Cover Page
The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/60213 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation.
Author: Löhndorf, R.T.
Title: Parenting and professional childcare in Chile : relations with child developmental outcomes in preschoolers
Issue Date: 2018-02-06
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Acknowledgments
“Mama, when is this woman leaving again?”
(5-year-old about the researcher in her home)
I have to say I cannot blame the child quoted above, because data collection truly was a challenge for everyone involved: families and researchers alike. First and foremost I would like to thank the participating families and preschools for their collaboration. I also want to express my thanks to JUNJI and INTEGRA for tirelessly supporting our study over the years. My special and heartfelt gratitude goes to my Chilean research team. I speechlessly bow to your monumental achievement. Data collection in Chilean low-SES families is not for the faint-hearted. Thank you for your loyalty, dedication, hard work, perseverance, flexibility, humor, and creative problem solving. You magically made the “mission impossible” possible. Moreover, I am especially honored that I could count with the committed help and advice of two renowned leaders of the Mapuche community during both data collection time points of this cross-cultural study. Chaltumay Machi Aniceto (Lleuful) and Machi Marcela (Alchao)! Another honor and blessing has been the collaboration with Adele Diamond. Dear Adele, I feel deep gratitude for your continuous guidance, encouragement, and support. I finally found the role model I was searching for.
Thank you for your advances in the field and contributions to children’s lives!
Next, I would like to thank my supervisors and colleagues in Leiden for providing a rich learning environment. I appreciate everything you have done for me over the past four years. You made my Ph.D. experience and stays in The Netherlands memorable. Thank you Gea and Esther for your friendly help in times of administrative and social needs. Thank you Sheila and Mariëlle for your valuable support and ad hoc post-doc advice.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my loved ones - family and friends from around the world - for giving me the strength, courage, and inspiration to reach for the stars, no matter how far away they seem. Life without you is unthinkable.
Special thanks also to my ballet teachers for helping me keep my balance. Life without ballet is pointless.
I would like to thank my one and only. Dear Eric, you are the best travel companion on this ephemeral voyage called life. Thank you for your unconditional love and support. Second last, I am thankful for my sister, who
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is one of the greatest gifts in my life. Dear Juliane, thank you for being a strong, radiant, cheerful soul and for all the shared laughter. And last but not least honor to whom honor is due. Dear mum and dad, without you neither I nor this book would exist. Thank you for teaching me how to be a human being in all its complexity and for preparing me for life in the service of a higher cause. I learned by example that it is better to light a candle than to curse darkness. The more I study the more I realize that parenting is not an easy task and I have to say as your daughter and newly born scientist: you have done and continue to do an awe-inspiring job! Eternal admiration, love, and gratitude.
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Curriculum Vitae
Regina Tahirih Löhndorf was born on July 2nd 1980 in Duisburg, Germany. She graduated from the Andreas Vesalius Gymnasium in 1999. After completing secondary school, Regina worked as a volunteer at a First Nations school on Vancouver Island (Canada). She started to study psychology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) in 2001. She was granted cum laude on her propedeutic exam in 2002 and completed her Master’s degree in clinical psychology with a cum laude grade point average in 2006. During the last year of her master program she did an internship at the psychiatric hospital Bedburg-Hau (Germany) and obtained the Basic Psychodiagnostics Certificate of the NIP (Dutch Association of Psychologists). After her graduation from university she worked for one year as a volunteer at a rural elementary school for indigenous Mapuche children in the South of Chile. In 2008, she worked at the department for specialized diagnostics of the Vincent Van Gogh Centre of Excellence for Neuropsychiatry in Venray (The Netherlands).
After this work experience she returned to Chile and worked for several years as lecturer at the Universidad Autónoma (Temuco), Universidad Austral (Valdivia), and Universidad Católica (Temuco). She taught developmental psychology, personality psychology, and psychopathology at the departments of psychology and education and additionally English to professionals and academics with postgraduate degrees. In 2013 she got awarded the CONICYT (National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research) grant from the Chilean government, which allowed her to conduct research as part of the Ph.D. trajectory at the Centre for Child and Family Studies of Leiden University (2014-2017). This dissertation presents the results of her research project.
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Publications
Lohndorf, R. T., Vermeer, H. J., Cárcamo, R. A., & Mesman, J. (2017).
Preschoolers’ Vocabulary Acquisition in Chile: The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Quality of Home Environment Journal of Child Language (online first). doi:10.1017/S0305000917000332
