Introduction
The idea that behavioral interventions on the activity patterns of babies can affect the parent-child bond and cause emotional problems both to the parent and to the baby is a matter of concern in the modern world. Many studies have been done in this area, especially with concern to letting the baby cry out as one of the interventions, producing different results and advocating for one or the other. This study narrows down to find out if behavioral interventions to sleep and/or wakefulness of babies can affect parent-child bonds or cause emotional problems to either, in the present and in the future.
Presentation of an Argument and Description of the Scholarly Source
The scholarly article is titled Behavioral Interventions for Infant Sleep Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial. It is written by Gradisar et al. and appears in the journal Pediatrics . It is available online at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2016/05/21/peds.2015-1486 . The article argues against the idea that behavioral interventions among infants affect their emotional health and cause a breakdown in parent-child relationship (Gradisar, et al., 2016) . The researcher did a study using a sample of 43 infants and their parents. They used observation, questionnaires, and interviews to do the test. The main argument presented in the article is that behavioral interventions in infant sleep patterns have their effects on the baby, yet these effects have no adverse or long term effects on child behavior and emotions, and parent-child bond.
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Evaluation of the Quality of the Reasoning in the Scholarly Source
The study uses scientific reasoning backed by research and a study of a sample population. It uses results and findings of a controlled experiment and the finding s of other reliable sources and scholars to support the premises upon which their conclusion rests. The researchers did a survey using a sample of 43 infants with an average age of about 10 years, with 63% of them being girls. The study also involved their parents, some of whom would receive graduated extinction, according to a random assignment. The parents would contact the researchers in responding to advertisements at child care centers, private health centers, and pediatric outpatient clinics, among others. They also filled a questionnaire and did an interview, all in an effort to capture and evaluate the health and sleep history of the child. The parents and the children were also involved in a procedure to test the child-parent bond before, during, and after the intervention. The study compares findings with those of other peer reviewed studies done by other researchers who are an authority in the field of neuroscience and human development. The article, therefore, supports the premises upon which the conclusion is based with concrete, reliable, and adequate research.
Presentation of an Opposing Argument and Evaluation of Arguments in Non-Scholarly and Scholarly Article
Darcia, in her article Dangers of crying it out, presents an opposing argument. She argues that behavioral interventions (Letting children to cry it out) are fundamentally detrimental to their mental development, future relationships, and mother-child attachment. Neuronal interconnections are damaged (Navaez, 2011) . The premises leading to the conclusions are however not backed by concrete support and scientific research. She believes that the responsiveness of the caregiver to the infant, as written in an article by the Center for the Developing Child , which she has cited in her work, is true (Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University, 2010) . Her article lacks the professional authority that we see in the scholarly article. The reasoning quality is also relatively poor. The article, through the use of strong language, seems to appeal more to emotions than to objectivity. The target audience for this information is the general public, people who rely on the media for news and have little knowledge on the issue. It is intended to create a sense of order and unity in the society by fostering closer attention to babies and childcare. The article generalizes many elements associated with the question. It does not, for example, specify the type or time of crying like the scholarly article does. It also uses premises that are not adequately supported by reliable sources and valid data to draw a conclusion.
The scholarly article, on the other hand, uses scientifically backed reasoning to draw its inferences. It presents reliable and extensive scientific and data based support to its premises. It also cites other scholarly works in comparing its findings with those of others. It, therefore, makes a valid conclusion with the backing of study results and findings from other researchers. The article uses professional language which the common man may understand, and is consequently meant for scholars. The kind of evidence and experiments used also imply information not intended for the common audience. The article is experimental, educative, and informative, done with the objective of testing a common belief and offering the right solution. The biases involved with the study include biases orchestrated by the use of a small sample size of 43 infants which reduces its generalizability, and the contrasting of only two behavioral interventions, namely, graduated extinction, which can be equaled to letting the child cry out, and bed time fading, the equivalent of ‘gentle methods’. Other variables that could have been used in this examination include room and/or bed sharing, and parental presence.
Conclusion
The randomized controlled experiment on behavioral interventions for issues about sleep among babies established significant effects for bedtime fading and graduated extinction, the two variables of the study. Despite claims that methods that use extinction can possibly result to insecurity in parent-infant relationship, behavioral problems and emotional concerns, the results proved otherwise. The findings did not support the hypothesis, hence the conclusion that behavioral interventions have no detrimental impacts on the infant or on their family.
References
Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University. (2010). The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood . Retrieved Sep 27, 2018, from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/the-foundations-of-lifelong-health-are-built-in-early-childhood/
Gradisar, M., Jackson, K., Spurrier, N. J., Gibson, J., Whirham, J., Williams, A. S., et al. (2016, May). Behavioral Interventions for Infant Sleep Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Pediatrics .
Navaez, D. F. (2011). Dangers of “Crying It Out” . Retrieved Sep 27, 2018, from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/moral-landscapes/201112/dangers-crying-it-out
