Welcome
Welcome at the web page of MINDS-Leiden! The Mother Infant Neurodevelopent Study - Leiden (MINDS-Leiden) is an initiative of the research group of prof. dr. H. Swaab at the department of clinical child and adolescent studies, Leiden University. The focus of the study is on revealing neurobiological and neurocognitive predictors of early behavior problems. In additon, the working mechanisms of a preventive intervention are investigated. The study consists of six data waves between pregnancy and four years post partum. We study a population of mothers and their firstborns from both high and low risk backgrounds. Please, find out more about us and our research by clicking at one of the blocks below.
About MINDS-Leiden
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The Mother-Infant Neurodevelopment Study – Leiden is a longitudinal study investigating:
- 1) Mechanisms through which neurobiological, neurocognitive and social-environmental factors increase risk for emotional and behavioral problems in early childhood.
- 2) Effects of an intensive homevisiting for first-time mothers with a high-risk background on child neurobiological, neurocognitive and emotional and behavioral development.
- 3) Which factors (neurobiological, neurocognitive and social-environmental) predict variation in effects of the home-visiting program on child emotional and behavioral outcomes.
A total of 275 families participate in the study, consisting of home visits at thrid trimester of pregnancy, 6 and 20 months post partum, and lab visits at 12, 30 and 45 months post partum. All assessments last about two hours and contain a variety of behavioral, cognitive and physiological measures. Central domains of the study are repeated assessments of maternal reflective functioning (T1, T4, T6) and assessment of infant emotion regulation at both behavioral and physiological levels (T2, T3, T5, T6). The sixth data wave also contains an innovative eye-tracking experiment on social attention and empathy, and a peer-peer interaction pardigm with three participants of the study. An enthousiastic team of four PhD-students and numerous graduate students keep the data collection and analyses going, in order to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the development of behavioral problems and intervention succes.
Researchers
The MINDS-Leiden research team is an interdiscplinary and international collaboration of professors, associate professors and PhD students.
Publications
Smaling, H. J. A., Huijbregts, S. C. J., van der Heijden, K. B., Van Goozen, S. H. M. and Swaab, H. (2016). Maternal reflective functioning as a multidimensional construct: differential associations with children's temperament and externalizing behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 44, 263-274. (10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.06.007)
Suurland, J., Van der Heijden, K. B., Smaling, H. J. A., Huijbregts, S. C. J., Van Goozen, S. S. H. M. and Swaab, H. (2016). Infant autonomic nervous system response and recovery: Associations with maternal risk status and infant emotion regulation. Development and Psychopathology (10.1017/S0954579416000456)
Smaling, H. J., Huijbregts, S. C., Suurland, J., Van Der Heijden, K. B., Van Goozen, S. H. M. and Swaab, H.(2015). Prenatal reflective functioning in primiparous women with a high-risk profile. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(3), 251-261. (10.1002/imhj.21506)
More information
Please find more information about our research and partners by following the links listed below
