PURPOSE OF STUDY: Nearly 80% of children experience the birth of a baby sibling and many parents express concerns about how their first child will adjust to the new baby. Yet, few studies address this important developmental transition. The Baby Sibling study is designed to identify early indicators of child behavior before the birth that will provide us with a glimpse into how children might inte
ract with the baby sibling after the birth.To do this, we will have mothers bring their firstborn child to the UM Child and Family Development lab to interact with a life-size baby doll and videotape how your child interacts with you and the baby doll. Once your baby is born, we will visit you in your home when your baby is around 1 month old and videotape how your child interacts with you and your new baby. Do children interact with the baby doll and the baby sibling differently or similarly? With the information obtained from this research, our goal is to help future parents learn how to identify problem behaviors that might help children adjust better to the birth of a baby sibling. PROCEDURES: The research will examine whether your child’s behavior with a life-size babydoll before the birth will predict your child’s behavior with their actual baby sibling after the birth. There are two phases to this research. The first begins in the last trimester of the mother’s pregnancy with the second child. We will invite you and your firstborn to the UM Child and Family Development lab to participate in a series of activities in our lab nursery and playroom. Here, you will be asked at different times to interact with a life-size baby doll that will be programed to coo some times, and cry at other times. During these sessions, we will videotape your child as she/he interacts with you and the baby doll so we can later watch these tapes to find behavioral patterns that might indicate jealousy. After your baby is born, we will visit you in your home and watch you interact with your 1-month-old baby and videotape these sessions to see how your child interacts with you and the new baby sibling. The study will be explained to you by the project coordinator during phone calls as well as face-to-face during the lab visit. Written consent will be obtained from mothers authorizing both you and your children’s participation during the lab visit before you engage in any study activity. You will also be asked to complete questionnaires and interviews, either during the visits or online. We estimate that each visit, lab and home, will last approximately 2 hours. STUDY CRITERIA: Families fitting the following criteria will be eligible for participation in the study: (1) a healthy woman expecting her second child, with (2) a firstborn child between the ages of 18 months and 4 years, with no known physical or developmental disabilities. Any infant born with a chronic physical health problem, an identified disability, or less than 37 weeks gestational age will be excluded from participation because these infants pose additional demands on family life. CONFIDENTIALITY/PRIVACY: The privacy of each family will be guaranteed by placing only identification numbers on all interview, questionnaire, and videotaped materials collected during the course of the study and by examining the data only at a group level. No names of any family members are ever used on the materials we collect. Also, any information gathered is stored in locked research facilities at the university laboratory and stored on password-protected server monitored by University of Michigan IT staff. All information and data collected is only accessible by authorized research personnel affiliated with the study. All students and research staff having contact with a family have completed ethical training in research and the protection of human subjects information in order to protect the confidentiality of participant families. All laboratory procedures are conducted in the research wing of the Center for HumanGrowth and Development in a private waiting area and the playroom/nursery to insure the privacy of each family and only research staff affiliated with the study will be videotaping and interacting with you and your child. TERMINATION: We hope you enjoy your participation in the Baby Sibling study, but should you wish to discontinue your involvement, you are free to do so at any time. Should you desire to terminate participation in the study, you simply need to contact Dr. Volling, the Principal Investigator, at (734) 649-7341, or [email protected]., or the Project Coordinator, Yeonjee Bae at (734) 647-9748, [email protected]. RISKS/BENEFITS: Questionnaires are designed to assess different aspects of family life, such as coparenting with your partner or symptoms of depression. An inquiry into one’s family life or personal adjustment could be seen as quite personal and create discomfort for some participants. All parents are told during the consent process and reminded as you complete the questionnaires that you are free to leave unanswered any questions you do not wish to answer. Each child is also different and has their own unique personality. When you bring your child to the laboratory, they may get upset watching you interact with the baby doll or they may not. You know your child best. The lab procedure is designed to mirror what happens in everyday life with a new baby, only using a baby doll. Should you judge your child is uncomfortable and you do not wish to continue, you just need to tell us and we will stop the visit. With respect to the benefits of the study, most children and parents enjoy participating in research on children’s development. Families often enjoy participating in research of this kind because the procedures involve parents and children interacting in our playroom/nursery lab and their own homes.Parents are often eager to learn more about children’s development, and children are presented with toys and gifts as a thank you. The knowledge we acquire from this research will allow us to offer recommendations to future parents having a second child that will benefit young children’s development. Each family will be compensated $25 for their participation in the lab and home visit for a total of $50.In the end, all families will receive a final report summarizing the findings from the research program. PERIOD OF TIME REQUIRED: Parents and their firstborn children will participate in two sessions, first during a lab visit at the UM and the second in their homes. Each visit is expected to take approximately 2 hours.Further questions concerning the study can be directed to Dr. Brenda Volling at the University of Michigan: (734) 649-7341 or [email protected], or to the project coordinator, Yeonjee Bae, (734) 647-9748 or [email protected].
