Center for the Study of Child Development

המרכז לחקר התפתחות הילד

المركز لبحث تطور الطفل

Prof. David Oppenheim, Center Head

פרופ' דוד אופנהיים, ראש המרכז

Welcome! Our Center includes a group of researchers and practitioners devoted to the study of children and their families, and the application of this knowledge in the "real world". We have a deep commitment to generating new scientific knowledge at the highest standard, and to disseminating and applying this knowledge. While our areas of research are diverse, we share a common desire to improve the development of all children: Children of all ages, from a variety of sociocultural backgrounds, typically developing or with special needs, and reared in advantaged backgrounds or challenged by environmental risk.

We were pleased to host Prof. Jonathan Green, Prof. Avshalom Caspi and Prof. Terrie Moffit in our center.

Link to Prof. Green's talk and abstract.

Link to Prof. Caspi and Moffit's talk.

Latest Publications

2024

Dagan, O., Schuengel, C., Verhage, M. L., Madigan, S., Roisman, G. I., Bernard, K., ... & Volling, B. L. (2024). Configurations of mother–child and father–child attachment relationships as predictors of child language competence: An individual participant data meta‐analysis. Child development, 95(1), 50-69. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13998 . View

Steffan, A., Zimmer, L., Arias‐Trejo, N., Bohn, M., Dal Ben, R., Flores‐Coronado, M. A., ... & Schuwerk, T. (2024). Validation of an open source, remote web‐based eye‐tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood. Infancy, 29(1), 31-55. DOI:10.1111/infa.12564   Oct2023

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/infa.12564 View

2023

Aravena-Bravo, P., Cristia, A., Garcia, R., Kotera, H., Nicolas, R. K., Laranjo, R., ... & Woon, F. T. (2023). Towards diversifying early language development research: First truly global international summer/winter school on language acquisition (/L+/) 2021. Journal of Cognition and Development, DOI:10.1080/15248372.2023.2231083  Jul 2023

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15248372.2023.2231083

DOI:10.31219/osf.io/a3dy8 View


Ariav-Paraira, I., Oppenheim, D., & Sagi-Schwartz., A., & Zreik, G. (2023). Disrupted Maternal Communication and Disorganized Attachment in the Arab Society in Israel. Infant Mental Health Journal, 44(3), 335-347. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.22047 View

Dolev, S., Sher-Censor, E., Zach, E. & Shalem Gan-Or, M. (2023). Teacher-child one-on-one playtime: Teachers’ non-intrusiveness predicts developmental gains of children with developmental delay. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 136, 104478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104487 PMID: 36958126. View

Feniger‐Schaal, R., Stern, A., & Elizarov, E. (2023). The effect of medical/therapeutic clowns on the playfulness of children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2023; 36(1), 186–195. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jar.13049   

https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13049  View


Golan, M., Shkara, M. A., & Havron, N. (2023). Children infer the meaning of novel verbs through morphological bootstrapping. 

https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xk8eu

https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/xk8eu View

Havron, N., de Carvalho, A., Babineau, M., Barbir, M., Dautriche, I., & Christophe, A. (2023) There might be more to being pragmatic about syntactic bootstrapping: A look at person and prosody in naturalistic child-directed speech. Journal of Child Language, 50, 1074-1078.  DOI:10.1017/S0305000923000181

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36891934/ View


Keisari, S., Feniger-Schaal, R., Butler, J. D., Sajnani, N., Golan, N., & Orkibi, H. (2023). Loss, Adaptation and Growth: The Experiences of Creative Arts Therapists during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 82,  101983, 1-11. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2022.101983 View


Kosie, J., Zettersten, M., Abu-Zhaya, R., Amso, D., Babineau, M., Baumgartne, H., ... & Casey, Z. (2023). ManyBabies 5: A large-scale investigation of the proposed shift from familiarity preference to novelty preference in infant looking time. Jan 2023. DOI:10.31234/osf.io/ck3vd

https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ck3vd View


Moshe, S., Oppenheim, D., Slonim, M., Hamburger, L., Maccabi, Y., & Yirmiya, N. (2023). Positive and challenging themes in parents’ perceptions of their relationships with their child with autism: Comparison between mothers and fathers. Autism, 13623613231182513 View


Opie, J. E., Booth, A. T., Rossen, L., Fivaz‐Depeursinge, E., Duschinsky, R., Newman, L., ... & McHale, J. P. (2023). Initiating the dialogue between infant mental health and family therapy: a qualitative inquiry and recommendations. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 44(4), 412-439. https://doi.org/10.1002/anzf.1569. View

 

Oppenheim, D., Koren-Karie, N., Hamburger, L., Maccabi, Y., Slonim, M., & Yirmiya, N. (2023). Parental insightfulness is associated with cooperative interactions in families of preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 64(9), 1359-1368. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13788. Online ahead of print. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcpp.13788   View


Serur, Y., Sher-Censor, E., Frumer, D., Daon, K., Sobol Havia, D., Weinberger, R., Shulman, C., & Gothelf, D. (2023). Parental Expressed Emotion and behavioral problems in young children with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and Idiopathic Autism Spectrum Disorder. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 54(4), 1085-1093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01310-7 View


Yuval-Adler, S. & Oppenheim, D. (2023). The contribution of mother-father-child interactions to children’s emotion narratives. Social Development, 32(1), 299–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12642 View

 

2022

 Ariav-Paraira, I., Oppenheim, D., and Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2022). Disrupted Affective Communication Characterizes Mothers of Infants with Disorganized but also Ambivalent Attachments: An Israeli study. Child Development, 93(1), e59-e70. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13679. Epub 2021 Oct 1. View

 

Ariav-Paraira, I., Oppenheim, D., & Sagi-Schwartz., A. (2022). The combined contribution of maternal sensitivity and disrupted affective communication to infant attachment in an Israeli Sample. Attachment and Human Development, 1-18. DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2022.2136724. View 

 

Babineau, M., Havron, N., de Carvalho, A., Dautriche, I. & Christophe, A. (2022) Learning to predict: Before and beyond the syntactic bootstrapper. Language Acquisition, 30(3-4), 337-360. https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2022.2078211

View


Bergmann, C., et al., (2022). Young children’s screen time during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 12 countries. Scientific Reports, 12, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05840-5  View

 

Cohen, L., Sher-Censor, E., Oppenheim, D., Dassa, A., Ayalon, L., & Palgi, Y. (2022). Emotional availability in dyads of nursing aide - person with dementia: Old tool, new perspective. Dementia, 21(3), 882-898. https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012211065396  View

 

Cohen, L., Sher-Censor, E., Oppenheim, D., Dassa, A., Ayalon, L., & Palgi, Y. (2022). Nursing aides’ mentalization, expressed emotion, and observed interaction with residents with dementia: A quasi-experimental study. Geriatric Nursing, 45, 100-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2022.03.002. View

 

Cohen, L., Sher-Censor, E., & Palgi, Y. (2022). "Video-Feedback" Intervention Aiming to Elevate Nursing Aide's Sensitivity Toward Their Residents with Dementia: Content Validity Using an Expert Panel. Gerontology and Geriatrics, 3, 1-24. (In Hebrew).

 

Charpentier, Mora, S., Bastianoni, C., Koren-Karie, N., Cavanna, M., and Bizzi, F. (2022). Parental mentalizing during middle-childhood: how is the adoption of a reflective stance associated with child’s psycho-logical outcomes? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 19(10):6205. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19106205. PMID: 35627742 PMCID: PMC9140343 View


Cristia, A., Farabolini, G., Scaff, C., Havron, N., & Stieglitz, J. (2022). Correction: Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane’. Plos one, 17(9), e0274528. SEP2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274528

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274528

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237702.]. View

 

Dagan, O., et al. (2022). Configurations of Mother-Child and Father-Child Attachment Relationships as Predictors of Child Language Competence: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis. August 2022. New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development,2021, 67-94. DOI:10.1002/cad.20450

DOI:10.31234/osf.io/ts4hq https://psyarxiv.com/ts4hq/ View

 

Dolev, S. (2022). The development of the self-concept. 387-395. In Dolev, S., Fridman, A., Shany, Y. & Dror, O. (Eds.). Birth to three childhood educators: practical, pedagogic and theoretical aspects. The Israeli Institute of Early Childhood Education. (Hebrew) https://www.oranim.ac.il/sites/heb/content/kidum/institute/m-h.pdf

View

Dolev, S. & Fridman, A. (2022). Development – An introduction. 338-340. In Dolev, S., Fridman, A., Shany, Y. & Dror, O. (Eds.). Birth to three childhood educators: practical, pedagogic and theoretical aspects. The Israeli Institute of Early Childhood Education. (Hebrew) https://www.oranim.ac.il/sites/heb/content/kidum/institute/m-h.pdf View

 

Feniger-Shaal, R., & Koren-Karie, N. (2022). Moving with you: linking attachment and bodily expression, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 80, 101950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2022.101950 View

 

Feniger-Schaal, R., Orkibi, H., Keisari, S., Sajnani, N. L., & Butler, J. D. (2022). Shifting to tele-creative arts therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic: An international study on helpful and challenging factors. The Arts in psychotherapy, 78, 101898. DOI: 10.1016/j.aip.2022.101898 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35221415/ View


Forslund, T.,….Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2022) Attachment goes to court: child protection and custody issues. Attachment & Human Development, 24(1), 1-52. https://doi: 10.1080/14616734.2020.1840762 (There are also Polish, French, Spanish, and Italian versions) View 

 

Gavron, T., Feniger-Schaal, R., & Peretz, A. (2022). Relationship Aspects of Mothers and Their Adolescents with Intellectual Disability as Expressed through the Joint Painting Procedure. Children, 9(6), 922. DOI: 10.3390/children9060922

View

 

Gurgand, L., Lamarque, L., Havron, N., Y, J., Ramus, F., & Peyre, H. (2022). The Influence of Sibship Composition on Language Development at Age 2 years in the ELFE Birth Cohort Study. Developmental Science https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/z4wxr

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.13356 View

 

Havron, N. (2022) Why not both? Using multiple measures to improve reliability in infant studies. Infant and Child Development,31(5), e2336. doi: 10.1002/icd.2336

View

Havron, N., Lovcevic, I., & Tsuji, S. (2022). The Effect of Older Sibling, Postnatal Maternal Stress, and Household Factors on Language Development in Two- to Four-Year-Old Children. Developmental Psychology. 58(11):2096-2113. doi: 10.1037/dev0001417. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001417 View

 

Havron, N., Scaff, S., Hitczenko, K., & Cristia, A. (2022). Community-set goals are needed to increase diversity in language acquisition research: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia. First Language. 42(6), 765-769. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221096087  View

 

Kartushina, N., ...Havron, N., … Mayor, J. (2022). COVID-19 first lockdown as a unique window into language acquisition: What you do (with your child) matters. Language Development Research.  https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5ejwu View

 

Keisari, S., Feniger-Schaal, R., Palgi, Y., Golland, Y., Gesser-Edelsburg, A., & Ben-David, B. (2022). Synchrony in old age: Playing the mirror game improves cognitive performance. Clinical Gerontologist, 45(2), 312-326. DOI: 10.1080/07317115.2020.1799131  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32762289/ View

 

Lev-Ancav, O., Sher-Censor, E., Einspieler, C., Achamyelesh Jacobi, O., Daube Fishman, G., & Benni-Shrem, S. (2022). Spontaneous movements, motor milestones and temperament of preterm infants: Associations with mother-infant attunement. Infancy, 27(2), 412–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12451 View

 

Levert-Levitt, E., Shapira, G., Sragovich, Shomron, N., Lam, J. C. K., Li, V.O. K., Heimesaat, M.M., Bereswill, S., Ben Yehuda, A., Sagi-Schwartz, A., Solomon, Z., & Gozes, I. (2022). Oral microbiota signatures in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) veterans. Molecular Psychiatry, 27, 4590-4598. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01704-6 .‏ View

 

Loukatou, G., Scaff, C., Demuth, K., Cristia, A., & Havron, N. (2022). Child-directed and overheard input from different speakers in two distinct cultures. Journal of Child Language, 49(6), 1173-1192. doi:10.1017/S0305000921000623

Link to preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qm3dp  View 

 

Oppenheim, D., Koren-Karie, N., & Joels, T. (2022). Attachment to fathers and mothers in pre-schoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Attachment & Human Development, 24(5), 645–658.  PMID: 35469537 

DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2022.2068624  View

 

Overbeek, M.M., Koren-Karie, N., Schipper, J.C. de, Delft, I. van & Schuengel, C. (2022). Quality of mother-child dialogue about emotional events, coping and posttraumatic stress symptoms among children exposed to interpersonal trauma. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 15(2), 201-208. 

doi: 10.1007/s40653-021-00381-x. eCollection 2022 Jun. View


Piot, L., Havron, N., & Cristia, A. (2022). Socioeconomic status correlates with measures of Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system: a meta-analysis. Journal of Child Language, 49, 1037-1051. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000441 View

 

Pulchook, E., Gur Yaish, N., Sher-Censor, E., & Ziv, Y. (2022). Mothers’ Rejection Sensitivity and Their Children’s Cognitions Regarding Peer Rejection and Social Self-Perception. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(6), 1792-1809.   https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221131077 View

 

River, L. M., Narayan, A. J., Castillo, M. L., Sher-Censor, E., & Lieberman, A. F. (2022). Narrative coherence about romantic partners during pregnancy: Associations with childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptoms. Journal of Family Violence, 38(4), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00404-7. View

 

Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2022). Kann ein extremes Trauma weitergegeben werden? Eine Drei-Generationen-Studie mit Holocaust-Überlebenden und ihren Nachkommen. In: K. H. Brisch (Hrsg.), Trauma und Bindung zwischen den Generationen. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, S. 178–199 (German version).

 

Shahar-Lahav, R., Sher-Censor, E., & Hebel, O. (2022). Emotional availability in dyads of mothers and children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 who use augmentative and alternative communication. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 38 (3), 161-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/07434618.2022.2124928

View


Sher-Censor, E., & Shaher-Lahav, R. (2022). Parents’ resolution of their child’s diagnosis: A systematic review. Attachment and Human Development. 24(5) 580-604. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2022.2034899 . View

 

Stolarski, E., Cohen, D., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2022). Caregivers' sensitive responsiveness and children's involvement in early care settings. Hokrim @ Hagil Harach (Researchers @ Early Childhood), 17, 29-56 (in Hebrew).  


Zadok Boneh, M., Feniger-Schaal, R., Aviram Bivas, t., & Danial-Saad, A. (2022). Teachers under stress during the COVID-19: cultural differences. Teachers and Teaching, 28(2), 164-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2021.2017275

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/13540602.2021.2017275?needAccess=true&role=button View

 

Zreik, G., Golden, D., & Oppenheim, D. (2022). Challenges of Mothering in Extended Families: The Case of Palestinian Mothers in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(6), 626–642. View

Contact us!

Phone: +972-4-8240534

E-Mail: Childdev@psy.haifa.ac.il

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/389248697799860