Childhood

In a Slovenian longitudinal study, we examined models of personality vulnerability (personality increases the risk of developing adaptation) and personality scarring (problems in adaptation lead to changes in personality) in children during the transition from kindergarten to school (N = 240; 47% boys). Educators reported on the personality characteristics of five-year-old children and indicators of their social adjustment (social competence, internalizing behavior and externalizing behavior). A year later, the same characteristics of these children were assessed by teachers in the 1st grade of the school. Taking into account the simultaneous connections between personality traits and social adjustment in kindergarten/school and the relative temporal stability of personality traits and characteristics of social adjustment between the ages of five and six, we found support for the vulnerability model for social competence, i.e. low levels of extraversion and conscientiousness and neuroticism in five-year-olds increase the risk of social competence problems a year later, whereas earlier social competence problems do not contribute to the later expression of these traits. Similarly, low levels of extraversion and conscientiousness at age five predicted internalizing problems at age six, but problems at age five did not predict changes in personality traits. Furthermore, internalizing problems were bidirectionally associated with neuroticism (consistent with the vulnerability-scarring model), as earlier problems also predicted increases in neuroticism. We also found supported both models for externalizing problems. Children’s initially assessed low levels of agreeableness significantly increased the likelihood of later externalizing problems, while greater levels of externalizing problems at age five predicted further declines in agreeableness. Predictive associations were the same for boys and girls. Based on the findings, we derive suggestions for psychological practice.

Literature:

Zupančič, M., Podlesek, A. in Kavčič, T. (2018) Child personality – adjustment associations at the transition from kindergarten to school: Evaluating the vulnerability and the scar model. Child Indicators Research,11(1), 97-116. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12187-016-9423-x. DOI: 10.1007/s12187-016-9423-x. Priznanje ARRS Odlični v znanosti na področju družboslovja 2019

Multiple attachment
As I focused mainly on the development of the child’s attachment to the mother, father, kindergarten teacher and school teacher in previous monographs, in Multiple attachments, I, based on my own research and that of other authors, focus on  siblings, peers, foster and adoptive parents, grandparents, animals, partners, places and activities as objects of attachment, as they satisfy the basic criteria of attachment. These criteria include the search for closeness with the attachment object, the attachment object as a safe haven and a safe base for exploration, and unfavorable emotions upon separation or loss of the attachment object. I also showed that we can attach to several objects at the same time and that a secure attachment to one object does not always replace an unsafe attachment to another object.


Literature:

Cugmas, Z. (2020). Večkratna navezanost. i2. 

In several studies, we studied the characteristics of early speech development in infants, toddlers and children, as well as protective factors and risk factors for speech development. Speech was assessed in different ways and with different approaches, namely through observation in the natural environment, through parent assessments and through various standardized developmental tests (e.g. for assessing vocabulary, grammar, meta-language and storytelling). In connection with the development of speech, we also studied the development and factors of early or emerging literacy.

We found out that:

-the developmental periods of infancy and toddlerhood are periods of great and rapid developmental changes in speech development, as the range of vocabulary and the grammatical structure of speech develop very quickly up to the age of three and are significantly connected to each other. At the same time, there are large individual differences between babies and toddlers of the same age, both in the speed and pattern of speech development;

-during the period of early and middle childhood, significant developmental changes occur in the ability to tell a story. Children’s stories start becoming longer, more grammatically complex, and above all more complete in terms of content,

-There exist important differences in the development of speech between girls and boys , which depend on the age of the children and also on the approaches to the assessment of speech,

-factors of the family environment have a significant effect on various areas of speech development. An important role in children’s speech development is primarily played by parents’ education and their knowledge of child development; the quality and frequency of joint reading by parents and children; the age at which the parents started reading to the child; a symbolically rich environment (e.g. the number of books, visiting the library and puppet shows); involving parents in a symbolic game with the child.

-in the preschool period, early or children’s nascent literacy, which professionals in the kindergarten can further encourage with dedicated and high-quality incentives.

-a quality kindergarten has a significant effect on children’s speech and early literacy development. Early participation in kindergarten is an important protective factor for the speech of children who come from a less stimulating family environment.

Literature:

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, HACIN BEYAZOGLU, Kaja, FEKONJA, Urška. The quality of mother-child shared reading : its relations to child’s storytelling and home literacy environment. Early child development and care. 2019, vol. 189, no. 7, str. 1135-1146, tabeli. ISSN 1476-8275. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004430.2017.1369975, DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2017.1369975.

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, FEKONJA, Urška. Zgodnji govorni razvoj : varovalni in dejavniki tveganja v družinskem okolju = Early language development : protective and risk factors of family environment. Javno zdravje. 2019, 2, str. 1-13, ilustr. ISSN 2591-0906. http://www.nijz.si/sites/www.nijz.si/files/uploaded/marjanovic_umek_et_al._jz_2019_02.pdf.

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, FEKONJA, Urška, HACIN BEYAZOGLU, Kaja. Dodatni program za spodbujanje zgodnje pismenosti v vrtcu : kratkoročni in dolgoročni učinki = Supplementary programme to support early literacy in preschool : short- and long-term outcomes. Sodobna pedagogika. okt. 2019, letn. 70 = 136, št. 3, str. 10-23, 112-125, ilustr. ISSN 0038-0474. https://www.sodobna-pedagogika.net/clanki/03-2019_dodatni-program-za-spodbujanje-zgodnje-pismenosti-v-vrtcu-kratkorocni-in-dolgorocni-ucinki/.

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, HACIN BEYAZOGLU, Kaja, FEKONJA, Urška. Zgodnja pismenost otrok : učinek vrtčevskih in družinskih dejavnikov = Children’s early literacy : the effect of preschool and family factors. Sodobna pedagogika. mar. 2018, letn. 69 = 135, št. 1, str. 10-27, 126-144, graf. prikazi, tabele. ISSN 0038-0474. 

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, FEKONJA, Urška. Gender differences in childrenʼs language : a meta-analysis of Slovenian studies. CEPS journal : Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal. 2017, vol. 7, no. 2, str. 97-111, graf. prikaz, tabela. ISSN 1855-9719. http://www.cepsj.si/pdfs/cepsj_7_2/pp_97-111.pdf. 

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, FEKONJA, Urška, SOČAN, Gregor. Early vocabulary, parental education, and the frequency of shared reading as predictors of toddler’s vocabulary and grammar at age 2;7 : a Slovenian longitudinal CDI study. Journal of child language. Mar. 2017, vol. 44, iss. 2, str. 457-479, graf. prikazi. ISSN 1469-7602. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-child-language/article/div-classtitleearly-vocabulary-parental-education-and-the-frequency-of-shared-reading-as-predictors-of-toddlerandaposs-vocabulary-and-grammar-at-age-27-a-slovenian-longitudinal-cdi-studya-hrefcor1-ref-typecorrespadiv/6D09326FABDB8D499B41E78AE85D8624, DOI: 10.1017/S0305000916000167. 

MARJANOVIČ UMEK, Ljubica, FEKONJA, Urška. The roles of child gender and parental knowledge of child development in parent-child interactive play. Sex roles. 2017, vol. 77, iss. 7/8, str. 496-509, tabele. ISSN 0360-0025. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11199-016-0734-7.pdf, DOI: 10.1007/s11199-016-0734-7.