The study aimed at exploring certain aspects of the development of children born from pregnancies affected by the Vanishing Twin Syndrome, a specific kind of early spontaneous pregnancy reduction. Specifically, the children’s motory activity and the parent-child relationship, with particular attention to parental perception, were investigated. The sample consisted of 53 children, aged between 1 and 11 years, encountered at the Centre for Sterility of the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova in Reggio Emilia. Through telephone interviews, information was gathered on the socioanagraphical data, the pregnancy, the development of the children and the quality of their school experiences. Furthermore, the motory scale of QUIT (Italian Questionnaires of Temperament, Axia, 2002) was administered, to measure the children’s motory activity along with the Vulnerable Child Scale (Forsyth et al., 1996) to measure parental perception of the children’s vulnerability. The data show that the ‘survived’ children have a significantly lower motory activity compared to the Italian population, they have a high incidence of scholastic initial problems, problems predominantly connected to separation from parents. The parents, moreover, show an extremely low perception of vulnerability in the ‘survived’ child, in contrast with literature, according to which a higher perception would be expected. This perception of ‘invulnerability’ in the ‘survived’ children, we hypothesize, could be a defence against the cumulative traumas of infertility and the co-twin’s death; associated to the difficulties in separation found within the parent-child relationship, it could favor an ambiguity which thwarts the development of independence, the processes of individuation and of learning.
De Pascalis L.L. D., Monti F., Fagandini P., Agostini F., Blickstein I., La Sala G.B (2007). Vanishing Twin Syndrome And Development Of The Survived Twin.
Vanishing Twin Syndrome And Development Of The Survived Twin
De Pascalis L. L. D.;MONTI, FIORELLA;AGOSTINI, FRANCESCA;
2007
Abstract
The study aimed at exploring certain aspects of the development of children born from pregnancies affected by the Vanishing Twin Syndrome, a specific kind of early spontaneous pregnancy reduction. Specifically, the children’s motory activity and the parent-child relationship, with particular attention to parental perception, were investigated. The sample consisted of 53 children, aged between 1 and 11 years, encountered at the Centre for Sterility of the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova in Reggio Emilia. Through telephone interviews, information was gathered on the socioanagraphical data, the pregnancy, the development of the children and the quality of their school experiences. Furthermore, the motory scale of QUIT (Italian Questionnaires of Temperament, Axia, 2002) was administered, to measure the children’s motory activity along with the Vulnerable Child Scale (Forsyth et al., 1996) to measure parental perception of the children’s vulnerability. The data show that the ‘survived’ children have a significantly lower motory activity compared to the Italian population, they have a high incidence of scholastic initial problems, problems predominantly connected to separation from parents. The parents, moreover, show an extremely low perception of vulnerability in the ‘survived’ child, in contrast with literature, according to which a higher perception would be expected. This perception of ‘invulnerability’ in the ‘survived’ children, we hypothesize, could be a defence against the cumulative traumas of infertility and the co-twin’s death; associated to the difficulties in separation found within the parent-child relationship, it could favor an ambiguity which thwarts the development of independence, the processes of individuation and of learning.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
