Growth and Risk in Infancy - Softcover

Stephen Briggs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853023981 ISBN 13: 9781853023989

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley, 1997

Synopsis

This book is based on detailed weekly observations of infants in their home environment from shortly after birth until two years. Each infant's interactions, relationships, physical, emotional and cognitive development are systematically studied. The focus of the study is on vulnerable infants, and problems in their development encountered in the course of observations are carefully assessed in terms of risk and resilience. The aims of the book are to explore, first, how far these observations can contribute to the development of a new methodology for studying infancy; second, how this approach leads to the emergence of new theoretical concepts and, third, how this study can influence professionals in the field.

The book demonstrates that these observations can combine theoretical perspectives from psychoanalysis and child development psychology and can extend both kinds of theory. Comparisons between the infants leads to the development of a theoretical model, and this is demonstrated throughout the five case studies. The findings from the study concentrate on continuity and change in infant development and how the model facilitated conceptualisations and comparisons of infant development. The book ends with considered conclusions about risk in infancy and the scope for further research.

The book will be essential for all engaged in the study of infancy, and for professionals working with infants, young children and their families.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Briggs Ph.D CQSW is Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic and Associate Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of East London. He is the author of several books, and contributed to Learning and Teaching in Social Work.

From the Back Cover

This book is based on a study of five infants in vulnerable circumstances, in which the infants were all observed weekly, in their own homes, from birth to two years. The study traces in close detail the developing relationships between the infants and their parents, paying particular attention to the qualities of emotionality in these relationships. This provides a context for understanding and assessing the infants' development and the emergent qualities of their personalities. As the infants are in vulnerable circumstances, there is a particular emphasis on evaluating how the vicissitudes of development in the context of these family relationships contribute to either risk or resilience. Taking an exploratory approach, focusing on discovery more than validation, the book assesses the contribution the approach can make to the development of new theoretical knowledge, and therefore to deepening understanding of infancy. The relationship between the infant observation method and psychoanalytic and child developmental theories of infancy provides the intellectual framework for the study.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853023981
• ISBN 13: 9781853023989
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 292