP) focusing on maternal sensitivity and implemented in the baby's first y…
Maternal Sensitivity Moderates the Relation between Negative Discipline and Aggression in Early Childhood
Three models regarding the relation between maternal (in)sensitivity, negative discipline, and child aggression were examined in a sample of 117 mother–child pairs with high scores on child externalizing behavior: (1) Sensitivity and discipline are uniquely related to child aggression (the additive model); (2) the relation between discipline and aggression is moderated by maternal sensitivity (the moderating model); (3) the relation between sensi…
Observation of early childhood physical aggression
We investigated the reliability and (convergent and discriminant) validity of an observational measure of physical aggression in toddlers and preschoolers, originally developed by Keenan and Shaw [1994]. The observation instrument is based on a developmental definition of aggression. Physical aggression was observed twice in a laboratory setting, the first time when children were 1–3 years old, and again 1 year later. Observed physical aggression…
Positive parenting in foster care
The current randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline in Foster Care (VIPP-FC) on parenting behavior and attitudes in foster parents (N = 60, 31–61 years, 83% female). The intervention group (n = 30) received VIPP-FC, consisting of six sessions. During the first four sessions, a specific theme from Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Par…
Breaking the Intergenerational Cycle of Insecure Attachment
In this paper the effectiveness of preventive or therapeutic interventions aiming at enhancing parental sensitivity and children's attachment security is addressed, Sixteen pertinent studies have been reviewed, and 12 studies have been included in a quantitative meta‐analysis ( N = 869). Results show that interventions are more effective in changing parental insensitivity ( d =. 58) than in changing children's attachment insecurity ( d =. 17). Lo…
Intervention in Transmission of Insecure Attachment
Several attachment-based intervention studies have been performed, with varying success. An important question is whether short-term interventions can be successful in promoting parental sensitivity and security of infant-parent attachment as well as in changing parental representations of attachment. We investigated this issue in an exploratory way in a case study. A short-term home-based intervention with written material and video feedback, wh…
Interventions with video feedback and attachment discussions
Parents' insecure representations of attachment are associated with lower parental sensitivity and insecure infant–parent attachment relationships, leading to less optimal conditions for the children's socio-emotional development. Therefore, two types of short-term intervention were implemented in a group of lower middle-class mothers with an insecure representation of attachment as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. In one group of mo…
Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood
In a longitudinal study, internationally adopted children (N = 146) placed before 6 months of age were followed from infancy to age 7. Results showed that girls were better adjusted than boys, except in cognitive development, and that easy temperament was associated with higher levels of social, cognitive, and personality development and fewer behavior problems. Higher quality of child-mother relationships, in terms of attachment security and mat…
Less is more
Is early preventive intervention effective in enhancing parental sensitivity and infant attachment security, and if so, what type of intervention is most successful? Seventy studies were traced, producing 88 intervention effects on sensitivity (n = 7,636) and/or attachment (n = 1,503). Randomized interventions appeared rather effective in changing insensitive parenting (d = 0.33) and infant attachment insecurity (d = 0.20). The most effective int…
Behavior Problems and Mental Health Referrals of International Adoptees
CONTEXT: International adoption involves more than 40,000 children a year moving among more than 100 countries. Before adoption, international adoptees often experience insufficient medical care, malnutrition, maternal separation, and neglect and abuse in orphanages. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effects of international adoption on behavioral problems and mental health referrals. DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE, PsychLit, and ERIC from 1950 to Ja…
Disorganized infant attachment and preventive interventions
Infant disorganized attachment is a major risk factor for problematic stress management and later problem behavior. Can the emergence of attachment disorganization be prevented? The current narrative review and quantitative meta-analysis involves 15 preventive interventions (N = 842) that included infant disorganized attachment as an outcome measure. The effectiveness of the interventions ranged from negative to positive, with an overall effect s…
Adoption and Cognitive Development
This meta-analysis of 62 studies (N=17,767 adopted children) examined whether the cognitive development of adopted children differed from that of (a) children who remained in institutional care or in the birth family and (b) their current (environmental) nonadopted siblings or peers. Adopted children scored higher on IQ tests than their nonadopted siblings or peers who stayed behind, and their school performance was better. Adopted children did n…
The Early Childhood Aggression Curve
This study examines the prevalence, stability, and development of physical aggression, as reported by mothers and fathers, in a sample of children initially recruited at 12, 24, and 36 months (N=2,253) and in a subsample followed up 1 year later (n=271) in a cross-sequential design. Physical aggression occurred in 12-month-olds, but significantly more often in 24- and 36-month-olds. The rates of physically aggressive behaviors increased in the 2n…
Children's Awareness of Adoption and Their Problem Behavior in Families with 7-Year-Old Internationally Adopted Children
Associations between children's awareness of adoption and their problem behavior were examined in 176 Dutch families with 7-year-old early-adopted children from Sri Lanka, Korea, and Colombia. The adoptive mothers were involved in an interview and both mothers and teachers completed a questionnaire on behavior problems. According to the mothers, the majority of the adopted children did not experience negative reactions from others. All but two ch…
Preventing preschool externalizing behavior problems through video-feedback intervention in infancy
In the present study (1) intervention effects on children's preschool behavior problems were evaluated in a high risk sample with an overrepresentation of insecure adult attachment representations in 77 first-time mothers, and (2) predictors and correlates of child problem behavior were examined. Early short-term video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting (VIPP) focusing on maternal sensitivity and implemented in the baby's first y…
Social development from infancy to adolescence
In the present longitudinal study, early adopted children (N = 160) were followed from infancy to adolescence to assess the influence of previous and concurrent factors on the children's social development. This study allowed for more conclusive evidence of the influence of early and concurrent rearing experiences and temperament on adolescents' social development, independent of shared genetic factors between children and parents. Results showed…
Adoptees do not lack self-esteem
Maternal Sensitivity Moderates the Relation between Negative Discipline and Aggression in Early Childhood
Three models regarding the relation between maternal (in)sensitivity, negative discipline, and child aggression were examined in a sample of 117 mother–child pairs with high scores on child externalizing behavior: (1) Sensitivity and discipline are uniquely related to child aggression (the additive model); (2) the relation between discipline and aggression is moderated by maternal sensitivity (the moderating model); (3) the relation between sensi…
Problem Behavior and Heart Rate Reactivity in Adopted Adolescents
The present longitudinal study examined resting heart rate and heart rate variability and reactivity to a stressful gambling task in adopted adolescents with aggressive, delinquent, or internalizing behavior problems and adopted adolescents without behavior problems (total N =151). Early‐onset delinquent adolescents showed heart rate hypo reactivity to the stress‐eliciting gambling task compared to late‐onset delinquent adolescents and adolescent…
Observation of early childhood physical aggression
We investigated the reliability and (convergent and discriminant) validity of an observational measure of physical aggression in toddlers and preschoolers, originally developed by Keenan and Shaw [1994]. The observation instrument is based on a developmental definition of aggression. Physical aggression was observed twice in a laboratory setting, the first time when children were 1–3 years old, and again 1 year later. Observed physical aggression…
Early parenting intervention aimed at maternal sensitivity and discipline
This study investigated the influence of the intervention process on the effectiveness of a program aimed at promoting positive parenting. The study involved a homogeneous intervention sample ( N =120) of mothers and their 1‐, 2‐, or 3‐year‐old children screened for high levels of externalizing problems. The alliance between mother and intervener, mothers' active skills implementation, and father involvement were examined in relation to changes i…
Experimental evidence for differential susceptibility
In a randomized controlled trial we tested the role of genetic differences in explaining variability in intervention effects on child externalizing behavior. One hundred fifty-seven families with 1- to 3-year-old children screened for their relatively high levels of externalizing behavior participated in a study implementing Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD), with six 1.5-hr intervention …
Fostering security? A meta-analysis of attachment in adopted children
Being adopted
English Dutch adoptive parents of 1233 children adopted from China and 412 children adopted from India reported on their children’s interest in adoption and feelings about being adopted. Girls showed more interest in adoption than boys and many children expressed the wish to look white or non-Chinese. French Les parents adoptifs hollandais de 1233 enfants adoptés en provenance de la Chine et de 412 enfants adoptés en provenance de l’Inde rendent …
Internationally adopted adults who did not suffer severe early deprivation
I. Children in Institutional Care
Children exposed to institutional care often suffer from “structural neglect” which may include minimum physical resources, unfavorable and unstable staffing patterns, and socially emotionally inadequate caregiver-child interactions. This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the ill effects of early institutional experiences on resident children’s development. Delays in the important areas of physical, hormonal, cognitive, and emotional developm…
Children's and parents' thoughts and feelings about adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination in families with internationally adopted children
We examined the perceptions of adoption and related issues in 68 families with internationally adopted children in Spain (48 transracial and 20 same‐race adoptions). The adopted children, between the ages of 8 and 12 years, and their parents answered questions about the children's thoughts and feelings about adoption. Descriptive data and scores on four scales – family, adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination – were obtained. Compared…
Remaining or becoming secure
In a longitudinal study with 125 early adopted adolescents, we examined continuity of attachment from infancy to adolescence and the role of parental sensitive support in explaining continuity or discontinuity of attachment. Assessments of maternal sensitive support and infant attachment (Strange Situation Procedure) were completed when infants were 12 months old. When the children were 14 years old, we observed mothers' sensitive support during …
Remembering Loss
Psychology (36 works) · Developmental psychology (33 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (26 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (23 works) · Medicine (20 works) · Psychiatry (20 works) · Clinical Psychology (19 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (14 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (14 works) · Clinical Psychology (13 works)