PhD Student: John Williams; Partner: The National Children’s Bureau; Supervisors: Prof. Andrew Bremner and Dr. Andrew Surtees; School of Psychology
This PhD project will examine neurodevelopmental and sensory processing differences in parent–child relationships in the early years. Parent–child relationships are established and developed during these years of significant change and challenge. However, little is known about how individual differences of diverse parent–child dyads shape the early years. Neurodiversity is natural. Neurodivergence occurs in the context of pressures for normality.
A key aim of this project is to inform early years parenting guidance more suitable for neurodivergent parent–child dyads, working with the National Children’s Bureau to examine their gold standard early years parenting guidance: “Your Baby and You” (YBY). We will examine the acceptability and utility of YBY for diverse parent–child dyads in this project’s final study, integrating findings from the preceding studies which will build on my recent MSc research.
My MSc project investigated the latent factor structures theorised to underly parent–reported individual differences reflecting neurodiversity among 248 parent–infant dyads recruited online from the UK or USA. There is growing research interest in a transdiagnostic “general neurodiversity factor” underlying variation across all neurodevelopmental conditions. A general neurodiversity factor has been indicated to underly broader phenotype neurodiversity among adults. My MSc findings support the existence of a general neurodiversity factor from infancy.
To consider what may be represented by a general neurodiversity factor, I am studying methods benefiting neurodiversity research. To understand the societal pressures for homogeneity in which neurodivergence can exist, I am studying intersectionality as critical social theory. We are considering our approach to upcoming factor analytic studies and where we may look to identify indicated latent factors (i.e., at societal versus biological levels). This project will begin with a literature review to inform our approach.