In an effort to better understand how internalizing behaviour develops, Van der Voort, Linting, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Schoenmaker, and IJzendoom (2014) undertook to examine whether parental sensitivity during childhood affects the development of internalizing behaviour in adolescents. Internalizing behaviour has been thought to be primarily genetic, due to its high heritability as well as stability (Van der Voort et al., 2014). The researchers believed that examining these themes longitudinally would provide a better understanding of how and when internalizing behaviour in adolescence emerges (Van der Voort et al., 2014).
The purpose of this study was to …show more content…
Because the researchers were interested in assessing maternal sensitivity as an entity separate from the influence of genetics, it would be very difficult to test such a thing in an alternate way. Instead of adopted children, researchers could have looked at maternal sensitivity and its impact on stepchildren (who incidentally may be also be adopted, but the adopted children in the present study were internationally adopted children, therefore step-parenting was not a part of this …show more content…
The researchers did not state whether or not they obtained consent from the adopted participants as they grew older. However, Van der Voort et al., (2014) stated that “ethical guidelines were followed throughout the study” (p. 531). Because the methodology used established measures (e.g. questionnaires and parental-reporting), it seems unlikely that the measures posed any kind of ethical problems for the participants. Van der Voort et al., (2014) noted that of the 160 original participant families, only 3 families attrited for reasons including “lack of time, death of the adoptive mother, lack of interest, and health problems” (p. 531), indicating that the researchers likely did not attempt to coerce participants to continue. Further, no incentives (monetary or otherwise) were indicated, suggesting that participants were genuinely willing to be party to this