Background

A lot of the research concerning foster children – often children who have suffered maltreatment in the family home - has focused on internalized and externalized symptoms. Few studies, however, have looked at the interactions between such children and caregivers.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the Emotion Regulation Strategies (ERS) of children in foster care and to highlight those most commonly employed in family or placement contexts. The parents' and foster carers' ERS are also analyzed in order to understand the co-regulatory processes at work.

Method

An in-depth analysis of observation sequences was performed. Three data collection times, spaced across a period of 6 months (t1, t2 and t3), were included in the observation protocol. Each observation, recorded using a video camera, comprised 45 min of free time and 15 min of structured tasks. Transcription and coding of ERS were performed for each sequence using a microanalytical method. Both children's and adults' ERS were coded.

Results

Children tended to be readily distracted when interacting with adults, and more particularly so with their parents. While they tended to display relatively normative processes with a foster carer, they turned to pathological avoidance mechanisms with their parents such as physical venting or self-stimulation. Interactions during structured tasks showed a significant reduction in distraction processes.

Conclusion

This study highlights the prevalence of distraction behavior in foster children during their interactions with caregivers, and offers an insight into how structured interactions provide a framework that mitigates children's avoidance behaviors and so enhances adult-child collaboration.

中文翻译：

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培养儿童与照顾者的回避相关互动行为

背景

许多关于寄养儿童的研究——通常是在家里遭受虐待的儿童——都集中在内在和外在的症状上。然而，很少有研究关注此类儿童与照顾者之间的互动。

目的

本研究的目的是探索寄养儿童的情绪调节策略 (ERS)，并突出那些在家庭或安置环境中最常用的策略。还分析了父母和寄养者的 ERS，以了解工作中的共同监管过程。

方法

对观察序列进行了深入分析。观察方案中包含三个数据收集时间，间隔为 6 个月（t1、t2 和 t3）。使用摄像机记录的每次观察包括 45 分钟的空闲时间和 15 分钟的结构化任务。使用微量分析方法对每个序列进行 ERS ​​的转录和编码。对儿童和成人的 ERS ​​进行了编码。

结果

儿童在与成人互动时往往容易分心，尤其是与父母互动时。虽然他们倾向于在寄养照顾者面前表现出相对规范的过程，但在与父母相处时他们转向病态回避机制，例如身体发泄或自我刺激。结构化任务期间的交互显示分心过程显着减少。

结论

这项研究强调了寄养儿童在与看护人互动期间分心行为的普遍性，并深入了解结构化互动如何提供一个框架来减轻儿童的回避行为，从而增强成人与儿童的合作。