Speaker
Presentation in English
MARIAN BAKERMANS-KRANENBURG
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY. NETHERLANDS
Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg obtained her PhD in Child and Family Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She is currently a full professor at ISPA Lisbon and San Sebastian University, Chile. She obtained an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lund, Sweden, in 2017, and is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and Member of the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) since 2012.
Her research focuses on attachment and emotion regulation in parents and their children, with special emphasis on neurobiological processes in parenting, attachment, and development. She is interested in the interplay between nature and nurture, including hormonal correlates of parenting, and interventions. She is one of the developers of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline, that has been tested for its effectiveness in more than 25 RCTs and is broadly used to support families. With an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council she examined behavioral, neural, and hormonal changes in men in the transition to fatherhood, including a series of RCTs with behavioral and hormonal interventions.
Another interest of her is promoting de-institutionalization and the transition to family-based care in all parts of the world for as many children as possible. She has been on Thomson Reuters’ list of 1% most highly cited researchers each year since 2016.
The Power of Parenting
Although we live in the genomic era, the power of parenting should not be underestimated. Parenting does matter, and makes a big difference in children’s lives, for better and for worse. This raises two questions:
(1) Can parents be complimented if all goes well, and blamed for their children’s mental problems or lack of adaptation?
(2) How can we most effectively support parents when they need such support?
In this presentation, I will discuss psychological, behavioral, and neurobiological aspects of sensitive parenting, and influences on parenting varying from their own childhood (micro level) to the socio-cultural context (macro level).
Fortunately, parenting is not set in stone, and meta-analytic evidence for successful parenting support programs is available. One of those programs, Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline, will be discussed. The working ingredients of this intervention may be inspiring for everyone working with parents and children.
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