
Hanna SwaabLeiden University | LEI · Institute of Education and Child Studies
Hanna Swaab
Prof.dr.
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243
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Publications (243)
Children with autism and their parents face daily challenges that may be stressful for both. However, little is known about biological stress (hair cortisol concentrations [HCC]) in these families and its connection to children’s health outcomes. This study investigates biological stress in children with autism and their parents and its association...
This study examined the applicability of the four stress response patterns proposed by the Adaptive Calibration Model (ACM; Del Giudice et al., 2011) in 12-month-old children (N = 214; 116 boys) and their associations with physical aggression at 12, 20, and 30 months of age. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and pre-ejection period (PEP) served as indic...
Parents of children with ASD are at risk for chronic stress due to challenging parenting. It is unknown whether stress is already present in early parenthood, similar for mothers and fathers and if this impacts quality of life (QoL). Parental stress and QoL were assessed in 56 mothers and 51 fathers of young children (aged 3 to 7) with autism. Asso...
Adults with Intellectual Disability who show severe challenging behaviour need intensive individual support. If intensive support proves to be insufficient, extra intensive support can be provided in the Netherlands, which is characterized by more time for individual care. The present study evaluates the impact of extra intensive support over time....
Obesity is present in 8–32% of the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, most studies are performed in school-aged children from the USA. The current study compares obesity rates of Dutch preschoolers with ASD with children from the Dutch general population and explores which child- and parental factors are related to obesity in ch...
Men with an extra X chromosome are at risk for social difficulties in which executive functions are known to play an important role. The aim of this study was to examine the potential efficacy of a novel neurocognitive-behavioral treatment program tailored to the specific vulnerabilities of Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY). Social Management Training...
Objective
Children with sex chromosome trisomy (SCT) have an increased risk for suboptimal development. Difficulties with language are frequently reported, start from a very young age, and encompass various domains. This cross-sectional study examined social orientation with eye tracking and physiological arousal responses to gain more knowledge on...
The 3rd International Workshop on Klinefelter Syndrome, Trisomy X, and 47,XYY syndrome was held in Leiden, the Netherlands, on September 12–14, 2022.
Here, we review new data presented at the workshop and discuss scientific and clinical trajectories. We focus on shortcomings in knowledge and therefore point out future areas for research.
We focus o...
Investigating sex chromosome trisomies (SCT) may help in understanding neurodevelopmental pathways underlying risk for neurobehavioral problems and psychopathology. Knowledge about the neurobehavioral phenotype is needed to improve clinical care and early intervention for the increasing number of early diagnosed children with the recent introductio...
The presence of an additional X or Y chromosome (sex chromosome trisomies, SCT) is associated with an increased risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties, including socio-emotional problems, across the life-span. Studying emotion regulation in young children with SCT could signal deviations in emotional development that serve as risk markers to guid...
Primary school teachers experience heavy workloads coping with pupils' disruptive classroom behavior. Teachers' interventions are mostly child-oriented, with often minimal influence on pupils' behavior. Teachers changing their views by perspective-taking may be more effective in handling disruptive classroom behavior.This scoping review explores th...
Crime is a complex phenomenon involving many factors, among which are situational and societal factors. What counts as a crime may also vary across space and time. Often, it is the interplay of several factors that may lead to criminal behavior. Scientifically, brain function is important to consider, first of all because the brain is central to be...
Background
About 1:650–1000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (47,XXX; 47,XXY; 47,XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This international cross-sectional study was designed to investigate gaze towards faces and affect recognition during early life of children with SCT, with the aim to find indicators for support an...
The objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of Sex Chromosome Trisomy (SCT; XXX, XXY, XYY) on the early appearance of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptoms, and the predictive value of Joint Attention for symptoms of ASD. SCTs are specific genetic conditions that may serve as naturalistic ‘at risk’ models of neurodevelopment,...
Although sex chromosomal trisomies (SCT) in children are highly prevalent and associated with an increased risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties including socio-emotional problems, little is known about underlying mechanisms that could drive this risk. Studying emotional reactivity and expressivity of young children with SCT in early childhood c...
Individuals with Sex Chromosome Trisomies (SCT; XXX, XXY, XYY) have an increased vulnerability for developing challenges in social adaptive functioning. The present study investigates social interaction behavior in the context of varying social load, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptomatology in young children aged 1–7.5 years old, with SCT...
Objective: To investigate pragmatic language abilities in young children with an increased risk for adverse neurobehavioral and neurocognitive outcomes due to an extra X or Y chromosome (sex chromosome trisomy; SCT) and to investigate to what degree early structural and pragmatic language abilities are predictive of neurobehavioral problems one yea...
Sex chromosome trisomies (SCTs) are characterized by an extra X‐ or Y‐chromosome (XXX, XXY, XYY). The present study aims to investigate early signs of social communication and social emotional development in very young children with SCT. Thirty‐four children with SCT (aged 12–24 months) were included in this study, as well as 31 age‐matched control...
Background
Sex Chromosome Trisomies (SCTs; XXX, XXY, XYY) are genetic conditions that are associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental problems and psychopathology. There is a great need for early preventive intervention programs to optimize outcome, especially considering the increase in prenatal diagnoses due to recent advances in non-in...
Children with sex chromosome trisomy (SCT) are at increased risk for developing language difficulties. Earlier studies have reported that as many as 70–80% of individuals with SCT show some form of language difficulties. Language develops rapidly in the first years of life; knowledge about language development at an early age is needed. The present...
Individuals with sex chromosome trisomies ([SCT], XXX, XXY, and XYY)) are at increased risk for neurodevelopmental problems, given that a significant portion of the sex chromosome genes impact brain functioning. An elevated risk for psychopathology has also been described, including attention deficit‐hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present study...
Objective
About 1:650–1,000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (XXX; XXY; XYY), which results in a sex chromosome trisomy (SCT). This study aims to cross-sectionally investigate the impact of SCT on early social cognitive skills. Basic orienting toward social cues, joint attention, and theory of mind (ToM) in young children with SCT...
Background
About 1:650–1000 children are born with an extra X or Y chromosome (47,XXX; 47,XXY; 47,XYY), which results in a Sex Chromosome Trisomy (SCT). This international cross-sectional study was designed to investigate social attention and affect recognition during early life of children with SCT, with the aim to find indicators for support and...
Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY) is associated with problems in social interaction and behavioral adaptation. Sixteen adolescents and adult men with 47,XXY enrolled in a pilot-study evaluating the effectiveness of Social Management Training (SMT), a novel neurocognitive-behavioral treatment program targeted at improving social, emotional, and behavior...
Background
Autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders both represent severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorders with marked impairments in social functioning. Despite an increased incidence of psychosis in autism, and substantial overlap in symptoms and cognitive markers, it is unclear whether such phenotypes are specifically related to risk...
Physical aggression has its origin very early in development, but no studies to date have examined physical aggression trajectories starting before the age of 1.5 years. This study examined whether cognition plays a role in the development of physical aggression from infancy onward. In a sample of 182 mother-child dyads (94 boys; 88 girls), child p...
Prenatal risk, temperamental negative affect, and specific cognitive abilities have all individually been identified as predictors of behavior problems during early childhood, but less is known about their interplay in relation to aggression during toddlerhood. This study examined the main and interaction effects of prenatal risk, negative affect,...
Children with SCT have an increased risk of suboptimal neurodevelopment. Previous studies have shown an elevated risk for neurobehavioral problems in individuals with SCT. However, not much is known about neurobehavioral problems in very young children; knowledge that could help with early identification of children at risk for suboptimal developme...
Background
Autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders both represent severely disabling neurodevelopmental disorders with marked impairments in social functioning. Despite an increased incidence of psychosis in autism, and substantial overlap in symptoms and cognitive markers, it is unclear whether such phenotypes are specifically related to risk...
Background
Whereas short and problematic sleep are associated with psychological problems in adolescence, causality remains to be elucidated. This study therefore utilized the discordant monozygotic cotwin design and cross‐lagged models to investigate how short and problematic sleep affect psychological functioning.
Methods
Adolescent twins (N = 1...
Many students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) attending higher education drop out prematurely. The predictive value of self-reported daily executive functioning (EF) and (cognitive) performance-based EF (mental flexibility and working memory) for academic progress was evaluated in 54 young adults with ASD (Mage = 22.5, SD = 2.4, 72% male). Re...
Impaired empathy has been associated with aggression in children, adolescents and adults, but results have been contradictory for the preschool period. Impaired inhibitory control also increases the risk of aggression, and possibly moderates empathy‐aggression associations. The current study investigated whether empathy and inhibitory control are a...
This study investigated whether parents can be educated to alter parent-child interactions and whether this can improve children's reasoning abilities. Parents of four-to eight-year-olds were randomly assigned to a compact psycho-educational program (N = 34) or control condition (N = 36). Parental questioning style was observed during problem-solvi...
Objectives
To explore possible working mechanisms of anxiety reduction in women with anxiety disorders, treated with art therapy (AT).
Methods
A RCT comparing AT versus waiting list (WL) condition on aspects of self-regulation. Stress regulation (heart rate and heart rate variability) and executive functioning (daily behavioural and cognitive perf...
Objectives:
The aim of this study is to evaluate if language and executive functioning deficits in individuals with the 47,XXY chromosomal pattern contribute to emotion regulation problems and related symptoms of psychopathology.
Methods:
A group of 26 adult men with 47,XXY completed measures of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, neurocogn...
Parental beliefs, parenting behavior and precursors of theory of mind have been related uniquely to each other and to early aggression, but have not yet been studied simultaneously. The present study combined these risk factors in the prediction of aggression during toddlerhood using a sample of 152 mother‐child dyads. At 20 months, mothers’ parent...
Although emotional responses are theorized to be important in the development of empathy, findings regarding the prediction of early empathic behavior by infant behavioral and physiological responses are mixed. This study examined whether behavioral and physiological responses to mild emotional challenge (still face paradigm and car seat task) in 1...
Background
Parent–child interaction is essential in the development of attentional control (AC) and executive functioning (EF). Educating parents in AC and EF development may help them to respond more adaptively to their child's developmental needs.
Aim
This study aimed to investigate whether parents can be educated to improve interactions with...
Sex chromosome trisomies (SCT) are among the most common chromosomal duplications in humans. Due to recent technological advances in non‐invasive screening, SCT can already be detected during pregnancy. This calls for more knowledge about the development of (young) children with SCT. This review focused on neurocognitive functioning of children wit...
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are generally characterized by marked impairments in processing of social emotional information, but less is known about emotion processing in adults with the disorder. This study aimed to address this by collecting data on social attention (eye tracking), emotional arousal (skin conductance level, SCL),...
Mindfulness intervention aims to reduce stress and to improve physical and mental health. The present study investigated feasibility and effectiveness of mindfulness intervention in a prison context, in both a qualitative and quantitative fashion. Specifically, the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention was investigated, in a retros...
In order to better understand which factors play a role in non-adaptive social behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) we looked into physiological arousal and awareness of one’s own emotions. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured during a public speaking task in 51 young adults with ASD and 28 typically developing (TD)...
Prenatal risk and a lack of inhibitory control have consistently been related to the development of physical aggression in older children. This study examined whether inhibitory control mediated the relation between prenatal risk and aggression in infants and toddlers. The role of gender in this mediation model was also examined. The sample consist...
Objectives
Art therapy (AT) as a treatment option for anxiety is regularly employed in clinical practice, but scientific evidence for its effectiveness is lacking, since this intervention has hardly been studied. The aim was to study the effectiveness of AT on anxiety in adult women. The specific type of AT studied was anthroposophic AT.
Methods
A...
Research indicates that impaired empathy is a risk factor of aggression and that social attention is important for empathy. The role of social attention in associations between empathy and aggression has not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, indicators of affective empathy, cognitive empathy, social attention, and aggression were simultaneously...
AUT766439_Lay_Abstract – Supplemental material for Concordance between physiological arousal and emotion expression during fear in young children with autism spectrum disorders
Girls generally demonstrate superior skill levels in social competence compared to boys. The exact relations of parenting with these gender differences are currently unclear. Gender differences may occur due to exposure to different parenting strategies (differential socialization model) or due to a different impact of similar parenting strategies...
Impaired empathy is an important risk factor of aggression, but results are contradictory in toddlerhood. The association between empathy and aggression may differ for empathic distress and empathic concern in response to empathy-evoking situations, and for boys and girls. Therefore, the current study investigated whether empathic distress and empa...
Background
Anxiety disorders are one of the most diagnosed mental health disorders. Common treatment consists of cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy. In clinical practice, also art therapy is additionally provided to patients with anxiety (disorders), among others because treatment as usual is not sufficiently effective for a large gro...
Background characteristics of the included studies.
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Full list of search terms and databases.
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Data extraction form.
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Excluded studies with reasons for exclusion.
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Reduced empathy and alexithymic traits are common across the autism spectrum, but it is unknown whether this is also true for intellectually advanced adults with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether college students with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulties with empathy and alexithymia, and whether this...
This is a first study that investigated the relationships between executive attention—as an important aspect of emotion regulation—and state empathy and sympathy in ODD/CD boys with (N = 31) and without (N = 18) comorbid anxiety disorder (7–12 years). Empathic reactions were evoked using three sadness-inducing film clips. One clip was highly evocat...
Objective:
Emotion recognition is an important aspect of emotion processing, which is needed for appropriate social behavior and normal socialization. Previous studies in adults with antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy, in those convicted of criminal behavior, or in children with conduct disorder show impairments in negative emotion rec...
Objective: Emotion recognition is an important aspect of emotion processing, which is needed for appropriate social behavior and normal socialization. Previous studies in adults with antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy, in those convicted of criminal behavior, or in children with conduct disorder show impairments in negative emotion reco...
The aim of this study was to evaluate to what degree eyetracking paradigms of social attention, in combination with synchronous measurements of affective arousal, were associated with real‐life social behavior of children ages 3 to 7 years. Several eyetracking paradigms were used, involving social interactions, single/multiple faces and emotional f...
The macro‐ and microstructural characteristics of sleep electroencephalography have been associated with several aspects of executive functioning. However, only a few studies have addressed the association of sleep characteristics with the learning involved in the acquisition of executive functions, and no study has investigated this for planning a...
Linking typical baseline child and family characteristics of out-of-home placed children to children's psychosocial development in the various 24-h settings (foster, family-style group, and residential care)
Background
Hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in term-born infants can lead to memory problems. The hippocampus is important for long-term episodic memory. The primary aim was to investigate the effect of HIE on hippocampal volumes in 9- to 10-year-old children. The secondary aim was to investigate the association between hippocampal volumes and...
Background: difficulties with self-regulation are well-known in autism and it is therefore important to study processes during stress such as recognition of subjective emotional states and autonomic regulation in adults with the disorder.
Aim: to study objective and subjective emotional arousal during stress in young adults with high IQ and autism...
Evidence for problems in executive functioning (EF) in children with oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) is mixed and the impact stress may have on EF is understudied. Working memory, sustained attention, inhibition and cognitive flexibility of boys with ODD/CD (n = 65) and non-clinical controls (n = 32) were examined under typi...
Similarities and differences in the (short-term) psychosocial development of children in foster care, family-style group care, and residential care were investigated in a sample of 121 Dutch children (M age = 8.78 years; SD = 2.34 years; 47% female; 59% Caucasian) one year after their initial placement. Pretest and posttest measurements were carrie...
The study consisted of a comparative follow-up study with a pretest-posttest design which explored the association between baseline child, family, and care characteristics and the psychosocial development of 121 school-aged Dutch children (M age = 8.78 years; SD = 2.34 years; 47% female; 59% Caucasian) during their first year of placement in foster...
This study aimed to measure emotional expression and physiological arousal in response to fear in 21 children with autism spectrum disorders (43–75 months) and 45 typically developing children (41–81 months). Expressions of facial and bodily fear and heart rate arousal were simultaneously measured in response to a remote controlled robot (Laborator...
Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are thought to characterize children exhibiting persistent and severe conduct problems (CPs). Reward and punishment sensitivity have often been investigated, yet executive function problems have mostly been studied in adults. Moreover, the level of co-occurring CPs is important to take into account. Therefore, the cu...
About 1 in 650 boys are born with an extra X chromosome (47,XXY or Klinefelter Syndrome). 47,XXY is associated with vulnerabilities in socio-emotional development. This study was designed to assess types of cognitive deficits in individuals with 47,XXY that may contribute to social-emotional dysfunction, and to evaluate the nature of such deficits...
Good parenting strategies can shape children’s neurocognitive development, yet little is known about the nature of this relation in school-aged children and whether this association shifts with age. We aimed to investigate the relation between parenting strategies observed during a home visit and children’s performance-based attentional control and...
Sleep problems are highly prevalent in ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Better insight in the etiology is of clinical importance since intervention and prevention strategies of sleep problems are directed at underlying mechanisms. We evaluated the association of sleep problems and sleep patterns with sleep hygiene (behavioral/environmental...