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HANDBOOK OF PARENTING

This highly anticipated third edition of the Handbook of Parenting brings together an array of field-leading
experts who have worked in different ways toward understanding the many diverse aspects of parenting.
Contributors to the Handbook look to the most recent research and thinking to shed light on topics every
parent, professional, and policymaker wonders about. Parenting is a perennially “hot” topic. After all, everyone
who has ever lived has been parented, and the vast majority of people become parents themselves. No wonder
bookstores house shelves of “how-to” parenting books, and magazine racks in pharmacies and airports
overflow with periodicals that feature parenting advice. However, almost none of these is evidence-based.The
Handbook of Parenting is. Period. Each chapter has been written to be read and absorbed in a single sitting, and
includes historical considerations of the topic, a discussion of central issues and theory, a review of classical
and modern research, and forecasts of future directions of theory and research. Together, the five volumes in
the Handbook cover Children and Parenting, the Biology and Ecology of Parenting, Being and Becoming a
Parent, Social Conditions and Applied Parenting, and the Practice of Parenting.
Volume 1, Children and Parenting, considers parenthood as a functional status in the life cycle: Parents
protect, nurture, and teach their progeny, even if human development is more dynamic than can be determined
by parental caregiving alone.Volume 1 of the Handbook of Parenting begins with chapters concerned with how
children influence parenting. Notable are their more obvious characteristics, like child age or developmental
stage; but subtler ones, like child gender, physical state, temperament, mental ability, and other individual
differences factors, are also instrumental. The chapters in Part I, on Parenting Across the Lifespan, discuss
the unique rewards and special demands of parenting children of different ages and stages—infants, toddlers,
youngsters in middle childhood, and adolescents—as well as the modern notion of parent–child relationships
in emerging adulthood, adulthood, and old age. The chapters in Part II, on Parenting Children of Varying
Status, discuss common issues associated with parenting children of different genders and temperaments as
well as unique situations of parenting adopted and foster children and children with a variety of special needs,
such as those with extreme talent, born preterm, who are socially withdrawn or aggressive, or who fall on the
autistic spectrum, manifest intellectual disabilities, or suffer a chronic health condition.

Marc H. Bornstein holds a BA from Columbia College, MS and PhD degrees from Yale University, and
honorary doctorates from the University of Padua and University of Trento. Bornstein is President of the
Society for Research in Child Development and has held faculty positions at Princeton University and New
York University as well as academic appointments in Munich, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Bamenda,
Seoul,Trento, Santiago, Bristol, and Oxford. Bornstein is author of several children’s books, videos, and puzzles
in The Child’s World and Baby Explorer series, Editor Emeritus of Child Development and founding Editor of
Parenting: Science and Practice, and consultant for governments, foundations, universities, publishers, scientific
journals, the media, and UNICEF. He has published widely in experimental, methodological, comparative,
developmental, and cultural science as well as neuroscience, pediatrics, and aesthetics.
HANDBOOK OF PARENTING
Volume 1: Children and Parenting
Third Edition

Edited by Marc H. Bornstein


Third edition published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business


© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Marc H. Bornstein to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Laurence Erlbaum Associates 1995
Second edition published by Taylor and Francis 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-22865-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-22866-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-44084-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Marian and Harold Sackrowitz
CONTENTS

Preface to the Third Edition ix


About the Editor xiv
About the Contributors xvi

PART I
Parenting Across the Lifespan 1

1 Parenting Infants 3
Marc H. Bornstein

2 Parenting Toddlers 56
Marjolein Verhoeven, Anneloes L. van Baar, and Maja Deković

3 Parenting During Middle Childhood 81


W. Andrew Collins and Stephanie D. Madsen

4 Parenting Adolescents 111


Bart Soenens, Maarten Vansteenkiste, and Wim Beyers

5 Parenting Emerging Adults 168


Laura M. Padilla-Walker and Larry J. Nelson

6 Parent–Child Relationships in Adulthood and Old Age 191


Karen L. Fingerman, Steven H. Zarit, and Kira S. Birditt

vii
Contents

PART II
Parenting Children of Varying Status 217

7 Parenting Siblings 219


Mark E. Feinberg, Susan M. McHale, and Shawn D.Whiteman

8 Parenting Girls and Boys 258


Christia Spears Brown and Michelle Tam

9 Parenting and Temperament 288


John E. Bates, Maureen E. McQuillan, and Caroline P. Hoyniak

10 Parenting in Adoptive Families 322


Ellen E. Pinderhughes and David M. Brodzinsky

11 Foster Parenting 368


Kristin Bernard, Allison Frost, Sierra Kuzava, and Laura Perrone

12 Parenting Talented Children 398


David Henry Feldman and Mel Andrews

13 Parenting Children Born Preterm 424


Merideth Gattis

14 Parenting Behaviorally Inhibited and Socially Withdrawn Children 467


Paul D. Hastings, Kenneth H. Rubin, Kelly A. Smith, and Nicholas J.Wagner

15 Parenting Aggressive Children 496


Tina Malti, Ju-Hyun Song,Tyler Colasante, and Sebastian P. Dys

16 Parenting and Autism Spectrum Disorder 523


James B. McCauley, Peter Mundy, and Marjorie Solomon

17 Parenting Children With Intellectual Disabilities 565


Robert M. Hodapp, Ellen G. Casale, and Kelli A. Sanderson

18 Parenting Children With a Chronic Health Condition 597


Thomas G. Power, Lynnda M. Dahlquist, and Wendy Pinder

Index625

viii
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

Previous editions of the Handbook of Parenting have been called the “who’s who of the what’s what.”
This third edition of the Handbook appears at a time that is momentous in the history of parent-
ing. The family generally, and parenting specifically, are today in a greater state of flux, question, and
redefinition than perhaps ever before. We are witnessing the emergence of striking permutations on
the theme of parenting: blended families, lesbian and gay parents, teen versus fifties first-time moms
and dads, genetic versus social parents. One cannot but be awed on the biological front by technol-
ogy that now renders postmenopausal women capable of childbearing and with the possibility of
parents designing their babies. Similarly, on the sociological front, single parenthood is a modern-day
fact of life, adult child dependency is on the rise, and even in the face of rising institutional demands
to take increasing responsibility for their offspring, parents are ever less certain of their roles and
responsibilities.The Handbook of Parenting is concerned with all these facets of parenting . . . and more.
Most people become parents, and everyone who ever lived has had parents, still parenting remains
a mystifying subject. Who is ultimately responsible for parenting? Does parenting come naturally,
or must parenting be learned? How do parents conceive of parenting? of childhood? What does it
mean to parent a preterm baby, twins, or a child on the autistic spectrum? to be an older parent, or
one who is divorced, disabled, or drug abusing? What do theories (psychoanalysis, personality theory,
attachment, and behavior genetics, for example) contribute to our understanding of parenting? What
are the goals parents have for themselves? for their children? What functions do parents’ cognitions
serve? What are the aims of parents’ practices? What accounts for parents believing or behaving in
similar ways? Why do so many attitudes and actions of parents differ so? How do children influence
their parents? How do personality, knowledge, and worldview affect parenting? How do social class,
culture, environment, and history shape parenthood? How can parents effectively relate to childcare,
schools, and their children’s pediatricians?
These are many of the questions addressed in this third edition of the Handbook of Parenting . . .
for this is an evidenced-based volume set on how to parent as much as it is one on what being a parent
is all about.
Put succinctly, parents create people. They are entrusted with preparing their offspring for the
physical, psychosocial, and economic conditions in which their children eventually will fare and
hopefully will flourish. Amidst the many influences on each next generation, parents are the “final
common pathway” to children’s development and stature, adjustment and success. Human social
inquiry—antedating even Athenian interest in Spartan childrearing practices—has always, as a matter
of course, included reports of parenting. Freud opined that childrearing is one of three “impossible

ix
Preface to the Third Edition

professions”—the other two being governing nations and psychoanalysis. One encounters as many
views as the number of people one asks about the relative merits of being an at-home or a working
mother, about what mix of daycare, family care, or parent care is best for a child, about whether good
parenting reflects intuition or experience.
The Handbook of Parenting concerns itself with different types of parents—mothers and fathers,
single, adolescent, and adoptive parents; with basic characteristics of parenting knowledge, beliefs,
and expectations about parenting—as well as the practice of parenting; with forces that shape
parenting—employment, social class, culture, environment, and history; with problems faced by
parents—handicap, marital difficulties, drug addiction; and with practical concerns of parenting—
how to promote children’s health, foster social adjustment and cognitive competence, and interact
with educational, legal, and religious institutions. Contributors to the Handbook of Parenting have
worked in different ways toward understanding all these diverse aspects of parenting, and all look
to the most recent research and thinking in the field to shed light on many topics every parent,
professional, and policymaker wonders about.
Parenthood is a job whose primary object of attention and action is the child. But parenting
also has consequences for parents. Parenthood is giving and responsibility, and parenting has its own
intrinsic pleasures, privileges, and profits as well as frustrations, fears, and failures. Parenthood can
enhance psychological development, self-confidence, and sense of well-being, and parenthood also
affords opportunities to confront new challenges and to test and display diverse competencies. Par-
ents can derive considerable and continuing pleasure in their relationships and activities with their
children. But parenting is also fraught with small and large stresses and disappointments. The transi-
tion to parenthood is daunting, and the onrush of new stages of parenthood is relentless. In the final
analysis, however, parents receive a great deal “in kind” for the hard work of parenting—they can be
recipients of unconditional love, they can gain skills, and they can even pretend to immortality. This
third edition of the Handbook of Parenting reveals the many positives that accompany parenting and
offers resolutions for its many challenges.
The Handbook of Parenting encompasses the broad themes of who are parents, whom parents
parent, the scope of parenting and its many effects, the determinants of parenting, and the nature,
structure, and meaning of parenthood for parents. The third edition of the Handbook of Parenting is
divided into five volumes, each with two parts:

CHILDREN AND PARENTING is Volume 1 of the Handbook. Parenthood is, perhaps first
and foremost, a functional status in the life cycle: Parents issue as well as protect, nurture, and
teach their progeny even if human development is too subtle and dynamic to admit that
parental caregiving alone determines the developmental course and outcome of ontogeny. Vol-
ume 1 of the Handbook of Parenting begins with chapters concerned with how children influ-
ence parenting. Notable are their more obvious characteristics, like child age or developmental
stage; but more subtle ones, like child gender, physical state, temperament, mental ability, and
other individual differences factors, are also instrumental. The chapters in Part I, on Parenting
Across the Lifespan, discuss the unique rewards and special demands of parenting children of
different ages and stages—infants, toddlers, youngsters in middle childhood, and adolescents—
as well as the modern notion of parent–child relationships in emerging adulthood and adult-
hood and old age. The chapters in Part II, on Parenting Children of Varying Status, discuss
common issues associated with parenting children of different genders and temperaments as
well as unique situations of parenting adopted and foster children and children with a variety
of special needs, such as those with extreme talent, born preterm, who are socially withdrawn
or aggressive, or who fall on the autistic spectrum, manifest intellectual disabilities, or suffer a
chronic health condition.

x
Preface to the Third Edition

BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY OF PARENTING is Volume 2 of the Handbook. For parent-


ing to be understood as a whole, biological and ecological determinants of parenting need to
be brought into the picture.Volume 2 of the Handbook relates parenting to its biological roots
and sets parenting in its ecological framework. Some aspects of parenting are influenced by
the organic make-up of human beings, and the chapters in Part I, on the Biology of Parent-
ing, examine the evolution of parenting, the psychobiological determinants of parenting in
nonhumans, and primate parenting and then the genetic, prenatal, neuroendocrinological, and
neurobiological bases of human parenting. A deep understanding of what it means to par-
ent also depends on the ecologies in which parenting takes place. Beyond the nuclear family,
parents are embedded in, influence, and are themselves affected by larger social systems. The
chapters in Part II, on the Ecology of Parenting, examine the ancient and modern histories
of parenting as well as epidemiology, neighborhoods, educational attainment, socioeconomic
status, culture, and environment to provide an overarching relational developmental contextual
systems perspective on parenting.
BEING AND BECOMING A PARENT is Volume 3 of the Handbook. A large cast of charac-
ters is responsible for parenting, each has her or his own customs and agenda, and the psycho-
logical characteristics and social interests of those individuals are revealing of what parenting
is. Chapters in Part I, on The Parent, show just how rich and multifaceted is the constellation
of children’s caregivers. Considered first are family systems and then successively mothers
and fathers, coparenting and gatekeeping between parents, adolescent parenting, grandparent-
ing, and single parenthood, divorced and remarried parenting, lesbian and gay parents, and
finally sibling caregivers and nonparental caregiving. Parenting also draws on transient and
enduring physical, personality, and intellectual characteristics of the individual.The chapters in
Part II, on Becoming and Being a Parent, consider the intergenerational transmission of par-
enting, parenting and contemporary reproductive technologies, the transition to parenthood,
and stages of parental development, and then chapters turn to parents’ well-being, emotions,
self-efficacy, cognitions, attributions, as well as socialization, personality in parenting, and psy-
choanalytic theory. These features of parents serve many functions: They generate and shape
parental practices, mediate the effectiveness of parenting, and help to organize parenting.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS AND APPLIED PARENTING is Volume 4 of the Handbook.
Parenting is not uniform across communities, groups, or cultures; rather parenting is subject
to wide variation.Volume 4 of the Handbook describes socially defined groups of parents and
social conditions that promote variation in parenting. The chapters in Part I, on Social and
Cultural Conditions of Parenting, start with a relational developmental systems perspective
on parenting and move to considerations of ethnic and minority parenting among Latino
and Latin Americans, African Americans, Asians and Asian Americans, Indigenous parents, and
immigrant parents. The section concludes with the roles of employment and of poverty on
parenting. Parents are ordinarily the most consistent and caring people in children’s lives.
However, parenting does not always go right or well. Information, education, and support
programs can remedy potential ills. The chapters in Part II, on Applied Issues in Parenting,
begin with how parenting is measured and follow with examinations of maternal deprivation,
attachment, and acceptance/rejection in parenting. Serious challenges to parenting—some
common, such as stress, depression, and disability, and some less common, such as substance
abuse, psychopathology, maltreatment, and incarceration—are addressed, as are parenting inter-
ventions intended to redress these trials.
THE PRACTICE OF PARENTING is Volume 5 of the Handbook. Parents meet the bio-
logical, physical, and health requirements of children. Parents interact with children socially.
Parents stimulate children to engage and understand the environment and to enter the world

xi
Preface to the Third Edition

of learning. Parents provision, organize, and arrange their children’s home and local environ-
ments and the media to which children are exposed. Parents also manage child development
vis-à-vis childcare, school, the circles of medicine and law, as well as other social institutions
through their active citizenship. Volume 5 of the Handbook addresses the nuts-and-bolts of
parenting as well as the promotion of positive parenting practices. The chapters in Part I, on
Practical Parenting, review the ethics of parenting, parenting and the development of children’s
self-regulation, discipline, prosocial and moral development, and resilience as well as children’s
language, play, cognitive, and academic achievement and children’s peer relationships. Many
caregiving principles and practices have direct effects on children. Parents indirectly influence
children as well, for example, through relations they have with their local or larger commu-
nities. The chapters in Part II, on Parents and Social Institutions, explore parents and their
children’s childcare, activities, media, schools, and health care and examine relations between
parenthood and the law, public policy, and religion and spirituality.

Each chapter in the third edition of the Handbook of Parenting addresses a different but central
topic in parenting; each is rooted in current thinking and theory as well as classical and modern
research on a topic; each is written to be read and absorbed in a single sitting. Each chapter in this
new Handbook adheres to a standard organization, including an introduction to the chapter as a
whole, followed by historical considerations of the topic, a discussion of central issues and theory, a
review of classical and modern research, forecasts of future directions of theory and research, and a
set of evidence-based conclusions. Of course, each chapter considers contributors’ own convictions
and findings, but contributions to this third edition of the Handbook of Parenting attempt to present all
major points of view and central lines of inquiry and interpret them broadly.The Handbook of Parent-
ing is intended to be both comprehensive and state-of-the-art. To assert that parenting is complex is
to understate the obvious. As the expanded scope of this third edition of the Handbook of Parenting
also amply attests, parenting is naturally and intensely interdisciplinary.
The Handbook of Parenting is concerned principally with the nature and scope of parenting per
se and secondarily with child outcomes of parenting. Beyond an impressive range of information,
readers will find passim typologies of parenting (e.g., authoritarian-autocratic, indulgent-permissive,
indifferent-uninvolved, authoritative-reciprocal), theories of parenting (e.g., ecological, psychoana-
lytic, behavior genetic, ethological, behavioral, sociobiological), conditions of parenting (e.g., gender,
culture, content), recurrent themes in parenting studies (e.g., attachment, transaction, systems), and
even aphorisms (e.g., “A child should have strict discipline in order to develop a fine, strong charac-
ter,” “The child is father to the man”).
Each chapter in the Handbook of Parenting lays out the meanings and implications of a contribu-
tion and a perspective on parenting. Once upon a time, parenting was a seemingly simple thing:
Mothers mothered. Fathers fathered. Today, parenting has many motives, many meanings, and many
manifestations. Contemporary parenting is viewed as immensely time consuming and effortful. The
perfect mother or father or family is a figment of false cultural memory. Modern society recognizes
“subdivisions” of the call: genetic mother, gestational mother, biological mother, birth mother, social
mother. For some, the individual sacrifices that mark parenting arise for the sole and selfish purpose
of passing one’s genes on to succeeding generations. For others, a second child may be conceived to
save the life of a first child. A multitude of factors influences the unrelenting advance of events and
decisions that surround parenting—biopsychosocial, dyadic, contextual, historical. Recognizing this
complexity is important to informing people’s thinking about parenting, especially information-
hungry parents themselves. This third edition of the Handbook of Parenting explores all these motives,
meanings, and manifestations of parenting.

xii
Preface to the Third Edition

Each day, more than three-quarters of a million adults around the world experience the rewards
and challenges, as well as the joys and heartaches, of becoming parents. The human race succeeds
because of parenting. From the start, parenting is a “24/7” job. Parenting formally begins before
pregnancy and can continue throughout the life-span: Practically speaking for most, once a parent,
always a parent. Parenting is a subject about which people hold strong opinions and about which too
little solid information or considered reflection exists. Parenting has never come with a Handbook . . .
until now.
—Marc H. Bornstein

xiii
ABOUT THE EDITOR

Marc H. Bornstein holds a BA from Columbia College, MS and PhD degrees from Yale Uni-
versity, and honorary doctorates from the University of Padua and University of Trento. Bornstein
was a J.S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, and he received a Research Career Development Award
from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He also received the C.S.
Ford Cross-Cultural Research Award from the Human Relations Area Files, the B.R. McCandless
Young Scientist Award and the G. Stanley Hall Award from the American Psychological Association,
a United States PHS Superior Service Award and an Award of Merit from the National Institutes
of Health, two Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships, four Awards for Excellence
from the American Mensa Education & Research Foundation, the Arnold Gesell Prize from the
Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the International Society
for the Study of Behavioral Development, and both the Distinguished International Contributions
to Child Development Award and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development
Award from the Society for Research in Child Development. Bornstein is President of the Society
for Research in Child Development and a past member of the SRCD Governing Council and
Executive Committee of the International Congress of Infancy Studies.
Bornstein has held faculty positions at Princeton University and New York University as well as
academic appointments as Visiting Scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie in Munich;
Visiting Fellow at University College London; Professeur Invité at the Laboratoire de Psychologie
Expérimentale in the Université René Descartes in Paris; Child Clinical Fellow at the Institute for
Behavior Therapy in New York; Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo; Professeur Invité at
the Laboratoire de Psychologie du Développement et de l’Éducation de l’Enfant in the Sorbonne
in Paris;Visiting Fellow of the British Psychological Society;Visiting Scientist at the Human Devel-
opment Resource Centre in Bamenda, Cameroon; Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Psychology
in Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea; Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Cognitive
Science in the University of Trento, Italy; Profesor Visitante at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile in Santiago, Chile; Institute for Advanced Studies Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor, Uni-
versity of Bristol; Jacobs Foundation Scholar-in-Residence, Marbach, Germany; Honorary Fellow,
Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University; Adjunct Academic Member of the Council of the
Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Italy; and International Research Fellow at
the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London.

xiv
About the Editor

Bornstein is coauthor of The Architecture of the Child Mind: g, Fs, and the Hierarchical Model of Intel-
ligence, Gender in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Development in Infancy (5 editions), Development:
Infancy through Adolescence, Lifespan Development, Genitorialità: Fattori Biologici E Culturali Dell’essere
Genitori, and Perceiving Similarity and Comprehending Metaphor. He is General Editor of The Crosscur-
rents in Contemporary Psychology Series, including Psychological Development from Infancy, Comparative
Methods in Psychology, Psychology and Its Allied Disciplines (Vols. I–III), Sensitive Periods in Development,
Interaction in Human Development, Cultural Approaches to Parenting, Child Development and Behavioral
Pediatrics, and Well-Being: Positive Development Across the Life Course, and general editor of the Mono-
graphs in Parenting series, including his own Socioeconomic Status, Parenting, and Child Development and
Acculturation and Parent–Child Relationships. He edited Maternal Responsiveness: Characteristics and Con-
sequences, the Handbook of Parenting (Vols. I–V, 3 editions), and the Handbook of Cultural Developmental
Science (Parts 1 and 2), and is Editor-in-Chief of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Develop-
ment. He also coedited Developmental Science: An Advanced Textbook (7 editions), Stability and Continuity
in Mental Development, Contemporary Constructions of the Child, Early Child Development in the French
Tradition, The Role of Play in the Development of Thought, Acculturation and Parent–Child Relationships,
Immigrant Families in Contemporary Society, The Developing Infant Mind: Origins of the Social Brain, and
Ecological Settings and Processes in Developmental Systems (Volume 4 of the Handbook of Child Psychology
and Developmental Science). He is author of several children’s books, videos, and puzzles in The Child’s
World and Baby Explorer series. Bornstein is Editor Emeritus of Child Development and founding Edi-
tor of Parenting: Science and Practice. He has administered both federal and foundation grants, sits on
the editorial boards of several professional journals, is a member of scholarly societies in a variety
of disciplines, and consults for governments, foundations, universities, publishers, scientific journals,
the media, and UNICEF. He has published widely in experimental, methodological, comparative,
developmental, and cultural science as well as neuroscience, pediatrics, and aesthetics. Bornstein was
named to the Top 20 Authors for Productivity in Developmental Science by the American Educa-
tional Research Association.

xv
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Mel Andrews is at Tufts University studying theories of cognition, evolution, and development.
Andrews hopes to contribute to a scholarly understanding of human mentality, agency, conscious-
ness, and cultural reality in relation to our status as evolved organisms. She has presented her work at
conferences organized by the Society for the Study of Human Development and The Generalized
Theory of Evolution. As a visiting fellow at Binghamton University, Andrews taught evolutionary
biology with a focus on implications for the philosophy of science. Andrews has a background in
both qualitative and experimental approaches to the ontogeny of the human mind, having served as
a cognitive developmental researcher at both Tufts University and Harvard University.

John E. Bates is Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana Uni-
versity, Bloomington. He received his BS in Psychology from the University of Washington, where
he first became interested in the question of how individual differences develop. He received his PhD
from UCLA in Clinical Psychology with minors in Developmental Psychology and Social Psychol-
ogy. His research has emphasized the longitudinal study of additive and interactive roles of biological
and social processes in development of behavioral adjustment. In the Indiana University Psychologi-
cal Clinic, he has led a clinic for families of children with oppositional problems.

Kristin Bernard is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University. Bernard received
her PhD from the Department of Psychology at the University of Delaware and completed her
clinical internship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bernard was named a Rising Star by the
Association for Psychological Science. Bernard takes a translational approach to research about child-
hood maltreatment by integrating methods across fields of developmental science, neuroscience, and
prevention science.

Wim Beyers is Professor at the Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology at
Ghent University, Belgium. He received his PhD from the Catholic University of Leuven. His major
research interests include the development of autonomy, identity, and sexuality in adolescence. He is
assistant editor of the Journal of Adolescence.

Kira S. Birditt is Associate Research Professor in the Life Course Development Program at the
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. She received her PhD in Human Develop-
ment and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. She is Principal Investigator on

xvi
About the Contributors

a study of racial health disparities in hypertension, which incorporates short-term stress reactivity
studies into a larger longitudinal study of social relationships and health. She is also a co-investigator
on the Family Exchanges Study, a longitudinal study of three-generation families; the Daily Experi-
ence in Late Life Study, an in-depth study of social engagement among older adults; and the Social
Relations and Health study, a longitudinal study of social relationships. She has published widely on
the topic of negative aspects of relationships and their implications for biological systems and health.

Marc H. Bornstein is President of the Society for Research in Child Development. He holds a BA
from Columbia College, MS and PhD degrees from Yale University, and honorary doctorates from
the University of Padua and University of Trento. He has held faculty positions at Princeton Univer-
sity and New York University as well as visiting academic appointments in Munich, London, Paris,
New York, Tokyo, Bamenda (Cameroon), Seoul, Trento, Santiago (Chile), Bristol, Oxford, and the
Institute for Fiscal Studies (London). He is Editor Emeritus of Child Development and founding Editor
of Parenting: Science and Practice. He has administered both Federal and Foundation grants, sits on the
editorial boards of several professional journals, is a member of scholarly societies in a variety of dis-
ciplines, and consults for governments, foundations, universities, publishers, the media, and UNICEF.
Bornstein has published widely in experimental, methodological, comparative, developmental, and
cultural science as well as neuroscience, pediatrics, and aesthetics.

David M. Brodzinsky is Professor Emeritus of Clinical and Developmental Psychology at Rutgers


University and Research Director at the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. Brodzin-
sky was educated at the State University of New York at Buffalo and was previously affiliated with
the Donaldson Adoption Institute. His research has focused primarily on developmental and family
issues in the adjustment of adopted children and their families, including families headed by sexual
minority parents. He received the Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, for his contributions to the field. Brodzinsky is co-author
of Children’s Adjustment to Adoption: Developmental and Clinical Issues and co-editor of Adoption by
Lesbians and Gay Men: A New Dimension in Family Diversity.

Christia Spears Brown is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Kentucky.


She earned her PhD in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She was previously at the Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on children’s perceptions of gender and ethnic
discrimination, the development of stereotypes and group identity, and the impact of discrimination
and stereotypes on academic, psychological, and social outcomes funded by the Foundation for Child
Development. She has written two books, one for an academic audience, Discrimination in Childhood
and Adolescence, and one for parents, Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue, and co-edited the Wiley Handbook
of Group Processes in Children and Adolescents. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research.

Ellen G. Casale is a doctoral student in the Special Education-Low Incidence Disabilities program
at Vanderbilt University. She received her Education Specialist degree in autism spectrum disorders
from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her master’s degree in Special Education from
Vanderbilt University. Casale has worked as a special education teacher, in-home interventionist,
autism specialist and diagnostician, and district special educational specialist. She co-authored a chap-
ter for the Oxford Handbook of Down Syndrome. Casale’s research interests include improving educa-
tional, behavioral, and functional outcomes for individuals with severe disabilities.

Tyler Colasante is a postdoctoral fellow from the Laboratory for Social-Emotional Development
and Intervention in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He completed his
PhD at the University of Toronto where he focused on the psychophysiological correlates of guilt

xvii
About the Contributors

and aggressive behavior in childhood and adolescence. Ultimately, he aims to understand how chil-
dren with different regulatory and socioemotional capacities navigate social conflicts across devel-
opment and to generate practical implications to reduce aggression and related problem behaviors.
Colasante is co-author of a chapter on aggression, and morality in the Handbook of Child and Adoles-
cent Aggression.

W. Andrew Collins is Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at the Institute


of Child Development, University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from Stanford Univer-
sity. Collins served as Director of the Institute of Child Development, Secretary of the Society
for Research in Child Development, and President of the Society for Research on Adolescence.
Collins specialized in the study of social processes and relationships in middle childhood and ado-
lescence and has investigated developmental aspects of children’s and adolescents’ responses to tel-
evision and parent–child relationships during the transitions to adolescence and young adulthood.
He served as Chair of the National Research Council’s Panel on the Status of Basic Research on
Middle Childhood (age 6–12 years) and is co-author of The Development of the Person:The Minnesota
Study of Risk and Adaptation from Birth to Adulthood. Collins edited or coedited multiple volumes,
including Relationships as Developmental Contexts and Relationships Pathways: From Adolescence to
Young Adulthood.

Lynnda M. Dahlquist is Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.


Dahlquist completed her graduate training in clinical psychology at Purdue University, where she
specialized in child health psychology, and her internship training in Pediatric Psychology at the
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Formerly a member of the Baylor College of Medicine fac-
ulty at Texas Children’s Hospital, she has extensive clinical experience consulting with pediatricians
and working with children with acute and chronic health conditions and their families. Dahlquist’s
research focuses primarily on child and family adjustment to chronic pediatric health conditions,
such as food allergy, arthritis, and cancer, and on nonpharmacological pain management strategies for
children experiencing acute pain. She is the author of Pediatric Pain Management.

Maja Deković is Professor of Clinical Child and Family Studies and leader of the Utrecht Centre for
Child and Adolescent Studies, an interdisciplinary research program that aims to explain how indi-
vidual characteristics, proximal social relationships, and the wider social and cultural context shape
developmental trajectories, with the ultimate aim to improve preventive and/or interventions to help
children and families optimally develop. She received her PhD at Radboud University, Nijmegen,
and previously was affiliated with the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests include chil-
dren and adolescent normative and deviant development, parent–child relationships, family interac-
tion, and effects of family-based interventions. She was project leader of several effectiveness studies
(Home-Start, Multisystemic Therapy, Intensive Home Visiting Program, Family Conferencing, Rock
and Water). In addition, she is a member of several (inter)national research committees and editorial
boards on (inter)national journals.

Sebastian P. Dys is a PhD candidate in the Developmental Sciences Program at the University
of Toronto. His research focuses on the cognitive and affective mechanisms that promote children’s
and adolescents’ moral, emotional, and social development. This research employs a multimethod
approach using eye tracking, facial expression analyses, behavioral observations, and interviews. His
overarching goal is to provide direction to parents, educators, and program developers interested in
specific strategies and practices for promoting socioemotional development and behavioral health.
Dys is a coauthor of a chapter on emotions and morality in New Perspectives in Moral Development.

xviii
About the Contributors

Mark E. Feinberg is Research Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. Feinberg was edu-
cated at Harvard College and George Washington University. He has developed and tested several
prevention programs, including Family Foundations, a transition-to-parenthood program designed
to enhance coparenting among first-time parents. Feinberg has also co-developed prevention pro-
grams addressing sibling relationship conflict, adverse birth outcomes, and childhood obesity and has
been involved in the long-term evaluation of large-scale community prevention systems, including
Communities That Care, PROSPER, and Evidence2Success. He has written about and examined
the community epidemiology of adolescent problem behaviors, and the ways in which risk factors
are linked to behavior problems within and between communities.

David Henry Feldman is Professor at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development,


Tufts University, and President of the Society for the Study of Human Development. Prior faculty
appointments include the University of Minnesota and Yale University and visiting appointments at
Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, and the University of California, San Diego. Feldman holds
degrees from the University of Rochester, Harvard University, and Stanford University. His research
interests involve developmental theory, transitions between levels of expertise in cognitive develop-
ment, extremes in intellectual development, creativity, and the development of cultural knowledge
domains. Feldman is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Israel and the Distinguished Scholar
of the Year Award of the National (U.S.) Association for Gifted Children. His books include Beyond
Universals in Cognitive Development, Nature’s Gambit: Child Prodigies and the Development of Human
Potential, and Changing the World: A Framework for the Study of Creativity.

Karen L. Fingerman is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University
of Texas at Austin. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan and has
served on the faculty at the University of San Francisco, Pennsylvania State University, and Purdue
University. She is currently Principal Investigator on the Family Exchanges Study, a longitudinal
study of three-generation families. She also directs the Daily Experience in Late Life Study, an in-
depth study tracking social engagement, daily activities, and well-being among over 300 older adults.
She is the author or coeditor of Aging Mothers and Their Adult Daughters: A Study in Mixed Emotions,
Growing Together: Personal Relationships across the Life Span, and Handbook of Lifespan Development. She
was an associate editor on the Encyclopedia of Mental Health and the SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan
Human Development.

Allison Frost is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Stony Brook University.
Frost obtained her BS in Education from Northwestern University. She is the recipient of a National
Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Frost is interested in how early adversity can
impact children’s neurobiological and socioemotional functioning, and how these effects may confer
risk for later psychopathology.

Merideth Gattis is Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University and a Fellow of the Learned Soci-
ety of Wales. Gattis was educated at Gordon College, Massachusetts, and the University of California,
Los Angeles, and previously was affiliated with the Max Planck Institute and the University of Shef-
field. She is on the editorial boards of Parenting: Science and Practice and Psychological Science. Gattis is
editor of Spatial Schemas and Abstract Thought.

Paul D. Hastings is Professor of Psychology at the University of California Davis, where he directs
the Healthy Emotions, Relationships and Development Lab at the Center for Mind and Brain. Hast-
ings was educated at McGill University and the University of Toronto before completing postdoctoral

xix
About the Contributors

training at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and the National Institute of Mental Health. Hastings
was Chair of Psychology and Interim Dean of the School of Education at the University of Califor-
nia Davis and at Concordia University in Montreal. His research is focused on social relationships,
neurobiological regulation, and social-emotional development of children and youth.

Robert M. Hodapp is Professor of Special Education at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.


He is also the Director of Research for Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s University Center for Excel-
lence in Developmental Disabilities. Hodapp received his PhD from Boston University, was a post-
doctoral fellow with Edward Zigler at the Yale Child Study Center, and was a professor at UCLA’s
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. The author of Development and Disabilities
and co-author of Genetics and Mental Retardation Syndromes, Hodapp is also the series co-editor of the
International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities.

Caroline P. Hoyniak is a PhD candidate in the Clinical Science program in the Department of
Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. She received her BA in Psy-
chology from the Saint Louis University. Her research focuses on the development of self-regulation
during early childhood, with a particular emphasis on examining its neural correlates.

Sierra Kuzava is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Stony Brook University.
Kuzava obtained her BA in Psychology from Columbia. She is the recipient of a National Sci-
ence Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Kuzava is interested in the mechanisms through
which early life stress may impact children’s development as well as the psychobiology of responsive
parenting.

Stephanie D. Madsen is Associate Dean for Sophomore Students and Professor of Psychology at
McDaniel College,Westminster, Maryland. She received her PhD in Child Psychology with a minor
in Interpersonal Relationships Research from the Institute of Child Development, University of
Minnesota. She has focused her research on the role of relationships in development. She currently
serves on the Teaching Committee for the Society of Research on Child Development and is a
recipient of the Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award.

Tina Malti is Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Laboratory for Social-Emotional
Development and Intervention at the University of Toronto. Malti was educated at the Max Planck
Institute for Human Development, Harvard Medical School, and the Jacobs Center for Productive
Youth Development. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American
Psychological Association (Division 7, Developmental Psychology). Her research focuses on why
certain children become aggressive, whereas others show high levels of concern from a very young
age. She is Associate Editor of Child Development and a co-editor of the Handbook of Child and Ado-
lescent Aggression. Malti also serves as the Membership Secretary of the International Society for the
Study of Behavioural Development.

James B. McCauley is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Human Development and
a graduate student researcher at the MIND Institute and the Department of Psychiatry at the Uni-
versity of California, Davis. He has previously researched processes such as self-esteem, memory, and
academic achievement in youth with autism spectrum disorders and has extensive experience work-
ing with families of children with ASD. His dissertation is exploring the role of parent–adolescent
and parent–adult interactions in families of children with ASD and their effects on social and adap-
tive behaviors.

xx
About the Contributors

Susan M. McHale is Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Professor of Demog-


raphy at Pennsylvania State University. Her research examines children’s and adolescents’ family
roles, daily activities, and relationships, particularly sibling relationships, and their links with indi-
vidual development and adjustment as well as the development of sibling differences. Highlighted
are family gender dynamics, including connections between the work and family roles of mothers
and fathers and girls’ and boys’ development. She also has investigated family sociocultural contexts
and dynamics, including the implications of parents’ and youth cultural values and practices for
family life and youth development and adjustment in African American and Mexican American
families.

Maureen E. McQuillan is a PhD candidate in the Clinical Science program in the Department
of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. She received her BA in
Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She studies parental stress, sleep deficits, and
parent–child interactions to advance understanding of the development and treatment of opposi-
tional problems in young children.

Peter Mundy is the Lisa Capps Professor of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Education in the
Department of Psychiatry and the MIND Institute and Distinguished Professor in the School of
Education at the University of California at Davis. Mundy is also Associate Editor for Autism Research
and the Associate Dean for Academic Personnel and Research in the University of California Davis
School of Education. A developmental and clinical psychologist, Mundy works on identifying the
role that joint-attention plays in the problems with learning, language, and social-cognition that
affect individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Mundy authored Autism and Joint Attention: Devel-
opmental, Neuroscience and Clinic Foundations.

Larry J. Nelson is a Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Nelson
earned his PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. He examines factors that contribute
to flourishing or floundering during emerging adulthood. He has served on the Founding Board and
Governing Council of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. He is the editor of a book
series on emerging adulthood and co-editor of Flourishing in Emerging Adulthood: Positive Development
during the Third Decade of Life.

Laura M. Padilla-Walker is a Professor in the School of Family life at Brigham Young University.
Padilla-Walker received her PhD at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Her research focuses pri-
marily on parenting, media, and adolescents’ and emerging adults’ moral and prosocial development.
Padilla-Walker is former Associate Editor of the journal Emerging Adulthood and has co-edited Proso-
cial Development: A Multidimensional Approach, Flourishing in Emerging Adulthood: Positive Development
During the Third Decade of Life, and The Oxford Handbook of Parenting and Moral Development.

Laura Perrone is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program at Stony Brook University.
Perrone obtained her BA in Psychology from Pomona College. She is the recipient of a National
Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Perrone is interested in the effects of early
adversity on children’s development and psychobiology as well as the role of parenting as a protec-
tive factor.

Wendy Pinder, MA, is a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Maryland, Bal-
timore County. Her research interests include pediatric pain management as well as interventions
that promote adherence to medical regimens for children with chronic illnesses and their families.

xxi
About the Contributors

Ellen E. Pinderhughes is Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human
Development, Tufts University, and Senior Fellow with the National Center for Adoption and Per-
manency. Pinderhughes was educated at Yale University and previously was affiliated with Vanderbilt
University and Cleveland State University. A developmental and clinical psychologist, she studies
contextual influences on and cultural processes in parenting among families facing different chal-
lenges, including adoption, living in high-risk, low-resource communities, and rearing children as a
sexual minority parent. Her research addresses adoption professionals’ practices and adoptive parents’
experiences concerning intercountry adoption and adoption socialization, cultural socialization, and
preparation-for-bias among adoptive parents. She has received funding from the William T. Grant
Foundation.

Thomas G. Power is Emeritus Professor of Human Development at Washington State University.


He received his PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Illinois. He was a member of
the psychology faculty at the University of Houston and the Human Development faculty at Wash-
ington State University. Power led the development of the nation’s first PhD program in Prevention
Science and served as its first director. He conducts research on parent–child relationships, with a
particular emphasis on stress, coping, and health behaviors. He is author of Play and Exploration in
Children and Animals.

Kenneth H. Rubin is Professor of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology and


Founding Director of the Center for Children, Relationships, and Culture at the University of
Maryland, College Park. Previously, he was Professor at the University of Waterloo and held visit-
ing appointments at Stanford, Washington, Melbourne, and Munich. He holds a BA from McGill
and a PhD from Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include the study of child and
adolescent social development, especially peer and parent–child relationships; social and emotional
adjustment and maladjustment in childhood and adolescence; and the origins and developmental
course of social competence, social withdrawal, and aggression.

Kelli A. Sanderson earned her PhD in Special Education from Peabody College at Vanderbilt
University. She is Assistant Professor of Special Education at California State University at Long
Beach. Sanderson worked as a special education teacher in Los Angeles. Sanderson’s research inter-
ests include family-practitioner collaboration, transition services for students with severe disabilities,
postsecondary education, and disability advocacy.

Kelly A. Smith is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park, in the Department
of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology. She received her BA in psychology from
Georgetown University before beginning graduate training at the Center for Children, Relation-
ships, and Culture at the University of Maryland.

Bart Soenens is Professor at the Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology
at Ghent University, Belgium. He received his PhD in Developmental Psychology from the Catholic
University of Leuven, Belgium. His research interests include self-determination, autonomy, parent–
adolescent relationships, parental psychological control, and identity development. He is co-author of
Vitamins for Psychological Growth and co-editor of Autonomy in Adolescent Development.

Marjorie Solomon is the Oates Family Endowed Chair in Lifespan Development in Autism at
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, where she is also Professor in the Department
of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the Interim Director of the Imaging Research Center, and

xxii
About the Contributors

a faculty member of the MIND Institute. Solomon received her BA from Harvard College and her
PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her laboratory examines cognitive development in
individuals with autism spectrum disorder through the lifespan using cognitive neuroscience meth-
ods, including functional magnetic resonance imaging. She is Director of the MIND Institute Social
Skills Training Group Program.

Ju-Hyun Song is an assistant professor in the Department of Child Development at California State
University Dominguez Hills. Song completed her PhD at the University of Michigan and her postdoc-
toral training at the University of   Toronto. Her research focuses on the joint contributions of affective
and social-cognitive processes and parental socialization to aggressive and prosocial behaviors in children
and adolescents. She is co-author of a chapter on social-emotional development and aggression in the
Handbook of Child and Adolescent Aggression.

Michelle Tam is a PhD graduate student in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kentucky.
She earned her MA in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses
on children’s gender identity and the development and maintenance of gender and ethnic stereotypes.

Anneloes L. van Baar is Professor in Diagnostics and Treatment at the Department of Develop-
ment and Treatment of Psychosocial Problems, part of the research group on Child and Adolescent
Studies at the faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Utrecht University,The Netherlands.Van
Baar was educated at the University of Amsterdam and the Emma Children’s Hospital of the Aca-
demic Medical Center in Amsterdam. She worked as a health psychologist at the St. Joseph Hospital
in Veldhoven, worked in the Adhesie mental health institution in Deventer as a research manager,
and previously was Professor in Pediatric Psychology at Tilburg University in The Netherlands. Her
research focuses on development of children with perinatal risk factors, such as prematurity, and
diagnostic assessment instruments.

Maarten Vansteenkiste is Professor at the Department of Developmental, Personality and Social


Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium. He received his PhD from the Catholic University of
Leuven. His major research interests include the study of motivation and autonomy in diverse life
domains, including parenting, and in different developmental periods, including adolescence. He is
co-author of Vitamins for Psychological Growth and co-editor of Autonomy in Adolescent Development.

Marjolein Verhoeven is Assistant Professor of Clinical Child and Family Studies, part of the Utrecht
Centre for Child and Adolescent Studies, at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. She received
her PhD at the University of Amsterdam and worked at the Research and Evaluation Unit of the
Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia. Her research concerns parenting and child
development, with a specific focus on early childhood.

Nicholas J. Wagner is Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maryland in the Human
Development and Quantitative Methodologies Department.Wagner received his PhD in the Depart-
ment of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina, where he was supported
by a National Institute of Child Health and Development pre-doctoral fellowship at the Center
for Developmental Science, before completing his postdoctoral training at the Center for Children,
Relationships, and Culture at the University of Maryland.

Shawn D. Whiteman is Associate Professor of Family, Consumer, and Human Development at


Utah State University. Whiteman received his PhD in Human Development and Family Studies

xxiii
About the Contributors

from the Pennsylvania State University and was previously affiliated with Purdue University. His
research focuses on the connections between family socialization processes and youth adjustment.
Whiteman serves on editorial boards for Adolescent Research Review, Family Relations, Journal of Mar-
riage and Family, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Steven H. Zarit is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Human Development and Family Stud-
ies at the Pennsylvania State University and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Gerontology,
Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. He received his PhD from the Committee on Human
Development at the University of Chicago. He has studied family caregiving and conducted research
on intergenerational relationships and on health and functioning in very late life. Along with his
co-authors, he was an investigator on the Family Exchanges Study. He is the co-author of Mental
Disorders in Later Life.

xxiv
PART I

Parenting Across the Lifespan


1
PARENTING INFANTS
Marc H. Bornstein

Introduction
When infants first begin to speak, their articulations are limited to a set of sounds that follow a
universal pattern of development based on the anatomical structure of the oral cavity and vocal tract
and on ease of motor control (Jakobson, 1969; Kent, 1984). Thus, certain sound combinations—
consonants articulated at the front of the oral cavity at the lips (/m/ and /p/) or teeth (/d/), and
vowels articulated at the back of the oral cavity (/a/)—have primacy because their voicing maximizes
contrasts. In consequence, infants’ earliest sound combinations consist of front consonants with back
vowels. Significantly, of four logically possible combinations, the front-consonant—back-vowel pairs
of /pa/, /da/, and /ma/ are used as parental kin terms in nearly 60% of more than 1,000 of the
world’s languages, many more than would be expected by chance (Murdock, 1959). It seems that
parents of infants have adopted as generic labels for themselves their infants’ earliest vocal productions.

Nothing stirs the emotions or rivets the attention of adults more than the birth of a child. By their
very coming into existence, infants forever alter the sleeping, eating, and working habits of their
parents; they change who parents are and how parents define themselves. Infants keep parents up late
into the night or cause them to abandon late nights to accommodate dawn wakings; they require
parents to give up a rewarding career to care for them or to take a second job to support them; they
lead parents to make new friends with others in similar situations and sometimes cause parents to
lose old friends who are not parents.Yes, parents may even take for themselves the names that infants
uncannily bestow.
Parenting an infant is a “24/7” job, whether by a parent or by a surrogate caregiver who is on
call. That is because the altricial human infant is totally dependent on parents for survival. Unlike
the newborn foal that will stand in the hour after delivery and soon canter, or the newborn chick
that pipes on its shell to hatch, feeds itself on the internal yolk sac, and forages on its own soon after
hatching, the newborn human cannot walk, talk, thermoregulate, or even nourish without the aid
of a competent caregiver. Terrestrial infant mammals are either cached (left in secluded locales with
only intermittent mother–infant contact) or carried (in regular and extensive maternal contact);
human infants are the carrying kind (Lozoff and Brittenham, 1979). As the analyst Winnicott (1965,
p. 39) enigmatically mused, “There is no such thing as an infant.” Infants only exist in a system with
a caregiver.

3
Marc H. Bornstein

Most adults become parents (86% of U.S. American adult women and 84% of men ages 45 and
older; Child Trends, 2002). Worldwide each day approximately three-quarters of a million people
experience the joys and heartaches as well as the challenges and rewards, of becoming new parents
(Worldometers.info). In a given year, approximately 4 million new babies are born in the United
States.The wonder is that for the 11,000 babies born every day (National Center for Health Statistics,
2017), a number equivalent to the population of a small town, each one is unique and special.
Infancy defines the period of life between birth and the emergence of language approximately
1½ to 2 years into childhood. Our generic terms “infant” and “baby” both have origins in language-
related concepts.The word infant derives from the Latin in + fans, translated literally as “nonspeaker,”
and the word baby shares a Middle English root with “babble” (another front-consonant–back-vowel
combination). Our newborn and infant are for the Chagga of Tanganyika mnangu (the “incomplete
one”) and mkoku (“one who fills lap”). For Westerners, children are infants until they talk, and
become toddlers when they walk; but for the Alor of the Lesser Sundra Islands, the first stage of
infancy lasts from birth to an initial smile, and the second stage from the smile to the time when the
child can sit alone or begins to crawl (Mead and Newton, 1967, in Fogel, 1984).
Infancy encompasses only a small fraction of the average person’s life expectancy, but it is a
period highly attended to and invested in by parents all over the world. According to a nationwide
survey conducted by the National Center for Children, Toddlers, and Families, more than 90% of
U.S. parents said that, when they had their first child, they not only felt “in love” with their baby but
were personally happier than ever before in their lives (Civitas Initiative, Zero to Three, and Brio
Corporation, 2000). Parenting responsibilities are also greatest during infancy, when the child is most
dependent on caregiving and the child’s ability to cope alone is almost nonexistent. Not by chance,
infants’ physiognomy is especially attractive to adults (Kringelbach, Stark, Alexander, Bornstein, and
Stein, 2016); infants engender feelings of responsibility and solicitude. Infants are fun to observe, to
talk to, and to play with; they smell good; and infants do not know how to be agonistic, deceiving, or
malicious. But infants make undeniable demands. Furthermore, infancy is a period of rapid develop-
ment in practically all spheres of expression and function, and people are perennially fascinated by

Figure 1.1

4
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
corrisponde al giro esterno della seconda cavea, donde si saliva alle
logge superiori di archi laterizii, destinate per le donne e per la plebe.
Da questo deambulacrum, non è superfluo al visitatore delle rovine
di Pompei il sapere come si goda del più delizioso orizzonte, poichè
rimpetto si abbia il Vesuvio, a settentrione i monti Irpini, ad oriente i
monti Lattarj, sulla china dei quali posa Sorrento, e a mezzodì Napoli
e le sue isole avvolte come da una rosea nebbia trasparente.
Forse a diminuzione di spesa, e forse anche a renderlo proprio agli
spettacoli di naumachia, se si avessero voluti offrire, ma che però il
fatto d’essere città marittima esclude che vi si avessero a dare,
perchè certo sarebbero riusciti inferiori ad ogni aspettazione ed a
quelli che offerir si potevano sul mare stesso, l’edificio era stato
costruito in una specie di bacino, scavato in parte artificialmente, per
modo che l’arena si trovasse tanto al di sotto del livello del suolo per
quanto le mura si elevavano al disopra.
Vien misurato il più gran diametro dell’anfiteatro di 130 metri, il più
piccolo di 102. La direzione dell’ovale è da N. a S.: alle sue estremità
si trovano i due principali ingressi, i quali mettono all’arena di forma
elittica.
Appunto per la suindicata ragione, che l’arena era incavata nella
terra, l’ingresso settentrionale che riesce a quella e che forma un
breve porticato a vôlta, ha il pavimento lastricato di pietra vulcanica
in declivio, ed ha nei lati l’incanalatura per ricevere le acque.
Due grandi nicchie sono a destra ed a sinistra di tale ingresso, le
quali dovevano contenere le statue di due benemeriti cittadini, e di
chi fossero ce lo rivelano le opportune iscrizioni che sotto di esse si
leggono.
Quella a destra è così concepita:
C . CVSPIVS C . F . PANSA PONTIF
D . VIR . I . D . [120]

Quella a sinistra, così:


C. CVSPIVS . C . F . PANSA PATER D . V . I . D .
IIII QVINQ . PRAEF ID . EX D . D . LEGE PETRON . [121]

Più avanti fornirò gli schiarimenti intorno a questa legge Petronia,


della quale si fa nella iscrizione cenno, riservandoli essi
all’argomento degli spettacoli gladiatorii.
Il marchese Arditi, nel trattare della legge Petronia, saviamente
opina che l’iscrizione e la statua del prefetto Cuspio Pansa siano
state collocate nell’anfiteatro prima del tremuoto dell’anno 63, ed
anche prima della sospensione degli spettacoli ordinata da Nerone
nel 59.
Avanti d’entrare nell’arena, o sia nella gran piazza de’ combattimenti
e delle caccie, detta appunto arena, dalla sabbia che vi era sempre
sparsa, onde il sangue che si versava dagli uomini e dalle fiere, a
scanso di ribrezzo, avesse presto a iscomparire, trovasi a destra e a
manca l’entrata in un criptoportico, o corridojo circolare sotterraneo
rischiarato da numerosi spiragli, da cui per diversi vomitorj si
ascendeva a’ gradini della prima e seconda cavea, dove sedevano i
magistrati e i più cospicui cittadini e i collegi. Questo sotterraneo,
che girava tutt’all’intorno dell’anfiteatro, è degno di considerazione
per la sua forma intatta e per non riscontrarsi in alcun altro
anfiteatro. Le pareti di questo portico hanno tuttavia iscrizioni scritte
in rosso ed in nero, che accennano a nomi de’ magistrati, forse
benemeriti dei ludi al circo, e leggonsene altre contenenti officiosità
pel loro indirizzo e tal altra eziandio che suona ingiuria, o lode a
talun combattente. Ho già notato come fosse insito nel costume de’
Pompejani di dare sfogo ai sentimenti proprj, esprimendoli sui muri
delle case o di qualunque altro edificio.
Ma eccoci nell’elissi dell’anfiteatro. Appena entrato, io sperimentai,
alzando la voce, l’eco che vi regna, e che già rammentai al lettore
quando dipingendogli l’estrema catastrofe, affermai, come essa
avesse contribuito a rendere maggiore l’orrore della situazione.
L’arena, tutta recinta d’un parapetto, o podio dell’altezza di circa due
metri, sul quale alzavasi eziandio un graticcio di ferro, per tutelare gli
spettatori dal furore delle fiere che, istigate dal combattimento,
avrebbero potuto gittarsi su di essi. Siffatto parapetto era tutto
dipinto a soggetti convenienti al luogo; ma l’azione dell’aria ve li ha
fatti tutti sparire. Si rammenta da chi si trovò all’epoca della scoperta
di questo monumento, che fu il 16 novembre 1748 [122], che fra tali
dipinture una vi fosse che raffigurava un lanista o maestro de’
gladiatori, che in mezzo a questi, armato di bacchetta (rudis) era in
atto di giudicare cui spettasse colla vittoria nella lotta il premio del
vincitore, sul quale svolazzavano due genii alati recanti corone nelle
mani.
Ma non si smarrirono le iscrizioni, che nel parapetto stesso si
lessero, dedicate a memorare i nomi di que’ magistrati che meglio
avevano contribuito alla restaurazione dell’anfiteatro, rifacendo i
cunei e riparando le altre rovine, che erano stati altresì i
sovrintendenti, o prefetti degli spettacoli.
Eccole, quali sono riferite dalle Guide e dagli illustratori di Pompei.
MAG . PAG . AVG . F . S . PRO . LVD . EX . D . D .
T . ATVLLIVS . C . F . CELER . II . VIR . PRO . LVD . LV . CVN
C . F . C . EX . D . D
L . SAGINIVS . II . VIR . I . D . PRO . LV . LV . EX . D . D . CVN
N . ISTACIDIVS . N . F . CILIX . II . VIR . PRO . LVD. LVM
A . AVDIVS A . F . . RVFVS . II . VIR . PRO . LVD .
P . CAESETIVS . SEX . F . CAPITO . II . VIR . PRO . LVD . LVM
M. CANTRIVS. M F. MARCELLVS. II. VIR. LVD LVM CVNEOS. III F. C.
EX. D D. [123]

Importa che io qui traduca una nota che Bréton appone a queste
interessanti iscrizioni.
«Queste iscrizioni, scrive egli, presentano un enigma assai difficile a
sciogliere. Che vogliono esse dire queste parole PRO LVD, pro
ludis? Si è creduto dover tradurre per i giuochi, e scorgere quindi
nell’iscrizione la menzione dei giuochi che venivan celebrati
nell’anfiteatro [124] da certi magistrati. Questa interpretazione
sarebbe stata accettabile, se nella terza iscrizione non si trovassero
le parole PRO LVD . LVM . che il P. Garrucci legge pro ludorum
luminatione, per l’illuminazione dei giuochi, e Mommsen pro ludorum
luminibus; per i lumi dei giuochi. Questa spiegazione non essendoci
sembrata in tutto soddisfacente noi abbiamo consultato uno de’
nostri dotti colleghi, il signor Léon Rénier, noto per gli studj speciali
che ha fatti dell’epigrafia antica. I nostri lettori saran lieti di trovar qui
le sue risposte, delle quali abbiamo creduto adottare le conclusioni
così ben motivate.
«L’interpretazione del P. Garrucci, e quella di Mommsen, dice Léon
Rénier, proverebbero, se si fosse costretti d’attenervisi, che si davan
dei giuochi con illuminazione nell’anfiteatro di Pompei, ciò che non
mi pare da ammettere. Ecco come io interpreto il passo
dell’iscrizione: Marcus CANTRIVS, Marci Filius MARCELLVS duum
VIR PRO LVDis LVMinatione, CVNEOS III Faciendos Curavit EX
Decreto Decurionum. PRO LUDis, LVMinatione, cioè in luogo dei
giuochi e dell’illuminazione, ch’ei doveva dare nell’occasione della
sua elezione alle funzioni di Duumviro. L’elissi della congiunzione et
non ha nulla che debba sorprenderci: era essa di regola nello stile
epigrafico. (Ved. Morcelli, De Stylo inscr. p. 4486 ed. Rom.) Gli onori
municipali si pagavano ordinariamente con giuochi, spettacoli,
distribuzioni di sparsioni, ecc.: spese improduttive che si
scontravano talvolta come qui, con altre spese equivalenti il cui
effetto era più durevole. In una iscrizione di Djemilah (l’antica
Colonia Cuiculitanorum), che io ho pubblicato in una memoria che fa
parte dell’ultimo volume della Società degli Antiquari di Francia, si
vede un magistrato di questa città erigere una basilica, in luogo
d’uno spettacolo di gladiatori ch’ei doveva dare. Si potrebbero citare
molti esempi analoghi.
«Le interpretazioni del P. Garrucci e di Mommsen sono affatto
congetturali; la mia si appoggia sopra esempj che mi sembrano
concludenti. Il primo ne è fornito da un’iscrizione di Roma edita dal
Fabretti Inscript. Domestic. p. 243 n. 556, e da Orelli p. 3324, la
quale termina così: POPVLO VISCERATIonem GLADIATORES
DEDIT LVMINAtionem LVDOS Junoni Sospitæ Magnæ Reginæ
SOLIS FECIT.
«Il secondo si trova in un’iscrizione della raccolta di Muratori pl. 652.
n. 6, nella quale si legge:
..... VS . SPORTVLAS ITEM FIERI ET
..... PVERIS NVCES SPARGI DIE Suprascripto ET
LVMINATIONE

«Quest’ultima iscrizione è un’iscrizione funeraria, nella quale non


v’ha questione nè di giuochi nè di spettacoli, ciò che mi fa pensare
che in quella dell’anfiteatro di Pompei non vi sia connessità fra le
parole LVD e LUM; queste parole designano due spettacoli differenti,
che i nuovi magistrati dovevano dare al popolo e da cui un decreto
dei decurioni gli aveva dispensati, loro imponendo l’obbligo di
applicare alla costruzione dell’anfiteatro una somma almeno
equivalente a quella ch’essi avevano così economizzata» [125].
Per quanto ragionate codeste conclusioni, non mi so risolvere ad
accettarle; perocchè fin quando io trovi, come in questa iscrizione di
Marco Cantrio, che cuneos tres faciendos curavit, che, cioè, veggo
menzionata un’opera, allora ben posso spiegarmi il pro ludis del
modo che interpretò Rénier, vale a dire in sostituzione dei giuochi;
ma quando trovo il pro ludis come nell’iscrizione
M . OCULATIUS M . F . VERVS II VIR PRO LUDIS

che ho riferita nel Capitolo precedente del Teatro Comico e che


stava sulla soglia del medesimo in lettere di bronzo, senz’altra
indicazione che m’additi cosa siasi dato o fatto in luogo dei giuochi,
allora mi è permesso di dubitare che l’interpretazione di Rénier abbia
sciolto l’enigma e di credere piuttosto che possa intendersi il pro
ludis, come magistrato sopra i giuochi, cioè sovrintendente degli
spettacoli.
E tanto più mi confermo in ciò, in quanto io non abbia rinvenuto
autorità che mi convinca che gli spettacoli dati dai nuovi magistrati,
fossero un verace obbligo inerente alla loro nomina; anzi che una
liberalità, quantunque forzata, e che però potesse intervenire decreto
di decurioni a sostituire ad una spesa obbligatoria un’altra spesa.
Ritornando ora alla difesa del podio, vuolsi osservare come anche
un canal d’acqua vi corresse lungh’esso; onde così non fosse
permesso alle fiere di accostarvisi di troppo.
La cavea era regolata e distribuita del modo stesso che accennai,
parlando de’ teatri, nei capitoli antecedenti, partita cioè in tre zone
col mezzo di due gallerie. La più bassa riserbata, come pur testè ho
detto, ai principali magistrati, ai capi della colonia, a’ sacerdoti e
sacerdotesse ed il posto che ognun d’essi occupava sopra i gradini
era circoscritto in due linee col corrispondente numero distinto in
rosso; e quel numero doveva corrispondere alla tessera che si
presentava entrando all’impiegato denominato Locarius, o
pigionante di sedili. Il quale occupava prima i posti negli spettacoli, o
li accaparrava per cederli poi a chi giungesse tardi, contro
determinato prezzo.
L’affaccendarsi di costui era singolarmente per le dame, imitate pur
dalle moderne, che ultime sempre giungevano allo spettacolo,
trattenute dalle lunghe e studiate toelette; onde il nostro Savioli,
facendo allusione nella sua Ode Il Teatro a siffatta consuetudine,
cantava:

Tardi ai roman’ spettacoli


L’altera Giulia venne,
Ma i primi onor del Lazio
Su l’altre belle ottenne.

Marziale, ne’ suoi epigrammi, parla di questi locarii nel verso:

Hermes divitiæ locariorum [126];

ed io, tenendo conto di tali inservienti de’ pubblici trattenimenti,


addito origini di pratiche pur oggidì sussistenti, e riconfermo il
concetto del Savio, che disse nulla essere nuovo sotto il sole.
Questa prima cavea dell’anfiteatro era divisa da una precinzione di
pietre di tufo dall’altra cavea superiore e conteneva diversi muri
traversali che ripartivano il podio stesso. Così aveva quattro
ripartimenti, due verso le porte di cinque gradini, e due altri nel
mezzo del giro di quattro gradini assai più larghi e spaziosi, aventi
poi ognuno le proprie porte separate.
La media, o seconda cavea era assegnata ai cittadini distinti, e più
agiati, ai diversi collegi e ai militari ed aveva trenta gradini.
Termina finalmente colla summa cavea costituita di diciotto fila di
gradini ed era riserbata al popolo e dietro di esso si collocava la
plebe, dopo la quale, in bell’ordine di archi sorgevano le logge per le
donne, che si formavano degli archi stessi sorretti da colonne, alle
quali logge, per essere coperte, Calpurnio chiamò col nome di
cattedre ne’ versi in cui rammenta di aver dovuto ascendere fin su su
nell’ultima fila dell’Anfiteatro, per essere la infima e media cavea
occupate da magistrati e cavalieri:

Venimus ad sedes, ubi pulla sordida veste


Inter femineas spectabat turba cathedras,
Nam quæcumque patent sub aperta libera cœlo,
Aut eques aut nivei loca densavere tribuni [127].

Tutta la cavea ha quaranta scaglioni con altrettanti vomitorj per i


quali gli spettatori entravano ed uscivano ordinatamente; solo le
donne avevano una separata gradinata onde accedere ai loro posti;
lo che dinota ancora un riguardo che a’ dì nostri non si serba al
gentil sesso ne’ teatri, e ciò malgrado che allora fosse dal diritto
romano considerata la donna poco più di cosa, e adesso si pretenda
che i costumi illeggiadriti ne abbiano senza confronti migliorate le
condizioni.
Abbiamo già veduto nel precedente capitolo, come a temprare agli
spettatori del Teatro Tragico gli ardori canicolari, fosse stato in
Pompei e nelle altre città della Campania, prima che altrove,
immaginato il velario, cagione di tanto scandalo a’ puritani scrittori di
allora: or bene l’Anfiteatro pompeiano usava esso pure il più sovente
di questa salutare costumanza. Dirò di più: la distesa del velario era
tanto desiderata e voluta, che il Theatropola, od impresario di teatro,
o chi dava le feste, si affrettava, nel pubblico annunzio che
scrivevasi sui muri delle principali vie o de’ luoghi più affluiti di gente
ad indicare che le vele e le tende non sarebbero mancate. Ho già
recato nel capitolo nel quale parlai delle vie e degli affissi, quello in
cui Valente Flamine perpetuo di Nerone, avvertendo che ai 28 marzo
(V. Kal. aprilis) si darebbe una caccia, si dà premura di soggiungere
che vi sarebbero i velarii, et vela erunt: ora, a meglio constatare la
buona usanza, ne recherò due altri.
Un Ottavio, od un Onesimo, procuratore, poichè gli scrittori non
sanno leggere che questi due nomi sotto la lettera O della seguente
iscrizione, così annunzia una caccia, venatio, che darebbe a’ 29 di
ottobre la famiglia gladiatoria di Numerio Popidio Rufo, che a’ 20
Aprile si alzerebbero le antenne, mala, ed i velarii, vela,
nell’anfiteatro.
N . POPIDI
RVFI . FAM . GLAD . IV . K . NOV . POMPEIS
VENATIONE ET . XII . K . MAI
MALA . ET . VELA . ERVNT
Q . PROCVRATOR . FELICITAS . [128]

Si argomenta da tale avviso che i velarii si rizzassero nell’anfiteatro


appena che il caldo incominciasse vivamente a farsi sentire e a dar
fastidio la sferza del sole e che, se si credeva avvertire una caccia
gladiatoria, ancorchè lontana, perchè più spettacolosa, non toglieva
che prima si facessero altri minori divertimenti nell’anfiteatro; senza
di che non avrebbe senso il dirsi che si rizzerebbero antenne a vele
nell’aprile, per una caccia che dovesse seguire sei mesi nell’ottobre.
L’altro manifesto che si lesse su d’un muro della Basilica si esprime
così:
N . FESTI AMPLIATI
FAMILIA . GLADIATORIA . PVGNA . ITERVM
PUGNA . XVI . X IVN VENAT . VELA. [129]

Or bene, nel cornicione dell’anfiteatro sì avvisano ancora alcune


pietre aventi dei fori, ne’ quali si infliggevano le aste od antenne
(mali, o mala come è scritto nella surriferita iscrizione) a cui venivano
raccomandati i capi del velario e le funi che lo sostenevano.
Abbiam veduto superiormente come alle due estremità della elissi
dell’anfiteatro vi fossero due porte: noterò ora che un’altra più
piccola ve ne fosse, la quale era detta Libitinense, il cui scopo
avverrà di conoscere più avanti, parlando de’ gladiatori.
Per questa porticina entravano poi le bestie feroci, le quali, per
l’angustia di essa, non avrebbero potuto ritornare indietro o volgersi
dai lati. Una cameretta vi è presso, forse lo spoliario, luogo nel quale
i gladiatori uccisi venivano spogliati delle loro armi e delle loro
vestimenta, come troviam ricordato in Seneca ed in Lampridio [130]:
in essa si trovarono le ossa d’un leone. Questa circostanza e l’altra
che già ricordai di eguali avanzi di leoni rinvenuti nelle vicinanze
avvalorano l’affermazione di chi scrisse che il cataclisma
sorprendesse i Pompejani intenti ai giuochi dell’anfiteatro. Per lo
meno ci provano che recenti ne dovessero essere stati i divertimenti.
In quanto a me, non sono alieno del dividere l’opinione di coloro che
osservarono che il novissimo giorno fosse pure un dì a’ ludi circensi
destinato, confermandone altresì il fatto d’essersi trovati verso
l’ingresso e ne’ corridoi dell’anfiteatro sei scheletri, a fianco di essi
due braccialetti, due anelli, una moneta ed altri frammenti d’oro,
quattro belle monete di bronzo, un involto di drappi ed una lampada.
Perchè avrebbero dovuto rinvenirsi questi scheletri e questi oggetti
in luogo ordinariamente chiuso, oltre che all’estremità della città, se
non per essere stato in quel giorno aperto a pubblico divertimento?
Non si potranno ad ogni modo per questi dati abbastanza
significanti, avere per sognatori coloro che la detta opinione
sostennero.
Altre piccole camere vi sono ai lati delle due porte principali ed erano
i cataboli, o stalle in cui le belve attendevano d’essere lanciate
nell’anfiteatro.
Finalmente chiuderò la descrizione dell’anfiteatro pompejano col far
cenno del triclinio, che di contro al principale ingresso di esso si
vede. Era uso presso gli antichi che il giorno innanzi l’esecuzione dei
condannati a morte si imbandisse loro un publico banchetto,
chiamato libero. In cotale occasione si largheggiava ad essi di ogni
ricercata vivanda. Chateaubriand, che di tal costume favella ne’ suoi
Martyrs, non può trattenersi dallo scagliarsi contro di esso, come di
raffinamento della legge e come brutale clemenza del paganesimo;
l’una, perchè voleva rendere la vita cara a quelli che dovevano
perderla; l’altra, che non considerando l’uomo che fatto per i piaceri,
ne lo voleva colmare nel mentre che spirava. Anche i gladiatori,
devoti a morte, poichè non avvenisse mai che talun d’essi non
restasse sull’arena, avevan diritto, prima del giorno dello spettacolo,
a questo publico pasto. Era poi nella piazza cinta di muro, in
prossimità al triclinio, che i gladiatori attendevano l’ora di entrare alla
lotta nell’anfiteatro.
Ora poichè conosciamo il luogo che in Pompei serviva d’arringo a’
giuochi circensi, e coll’anfiteatro di questa città, possiam dire di
conoscere quelli pure delle altre e anche quello più famoso di Roma;
passiamo a trattare de’ ludi, che più frequentemente solevano
celebrarsi in essi, e delle persone che vi pigliavano parte.
I più consueti e desiderati spettacoli dell’Anfiteatro erano le corse,
che prima si facevano, come già vedemmo, nel Circo; i ludi gladiatorj
e le cacce, che son le venationes che abbiamo in più affissi veduto
annunziate in Pompei. Le danze, le pantomime, i canti e i suoni dei
tibicini e dei fidicini erano divertimenti minori a’ quali prestavasi bensì
l’anfiteatro, ma piuttosto a riempire gli intermezzi e ad illudere
l’impazienza del publico che stava attendendo i principali spettacoli
annunziati, anzi che a costituire di per sè un vero trattenimento.
Le Corse, o fazioni degli Auriga, il lettore s’è accorto essere state
introdotte fin dai primordj di Roma, per aver io al principio ricordato il
giuoco de’ Trojani: il qual non fosse infatti che un armeggiamento a
cavallo. Molto più in onore in Grecia erano tenute le Corse, dove i
vincitori ne’ giuochi olimpici vennero consegnati alla immortalità dagli
inni di Pindaro. Colà, per responso della Pizia, a’ siffatti giuochi
annettevasi la salute della Grecia. Furono perfino misurate le epoche
dalle olimpiadi, ogni olimpiade essendo lo spazio de’ quattro anni
che scorrevano fra due celebrazioni de’ giuochi olimpici. Dall’una
all’altra olimpiade si contavano cinque anni, benchè non fossero se
non se quattro compiuti. Presso gli storici la prima olimpiade
comincia nel 776 prima di G. C. e 24 avanti la fondazione di Roma.
Dopo la 340.ª olimpiade, che finì coll’anno 440 dell’Era Volgare, più
non si trovano gli anni calcolati per mezzo delle olimpiadi.
Or si fu nella vigesima quinta olimpiade che presso quella nazione
ebbe luogo la corsa del carro a due cavalli; nella ventottesima quella
dei cavalli da sella; nella novantottesima corse con due cavalli da
maneggio nello stadio, e nella susseguente si attaccarono ad un
carro due giovani puledri condotti a mano ed un’altra corsa di un
puledro montato a guisa d’un cavallo da sella.
In Roma e nelle città italiane, dove massime negli ultimi tempi della
republica ed in quelli dell’impero si grecizzava, era più che ovvio che
que’ giuochi si importassero con quelle discipline e seguissero nel
circo dapprima e poi nell’anfiteatro e s’introducessero le corse dei
cocchi o de’ carri, currus, detti anche bighe se tirate da una coppia di
cavalli, quadrighe se da quattro. Dione nel lib. XXIX, cap. 28, parla
delle corse dei cavalli che fecero parte dei giuochi famosi che diede
Pompeo e de’ quali dirò ancora più avanti.
Le fazioni degli auriganti che si vennero presto istituendo e le quali
aspiravano alla palma nei ludi circensi, erano quattro in Roma,
distinte dal vario colore delle vestimenta loro, cioè verde, ceruleo,
rosso o bianco, onde appellavansi Prasinæ, Venetæ, Russatæ,
Albatæ. Svetonio ne fa sapere essersene di poi aggiunte altre due,
l’una di stoffa aurata, e l’altra di panno porporino. I principi perfino si
onoravano d’esserne i capi; così Caligola della Prasina, Vitellio della
Veneta. I guidatori (agitatores) montarono in prezzo e i poeti li
celebrarono, come ne fanno fede, oltre que’ di Marziale, anche i
vecchi epigrammi di M. Aurelio Dione, di Diocle, di Pompeo Eusceno
e di Fuseo. Così rimasero ricordati i nomi di Incitato caro a Caligola,
di Prasino caro a Nerone, di Passerino e Tigri diletti a Domiziano e di
Scorpo a Nerva; del quale Scorpo dettò Marziale il seguente
pomposo epitaffio:

Ille ego sum Scorpus, clamosi gloria Circi


Plausus, Roma tui deliciæque breves:
Invida quam Lachesis raptum trieteride nona,
Dum numerat palmas, credidit esse senem [131].

L’interessamento generale, la division delle opinioni, il parteggiar di


tutti per questa o quella fazione d’auriganti, e le scommesse furon
tali e tante, che parve fino un delirio. Giovenale così della fazion
Prasina attesta la propria simpatia e predilezione:

Totam hodie Romam circus capit et fragor aurem


Percutit, eventum viridis quo colligo, panni [132];

e più tardi a’ tempi di Giustiniano, per la contenzione delle fazioni


Prasina e Veneta, tanta nacque sedizione in Bisanzio che il monaco
Zonara, nel suo libro Degli Imperatori Greci, scrisse essersene
occasionata la strage di quasi quarantamila uomini; d’onde poi si
avesse ad abolire la designazione delle fazioni.
I vincitori nelle corse de’ giuochi circensi, proclamati per tali dal
Pretore, come ne ammonisce Giovenale in que’ versi:

. . . . similisque triumpho
Præda caballorum Prætor sedet [133],

uscendo dalla porta trionfale del circo fra le ovazioni frenetiche del
popolo, colle palme raccolte e della corona di lentischio recinta la
fronte, spesso assisero conviva alla mensa imperiale.
Passo rapido ora da questo subbietto, perocchè fosse, a mio
sentimento, mal propria l’arena dell’anfiteatro pompeiano a siffatto
genere di ludi, e vengo invece più distesamente a dire de’ gladiatorj,
che tutto attesta essere stati assai frequenti in Pompei.
Ed è a questo punto ch’io pongo dapprima la descrizione del Ludo
Gladiatorio che esisteva e che venne discoperta dagli scavi in
Pompei.
Ma non pensi il lettore ch’io m’intenda parlare di quella taberna, che
da parecchie Guide vien detta la Scola dei Gladiatori, la quale fu
scoperta il 12 aprile 1847 ed a cui valse un tale titolo unicamente
perchè nell’esterno di essa si trovò un’insegna dipinta che
rappresentava un combattimento di gladiatori. L’angustia di questa
esclude assolutamente ch’essa potesse servire allo scopo al quale si
vorrebbe destinata, poichè la scuola de’ gladiatori suppone che
abbia un locale atto all’esercizio della scherma e capace di
contenere, oltre i duellanti, anche il lanista, o loro maestro. Ora una
tale taberna non era atta a tanto. Più probabile è invece ch’essa
appartenesse a qualche theatropola, o impresario di pubblici
spettacoli, il quale vi tenesse ricapito per la vendita delle tessere
teatrali, o per l’allestimento dei ludi o per l’ingaggio dei gladiatori.
Tale insegna, comunque difesa da un piccolo tetto, è pressochè tutta
omai cancellata: sotto di essa vi si lesse in addietro la seguente
iscrizione:
ABIAT (HABEAT) VENERE (VENEREM) POMPEIIANA (M) IRADAM (IRATA)
QVI HOC LAESERIT [134].

Queste scorrezioni di dizione ci rivelano però il linguaggio volgare e


l’approssimazione fin d’allora all’italiano.
Ma del resto farò osservare che il soggetto dell’insegna non può in
alcun modo forzarci a ritenere a qualunque costo che la taberna
dovesse aver un’attinenza coll’arte gladiatoria e con ispettacoli, da
che sembri che il combattimento di due gladiatori fosse tema assai
frequente delle insegne, se Orazio, nella satira settima del Lib. 11,
potè lasciare scritto:

. . . . . atque ego, cum Fulvi, Rutubæque,


Aut Placideiani contento poplite miror
Prœlia, rubrica picta aut carbone: velut si
Re vera pugnent, ferient, vitentque moventes
Arma viri [135].

Il Ludo Gladiatorio piuttosto e veramente, a quante le ricerche


diligenti fatte hanno condotto a ritenere, è quell’edificio al fianco
orientale del Foro triangolare, del quale parlando, ho già mentovato,
che per tanto tempo si continuasse a designare per quartiere di
soldati. Tale designazione non era stata, siccome avvenne di tanti
altri edifici di Pompei, determinata dal capriccio, ma sì dall’esservisi
trovate alcune armature e ceppi entro i quali costrette ancora le ossa
dei piedi di varii scheletri, che s’era supposto essere stati di soldati in
punizione, i quali erano stati sorpresi dalla estrema eruzione del
Vesuvio e dalla finale catastrofe senza potersi svincolare da essi.
Questi ceppi si conservano al Museo Nazionale di Napoli e
costituisconsi di una lunga e duplice barra di ferro, avente ad eguali
intervalli venti perni rialzati che sulla cima finiscono in anelli. Tra
l’uno e l’altro di questi perni il colpevole doveva collocare i piedi, che
vi venivano serrati da un ferro traversale, che passava per quegli
anelli, ed a fianco stava la serratura a chiave che assicurava un tal
ferro.
In tutto questo edificio, scoperto nel 1766 e completamente
sbarazzato nel 1794, si contarono al momento delle prime indagini,
non meno di sessantatrè scheletri e si è questo considerevole
numero di scheletri che farebbe persistere taluno scrittore, — cui
pare improbabile che una città di non molta importanza per
popolazione come Pompei potesse contare un numero sì forte di
gladiatori, — a voler ravvisare in questo edificio una caserma di
soldati; tanto più che una piazza forte come questa dovesse invece
avere una guarnigione e per conseguenza una appropriata caserma.
Ma il P. Garrucci stabilì in una sua memoria, inserita nel tredicesimo
numero del Bollettino Archeologico Napoletano del gennaio 1823,
che quest’edificio non potesse essere che un Ludo de’ gladiatori. Nè
del resto può sembrare improbabile in Pompei il numero suddetto di
gladiatori, da che si avverta, e noi l’apprendemmo dalle iscrizioni che
riprodussi, come l’epoca dell’ultima eruzione che seppellì Pompei
coincidesse colla stagione ordinaria degli spettacoli più strepitosi
dell’anfiteatro, e che doveva pur esser quella in cui i più doviziosi
romani, che possedevan ville nel delizioso golfo napolitano,
solevano ritrovarsi nelle loro villeggiature. D’altronde se la questione
numerica della popolazione dovesse essere non solo un irrecusabile
argomento, ma ben anco un semplice argomento od una seria
congettura, non si saprebbe, per egual titolo, trovar la ragione
d’essere del vasto anfiteatro. Ma ho già notato invece che agli
spettacoli di Pompei intervenissero pure dalle vicine terre e castella
e, i fatti storici alla mano, ciò si è incontrovertibilmente da me
stabilito.
Questo Ludo adunque è un vasto parallelogramma, nel quale i
gladiatori venivano istruiti a combattere da un lanista o maestro di
scherma. Era questi o il proprietario d’una compagnia di tali uomini,
che li locava a chi volesse offrire uno spettacolo gladiatorio; od
anche solo l’istruttore de’ gladiatori appartenenti allo stato, e perciò
detti cæsarei. Tale parallelogramma era tutto circondato di portici e
d’architettura dorica a due piani, sostenuti da sessantaquattro
colonne di tufo rivestite di stucco e scannellate nella parte inferiore.
Nel giro del portico terreno vi sono molte camere, ed in quelle verso
il lato occidentale si trovarono i suddetti istrumenti di punizione.
Nell’interno del portico, sulle colonne e nelle camere erano graffite
parecchie iscrizioni, fra le quali è riportata da tutti e non per anco
decifrata con soddisfazione, e per me affatto di colore oscuro, la
seguente:
VHI . K . FEBR .
TABVLAS POSITAS
IN MVSCARIO
CCC . VIIII . SS . CCCC . XXX .

Dal pianterreno si ascendeva per mezzo d’una scala in angolo


presso le camere ad uso di prigione al piano superiore. Non fa ora
all’argomento mio di tener conto degli oggetti, fra’ quali molti
muliebri, qui rinvenuti negli scavi: perocchè debba affrettarmi ad
entrare più spiccio nel tema di questi gladiatori.
Roma aveva parecchi di questi ludi, e furon noti il Ludus Gallicus, il
Dacicus, il Magnus, il Mamertinus, l’Æmilius. A questi non eran
preposti soltanto i lanista ma de’ procuratores, tratti dalle classi
cittadine più distinte, ed avevano inoltre proprj medici e chirurghi per
curarne l’esistenza e la prestanza, come farebbesi di polli che si
vengano nutricando per le delizie de’ banchetti. Tacito però non a
torto chiamò il ludo sagina gladiatoria [136], ingrassamento
gladiatorio. Nè meno celebri furono i ludi di Capua e di Ravenna; dal
primo eruppe Spartaco e sappiam com’egli fosse il capo della
rivoluzion servile: al secondo, di proprietà dello stato, appartiene il
Gladiatore che è il protagonista della bella tragedia dell’Halm,
tradotta dall’egregio prof. dott. Giuseppe Rota, d’alcun brano della
quale, a chiarimento del mio soggetto, infiorerò tra poco queste
pagine.
Quale si avessero origine i Gladiatori, esporrò sotto brevità.
I funerali e la religione li produssero. Gli Etruschi gli usarono ne’
funerali, essendo loro credenza che l’anime de’ morti coll’uman
sangue si propiziassero. Epperò i captivi di guerra, gli schiavi tristi e
colpevoli, comperati, si immolavano nelle funebri pompe. Dagli
Etruschi venne il costume a’ Romani, prima però che a questi, passò
con determinate modificazioni ne’ riti, a’ popoli della Campania.
Fu nell’anno 490 della fondazione di Roma, che Marco e Decimo
Bruto offersero pubblicamente in Roma nel Foro Boario spettacolo di
gladiatori, in occasione della morte di Giunio, loro padre: i tre figli di
Emilio Lepido, augure, ne fecero lottare undici coppie nel foro per tre
giorni, poi venticinque i figliuoli di Valerio Levino; indi crebbero
vieppiù. Già vedemmo di Lucio Silla, come i ludi gladiatorii ordinasse
per testamento nelle sue esequie. Cesare, in memoria della figlia, ne
presentò seicentoquaranta; Tito, delizia del genere umano, continuò
tali conflitti per cento giorni; il buon Trajano, l’amico di Plinio, per
centoventitrè, offerendo duemila combattenti.
Nè fu più ragione il funerale o la religione soltanto a siffatti spettacoli;
ma i gladiatori si diedero ben anco a semplice titolo di divertimento,
e i magistrati primarj entrando in carica, a ingrazianarsi il popolo,
glieli offrivano a spettacolo; onde perfino tale divertimento stesso
gladiatorio si appellasse munus, sia che intender si volesse dato
gratuitamente, sia perchè dato per l’officio.
È fatto menzione da Svetonio, nella vita di Claudio, come questo
Cesare, prima di disseccare il lago Fùcino, vi volesse dare uno
spettacolo di naumachia, e che i gladiatori che vi dovevano
combattere, passando prima d’innanzi all’imperatore gridando: Ave,
Imperator, morituri te salutant: — Salve, o Imperatore, que’ che
vanno a morire ti salutano, — Claudio lor rispondesse: Avete vos, —
state sani; ond’essi, il saluto interpretando come un perdono e una
dispensa dal battersi, più non volessero infatti pugnare; tal che
Claudio, indegnato, rimanesse in forse se farli tutti perire di ferro e di
fuoco; ma poi lanciandosi dal suo seggio e girando intorno il lago
d’un passo tremante e ridicolo, un po’ con minacce, un po’ con
promesse, li obbligasse a combattere.
Era dunque una vera frenesia per codesti giuochi e così fu spinta,
che tali combattimenti diventarono presto un mestiere, e il popolo
sovrano a pagarli e fin le dame a carezzarne i campioni.
Or chi erano questi sciagurati che mettevano a prezzo il loro sangue,
la loro vita?
Due specie vi avevano di gladiatori: la prima di coloro che venivano
astretti ad assumere siffatto mestiere; l’altra di coloro che
volontariamente lo esercitavano. Venivano essi, cioè, della prima
specie, trascelti fra diverse classi della società, o erano schiavi che a
tal uopo vendevansi o prigionieri di guerra, che dopo aver servito a
decorare i trionfi de’ comandanti vittoriosi, riservavansi ai pubblici
giuochi; o finalmente colpevoli di crimini o condannati per causa di
ribellione.
Tuttavia accadde, — ed ecco come avvenisse che vi fossero atleti
della seconda specie, — che si vedessero scendere ne’ circhi a
combattere co’ gladiatori anche liberi cittadini, sia che fossero spinti
a così degradarsi dall’ingordigia del danaro, ed appellavansi
auctorati, sia che fossero mossi da una stolta ambizione.
La degradazione era necessaria conseguenza della professione da
chiunque venisse essa abbracciata; perocchè, comunque liberi,
questi auctorati erano tenuti ad un solenne giuramento, che ben
valeva una verace schiavitù. La formula di tal giuramento si può
leggere nei frammenti di Petronio Arbitro: In verba juravimus, uri,
vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari, et quidquid aliud Eumolpus
jussisset: tanquam legitimi gladiatores, domino corpora animosque
religiosissime addicimus [137]. Essere uccisi dal ferro, cioè, quando
cadevano vinti che dovevano allora sommettersi all’ultimo e mortale
colpo del vincitore; abbruciati o flagellati, quando avessero
timidamente pugnato o si fossero vilmente sottratti al ferro. A questo
fine nell’arena e sulla scena erano sempre i Lorarii, o Mastigofori
altramente detti, schiavi destinati ad infliggere loro le summentovate
pene.
Erano inoltre diverse le classi de’ gladiatori. V’erano i secutores,
inseguitori addestrati a combattere coi retiarii, prendendo il nome dal
modo onde inseguivano l’avversario, che avendo tentato di gittar su
di essi la sua rete, senza esservi riuscito, era costretto fuggire,
finchè gli fosse dato di ricuperar la rete, di cui si valeva. Così
sappiamo de’ retiarii, altri gladiatori che, oltre la rete colla quale
cercavano avvolgere i secutores, erano pure armati d’un forcone a
tre rebbi, tridentes. — Myrmillones chiamavansi que’ gladiatori che
ponevansi a pugnare contro i retiarii o contro i Traci, thraces,
gladiatori pur questi armati di coltello con arma ricurva, come
Spartaco che vuolsi appunto nativo di Tracia, che combattevano alla
foggia del loro paese. I Myrmillones portavano l’elmetto gallico con
l’immagine d’un pesce per cresta. In una tomba presso la porta
Ercolano in Pompei si trovò scolpita una figura di essi. Giovenale
così delle prime tre sorta di gladiatori fa cenno, staffilando i nobili
degenerati del suo tempo, che spudoratamente a questo infame
mestiere si erano dati.

. . . hæc ultra quid erit nisi ludus? Et illud


Dedecus Urbis habes: nec mirmillonis in armis
Nec clypeo Gracchum pugnantem, aut falce supina
(Damnat enim tales habitus; sed damnat et odit):
Nec galea frontem abscondit: movet ecce tridentem,
Postquam librata pendentia retia dextra
Nequidquam effudit, nudum ad spectacula vultum
Erigit et tota fugit agnoscendus arena.
Credamus tunicæ, de faucibus aurea quum se
Porrigat, et longo jactetur spira Galero.
Ergo ignominiam graviorem pertulit omni
Vulnere, cum Graccho jussus pugnare secutor [138].

Gli scavi di Pompei offersero del pari, in un basso rilievo in istucco


su d’una tomba, la figura d’un’altra specie di gladiatori, detti
Samnites, la cui origine ci è svelata da Tito Livio in quel passo cui
già accennai nel capitolo della Storia: Campani odio Samnitium
gladiatores eo ornatu armarunt, samniticumque nomina
appellarunt [139].
Questi Sanniti credesi anche si chiamassero col nome di
hoplomachi, se pure non fossero designati con questo nome altri
differenti atleti: ed erano essi gladiatori codesti che pugnavano
armati da capo a’ piedi.
Essedarii dicevansi coloro che combattevano dall’essedo, veicolo da
me già spiegato nel capitolo Le Vie; Andabati quelli che battevansi
sui cavalli; Dimachœri che usavano di due gladii, o spade; Laquearii
che cercavano abbattere il proprio competitore col laccio; Supposititii
o surrogati, che subentravano al gladiator vinto, misurandosi col
vincitore per contendergli la definitiva vittoria; Pegmares quelli che
servivano nell’anfiteatro a subitanee trasformazioni, da pegma
ch’erano appunto macchinismi scenici; Postulatitii coloro ch’erano
dati nello spettacolo in soprappiù del numero regolare indicato
nell’annuncio, a fine di soddisfare la richiesta (postulata) del publico;
e Meridiani, finalmente, certi gladiatori armati alla leggiera, che
combattevano per modo d’interludio, a mezzo giorno, dopo terminati
i combattimenti colle fiere.
Nè certo ho con questi menzionati i nomi tutti delle tante specie di
gladiatori, che nella frenesia di que’ spettacoli si vennero
studiosamente immaginando.
Più tardi adunque, come già ci avvertirono i succitati versi di
Giovenale, superando ogni ritegno e pregiudizio, scesero nell’arena
cavalieri perfino e senatori. Come s’è veduto avvenire che uomini
dell’ordine equestre montassero la scena sotto di Giulio Cesare; fu
pur sotto di esso che in Roma primi obliassero il decoro del loro
ordine Furio Leptino e Aulo Caleno, senatori; ma rotto il freno e
precipitando ognor più la pubblica moralità in basso, si vedevano
offerirsi a indecente e brutto spettacolo di nudità e di degradazione
nel circo nani e pigmei, donne e fra queste anche matrone.
Il perchè Giovenale così flagella l’inverecondo costume:

Endromidas Tyrias et femineum ceroma


Quis nescit? vel quis non vidit vulnera pali?
Quem cavat assiduis sudibus scutoque lacessit,
Atque omnes implet numeros, dignissima prorsus
Florali matrona tuba; nisi si quid in illo
Pectore plus agitat, veræque paratur arenæ.
Quem præstare potest mulier galeata pudorem
Quæ fugit a sexu? Vires amat [140].

Pare, ed a ragione, così di troppo conculcata la dignità umana; ma


che si dirà dinanzi il fatto di Nerone che fe’ pugnare in un giorno
nell’Anfiteatro 40 senatori e 60 cavalieri? Dopo l’umiliazion della
donna, succedeva quella dell’autorità. Che rimaneva omai di
venerando e sacro?
Quelli nondimeno che fra tutti costoro destavano maggior pietà,
erano indubbiamente i prigionieri di guerra, ai quali Tertulliano
concede l’epiteto d’innocenti, per distinguerli da’ gladiatori di
mestiere.
Nessuna guerra, dice Giusto Lipsio, non fu giammai più distruttiva
pel genere umano quanto i giuochi del circo. Infatti si sa da Plinio il

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