Is Maternal Marriage Beneficial for Low-Income Adolescents?

The present study investigated the association of mothers' marriage and changes in young adolescents' cognitive and socioemotional development and changes in family processes. Analyses employed longitudinal data from the Three-City Study to track maternal partnerships for 860 low-income adolescents (10–14 years-old in Wave 1) across a 16 month period. No short-term benefits or risks emerged for youth when mothers entered marriage, with few changes in family or maternal functioning linked with marriage formation as well. In contrast, adolescents in stably married families experienced improved academic, behavioral, and psychological well-being compared to youth in stable cohabiting or single-parent families. Stable marriage was similarly linked to improvements across multiple domains of home and mothers' functioning. These patterns were not moderated by the male partner's identity (biological father or stepfather). Results support the benefits of stable marriage on youth development, but suggest that policies supporting movements into new marriages may not result in improved adolescent or family functioning, at least in the short term.     

Fathers' and Mothers' Home Literacy Involvement and Children's Cognitive and Social Emotional Development: Implications for Family Literacy Programs

The relations between fathers' and mothers' home literacy involvement at 24 months and children's cognitive and social emotional development in preschool were examined using a large sample of African American and Caucasian families (N = 5190) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both fathers' and mothers' home literacy involvement positively contributed to children's cognitive and social emotional development. Specifically, fathers and mothers who participated in more frequent home literacy involvement (e.g., shared book reading) had children with better reading, math, and social emotional outcomes (i.e., sustained attention and fewer negative behaviors) in preschool. Findings suggest that increasing family literacy involvement can have positive benefits for children's cognitive and social emotional skills during the developmentally important early childhood years.     

Family Context and the Development of Undivided Interest: A Longitudinal Study of Family Support and Challenge and Adolescents' Quality of Experience

Adolescents' perceptions of family support and challenge, and their quality of subjective experience and interest, were investigated over a 2-year period in a national sample of adolescents (Grades 6-12). In Years 1 and 3 of the study, 247 adolescents with diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds responded to the Experience Sampling Method and completed questionnaires that contained items on family support and challenge. The main findings show that adolescents who perceived more family support in Year 1 reported more positive moods 2 years later. Adolescents who perceived more family challenge in the base year reported a stronger focus on goals in Year 3. Perceptions of increased family support across the 2 years of the study were linked to positive changes in adolescents moods. Increases in family challenge combined with increases in support were associated with a stronger focus on goals perceived as important by adolescents. Increases in support and challenge were also linked with the development of undivided interest, or a synchrony of positive moods while engaging important goals. In contrast, adolescents from more permissive families (high support and low challenge) and from more authoritarian families (low support and high challenge) reported more divided interest (i.e., an asynchrony of moods and goals) 2 years later. These findings are discussed in terms of how family contexts may influence the development of undivided interest and adolescents' capacities for self-regulation and lifelong learning.     

Peer Influence on Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Moderating Role of Parental Support and Discipline

This study tested the moderating effects of parental social support and consistency of discipline on the relation between adolescents' affiliation with drug-use promoting peers and their subsequent alcohol use. Participants were a subsample (n = 300) of 454 children of alcoholics and matched community controls (ages 101/2-151/2 years). Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' social support and consistency of discipline buffered the effects of peer group affiliation on girls' alcohol use; however, both variables exacerbated peer effects on boys' alcohol use. For girls, results are consistent with the notion that parenting behaviors can serve as protective factors by promoting qualities that serve to resist peer group pressure. For boys, increases in support and discipline behaviors may be interpreted as threats to autonomy.     

Genetic and behavioural evidence of monogamy in a mammal,Kirk's dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii).

Little is known about the mating behaviour of monogamous mammals. Here, we present behavioural and genetic evidence of fidelity in a socially monogamous dwarf antelope, Kirk''s dik-dik. DNA microsatellite analysis revealed no evidence of extra-pair paternity (EPP) in dik-diks: mothers'' partners matched the paternal genotype in all 12 juveniles tested. One likely reason for the absence of EPP is that males guard their mates closely during oestrus and over-mark all female scent, thereby reducing the likelihood of other males attempting to mate. In addition, males may be limited in their ability to search for extra-pair populations (EPCs) by activities associated with pair-bond maintenance. Year-round, males maintained proximity within pairs, followed their females'' activity patterns, and spent approximately 64% of their time with their partners. However, males did attempt to obtain EPCs when the opportunity arose, and genetic monogamy in dik-diks is probably best explained by the behaviour of females: in contrast to many monogamous female birds, female dik-diks do not appear to seek EPC partners. We propose that females avoid extra-pair males because they are unable to mate with them without instigating a potentially dangerous conflict.     

Fathers' decline in testosterone and synchrony with partner testosterone during pregnancy predicts greater postpartum relationship investment

The transition to parenthood has been associated with declines in testosterone among partnered fathers, which may reflect males' motivation to invest in the family. Moreover, preliminary evidence has found that couples show correlations in hormone levels across pregnancy that may also be linked to fathers' preparation for parenthood. The current study used repeated-measures sampling of testosterone across pregnancy to explore whether fathers' change in T, and correlations with mothers' T, were associated with fathers' and mothers' postpartum investment.In a sample of 27 couples (54 individuals) expecting their first child, both parents' salivary testosterone was measured multiple times across pregnancy. At approximately 3.5 months postpartum, participants rated their investment, commitment, and satisfaction with their partner. A multilevel model was used to measure change in testosterone over time and associations between mother and father testosterone. Fathers who showed stronger declines in T across pregnancy, and stronger correlations with mothers' testosterone, reported higher postpartum investment, commitment, and satisfaction. Mothers reported more postpartum investment and satisfaction if fathers showed greater prenatal declines in T. These results held even after controlling for paternal investment, commitment, and satisfaction measured prenatally at study entry.Our results suggest that changes in paternal testosterone across pregnancy, and hormonal linkage with the pregnant partner, may underlie fathers' dedication to the partner relationship across the transition to parenthood.     

Introduction to Special Section: Understanding Paths to Youth Purpose—Why Content and Contexts Matter

Applying latent class and regression techniques to data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 997), this study explored the potential academic advantages of time spent in out-of-school activities. Of particular interest was how these potential advantages played out in relation to the timing and duration of activity participation and the family contexts in which it occurred. Participation closer to the start of high school—including consistent participants and latecomers—was associated with higher grades at the transition into high school, especially for youth from low-income families. Sensitivity analyses indicated that this link between school-age activity participation and adolescent academic progress was unlikely to be solely a function of selection. It also tended to be more pronounced among youth from lower-income families, although without varying by other aspects of family status or process.     

Excavating Culture: Ethnicity and Context as Predictors of Parenting Behavior

Ethnic, socioeconomic, and contextual predictors of parenting and family socialization practices were examined among African American and European American families. This is one of a set of coordinated studies presented in this special issue (Le et al.). With the goal of sampling African American and European American children and families that were roughly equivalent on socioeconomic indicators, 103 mothers and their children were interviewed when the children were in kindergarten, and 83.5% were interviewed again in fourth grade. There were no ethnic differences in mothers' reports of warmth and communication at kindergarten; mothers' and children's reports of behavioral control at fourth grade, and children's reports of warmth at fourth grade. Among the ethnic differences in the parenting constructs, a number of them were related to cultural variables. For example, African American mothers expressed higher levels of self-efficacy and this was positively related to beliefs in communicating ethnic pride in their children. Similarly, although African American mothers expressed lower levels of warmth than European American mothers at fourth grade, among African American mothers, warmth was positively related to ethnic pride and beliefs in ethnic equality. A similar pattern was found for Psychological Control at fourth grade. When parenting practices among African Americans are examined in relation to ethnic socialization goals and ethnic identity, endorsement of ethnic socialization and identity was associated with more adaptive parenting practices. Longitudinally, there were several notable changes in ethnic differences in parenting practices across age.     

Nurse practitioners in primary care III. The southern Ontario randomized trial

A group of nurses who formerly had performed office functions received a special university-based educational program designed to prepare them to assume much of primary care management as nurse practitioners. The associated family physicians would shift their role to general supervision and attention to difficult clinical problems. To test this new form of practice, two complementary randomized trials have been conducted in south-central Ontario. The particular trial reported here was intended to assess the influence of the educational program on the changing roles of the professional personnel. The nurses of 14 family medical practices, with the physicians'' support and commitment to participation, applied for the new training. Seven applicants were randomly selected to receive the training and their corresponding practices became the experimental group, while the remaining nurses and practices were retained as controls. During the subsequent year of investigation important changes occurred in professional roles of the experimental group. Nurse practitioners spent more time in clinical activities than conventional office nurses. The shift was not at the expense of time devoted to clinical work by physicians. Doctors delegated more professional activities to nurse practitioners than to conventional nurses. Except for remuneration (affected by legal constraints) job satisfaction among experimental physicians and nurses remained high after one year of experience with the new method.     

Family Socialization Practices and Their Effects on the Internalization of Educational Values for Asian and White American Adolescents

Based on the theories of internalization and the self, this article examines effective family socialization practices of Asian and White Americans. The results indicated that parental support for autonomy and adolescents' perceived competence while studying favorably affected Asian Americans' internalization of their cultural values relevant to education and academic success. In contrast, for White Americans, these internalization factors did not have a substantial effect on adolescents' school performance. Moreover, for Asian Americans, parents' attitudes had stronger effects on adolescents' school performance in comparison to White American adolescents, whose teacher-awarded grades were attributed to their own academic aspirations. Differences in family socialization practices between Asian and White Americans are discussed within a context of underlying cultural frameworks that promote adolescents' school performance.     

Outdoor Light at Night (LAN) Is Correlated With Eveningness in Adolescents

External zeitgebers synchronize the human circadian rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. Humans adapt their chronotype to the day-night cycle, the strongest external zeitgeber. The human circadian rhythm shifts to evening-type orientation when daylight is prolonged into the evening and night hours by artificial light sources. Data from a survey of 1507 German adolescents covering questions about chronotype and electronic screen media use combined with nocturnal satellite image data suggest a relationship between chronotype and artificial nocturnal light. Adolescents living in brightly illuminated urban districts had a stronger evening-type orientation than adolescents living in darker and more rural municipalities. This result persisted when controlling for time use of electronic screen media, intake of stimulants, type of school, age, puberty status, time of sunrise, sex, and population density. Time spent on electronic screen media use—a source of indoor light at night—is also correlated with eveningness, as well as intake of stimulants, age, and puberty status, and, to a lesser degree, type of school and time of sunrise. Adequate urban development design and parents limiting adolescents' electronic screen media use in the evening could help to adjust adolescents' zeitgeber to early school schedules when they provide appropriate lighting conditions for daytime and for nighttime. (Author correspondence: vollmer@ph-heidelberg.de)     

A religious upbringing reduces the influence of genetic factors on disinhibition: evidence for interaction between genotype and environment on personality.

Information on personality, on anxiety and depression and on several aspects of religion was collected in 1974 Dutch families consisting of adolescent and young adult twins and their parents. Analyses of these data showed that differences between individuals in religious upbringing, in religious affiliation and in participation in church activities are not influenced by genetic factors. The familial resemblance for different aspects of religion is high, but can be explained entirely by environmental influences common to family members. Shared genes do not contribute to familial resemblances in religion. The absence of genetic influences on variation in several dimensions of religion is in contrast to findings of genetic influences on a large number of other traits that were studied in these twin families. Differences in religious background are associated with differences in personality, especially in Sensation Seeking. Subjects with a religious upbringing, who are currently religious and who engage in church activities score lower on the scales of the Sensation Seeking Questionnaire. The most pronounced effect is on the Disinhibition scale. The resemblances between twins for the Disinhibition scale differ according to their religious upbringing. Receiving a religious upbringing seems to reduce the influence of genetic factors on Disinhibition, especially in males.     

Teaching and Assessing Science Process Skills in Physics: THE “BUBBLES” TASK

In the following article, Dr. Seuss's children's books are creatively integrated with science activities through the creation of take-home activity kits. The kits provide families an opportunity to read at home while connecting the enjoyable experience to science content and skill development through associated activities. The kits should be constructed using easy-reading books and aligned to developmentally appropriate academic science standards. Most importantly, they should be designed in a manner so that all family members are participants rather than expecting the adults to teach the expected outcomes. The activity kits can be completed as stand-alone experiences for interested students, used by students who are ready for an additional challenge, or adapted for an entire classroom of students as part of a teacher's normal curriculum.     

Light Intensity Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Relation to Body Mass Index and Grip Strength in Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Findings from the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) Study

BackgroundIdentifying modifiable determinants of fat mass and muscle strength in older adults is important given their impact on physical functioning and health. Light intensity physical activity and sedentary behavior are potential determinants, but their relations to these outcomes are poorly understood. We evaluated associations of light intensity physical activity and sedentary time—assessed both objectively and by self-report—with body mass index (BMI) and grip strength in a large sample of older adults.MethodsWe used cross-sectional baseline data from 1130 participants of the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) study, a community-dwelling sample of relatively sedentary older adults (70-89 years) at heightened risk of mobility disability. Time spent sedentary and in light intensity activity were assessed using an accelerometer worn for 3–7 days (Actigraph GT3X) and by self-report. Associations between these exposures and measured BMI and grip strength were evaluated using linear regression.ResultsGreater time spent in light intensity activity and lower sedentary times were both associated with lower BMI. This was evident using objective measures of lower-light intensity, and both objective and self-reported measures of higher-light intensity activity. Time spent watching television was positively associated with BMI, while reading and computer use were not. Greater time spent in higher but not lower intensities of light activity (assessed objectively) was associated with greater grip strength in men but not women, while neither objectively assessed nor self-reported sedentary time was associated with grip strength.ConclusionsIn this cross-sectional study, greater time spent in light intensity activity and lower sedentary times were associated with lower BMI. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that replacing sedentary activities with light intensity activities could lead to lower BMI levels and obesity prevalence among the population of older adults. However, longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to strengthen causal inferences.     

Associations between the home food environment and obesity-promoting eating behaviors in adolescence

Objective: This study examines relationships between multiple aspects of the home food environment and obesity‐promoting characteristics of 12‐ to 13‐year‐old adolescents' diets, specifically frequency of consumption of high‐energy fluids, sweet snacks, savory snacks, and take‐out foods. Research Methods: This was a cross‐sectional study including 347 adolescents 12 to 13 years of age and their parents. Data were collected via self‐completed surveys. The adolescents' diets were assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire derived from existing age‐appropriate National Nutrition Survey data. An extensive range of domains within the home food environment were assessed. Bivariate linear regression analyses were run split by gender. Forced entry multiple linear regression analyses (adjusting for all variables significant in bivariate analyses as well as for maternal education) were also performed, stratified by the sex of the child. Results: The influence of mothers, either as models for eating behaviors or as the providers of food, was pervasive. Mothers' intake of high‐energy fluids (p = 0.003), sweet snacks (p = 0.010), savory snacks (p = 0.008), and take‐out food (p = 0.007) was positively associated with boys' intake of all these foods. In addition, mothers' intake of high‐energy fluids was positively associated with daughters' consumption of these drinks (p = 0.025). Furthermore, availability of unhealthy foods at home was positively associated with girls' sweet snack (p = 0.001), girls' savory snack (p < 0.001), boys' savory snack (p = 0.002), and, in the bivariate analyses, girls' high‐energy fluid consumption (p = 0.002). Discussion: This study of home food environment influences on adolescent diet highlights the pervasive influence of mothers in determining adolescents' obesity‐promoting eating, providing direction for obesity prevention strategies and future research.     

Maternal and paternal controlling feeding practices: reliability and relationships with BMI

Objective: This study aimed to examine the interrelationships between mothers' and fathers' reports on the child‐feeding questionnaire (CFQ), the BMI of parents and their children, and observations of parents' controlling feeding practices at mealtimes. Methods and Procedures: Twenty‐three mothers and twenty‐three fathers of children aged between 18 and 67 months reported on their child‐feeding practices, on their child's height and weight, and were observed during a normal family mealtime at home. Results: No associations were found between mothers' reported and observed feeding practices. Fathers' reported pressure to eat and restriction were associated with more controlling observed mealtime feeding practices. Mothers and fathers did not significantly differ in their reported or observed child‐feeding practices. Children's BMI was not related to maternal or paternal reported or observed feeding practices. More mealtime pressure was observed in parents with a higher BMI. Discussion: Fathers' self‐reports of their mealtime practices are reliable. Mothers' feeding practices may differ when fathers are present and further work should examine mothers at mealtimes with and without fathers. Although children's BMI was not related to parents' use of reported or observed control, parents with a higher BMI were more controlling, highlighting the importance of considering parents' own weight in future studies.     

Within-person changes in salivary testosterone and physical characteristics of puberty predict boys' daily affect

Recent investigations highlighted the role of within-person pubertal changes for adolescents' behavior. Yet, little is known about effects on adolescents' daily affect, particularly regarding the hormonal changes underlying physical changes during puberty. In a study with 148 boys aged 10 to 20 years, we tested whether within-person physical and hormonal changes over eight months predicted everyday affect fluctuations, measured with experience sampling. As expected, greater within-person changes in testosterone (but not in dehydroepiandrosterone) were associated with higher affect fluctuations in daily life. Additionally, greater physical changes predicted higher affect fluctuations for individuals in the beginning of puberty. The findings demonstrate the relevance of physical and hormonal changes in boys' affective (in)stability.     

Time Allocation during the Reproductive Season in Vicuñas

Vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) are wild South American camelids that live in high-altitude grasslands (Puna). Their social organization is based on family and bachelor groups. The amount of time they allocated to walking, running, lying, grazing and alert behaviour was studied in Abrapampa, northwestern Argentina, during the 1988–1990 reproductive seasons. Females and yearlings spent significantly more time grazing, and less time walking, running and alert than territorial males and bachelors. This result suggests that females maximized the time spent foraging to fulfil the energetic demands of reproduction. The alertness of the territorial males increased and the grazing decreased with the number of females in the families, suggesting that males that incurred a higher cost of lost feeding time through vigilance activities increased their mating success.     

The Impact of a Sport-Based Life Skill Program on Adolescent Prosocial Values

Abstract

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a sport-based life skills and community service program. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the impact of a combined life skills and community service program on adolescents' prosocial values. The program was part of a national golf and life skills enrichment academy for adolescents (n = 100). It was hypothesized that the life skills component would have a significant impact on adolescents' prosocial values and that participants (n = 42) who were involved in the community service component following the program, when compared to a comparison group (n = 23), would maintain their increased levels of prosocial values. Results indicated that the program had a significant positive impact on adolescents' prosocial values and that the community service experience positively impacted the adolescents' levels of empathic concern and social responsibility. These results are consistent with existing research on participating in community service.     

Supportive family relationships and adolescent health in the socio-cultural context of Iran: a qualitative study

Parents have a critical role in adolescent health. The association of adolescents'' perceptions of family relationships with adolescent health was investigated using a sample of 67 female adolescents who participated in eight focus group discussions, utilising a purposeful sampling method. All tape-recorded data were fully transcribed and content analysis was performed. Three themes were identified, namely emotional support, responsible parents and well-informed parents. With regard to some of the challenges in Iranian adolescents'' relationships with their parents, it is necessary to educate parents to be alert to their role in adolescent health.