De nombreuses études empiriques ont démontré que la qualité des relations parent-enfant est importante pour le développement des fonctions exécutives (FE) des enfants. Cependant, la majorité des études ont porté sur des échantillons de mères ou de pères, mais non des deux. Le présent mémoire contient un article empirique qui poursuit deux buts. Premièrement, l’article a examiné la contribution unique de la qualité des interactions mère-enfant et père-enfant avec leur bambin (toddler) à la prédiction des FE en milieu scolaire. Deuxièmement, l’article a investigué les effets d'interactions entre la qualité des relations mère-enfant et père-enfant. L’étude a été menée auprès de 46 familles intactes (mère-père-enfant). Lorsque les enfants avaient 18 mois, la qualité des interactions mère-enfant et père-enfant a été mesurée par observation de séquences indépendantes de jeu avec le Mutually Responsive Orientation scale. À la maternelle, les problèmes exécutifs des enfants furent rapportés par le professeur à l’aide du Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Les résultats indiquent que les enfants qui ont des interactions de meilleure qualité avec leur père à 18 mois sont ensuite considérés par leur professeur de maternelle comme ayant moins de déficits exécutifs. Cela suggère que la relation père-enfant peut être un facteur important à considérer en ce qui concerne le développement des FE des enfants. Les implications théoriques et empiriques ainsi que les implications pratiques, notamment celles concernant les professeurs, sont abordées lors de la conclusion de ce mémoire. / There is increasing evidence that the quality of parent-child relationships is important for the development of young children’s executive functioning (EF). However, studies have focused on samples of either mother-child or father-child dyads, not both. The present master’s thesis includes an empirical article pursuing two aims. First, the article examined the unique contributions of the quality of mothers’ and fathers’ interactions with their toddlers to the prediction of children’s subsequent EF in kindergarten. Second, the article investigated the interactive effects of mother-child and father-child relationships. The sample included 46 families. The quality of mother-child and father-child interactions was assessed independently during separate interactive sequences at 18 months. In kindergarten, child EF problems were reported by their teachers with the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Results indicated that kindergarteners who had higher-quality interactions with their fathers in toddlerhood were considered by their teachers to present fewer EF problems in everyday school situations. This suggests that father-child relationships may be an important factor to consider regarding the development of EF in children. Theoretical and empirical implications as well as practical implications, particularly for teachers, are discussed at the conclusion of this master’s thesis.

Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa do tipo Convergente-assistencial, que teve como objetivo: conhecer as expectativas do pai em relação a sua participação nas orientações e cuidados de sua mulher e filho, incluí-lo nas orientações e cuidados, e conhecer sua percepção sobre sua inserção no alojamento conjunto. Participaram nove pais que tiveram seus filhos em sistema de alojamento conjunto em um hospital-escola de Porto Alegre. As informações foram coletadas através de entrevista semi-estruturada, observações e anotações em diário de campo, e, após submetidas a uma análise de conteúdo do tipo temática proposta por Bardin (1977). Os temas encontrados foram: expectativas de participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê; a participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê e a percepção do pai sobre sua participação nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê. Constatou-se que o pai tem expectativa de poder participar e ficar junto de sua mulher e filho . Os pais demonstraram que realizar os cuidados dos bebês não é difícil, mostraram-se companheiros e tranqüilizadores de suas mulheres, apresentaram dificuldades em realizar os cuidados puerperais e o auxílio à mulher na amamentação. Os pais consideraram válida a experiência, recomendando que seja permanente e extensiva a outros hospitais. / This research follows a qualitative perspective and is of a convergent approach kind. The research had three main aims: to know the father's expectarions regarding, their participarion on their women's and children 's guidance and care, to invesrigate the father's perceprions about their presence in the rooming-in and to work towards inc1uding them in the actual guidance and care of their women and children. The nine father 's who participated in the research, ali had their children in the rooming-in of a school-hospital in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Infonnations was gathered through semi-sttuctured interviews, observarions and fieldnotes. Data was analysed through the content analysis proposed by Bardin (1977). Three themes has emerged from the analysis: the father's expectarions about his participarion on the care of the mother and the baby, his actual participation on the care of the mother and the baby and his perceprions on this participarion. One of the research findings was that father expect to be able to participate and stay together with his woman and child. The data analysis suggested that it is not difficult for interviewed fathers to take care of their babies. The fathers demonstrated to be companions and tranquilizers. However they had difficulties on puerperal cares and on helping the mother and the baby during the lactarion period. The fathers considered this experience to be valid and recomended that it should be made pemanent and extensi ve to other hospitals. / Se trata de una investigación cualitativa dei tipo Convergente-asistencial, que tuvo como objetivo: conocer las expectativas dei padre con relación a su participación en las orientaciones y cuidados hacia su mujer e hijo, incluirlo en las orientaciones y cuidados, y conocer su percepción sobre su inserción en el alojamiento conjunto. Participaron nueve padres que tuvieron a sus hijos en sistema de alojamiento -conjunto en un hospital-escuela de Porto Alegre. Las inforrnaciones fueron reunidas a través de entrevista semi-estructurada, observaciones y anotaciones en diario de campo, y después, sometidas a un analisis de contenido, temática propuesta por 8ardin (1977). Los temas encontrados fueron: expectativas de participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé, la participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé y la percepción dei padre sobre su participación en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé. Se constató que el padre tiene expectativa de poder participar y quedarse junto a su mujer e hijo. Los padres demostraron que realizar los cuidados de los bebés no es difícil, se mostraron compaiíeros y tranquilizadores de sus mujeres, presentaron dificultades en realizar los cuidados puerperiales y a auxiliaria durante el arnamantamiento. Los padres consideraron válida la experiencia, recomendando que sea permanente y extensiva a otros hospitales.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa do tipo Convergente-assistencial, que teve como objetivo: conhecer as expectativas do pai em relação a sua participação nas orientações e cuidados de sua mulher e filho, incluí-lo nas orientações e cuidados, e conhecer sua percepção sobre sua inserção no alojamento conjunto. Participaram nove pais que tiveram seus filhos em sistema de alojamento conjunto em um hospital-escola de Porto Alegre. As informações foram coletadas através de entrevista semi-estruturada, observações e anotações em diário de campo, e, após submetidas a uma análise de conteúdo do tipo temática proposta por Bardin (1977). Os temas encontrados foram: expectativas de participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê; a participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê e a percepção do pai sobre sua participação nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê. Constatou-se que o pai tem expectativa de poder participar e ficar junto de sua mulher e filho . Os pais demonstraram que realizar os cuidados dos bebês não é difícil, mostraram-se companheiros e tranqüilizadores de suas mulheres, apresentaram dificuldades em realizar os cuidados puerperais e o auxílio à mulher na amamentação. Os pais consideraram válida a experiência, recomendando que seja permanente e extensiva a outros hospitais. / This research follows a qualitative perspective and is of a convergent approach kind. The research had three main aims: to know the father's expectarions regarding, their participarion on their women's and children 's guidance and care, to invesrigate the father's perceprions about their presence in the rooming-in and to work towards inc1uding them in the actual guidance and care of their women and children. The nine father 's who participated in the research, ali had their children in the rooming-in of a school-hospital in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Infonnations was gathered through semi-sttuctured interviews, observarions and fieldnotes. Data was analysed through the content analysis proposed by Bardin (1977). Three themes has emerged from the analysis: the father's expectarions about his participarion on the care of the mother and the baby, his actual participation on the care of the mother and the baby and his perceprions on this participarion. One of the research findings was that father expect to be able to participate and stay together with his woman and child. The data analysis suggested that it is not difficult for interviewed fathers to take care of their babies. The fathers demonstrated to be companions and tranquilizers. However they had difficulties on puerperal cares and on helping the mother and the baby during the lactarion period. The fathers considered this experience to be valid and recomended that it should be made pemanent and extensi ve to other hospitals. / Se trata de una investigación cualitativa dei tipo Convergente-asistencial, que tuvo como objetivo: conocer las expectativas dei padre con relación a su participación en las orientaciones y cuidados hacia su mujer e hijo, incluirlo en las orientaciones y cuidados, y conocer su percepción sobre su inserción en el alojamiento conjunto. Participaron nueve padres que tuvieron a sus hijos en sistema de alojamiento -conjunto en un hospital-escuela de Porto Alegre. Las inforrnaciones fueron reunidas a través de entrevista semi-estructurada, observaciones y anotaciones en diario de campo, y después, sometidas a un analisis de contenido, temática propuesta por 8ardin (1977). Los temas encontrados fueron: expectativas de participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé, la participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé y la percepción dei padre sobre su participación en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé. Se constató que el padre tiene expectativa de poder participar y quedarse junto a su mujer e hijo. Los padres demostraron que realizar los cuidados de los bebés no es difícil, se mostraron compaiíeros y tranquilizadores de sus mujeres, presentaron dificultades en realizar los cuidados puerperiales y a auxiliaria durante el arnamantamiento. Los padres consideraron válida la experiencia, recomendando que sea permanente y extensiva a otros hospitales.

Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa do tipo Convergente-assistencial, que teve como objetivo: conhecer as expectativas do pai em relação a sua participação nas orientações e cuidados de sua mulher e filho, incluí-lo nas orientações e cuidados, e conhecer sua percepção sobre sua inserção no alojamento conjunto. Participaram nove pais que tiveram seus filhos em sistema de alojamento conjunto em um hospital-escola de Porto Alegre. As informações foram coletadas através de entrevista semi-estruturada, observações e anotações em diário de campo, e, após submetidas a uma análise de conteúdo do tipo temática proposta por Bardin (1977). Os temas encontrados foram: expectativas de participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê; a participação do pai nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê e a percepção do pai sobre sua participação nos cuidados da mãe e do bebê. Constatou-se que o pai tem expectativa de poder participar e ficar junto de sua mulher e filho . Os pais demonstraram que realizar os cuidados dos bebês não é difícil, mostraram-se companheiros e tranqüilizadores de suas mulheres, apresentaram dificuldades em realizar os cuidados puerperais e o auxílio à mulher na amamentação. Os pais consideraram válida a experiência, recomendando que seja permanente e extensiva a outros hospitais. / This research follows a qualitative perspective and is of a convergent approach kind. The research had three main aims: to know the father's expectarions regarding, their participarion on their women's and children 's guidance and care, to invesrigate the father's perceprions about their presence in the rooming-in and to work towards inc1uding them in the actual guidance and care of their women and children. The nine father 's who participated in the research, ali had their children in the rooming-in of a school-hospital in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Infonnations was gathered through semi-sttuctured interviews, observarions and fieldnotes. Data was analysed through the content analysis proposed by Bardin (1977). Three themes has emerged from the analysis: the father's expectarions about his participarion on the care of the mother and the baby, his actual participation on the care of the mother and the baby and his perceprions on this participarion. One of the research findings was that father expect to be able to participate and stay together with his woman and child. The data analysis suggested that it is not difficult for interviewed fathers to take care of their babies. The fathers demonstrated to be companions and tranquilizers. However they had difficulties on puerperal cares and on helping the mother and the baby during the lactarion period. The fathers considered this experience to be valid and recomended that it should be made pemanent and extensi ve to other hospitals. / Se trata de una investigación cualitativa dei tipo Convergente-asistencial, que tuvo como objetivo: conocer las expectativas dei padre con relación a su participación en las orientaciones y cuidados hacia su mujer e hijo, incluirlo en las orientaciones y cuidados, y conocer su percepción sobre su inserción en el alojamiento conjunto. Participaron nueve padres que tuvieron a sus hijos en sistema de alojamiento -conjunto en un hospital-escuela de Porto Alegre. Las inforrnaciones fueron reunidas a través de entrevista semi-estructurada, observaciones y anotaciones en diario de campo, y después, sometidas a un analisis de contenido, temática propuesta por 8ardin (1977). Los temas encontrados fueron: expectativas de participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé, la participación dei padre en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé y la percepción dei padre sobre su participación en los cuidados de la madre y dei bebé. Se constató que el padre tiene expectativa de poder participar y quedarse junto a su mujer e hijo. Los padres demostraron que realizar los cuidados de los bebés no es difícil, se mostraron compaiíeros y tranquilizadores de sus mujeres, presentaron dificultades en realizar los cuidados puerperiales y a auxiliaria durante el arnamantamiento. Los padres consideraron válida la experiencia, recomendando que sea permanente y extensiva a otros hospitales.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:45:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissNCBS.pdf: 4023453 bytes, checksum: d6d6b3a62add66035a6ad18040ebe9b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-14 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Changes in society bring a new way of familiar organization and a new look at the participation of the man in this context. Although the father s importance has been recognized, on Brazil, there are few studies which aim at knowing the relation between the father and his child with special needs characteristics. Besides, the findings about the fathers involvement with their children are varied: sometimes mothers are more involved, others fathers spend a significant time with their special needs children. A better characterization would be obtained with observation measures as much father-child interaction, as mother-child interaction, searching in this manner a systematic vision of the family. In this way, the objective of the present study was to describe the interactions of father and mother with their children with Down Syndrome in play situation and compare these interactions, taking in account variables such as stress, empowerment, self-esteem, home environment and additionally the father s participation on the child s care and home activities, the influence of the grandparents and the paternal vision under aspects of fatherhood and the child s deficiency. Ten families having children with Down Syndrome aging between two and six years took part on this study; from diverse socioeconomic and educational status; residents in Ribeirão Preto and São Carlos cities. It had been used: Critério Brasil, Questionário de Caracterização do Sistema Familiar, Guia Geral de Transcrição dos Dados de Entrevista, Entrevista de Caracterização do Papel do Pai Brasileiro na Educação da Criança com Deficiência Mental, Inventário HOME, QRS-F, ISSL, FES, PSOC, Protocolo de Categorias de Análise das Filmagens de Interação and Sistema Definitivo de Categorias Observacionais. These tools were the base for the interviews, home observation and interaction of the family members filming analysis (in the total of one hour). The results indicate that: the mother was the main responsible for the home activities; the father shared the child s care in half of the sample; the social web of support was composed by the own family and relatives; great part of the grandparents participated of the familiar life; only a family offered a rich environment in stimulation and support for the child; the genitors showed low percentages of stress related to the presence of the deficient child; half of the parents presented indicative symptoms of stress; all considered theirselves empowered; and the majority exhibited elevated self-esteem. In relation to the fathers: half of them passed good part of the day with their children; the majority considered theirselves a good father; all considered theirselves an important figure on his children lives; and most of them believed that the child would have a life pretty close to the normal in the future. In relation to the observations, olhar na direção da criança (looking to the child s direction) was the positive behavior of greater frequency for the parents; none of the genitors corrected inappropriate behaviors; and the negative behavior of higher frequency was comentários negativos (negative commentaries). The most emmited positive behavior by children was prestar atenção (pay attention) and the negative behavior was desobediência (disobedience). Furthermore, the most frequent kind of activity was Brincadeiras com objetos (Play with objects) and the interactions occured mainly at Conjunta (Joint) way, with Direta (Direct) transition from one activity to another, with Sincronia (Synchrony), Supervisão (Supervision), Amistosidade (Friendly) and Liderança (Leadership). These fathers, on general, seems to be involved with their children, offering varied stimulation for them, and present low level of stress and show themselves empowered in relation to the presence of a deficient child. / Mudanças na sociedade trazem uma nova forma de organização da família e um novo olhar sobre a participação do homem neste contexto. Apesar da reconhecida importância do pai, no Brasil, são poucos os estudos que visam conhecer as características das relações entre o pai e seu filho com necessidades especiais. Além disso, as descobertas sobre o envolvimento dos pais com suas crianças são variadas: às vezes as mães são mais envolvidas, outras os pais gastam um tempo significativo com seus filhos com necessidades especiais. Uma melhor caracterização seria obtida com medidas de observação tanto das interações pai-criança, como das interações mãe-criança, buscando assim uma visão sistêmica da família. Deste modo, o objetivo deste estudo foi descrever as interações do pai e da mãe com seu filho com Síndrome de Down em situação de brincadeira e comparar essas interações, levando em consideração variáveis como stress, empoderamento, auto-estima e ambiente domiciliar, assim como a participação do pai no cuidado com a criança e nas atividades domésticas, a influência dos avós e a visão paterna sobre aspectos da paternidade e a deficiência da criança. Participaram deste dez famílias de crianças com Síndrome de Down com idade entre dois e seis anos; de diversos níveis sócio-econômico e educacional; residentes nas cidades de Ribeirão Preto e São Carlos. Foram utilizados: Critério Brasil, Questionário de Caracterização do Sistema Familiar, Guia Geral de Transcrição dos Dados de Entrevista, Entrevista de Caracterização do Papel do Pai Brasileiro na Educação da Criança com Deficiência Mental, Inventário HOME, QRS-F, ISSL, FES, PSOC, Protocolo de Categorias de Análise das Filmagens de Interação e Sistema Definitivo de Categorias Observacionais. Esses instrumentos serviram de base para a entrevista, observação domiciliar e análise das filmagens (no total de 1 hora) de interação entre os membros da família. Os resultados indicam que: a mãe era a responsável principal pelas tarefas domésticas; o pai dividia os cuidados com a criança em metade da amostra; a rede social de apoio era composta pela própria família e parentes; a maioria dos avós participavam da vida familiar; apenas uma família oferecia um ambiente rico em estimulação e apoio à criança; os genitores apresentaram baixas porcentagens de stress relacionado à presença da criança deficiente; metade dos genitores apresentou sintomas indicativos de stress; todos se consideraram empoderados; e a maioria apresentou auto-estima elevada. Em relação aos genitores masculinos: metade passava boa parte do dia com suas crianças; a maioria se considerava um bom pai; todos se consideravam uma figura importante na vida de seus filhos; e a maioria acreditava que a criança teria uma vida bem próxima do normal no futuro. Em relação às observações, olhar na direção da criança foi o comportamento positivo de maior freqüência para os pais; nenhum genitor corrigiu comportamentos inadequados; e o comportamento negativo de maior freqüência foi comentários negativos . O comportamento positivo mais emitido pelas crianças foi prestar atenção e o comportamento negativo foi desobediência . Além disso, o tipo de atividade mais freqüente foi Brincadeiras com objetos e as interações ocorreram predominantemente de forma Conjunta , com transição Direta de uma atividade para outra, com Sincronia , Supervisão , Amistosidade e Liderança . Conclui-se que esses pais, no geral, parecem estar envolvidos com seus filhos, oferecendo estimulação variada a eles, e apresentam baixo nível de stress e se mostram empoderados quanto a presença de uma criança deficiente.

La relation conjugale a longtemps été étudiée afin de mieux comprendre les mécanismes impliqués entre la dyade parentale et leur influence sur le développement socio –affectif de l’enfant. Cependant, le concept de l’alliance parentale en est un plus proximal permettant de qualifier le niveau de coopération et d’engagement au niveau de l’éducation de l’enfant. Cette relation peut avoir une influence déterminante sur la dyade père-enfant, notamment en ce qui a trait à la relation d’activation. La présente étude vise à vérifier la présence d’un lien entre l’engagement paternel dans sa fonction d’ouverture au monde et le niveau d’activation de l’enfant âgé entre 12 et 18 mois et à vérifier si l’alliance parentale a un rôle modérateur sur ce lien. Des données sont recueillies auprès de 58 dyades père-enfant. Les résultats montrent que l’engagement paternel dans sa fonction d’ouverture au monde n’est pas lié au niveau d’activation de l’enfant. De plus, l’alliance parentale ne modère pas ce lien. Les résultats présentent néanmoins des différences en fonction du sexe de l’enfant, soit que les pères s’engagent davantage auprès de leur fille, et que les garçons sont activés de manière plus optimale. / The conjugal relationship between parents has been studied profusely as to better understand its influence on the socio-affective development of the child. However, a better proxy to conceptualise the level of cooperation and the involvement of the parents in the education of the child is the parental alliance. This alliance could have an important influence on the father-child dyad, or more specifically the activation relationship. The present study is designed to verify the existence of a link between the paternal involvement in regard to its function of openness to the world and the activation score of the child, aged from 12 to 18 months, as well as the possible moderator effect of the parental alliance on this link. Data was collected among 58 father-child dyads. Results show no link between father involvement in its function of openness to the world and the activation score. Furthermore, the parental alliance does not moderate this link. The results also show some differences between boys and girls. Fathers are more engaged with their daughter and boys are more optimally activated than girls.

Depuis plusieurs décennies, on reconnaît l’existence d’une complémentarité des rôles père et mère dans le développement de l’attachement de l’enfant. La mère étant davantage impliquée dans les soins, le père se spécialise dans la sphère exploration, le jeu et le respect des règles. Les études démontrent une association entre la qualité d’attachement des parents et de l’enfant avec un effet plus fort chez les mères, un phénomène discuté sous le vocable transmission intergénérationnelle de l’attachement. De nos jours, on assiste à un plus grand partage des tâches liées à l’enfant et le père peut être perçu comme une figure de soin. Cette étude a été menée à partir d’un échantillon normatif de familles biparentales hétérosexuelles (N = 182) à proximité de Montréal. Le premier objectif était d’examiner l’association entre l’attachement des parents évalué avec le Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) et celui de l’enfant évalué lors de la Procédure de la Situation Étrangère (SSP). Le second objectif était d’examiner le rôle modérateur du temps passé par les parents avec l’enfant. Contrairement à nos prédictions, les résultats ne démontrent aucune association significative entre le RSQ maternel et la SSP mère-enfant. Toutefois, les pères avec qui l’enfant a développé un attachement sécurisé se distinguaient par un score de sécurité significativement supérieur au RSQ. Ensuite, le temps père-enfant n’était pas associé à l’attachement père-enfant, mais l’était avec l’attachement mère-enfant. Concernant cette association, le temps total passé par le père avec l’enfant était négativement associé à la résistance au contact mère-enfant, positivement associé au type Sécurisé et négativement associé au type Résistant. Enfin, la quantité de temps que les deux conjoints passent ensemble avec l’enfant était positivement associée au type Sécurisé et négativement associée au type Désorganisé lors de la SSP mère-enfant. Au terme de cette étude, nous croyons que le RSQ évalue des dimensions différentes de celles habituellement associées avec la SSP, ce qui en fait un choix moins recommandé pour examiner l’association entre l’attachement du parent et de l’enfant. La quantité de temps passé par le père avec l’enfant ne semble pas déterminante dans le développement de l’attachement père-enfant. Toutefois, nos données suggèrent des bénéfices directs et indirects associés au temps passé par le père avec la dyade mère-enfant sur le lien d’attachement mère-enfant. / Since a few decades, researchers have acknowledged the evidence of a complementarity between the roles of the father and the mother in the development of infant attachment. While the mother plays a main role in caregiving, the father tends to promote exploratory behavior, respect of rules and frequently act has a playmate. Numerous studies have shown an association between caregiver’s attachment and infant’s attachment with a stronger effect for mothers, which is widely discussed in terms of intergenerational attachment transmission. Nowadays, between the two parents, there is a less hermetic division of tasks associated with caregiving and there is a growing agreement that the father can be perceived as a secure figure. We studied a normative sample of 182 heterosexual biparental families living in the Montreal area. The first objective was to examine the association between parent’s attachment assessed with the Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) and infant-parent attachment measured with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). Our second objective was to look at the role of time spent by the parent with his child as a moderator of the above-mentioned association. Unlike our predictions, no significative association was found between the maternal RSQ and the infant-mother SSP. Nevertheless, fathers with whom a secured attachment is developed distinguish themselves by a significantly higher security score on the RSQ. Furthermore, while the time spent by the father with the infant hasn’t been linked with father-infant attachment, it was, however, associated with mother-infant attachment. Concerning this association, the time spent by the father with his child was negatively associated with resistance during the mother-infant SSP, positively associated with Secure type and negatively associated with Resistant type. Finally, the time the parents spent together with the child was positively associated with the Secure type and negatively associated with Disorganize attachment. At this study’s conclusion, we believe the RSQ might assess dimensions other than the ones usually associated with the SSP, which would make this instrument less recommended in future research on attachment transmission. The time the father spends with his child doesn’t seem to influence his attachment. However, our results suggest the time spend by the father with the mother-infant dyad might have direct and indirect benefices on the mother-infant attachment.

L’objectif général de la thèse était d’accroitre les connaissances empiriques sur le sommeil des enfants mesuré par actigraphie au sein de la population générale. Le premier article visait à étudier la possibilité d’utiliser dans les études des données d’actigraphie pour lesquelles un agenda de sommeil ne serait pas disponible pour guider la cotation des données. L’échantillon était formé de 60 enfants âgés entre 6 et 10 ans qui ont porté un actigraphe pendant 3 à 7 jours et dont leurs mères ont complété un agenda de sommeil pour la même période. Les données d’actigraphie ont été analysées en utilisant deux conditions de cotation (avec et sans agenda). Les résultats suggèrent que les deux conditions mènent à des résultats similaires, pratiquement identiques au niveau de groupe, quoi que pas interchangeables au niveau intra-individuel. L’article permet de recommander une utilisation parcimonieuse des données d’actigraphie analysées sans agenda de sommeil auprès d’enfants d’âge scolaire. Le deuxième article avait pour objectif d’étudier les patrons développementaux de sommeil au cours de la période préscolaire. L’échantillon était composé de 128 enfants qui ont porté un actigraphe à 2, 3 et 4 ans et pour qui les courbes de croissance de cinq indices de sommeil ont été modélisées à l’aide d’analyses multi-niveaux. Les résultats ont démontré une diminution linéaire de la durée de sommeil de nuit, de jour et de la durée totale sur 24 heures, ainsi qu’une augmentation linéaire du pourcentage de sommeil ayant lieu durant la nuit et de l’efficacité du sommeil. Cette étude permet de confirmer que des changements développementaux se produisent au niveau de plusieurs indices de sommeil au cours de la période préscolaire et de fournir des repères quantitatifs quant à ce qui est attendu au niveau de ces changements. Le troisième article visait à étudier la relation père-enfant en tant que potentiel prédicteur des différences interindividuelles dans les courbes de croissance de sommeil au cours de la période préscolaire. Pour 67 enfants, les courbes de croissance de sommeil entre 2 et 4 ans ont été estimées et la qualité des interactions père-enfant ainsi que l’orientation mentale paternelle (tendance du père à commenter les états mentaux présumés de l'enfant) ont été mesurées par observation à 18 mois. Le père a aussi complété un questionnaire évaluant son niveau d’implication auprès de son enfant lorsque celui-ci avait 2 ans. Les résultats n’ont démontré aucune association significative entre les paramètres des courbes de croissance de sommeil et le degré d’implication paternelle ou la qualité des interactions père-enfant. Cependant, les enfants dont le père émettait plus de commentaires appropriés sur leurs états mentaux à 18 mois avaient une plus grande proportion de sommeil durant la nuit ainsi qu’une plus courte durée de sommeil de jour et totale sur 24 heures à 2 ans. Par ailleurs, ces enfants présentaient par la suite des changements moins rapides sur ces variables de sommeil entre 2 et 4 ans. Ainsi, l’article 3 permet de conclure que les enfants exposés à un plus haut niveau d’orientation mentale paternelle semblent atteindre des patrons de sommeil plus matures plus tôt dans leur développement. / The overall objective of this thesis was to contribute new empirical knowledge on children's sleep assessed using actigraphy among typically-developing children. The first article aimed to investigate the possibility for studies to use actigraphic data for which a sleep diary would not be available to guide the scoring of the data. The sample was composed of 60 children aged 6 to 10 years who wore an actigraph for 3 to 7 days and whose mothers completed a sleep diary for the same period. Actigraphic data were analyzed using two scoring conditions (with and without diary). The results suggest that the two conditions lead to similar results, virtually identical at the group level, but not interchangeable at the intra-individual level. This paper leads to the recommendation of parsimonious use of actigraphic data analyzed without a sleep diary. The second article aimed to study the developmental patterns of sleep in the preschool period. The sample included 128 children who wore an actigraph at 2, 3, and 4 years of age and for which the growth curves of five sleep indices were modeled using multi-level analyses. The results demonstrated a linear decrease in nighttime, daytime and 24-hour total sleep duration as well as a linear increase in the proportion of sleep taking place during the night and in sleep efficiency. This study confirms that developmental changes occur in several sleep variables during the preschool period and helps to provide quantitative points of reference regarding these changes. The third article aimed to examine different aspects of the father-child relationship as potential predictors of inter-individual differences in sleep growth curves during the preschool period. For 67 children, sleep growth curves between 2 and 4 years were estimated and the quality of father-child interactions as well as paternal mind-mindedness (fathers’ tendency to comment on child’s presumed mental states) were assessed by observation at 18 months. Fathers also completed a questionnaire assessing their involvement with their child at the age of 2 years. The results showed no significant association between sleep growth curves parameters and the degree of father involvement or the quality of father-child interactions. However, children whose fathers made more appropriate comments about their mental states at 18 months had a higher proportion of nighttime sleep as well as shorter daytime sleep duration and shorter 24-hour total duration at 2 years. In addition, these children subsequently exhibited less rapid changes in these sleep variables between 2 and 4 years. This paper suggests that children exposed to higher levels of paternal mind-mindedness appear to achieve more mature sleep patterns earlier in their development.

The effects of perceived mental/emotional problems (psychopathology) in the family-of-origin on adult offspring marital satisfaction was tested in a model considering the mediating variables of parental marital satisfaction, mother-child relationship quality, father-child relationship quality, and resolution of issues from the family-of-origin. The nationally representative sample (n = 802) drawn from the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) database included mostly college educated, lower-middle-class individuals in their first marriage. This sample was used to test a structural equation model that results showed fit the data well. Results showed that historical (distal) factors (such as psychopathology in the family-of-origin) explain only a small portion of the variance in adult offspring marital satisfaction and suggest that more contemporary (proximal) factors (such as individual characteristics) have a stronger relationship to adult offspring marital satisfaction. Results showed that 56% of the variance in achieving resolution of issues from the family-of-origin was explained by the other variables in the model with the best predictor being parental marital satisfaction. Direct, indirect, and total effects of each of the independent variables were examined. Results showed no direct effect of perceived mental/emotional problems (psychopathology) in the family-of-origin on adult offspring marital satisfaction. Only the mother-child relationship quality had a direct effect on adult offspring marital satisfaction. Clinical implications for practitioners are discussed. This study helps practitioners know how to help a client find resolution to issues stemming from perceived family-of-origin mental/emotional problems. This study also shows that focusing on current interpersonal processes and skills that may be part of achieving resolution is more likely to help a couple with marital problems than focusing on negative effects from the family-of-origin. Future research should focus on exploring the applicability of this model to different variables such as gender, race, income levels, etc. Future research models should also incorporate both historical and contemporary factors to help determine the direct effects of these variables on adult offspring relationship satisfaction.