Manuela Verissimo

ISPA Instituto Universitário | ISPA · William James Center for Research

Relations between fathers' and mothers' representations of attachment (independently assessed using an attachment script representation task) and children's secure base behavior (assessed using the Attachment Q-sort; AQS) were studied in 56 Portuguese families (mean age of child = 31.9 months). Each parent's secure base script representation score...

Background Oxytocin (OXT) has attracted research interest for its potential involvement in many of the behavioural problems observed in childhood. Due to its logistical advantages, saliva is an attractive fluid to quantify neuropeptides in children. Salivary OXT has been suggested as a potential biomarker for psychopathology during childhood. Howev...

Sleep is a biological process that impacts nearly every domain of a child's life. Sleep-wake regulation influences and it is highly influenced by developmental variables related to parent-child relationships, such as attachment. The main goal of the present systematic review is to analyze and integrate the findings of empirical studies investigatin...

Recent findings have demonstrated an increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight in Portugal, urging the need to study modifiable risk factors such as parental feeding practices. The Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) is an important self-report measure assessing a broad range of responsive and non-responsive fe...

Preschool teachers' perceptions about relationships with students (teacher–child relationships [TCRs]) predict children's subsequent social competence (SC) and academic progress. Why this is so remains unclear. Do TCRs shape children's development, or do child attributes influence both TCRs and subsequent development? Relations between TCRs and oth...

Introduction: “Intergalactic World” is a new social–emotional program designed to reduce psychopathological symptoms and improve social and emotional skills in children aged 8–12. This study aims to evaluate the program’s benefits from teachers’ and caregivers’ perspectives, focusing on internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Methods: The findin...

The balance between work and family demands is one of the main challenges of contemporary parenting. However, most of the research has focused on mothers’ perspectives, with fathers’ perspectives about the links between work–family activities and father involvement, as well as the role of indirect effects, such as parenting styles, being less explo...

Children’s self-imposed isolation in the company of others (social withdrawal due to shyness or unsociability) and active isolation due to direct aggressive behaviors can challenge successful engagement in the peer group. The developmental attributional perspective acknowledges that children’s intended affiliative responses are, in part, guided by...

Previous studies suggest that mental representations of attachment can show moderate stability across childhood but none of these considered the child’s use of the Secure Base Script (SBS). This study tested the longitudinal stability of attachment representations from early to middle childhood, providing data that will allow us to determine whethe...

Physical punishment is the use of physical force to cause to body pain or discomfort, to correct children's misbehaviour (Gershoff, 2008) and negatively impacts children's development (Gershoff, 2002). To overcome limitations in the current state-of-art knowledge in Portugal, this study aimed to describe the maternal reports about the use of differ...

Introduction: Behavioral inhibition during early childhood is one of the strongest risk factors for the development of later anxiety disorders. Recently developed in-person interventions that target both young children who are highly inhibited and their parents (e.g., the Turtle Program), have decreased children's anxiety and have increased social...

In recent years mothers have been finding themselves overwhelmed by the need to balance work and maternal duties. Father involvement in childcare has been related to a decrease in mother's burden in childcare. This association is influenced by multiple aspects, such as the way parents share parenting perspectives and views about child rearing, i.e....

Learning to eat complementary foods is a crucial milestone for infants, having implications across development. The most used method for introducing complementary foods is Traditional Spoon-Feeding (TSF). However, the alternative method Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) is increasingly becoming used as it has been associated with positive outcomes. Research a...

Objective In this research, we analyze and integrate the qualitative empirical studies of father involvement, specifically examining his involvement in the multiple functions and dimensions of care during early childhood. Background Father involvement is a relevant social and scientific topic given the changes in fathers' role in contemporary fami...

The security of attachment has been related to several advantageous developmental outcomes , such as good sleep quality and higher well-being indicators. However, few studies concern the associations between attachment dimensions to both parents, sleep, and well-being in late middle childhood. Our study aims to expand knowledge in this area, clarif...

O presente estudo teve como objetivo examinar as perceções das crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 8 e os 12 anos, que participaram no novo programa de aprendizagem socioemocional “O Mundo dos Intergalácticos” de curta duração, acerca da evolução dos sintomas psicopatológicos (ansiedade, depressão e stresse) e das competências socioemocionai...

Previous research identified emotion dysregulation, non-responsive feeding practices, and unhealthy food consumption as risk factors for childhood obesity. However, little is known about the relationships between these factors. This study examined associations between children’s emotion regulation, parental feeding practices, and children’s food co...

In molti contesti professionali, compreso quello del Tribunale per i minorenni, si fa riferimento alla teoria dell'attaccamento e alla relativa ricerca, con fraintendimenti ampiamente diffusi che spesso si traducono in applicazioni scorrette. La finalità di questa dichiarazione di consenso è, pertanto, quella di migliorarne la comprensione, contras...

There is a lack of knowledge regarding the connection between parental emotional responsiveness and children’s executive functioning (EF). This study aimed to explore the relations between caregivers’ reactions to their children’s distress and children’s EF. Mothers of 136 preschoolers reported their reactions to their children’s negative emotions...

There is a large body of research connecting emotions to eating behaviors. However, little is known about the role of emotional responsiveness on family routines surrounding food and children’s eating behavior. Recent studies suggest that differences in caregivers’ emotional responsiveness may translate into differences in their feeding practices....

Respect is an ethically other-oriented positive emotion of esteem. It has an emotional component elicited when recognizing others “good” qualities, and a motivational component that encourages the gain of the qualities respected (Malti & Latzko, 2017). It changes in intensity and expression, depending on contextual , inter- and intrapersonal factor...

1) Background: One key assumption of attachment theory is the relationship between security and the development of prosocial behavior. A secure child is more likely to feel and show concern for another individual, resulting in higher levels of prosocial behaviors (defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit others-e.g., helping, sharing, comf...

La théorie et les recherches sur l’attachement sont utilisées dans de nombreux cadres d’application, y compris dans les tribunaux compétents en matière familiale [1], mais les incompréhensions sont fréquentes et sources d’erreurs lorsqu’il s’agit de les mettre en pratique. L’objectif de cet article de consensus est donc d’accroître la compréhension...

La teoría y la investigación sobre el apego se utilizan en muchos contextos aplicados, incluidos los juzgados de familia, pero hay malentendidos muy extendidos y que a veces dan lugar a aplicaciones erróneas. El objetivo de este documento de consenso es, por lo tanto, mejorar la comprensión, contrarrestar la desinformación y dirigir el uso de la te...

The pandemic situation of COVID-19 has introduced new challenges on family routines, affecting interpersonal relationships, which may have detrimental consequences to child well-being. The current study aimed to examine the direct effects of marital adjustment on child socioemotional adjustment and to test if parental self-efficacy mediated this as...

Parental attitudes toward child socialization influence their child-rearing practices, the quality of parent-child relationships, and children’s developmental outcomes. The Modified Child Rearing Practices Questionnaire (CRPR-Q) has been widely used to assess parenting practices across children’s development. However, the few studies investigating...

In recent years, the development of social and moral emotions (often associated to pro-social behaviors) has become the subject of increased research interest. However, the relation between these emotions and attachment is less studied. The present systematic literature review (PROSPERO: CRD42021247210) was designed to synthesize current empirical...

Increasing evidence suggests that attachment plays an important role in obesity. However, few studies examined this relationship in preschool children. This study aimed to systematically examine the empirical, peer-reviewed evidence regarding the relationship between attachment quality and obesity in the preschool years. Using established guideline...

Behavioral inhibition (BI) during the preschool years can be defined as a biologically-based wariness when exposed to novel people, situations and activities, and has been associated with an increased risk of developing anxiety symptoms. Although BI is not a unitary concept, to date, few studies aimed to characterize different subgroups of children...

Social and emotional learning programs have shown benefits for children who display hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit. However, few available programs are specifically targeted at children who display this type of neurodevelopmental disorder. To answer current limitations in this intervention area, this study aimed to explore the percept...

Several studies suggest that attachment security promotes positive social perspectives, enabling children to be active, positive, and to display initiative in social interactions. These findings support attachment theory assumptions by evidencing that attachment security emerges as a precursor to popularity and the ability to build high-quality fri...

Children acquire and develop emotional regulatory skills in the context of parent-child attachment relationships, nonetheless empirical studies have focused mainly on mother and less information is available regarding the role of both parent-child attachment relationships. Furthermore, despite its importance, there is no information regarding presc...

Although there is a large body of research connecting emotion to eating behaviors, little is known about the role of caregivers’ responses to children’s emotions in the context of child feeding. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation between caregivers’ emotional responsiveness and feeding responsiveness. The mothers of 137 children...

High and stable behavioral inhibition during early childhood is a risk factor for later anxiety disorders. The few available interventions targeted at behav-ioral inhibition have not yet been implemented in European countries. Evaluating intervention acceptability is essential when introducing interventions in new cultures. This study aimed to expl...

During recent years, fathers' involvement has been addressed as a key source of family well‐being and positive child development. However, the pathways to father involvement and its consequences for child development are varied, influenced by social, cultural, and ecological variables, and lack a systematic integration. This paper aims to bridge th...

Background: Oxytocin (OXT) has attracted research interest for its potential involvement in many of the behavioural problems observed in childhood. Due to its logistical advantages, saliva is an attractive fluid to quantify neuropeptides in children. Salivary OXT has been suggested as a potential biomarker for psychopathology during childhood. Howe...

The increase in women’s labor market participation emphasizes the importance of understanding maternal separation anxiety, that is, the unpleasant maternal emotional state, due to the actual or anticipated short-term separation from the child. Drawing on the insights of the attachment and psychoanalytic perspectives, the Maternal Separation Anxiety...

Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, e...

The main goal of this study was to explore the contributions of early father–child and mother–child attachment relationships to children’s later social competence with their preschool peers; possible unique and shared contributions were tested. Using a multi-method design and focusing on direct observation, attachment was assessed at home at age 3...

Correlated trait-correlated method minus one was used to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity of Social Competence Behavior Evaluation questionnaire (Social Competence, Anger-Aggression, Anxiety-Withdrawal) between multiple raters. A total of 369 children (173 boys and 196 girls; M age = 55.85, SD age = 11.54) were rated by their mothers,...

Given the impact of sleep in several domains of a child's development, the comparison between actigraphy and parental questionnaires is of great importance in preschool-aged children, an understudied group. While parental reports tend to overestimate sleep duration, actigraphy boosts the frequency of night-waking's. Our primary goal was to compare...

Given the high prevalence of anxiety disorders, there has been an increasing need to intervene on the early risk factors for their development, namely behavioral inhibition and social withdrawal (BI/SW) during early childhood. However, the participation rates in preventive evidence-based interventions targeted at BI/SW have been modest, due to the...

O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar a concordância entre os dados antropométricos das crianças (peso, altura, respetivos IMC e z-score de IMC calculados) reportados pelos pais e medidos objetivamente pelos investigadores, bem como a sua relação com as práticas parentais alimentares. Participaram no estudo 71 famílias, com crianças entre o...

RESUMO: Embora a qualidade das relações de vinculação seja importante para um desenvolvimento saudável, os seus efeitos são ainda pouco explorados no que se refere à saúde e à aceitação social. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar se a aceitação entre os pares se associa a comportamentos de saúde adaptativos de forma diferenciada para indivíduos...

We examine the factorial structure of the Security Scale Questionnaire (SSQ), exploring measurement invariance across mother-father-child attachment relationships, child sex, and country. We used the new 21-item SSQ version that integrates both safe haven and secure base behaviors in a two factors structure. Participants were 457 children (224 girl...

Este estudo teve como principal objetivo explorar as relações entre as representações de vinculação (script de base segura) do pai, e o seu envolvimento em atividades práticas (relacionadas com a gestão e cuidados à criança) e em atividades com características lúdicas (brincadeira/lazer). Participaram 62 famílias nucleares, com crianças entre os 2...

Important changes wittin the traditional family structure and in concerning the beliefs about women’s and men’s parental roles have contributed to an increasing number of studies about focusing on fathers and his their involvement in the family, and especially with the child. However, research is still scarce among divorced families. The main objec...

Níveis elevados e estáveis de inibição comportamental em idade pré-escolar associam-se a um risco acrescido de desenvolver perturbações de ansiedade e dificuldades com os pares. O desenvolvimento de intervenções baseadas na evidência para prevenir estas trajetórias inadaptativas têm merecido um interesse crescente. Todavia, estas intervenções ainda...

The papers in this special issue of Attachment & Human Development address questions concerning relations between attachment representations and social competence during early childhood in samples from five different countries. All studies examined these questions using the concept of the “secure base script” that has been widely studied in samples...

The links between attachment security and multiple aspects of emotional development have been studied for several decades. Although these studies are valuable insofar some answers related to representations of attachment and emotion knowledge are still open. Preschool aged children (N=40) participated in this study. We used the Attachment Story Com...

Associations between attachment security, assessed as a secure base script (SBS), and teachers’ social competence ratings were examined in two samples (one from the Midwest region and the other from the Southern region of the United States). Consistent with previous reports, significant associations between domains were obtained in both samples and...

There has been an increasing interest in the development of evidence-based parent interventions aimed at reducing the early risk factors for the development of anxiety disorders, namely behavioral inhibition (BI) during the preschool years. However, these interventions are not yet available in European countries with a high prevalence of anxiety di...

Building on aframework presented by Bretherton and associates, Waters and associates argued that interaction sequences relevant to children’s access to and use of asecure base for exploration during infancy/toddlerhood become internalized as script-like representations. For adults, these scripted representations are readily assessed using word-prom...

Recent meta-analyses have reported significant effects of attachment quality on social competence, mostly using observational assessments of attachment behavior to assess security. We analyze the associations between attachment security – assessed as a secure base script, and social competence with peers – measured by teachers’ ratings on two self-...

SCBE-30 questionnaire (LaFrenière & Dumas, 1996) analyses affective quality of the children's relationships with adults and peers, providing a standardized description of affect and behavior in context, discriminating behavioral-emotional problems and children's social adjustment. Knowing that parents and teachers have different access to the same...

This study investigated the prospective relationship between preschoolers’ theory of mind (ToM) skills and academic school readiness, while exploring the possible moderator role played by child gender. The participants were 75 children who were assessed at two time points: when enrolled in the second preschool year (T1) and again 4 months before sc...

Peer victimization is one of the most prominent problems during adolescence. Research has distinguished aggressive and non-aggressive victims; however, there are still significant drawbacks in understanding the social and family functioning of these different groups of victimized adolescents. This study aimed to compare social behavior and perceive...

The hypothalamic nonapeptides oxytocin and vasopressin are important modulators of socio-affective behaviours in a wide variety of animal species, including humans. Nevertheless, there is little research addressing their possible roles on socio-affective dimensions of human behaviour across development, during which considerable behavioural and phy...

A capacidade das crianças para compreender as emoções e as intenções sociais dos outros relaciona--se com a qualidade das interações com os pares. Os comportamentos de brincadeira não-social durante o pré-escolar poderão estar associados a dificuldades no desenvolvimento do conhecimento emocional. O presente estudo teve como objetivos: (1) identifi...

Recent empirical studies reporting sex differences in attachment relationships have prompted investigators to consider why and under what conditions such results might be observed. This study was designed to explore possibilities of identifying sex differences in the organization of attachment-relevant behavior during early childhood. Observations...

This study was designed to explore whether children's representations of attachment contribute to the co-construction of positive teacher–child relationships. An assessment of verbal intelligence was included as a predictor on the assumption that teachers might perceive themselves as having better relationships with more verbally competent children...

The first year of motherhood is a period of growth and adaptation in women's lives with several challenges such as identifying the baby's needs and giving appropriate answers, so that mother and baby get to know each other and form a strong bond. Infant massage is one of the approaches that make an important contribution to the psychological and ph...