Michael W. Yogman

Bio: Michael W. Yogman is an academic researcher from Harvard University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Postpartum depression & Low birth weight. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 36 publications receiving 1944 citations. Previous affiliations of Michael W. Yogman include Yale University & Tufts University.

The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children

Abstract: Children need to develop a variety of skill sets to optimize their development and manage toxic stress. Research demonstrates that developmentally appropriate play with parents and peers is a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function and a prosocial brain. Furthermore, play supports the formation of the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships with all caregivers that children need to thrive. Play is not frivolous: it enhances brain structure and function and promotes executive function (ie, the process of learning, rather than the content), which allow us to pursue goals and ignore distractions. When play and safe, stable, nurturing relationships are missing in a child’s life, toxic stress can disrupt the development of executive function and the learning of prosocial behavior; in the presence of childhood adversity, play becomes even more important. The mutual joy and shared communication and attunement (harmonious serve and return interactions) that parents and children can experience during play regulate the body’s stress response. This clinical report provides pediatric providers with the information they need to promote the benefits of play and and to write a prescription for play at well visits to complement reach out and read. At a time when early childhood programs are pressured to add more didactic components and less playful learning, pediatricians can play an important role in emphasizing the role of a balanced curriculum that includes the importance of playful learning for the promotion of healthy child development.

Theory and research in behavioral pediatrics

Abstract: Eight contributions address: material cocaine use and neonatal outcome; nonorganic failure to thrive; understanding and controlling violence; the role of school in prosocial development; lateralization of function; lateralized behavior organization during infancy; parent-infant interaction; and manu

Fathers’ Roles in the Care and Development of Their Children: The Role of Pediatricians

Abstract: Fathers' involvement in and influence on the health and development of their children have increased in a myriad of ways in the past 10 years and have been widely studied. The role of pediatricians in working with fathers has correspondingly increased in importance. This report reviews new studies of the epidemiology of father involvement, including nonresidential as well as residential fathers. The effects of father involvement on child outcomes are discussed within each phase of a child's development. Particular emphasis is placed on (1) fathers' involvement across childhood ages and (2) the influence of fathers' physical and mental health on their children. Implications and advice for all child health providers to encourage and support father involvement are outlined.

Father involvement and cognitive/behavioral outcomes of preterm infants.

Abstract: Objective To assess the independent effect of father involvement on intellectual and behavioral outcome of 985 low birth weight preterm infants followed longitudinally from birth to age 3 years as part of the Infant Health and Development Program. Method The sample for this study is drawn from eight urban sites, composed largely of ethnically diverse and relatively disadvantaged families. On the basis of a combined score for father's stable presence in the home and amount of play with the infant, we defined extreme groups of high-involvement fathers (33%, n = 305) and lowinvolvement fathers (16%, n = 148), with the remainder as a middle group (51%). Results Most fathers played a meaningful role as play partner with their high-risk infants. Approximately 75% of fathers were reported to play with the baby every day at 12 (peak), 24, and 36 months. Fathers who were black, younger, had teenage mothers as companions, or were from low-income families were less involved with their infants. For black fathers, low family income was significantly associated with low father involvement. Within the black ethnic subgroup only, higher father involvement was associated with improved cognitive outcome. Mean IQ for the high-involvement subgroup was 6.00 points higher than for the low-involvement group even after adjusting for family income, neonatal health, treatment group status, and paternal age. Conclusion: Father involvement enhances cognitive outcome in black families and may have implications for intervention.

Recognition-by-Components: A Theory of Human Image Understanding.

Abstract: The perceptual recognition of objects is conceptualized to be a process in which the image of the input is segmented at regions of deep concavity into an arrangement of simple geometric components, such as blocks, cylinders, wedges, and cones. The fundamental assumption of the proposed theory, recognition-by-components (RBC), is that a modest set of generalized-cone components, called geons (N £ 36), can be derived from contrasts of five readily detectable properties of edges in a two-dimensiona l image: curvature, collinearity, symmetry, parallelism, and cotermination. The detection of these properties is generally invariant over viewing position an$ image quality and consequently allows robust object perception when the image is projected from a novel viewpoint or is degraded. RBC thus provides a principled account of the heretofore undecided relation between the classic principles of perceptual organization and pattern recognition: The constraints toward regularization (Pragnanz) characterize not the complete object but the object's components. Representational power derives from an allowance of free combinations of the geons. A Principle of Componential Recovery can account for the major phenomena of object recognition: If an arrangement of two or three geons can be recovered from the input, objects can be quickly recognized even when they are occluded, novel, rotated in depth, or extensively degraded. The results from experiments on the perception of briefly presented pictures by human observers provide empirical support for the theory. Any single object can project an infinity of image configurations to the retina. The orientation of the object to the viewer can vary continuously, each giving rise to a different two-dimensional projection. The object can be occluded by other objects or texture fields, as when viewed behind foliage. The object need not be presented as a full-colored textured image but instead can be a simplified line drawing. Moreover, the object can even be missing some of its parts or be a novel exemplar of its particular category. But it is only with rare exceptions that an image fails to be rapidly and readily classified, either as an instance of a familiar object category or as an instance that cannot be so classified (itself a form of classification).

CDC growth charts; United States

Abstract: Objectives—This report presents the revised growth charts for the United States. It summarizes the history of the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts, reasons for the revision, data sources and statistical procedures used, and major features of the revised charts. Methods—Data from five national health examination surveys collected from 1963 to 1994 and five supplementary data sources were combined to establish an analytic growth chart data set. A variety of statistical procedures were used to produce smoothed percentile curves for infants (from birth to 36 months) and older children (from 2 to 20 years), using a two-stage approach. Initial curve smoothing for selected major percentiles was accomplished with various parametric and nonparametric procedures. In the second stage, a normalization procedure was used to generate z-scores that closely match the smoothed percentile curves. Results—The 14 NCHS growth charts were revised and new body mass index-for-age (BMI-for-age) charts were created for boys and girls (http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts). The growth percentile curves for infants and children are based primarily on national survey data. Use of national data ensures a smooth transition from the charts for infants to those for older children. These data better represent the racial/ethnic diversity and the size and growth patterns of combined breast- and formula-fed infants in the United States. New features include addition of the 3rd and 97th percentiles for all charts and extension of all charts for children and adolescents to age 20 years. Conclusion—Created with improved data and statistical curve smoothing procedures, the United States growth charts represent an enhanced instrument to evaluate the size and growth of infants and children.

Democracy and education.

Abstract: Course Description In this course, we will explore the question of the actual and potential connections between democracy and education. Our focus of attention will be placed on a critical examination of democratic theory and its implications for the civic education roles and contributions of teachers, adult educators, community development practitioners, and community organizers. We will survey and deal critically with a range of competing conceptions of democracy, variously described as classical, republican, liberal, radical, marxist, neomarxist, pragmatist, feminist, populist, pluralist, postmodern, and/or participatory. Using narrative inquiry as a means for illuminating and interpreting contemporary practice, we will analyze the implications of different conceptions of democracy for the practical work of civic education.

Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples.

Abstract: Three studies were conducted to examine the correlates of adult attachment. In Study 1, an 18-item scale to measure adult attachment style dimensions was developed based on Kazan and Shaver's (1987) categorical measure. Factor analyses revealed three dimensions underlying this measure: the extent to which an individual is comfortable with closeness, feels he or she can depend on others, and is anxious or fearful about such things as being abandoned or unloved. Study 2 explored the relation between these attachment dimensions and working models of self and others. Attachment dimensions were found to be related to self-esteem, expressiveness, instrumentality, trust in others, beliefs about human nature, and styles of loving. Study 3 explored the role of attachment style dimensions in three aspects of ongoing dating relationships: partner matching on attachment dimensions; similarity between the attachment of one's partner and caregiving style of one's parents; and relationship quality, including communication, trust, and satisfaction. Evidence was obtained for partner matching and for similarity between one's partner and one's parents, particularly for one's opposite-sex parent. Dimensions of attachment style were strongly related to how each partner perceived the relationship, although the dimension of attachment that best predicted quality differed for men and women. For women, the extent to which their partner was comfortable with closeness was the best predictor of relationship quality, whereas the best predictor for men was the extent to which their partner was anxious about being abandoned or unloved. It is generally believed that the nature and quality of one's close relationships in adulthood are strongly influenced by affective events that took place during childhood, particularly within the child-caretaker relationship. Yet, only recently have social psychologists begun to integrate work on adult love relationships with developmental theory and research on the nature and functioning of parent-child relations (Hartup & Rubin, 1986; Kazan & Shaver, 1987;Hinde, 1979;HindeS Shaver & Hazan, 1988; Shaver, Hazan, & Bradshaw, 1988; Shaver R Weiss, 1982,1986). Of particular interest has been the extent to which a child's early attachment relationships with caretakers shape important beliefs about the self and social world, which then guide relationships in adulthood. Recently, Hazan and Shaver (1987) have used infant attachment theory (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Bowlby, 1982,1973,1980) as a framework for examining how adult love relationships are related to early parent-child interactions. The