The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between preschool children'sschool readiness, young children's social emotional development, and teacher-studentrelationships. Of interest, was whether social-emotional competence and teacher-studentrelationships made unique contributions to young children school readiness. Participantswere 58 three and four year old children (31 boys and 27 girls) who attended 3 inner-citypreschool programs. Thirty-five percent of the sample was African American, with theremainder being Caucasian, Asian, or Hispanic. Social-emotional and teacher-studentrelationship measures collected during the year were associated with school readiness atyear's end. Children's emotional competence was assessed using child interviews.Social competence and teacher-student relationships were measured using teachersurveys.After controlling for age, bivariate correlation revealed that emotional competence and social competence were positively related to one another. Emotional competence and close teacher-student relationships were related to school readiness. Regression analyses showed the emotional competence added to the prediction of school readiness after controlling for age. Children more ready for school, were more emotionally competent. Children having close relationships with preschool teachers were also more emotionally competent.

In the first, theoretical part, Attachment Theory is summarized: terms, patterns of attachment behavior of children, adults' mental representations of attachment, attachment developement, application of Attachment Theory into psychotherapy, as well as statistical contexts. Research work then involves qualitative analysis of attachment styles in current relationships of women from shelters for mothers and children in Czech Republic; here the Current Relationship Interview (CRI) method is applied. As a result, it gives 80 % insecure (60 % dismissing, 20 % preoccupied) and 20 % secure persons. This differs significantly from standard population, where 59 % persons are identified as secure. Qualitative analysis of 19 CRI scales gives some characteristic features of relationship of such a woman, e.g., remarkable lack of love and high conflict between her parents, lacking in love with partner, infrequent or inadequate caregiving and inability to seek or accept care from partner. Secure respondents differ from insecure ones by higher rate of loving and ability to provide care, but in the total evaluation they are on borderline of attachment insecurity. The findings are discussed with respect to possibility of education of social workers and applications on work with these women, which (besides lack of existential...

Quelle relation adulte / enfant est mise en œuvre par les maîtres de maternelle contemporains ? De 1986 à 2008, au niveau prescriptif, cette relation a été de plus en plus pensée à partir du modèle de la relation enseignant / élève. Mais quid des pratiques contemporaines ? C'est que cette thèse montre que d'autres modèles de la relation adulte / enfant ont émergé au cours de l'histoire de l'école maternelle : cinq figures de l'enfant, qui consistent en autant de manières de se représenter l'enfant, ont été distinguées. Plusieurs de ces figures de l'enfant sont critiques du rapport scolaire à l'enfant, défendant par exemple un rapport à l'enfant inspiré de la psychologie de l'enfant, ou encore un rapport d'inspiration maternelle à l'enfant. Une enquête sur les pratiques contemporaines a été menée, à partir d'entretiens, d'observations dans les classes, et d'une analyse de rapports d'inspection. Cette enquête a montré qu'en continuité avec le curriculum formel, le modèle relationnel scolaire jouit d'une légitimité bien plus grande que les autres rapports possibles à l'enfant, liés à d'autres figures de l'enfant. Cette thèse explore les conséquences pédagogiques de ce primat du rapport scolaire à l'enfant (importance de la contrainte de l'enfant, déclin de l'influence de l'éducation nouvelle, apprentissages précoces mettant à l'écart de la classe certains enfants), ainsi que ses conséquences affectives (logique disciplinaire dans certaines classes, perte de légitimité du rapport affectif à l'enfant, distanciation et froideur générales par rapport au corps enfantin). L'ensemble de ces éléments contribue à la recherche sur le statut de l'enfant dans la société contemporaine, c'est-à-dire à la sociologie de l'enfance. / Which relationship between adult and child is implemented by schoolmasters in french preschool ? From 1986 to 2008, in official texts, this relationship has been more and more thought out from the relationship model between a teacher and a pupil. But what about the contemporary practices ? As a matter of fact, this thesis shows that other adult / child relationship models have come out from french preschool history : five child figures, which consist in so many child representations, have been characterized. Several child figures are critical of school relationship to the child, standig up, fo instance, for a child relationship inspired by child psychology, or for a relationship based on maternel relationship to the child. A survey on contemporary practices has been conducted from interviews, observations in classrooms, and from an analysis of inspection reports. This survey has pointed out that, connecting with formal curriculum, the school relationship model enjoys a much more important legitimacy than any other possible relationships to the child, linked to other child figures. This thesis investigates pedagogical consequences of this child school relationship primacy (importance of the child compulsion, decline of Progressive Education influence, early learnings leaving some children aside of the class), it investigates as well affective consequences (diciplinary logics in some classrooms, loss of legitimacy of the affective relationship to the child, general detachment and coldness towards children's body). These elements as a whole contribute to the research on child status in the contemporary society, that is to say to childhood sociology.

In my thesis I deal with temporary foster care where the aim of the thesis is to analyse the process of child's introduction and transition into the care of future adoptive parents and to map out the experience and opinions of both future adoptive and temporary foster parents. The partial objective is to identify the opportunities and risks of this process, focusing on the subjective experience of the research participants. In order to reach the set target a method of qualitative research was chosen, namely an interview, specifically the technique of an unstructured interview. The research was divided into two parts. In the first part of the research interviews were conducted with future adoptive parents and in the second part with temporary foster parents who had at least two children in their care. For evaluation of results a cluster analysis was used. The results of the research show that future adoptive parents have considerable reservations about the process of getting acquainted with the child; their experience regarding the actual transition of the child into their care vary. Moreover they perceive the impact of this process on the child rather negatively. Further, the research shows that most temporary foster parents do not have a negative experience with introduction and transition of the child into the care of future adoptive parents. However, the whole research has revealed many pitfalls in this process. Intended merit of this thesis lies in the fact that the results can be used as a source of information for social workers, prospective adoptive parents, temporary foster parents and for staff of support organizations or general public.

This thesis deals with consequential care after release from institutional care and relations between absence of binding person and incorporation of a young adult terminating his or her institutional care into society. The thesis focuses on institutional care, stressing its termination, it suggests changes for improvement and offers an example of good practices from Germany. Also, the thesis identifies the most serious issues of children after institutional care and describes, in detail, consequences of lack of emotional support. Utilizing case studies, the experimental part looks into whether children living in children's home can find a binding person and how presence or absence of such a person can affect their future life.

Föräldrablivandet är en process som startar redan under graviditeten, då förälderns emotionella band till sitt ofödda barn – den prenatala bindningen – har visat sig ha en betydande inverkan på barnets framtida utveckling och hälsa. Denna prenatala bindning är ett område som har tenderat att förbli ouppmärksammat i den kliniska verksamheten och delvis även inom forskningen, trots att brister i bindning har lyfts fram som bland det allvarligaste inom området. Syftet med föreliggande intervjustudie var därför att undersöka och således erhålla en ökad förståelse för psykologers upplevelse och erfarenhet av arbetet med prenatal bindning. Åtta intervjuer med åtta yrkesverksamma psykologer vid mödra- och barnhälsovårdsenheter genomfördes och analyserades med tematisk analys. Det sammantagna resultatet av analysen påvisade att det finns en samstämmighet i deltagarnas upplevelser och erfarenheter. Deltagarna uppmärksammar en brist på nationella riktlinjer för arbetet med prenatal bindning, vilket skapar en viss osäkerhet i yrkesutövandet. Denna grundas främst på ett svårtillgängligt och otillräckligt kunskapsunderlag samt att det är ett relativt okänt och oanvänt begrepp. Däremot lyfts behovet av att på ett enklare sätt kunna kommunicera kring graviditetens relationella aspekter, där begreppet prenatal bindning blir centralt. Resultaten indikerar ett behov av att på ett tydligare och mer nationellt jämlikt sätt lyfta det psykologiska perspektivet inom mödra- och barnhälsovården, där psykologprofessionen har ett viktigt bidrag utifrån sin expertis. / Becoming a parent is a process that starts during pregnancy, where the parent's emotional bond to their unborn child – the prenatal bond – has been shown to have a significant impact on the child's future development and health. Prenatal bonding is an area that has tended to remain inattentive, in clinical practice and partly also in scientific research, even though insufficient bonding has been highlighted as among the most severe in the field. The purpose of the present interview study was therefore to investigate and thus gain an increased understanding of psychologists' experience of working with prenatal bonding. Eight interviews with eight psychologists at different Maternal Health Care units were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. The result showed that there is a consistency in the participants' experiences. They draw attention to a lack of national guidelines for the work with prenatal bonding, which creates an amount of uncertainty in the health practice. This is mainly since it is a relatively unknown and unused concept, with a difficult-to-access and insufficient knowledge base. The need to be able to communicate in a simpler way about the relational aspects of pregnancy is emphasized, where the concept of prenatal bonding becomes central. The results indicate a need to raise the psychological perspective within Maternal Health Care units in a clearer and more nationally equal way, where psychologists as a profession have an important contribution based on their expertise.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo describir el vínculo afectivo entre padres e hijos, en estudiantes de universidades privadas que cambian de carrera en los primeros ciclos. Para ello, se realizó un estudio cualitativo, de diseño fenomenológico. Se aplicó la entrevista semiestructurada a 12 participantes, divididos en cuatro núcleos familiares, conformados por un padre, una madre y el o la estudiante. Además, se realizó un análisis de contenido a la información recolectada. Los resultados demostraron que ante el cambio de carrera algunos padres se involucraron más de lo que sus hijos perciben como necesario, y esto limitó su autonomía para elegir la carrera. Por otro lado, otros padres acompañaron desde el diálogo y la escucha, lo cual fomentó la libertad de elección de los hijos y promueve sentimientos de seguridad. Asimismo, se evidenció que el estado emocional de los padres influenció directamente en los recursos del hijo para afrontar el cambio, tanto de forma positiva como negativa. Por último, se encontró que el cambio de carrera podría originarse, en parte, debido a procesos inconscientes que se ponen en juego en el vínculo entre padres e hijos. / The purpose of this research was to describe the emotional bond between parents and their children, in private university students who change majors in the first semesters. For this, a qualitative study was carried out, with a phenomenological design, using an in-depth interview for each of the participants, as a data collection technique. In addition, there were 12 participants, divided into four family systems which were composed of a father, a mother and the student. A content analysis was executed. Results showed that, when changing majors, some parents were overly-involved in the process, limiting the student's sense of autonomy. On the other hand, some parents established an open dialogue, promoting the student’s liberty of choice and enabling feelings of security in them. The parents' emotional state had a direct influence, both positive and negative, on the student’s ability to face the challenges related to the process. Finally, it is suggested that changing majors could be, partially, a result of the unconscious processes that occur in the parent-student bonding dynamic. / Tesis