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PubMed2005

An intergenerational and lifecourse study of health and mortality risk in parents of the 1958 birth cohort: (I) methods and tracing.

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the methods used to obtain information on mortality and cancer registrations for the parents of the British 1958 birth cohort, in order to create a dataset that can be used to examine intergenerational relationships on health and growth. STUDY DESIGN: Intergenerational cohort study. METHODS: The 1958 cohort includes all births occurring during 1 week in March 1958 in England, Scotland and Wales. For more than four decades of follow-up, information has been collected on cohort members, their parents and children. Information on the National Health Service (NHS) numbers of the parents was not available, but other details were collated for the Office for National Statistics to trace and flag the biological parents of the cohort members. RESULTS: Tracing was successful in 90.2% of fathers (n = 14,334) and 94.9% of mothers (n = 15,076). The greatest success was achieved for parents in families where there was no indication for additional mother or father figures until the child was 16 years old (96.6% of the mothers traced, n = 14,274; 94.3% of the fathers traced, n = 13,256). Tracing rates were lower than average in unmarried mothers (59%) and for the small group who were separated, widowed or divorced in 1958 (81%); the rates were particularly poor for the corresponding fathers (24.4 and 54.7%, respectively). There were only small variations in tracing rates between different regions of Britain. CONCLUSIONS: The tracing rates achieved were generally very high despite the lack of NHS number, especially where there was family stability throughout the childhood of cohort members. Parental status will need to be considered in future studies. With the high tracing rates achieved, the dataset provides an important resource with which to evaluate multigenerational associations with health and development in parents, their offspring and grandchildren.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Reproductive health care in the Gelukspan Health Ward.

Reproductive health care, namely family planning, antenatal care (ANC), labour care and postnatal care, was studied in the Gelukspan health ward of Bophuthatswana in 1985-1986. Only a minority of the women interviewed (20%) had planned their last pregnancy, but most had attended for ANC (93%) and had had supervised deliveries in a hospital or clinic (80%). Most (97%) knew of modern methods of fertility control but only a minority (37%) were using them. Planned pregnancies were more likely to be reported by married women (73% of 37 v. 9% of 173; P = 0.0000) who left school at an earlier age (16.0 +/- 5.9 years v. 17.0 +/- 3.9 years; P = 0.0462). If unmarried, women who had planned their pregnancy were more likely to be maintained by the father of the child (15% v. 4%; P = 0.0134). They were also less likely to have left school because of the pregnancy (20% v. 50%; P = 0.0001). Unmarried women with supervised deliveries are more likely to have financial support from the father of the child. Maternal school education is positively related to attendance for ANC, attendance for supervised labour and utilisation of modern methods of fertility control. There seems to be an intricate relationship between the different outcomes measured. ANC attenders were more likely to have supervised deliveries. Both groups were more likely to start attending for child health care earlier and more frequently. Our results are discussed.

Family Planning Services↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Unmarried motherhood: childhood experiences described by 22 adults whose mother was unmarried when they were born.

Content analysis was used to examine the childhood experiences of 22 autobiographers whose mother was unmarried when they were born. Their childhoods varied considerably. For significant periods of time, 12 lived with their mother alone or with her and their own father or a stepfather, 5 lived with their mother and her parents, 2 lived with unmarried aunts, and 7 lived in foster homes. Three mothers died, one was institutionalized and one abandoned her child without making alternative arrangements. Seven autobiographers were never told the identity of their father, and another 5 had to wait many years before they were told. This created an unhappiness in these individuals when they were teenagers that only increased with age. These findings cannot be assumed to apply to unmarried mothers and their children today; however, they raise some important issues for health care professionals and highlight the need for more research on contemporary unmarried motherhood.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Sudden infant death syndrome in Tasmania, 1975-81.

A survey of all infants dying from the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in Tasmania from 1975 to 1981 showed an incidence of 4.4 per 1000 live births; SIDS comprised 68% of infant deaths. The peak incidence of death was at 3 months of age and the following factors were significant: male sex, gestation less than 38 weeks, birthweight less than 2500 g, unmarried mothers, maternal age below 24 years and unskilled fathers. Analysis of these factors in combination showed each to be independently significant. SIDS was more frequent in the southern and western regions of Tasmania, and there was a higher incidence of death in the colder months in infants over 13 weeks of age. The monthly incidence of SIDS was inversely proportional to the monthly mean temperature in Tasmania and directly proportional to monthly hospital admissions for respiratory infections and apnoea. However, admissions for apnoea were more common in infants under 14 weeks of age. From these observations it is suggested that cold and respiratory infections are associated with the onset of SIDS in older infants.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Prague's study of illegitimate children, part 2. Changes in mothers' family status].

The authors examine changes in the status of 327 single mothers in Czechoslovakia as part of a long-term study on the development of children born to unmarried parents. "There prevails the tendency to conclude marriage with [the] father or at least to live in a permanent union with another man. The number of single [mothers] remains rather low and the tendency towards creating matrimonial families thus predominates." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND RUS)

Biology↗
PubMed2004

Social variables predict between-subject but not day-to-day variation in the testosterone of US men.

Previous research has shown lower testosterone (T) levels associated with involvement in committed, romantic relationships ("paired" men) and paternal care in eight studies of North American men. An unanswered question is whether differences in male T levels associated with relationship status better reflect state (e.g., a man has lower T levels because he is involved in a relationship) or trait (e.g., low T men are more inclined toward such relationships) effects. Toward addressing this question, this paper presents data on male salivary T levels among a sample of 65 men varying in marital and parental status. Subjects collected saliva samples (at approximately waking, 17:00 and 21:00 h) and filled out questionnaires concerning their activities on four days. Each subject collected samples in two settings that varied in social interactions: for unmarried men, two working and two non-working days; for married non-fathers, two days spent mostly with their wives and two days spent mostly away from their wives; and for married fathers, two days spent mostly with their young children and two days spent mostly away from their children. Analyses revealed no significant within-subject T differences between these different conditions. However, between-group analyses revealed that married men had lower evening T levels than unmarried men, corroborating existing North American studies of male T and relationship status. These results suggest that day-to-day differences in social interactions may not be associated with differences in T levels, and lend further support to the growing body of evidence that hormone-behavior effect sizes may be greater in the afternoon and evening than in the morning.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Paternal age and delivery before 32 weeks.

BACKGROUND: Advanced paternal age has been linked to early preterm delivery (before 32 weeks). METHODS: We analyzed live births from white, non-Hispanic primiparas recorded in U.S. birth certificates from 1995 to 2000 (excluding California). We examined 2,509,012 pregnancies of married women 20 to 34 years old, excluding unmarried women due to the high fraction of missing data on father's age. We defined the outcome according to the clinical estimate of gestation after excluding unlikely birth weights, because the estimate based on last menstrual period is particularly prone to errors at early gestations. RESULTS: Older paternal age was not associated with increased risk of early preterm delivery. The highest estimated odds ratio among fathers 50 years or older was 1.3 (95% confidence interval = 0.6-2.8) among women 20 to 24 years old. CONCLUSIONS: These U.S. data do not support an association between advanced paternal age and delivery before 32 weeks.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Abuse during and before pregnancy: prevalence and cultural correlates.

This study examined the prevalence of abuse during pregnancy and the influence of cultural norms and acculturation on abuse in 1,004 Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, Central American, African American and Anglo American women. Women were recruited from consecutive delivery logs in general community hospitals in Florida and Massachusetts. The Index of Spouse Abuse and the Abuse Assessment Screen ascertained history of adult physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, abuse during pregnancy, and childhood sexual abuse. An Interview Protocol assessed cultural attitudes, acculturation, and demographic information. Hispanic American women, as a whole, did not differ significantly from Anglo American women in their prevalence of abuse during pregnancy, after controlling for sociodemographic variables. However, Cuban American and Central American partners were significantly less likely to abuse their pregnant partners than were other groups even after adjustment. Women who spoke only Spanish (less acculturated) were less likely to report physical abuse from their partners both before and during pregnancy. Cultural norms, such as a partner's belief in wife/mother role supremacy and cultural group acceptability of men hitting women, were significantly positively related to both physical and emotional abuse. Other risk factors for abuse were the abuser not being the biological father of the baby, low income and little education, and being unmarried.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1984

Religiosity and unmarried black adolescent fatherhood.

This paper examines the relationship between religiosity and unmarried adolescent fatherhood in a select population of unwed black adolescent fathers and their counterparts. The results indicated that the fathers did not differ so much from the nonfathers in the degree that they are religiously oriented but in the manner that they give expression to their religious involvement. The fathers were more likely to be responsive to nongroup modes of institutionalized religion, i.e., media forms; whereas the nonfathers religious involvement was likely to be within institutionalized groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Residential father family type and child well-being: investment versus selection.

This research links residence with biological and nonbiological married and unmarried parents to the cognitive achievement and behavioral problems of children aged 3-12, controlling for factors that make such families different. The data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Achievement differences were not associated with father family structure per se, but with demographic and economic factors that differ across families. In contrast, behavioral problems were linked to family structure even after controls for measured and unmeasuredfactors were included. Children in all family types except the married-biological-parent family showed higher levels of behavioral problems. Paternal and maternal engagement time explained some of the differences in behavioral problems across families. Although children in blended families tended to achieve at lower levels than those not in blendedfamilies, stepchildren in blended families achieved at levels comparable to those of half-siblings. Finally, children in blended families tended to havefewer behavioral problems than those not in blended families.

Child↗
PubMed1993

Parents in jail.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of children in the United States with parents incarcerated in jail and to describe the characteristics of these parents and their criminal histories. SETTING: Inmates of local jails accounting for 36.5% of the incarcerated population of the US in 1989. PARTICIPANTS: Personal interviews with 5675 inmates randomly selected from 393,553 inmates of 3312 local jails in 1989. RESULTS: 44,263 (36%) inmates had children younger than the age of 15. Fathers outnumbered mothers 10-fold; the majority were in their 20s or 30s, unmarried, and poorly educated. The vast majority of parents had a record of prior offenses, and substance abuse accounted for one third of the incarcerations. Substance abuse was reported by 84% of inmates and 95% had sought prior treatment for alcohol, drug, or other mental health problems. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly 1 of 50 children in the US has a parent in jail. Parental imprisonment is not rare, is often chronic, and is strongly associated with other psychosocial and health problems in the family. Screening for parental imprisonment potentially should be included as part of a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The mental health of married, cohabiting, and non-coresident parents with infants.

OBJECTIVES: We compared recent parents (married, cohabiting, not cohabiting but romantically involved, and not romantically involved) to examine the association between mental health problems and relationship status. METHODS: We analyzed data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study that followed a cohort of approximately 4900 births in large US cities. Our study included a large oversample of nonmarital births (n=3700) and interviews with both mothers and fathers. We used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form to assess depression and generalized anxiety 1 year after the birth. Self reports were used to measure heavy drinking, illicit drug use, incarceration, and partner violence. RESULTS: Unmarried parents reported more mental health and behavioral problems than did married parents, and unmarried parents whose relationships ended before the birth reported more impairment compared with other groups of unmarried parents. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial number of children are born to unmarried parents and are at risk for poor parenting and poor developmental outcomes. Government initiatives aimed at increasing marriage rates among low-income couples need to consider the mental health status of unmarried parents.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The unbooked mother at Tygerberg Hospital. A prospective controlled study.

A prospective controlled study was carried out at Tygerberg Hospital to ascertain the difference between booked and unbooked mothers with regard to social and medical aspects and knowledge of the medical system. Thirty unbooked mothers were compared with 77 booked mothers. The general picture that emerged was that the unbooked mother is young, unmarried and unemployed, has a low income and has no permanent relationship with the father of the infant. However, she knows where the antenatal clinic is and that she should and when she should attend. The reasons for not attending were non-specific. There was no difference between the two groups as regards level of education. The obstetric complications in the unbooked group were premature labour, premature rupture of the membranes and intra-uterine death. These did not occur in the control group. It is suggested that an important difference between booked and unbooked patients is personality and attitude towards pregnancy and parenthood.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Importance of the midwife in the first-time mother's experience of childbirth.

The aim of this study was to examine factors related to how the first-time mother experiences childbirth. The data were collected by questionnaire in a sample of 326 first-time mothers in Tampere University hospital in Finland. The multivariate method used was a stepwise regression analysis. The most important predictors for the nature of the childbirth experience were the characteristics of the midwife, such as empathy, friendliness, tenderness, calmness and lack of hurry; the attitude of the child's father toward the pregnancy; the duration of delivery; and the mother's age and marital status. The more positive the experience the mother had of the attending midwife caring for her, the more positively she experienced childbirth. The positive attitude of the child's father toward the pregnancy and a short duration of delivery were also predictors for a positive childbirth experience. Young and unmarried mothers also had more positive experiences of childbirth. On the basis of the research results, we can state that positive childbirth experiences of first-time mothers are enhanced by the positive characteristics and professional skills of the attending midwife, positive attitude of the spouse/child's father toward the pregnancy, and a short duration of delivery.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1993

Race and birthweight in biracial infants.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to determine the role of infant race as a determinant of the Black-White disparity in low birthweight (< 2500 g). METHODS: Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were performed on Illinois vital records from 1982 and 1983 and on 1980 United States census income data. RESULTS: Fourteen percent of the infants born to Black mothers and White fathers were of low birthweight, compared with 9% of infants born to White mothers and Black fathers and 6% of a random sample of White infants. Both groups of biracial infants were more likely to have been born to unmarried mothers and to reside in very low-income (< $10,000 per year) census tracts than were White infants. When all confounding variables were entered into a logistic model, the adjusted odds ratio of low birthweight for biracial infants born to Black mothers and White fathers equaled 1.4. When biracial infants born to White mothers and Black fathers were compared with White infants, the adjusted odds ratio of low birthweight equaled 1.0. CONCLUSIONS: Paternal and consequent infant race does not affect the birthweight distribution of those born to White mothers and Black fathers. Unidentified factors closely related to maternal race underlie the Black-White disparity in infant birthweight.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Adequacy of prenatal care of urban high school students.

Relationships of five selected variables to the adequacy of prenatal care of pregnant students in urban public high schools were studied. These five variables were: the age of the baby's father, mother's education, parity, living arrangement, and functional areas of support. From 1986 to 1989, a convenience sample of 244 African American, unmarried, pregnant students completed a prenatal questionnaire. The Resource Size scale, a subscale in the questionnaire, was tested on pregnant students, and its coefficient alpha for internal consistency was .86. Additional data were obtained from the state's live birth certificate tape. Results showed that the age of the baby's father was significantly associated with adequacy of prenatal care. Because 51% of the babies' fathers are age 15-19 and most likely in school, the community and school health nurses may encourage them to get involved in the care of pregnant students. Other implications are also drawn.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Low birth-weight and pre-term delivery in South-east Asia. The WHO International Collaborative Study of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy.

Population-based data from 10 centres in Burma, Thailand, China and Vietnam, have been analysed to assess those social and environmental factors which may be associated with pre-term delivery and low birth-weight. The philosophy behind the study was that if the same association was found in different countries, then the association may be causal; if associations differed in the various countries, then causality was unlikely. The major findings were as follows: a strong association between low birth-weight and pre-term delivery and the unmarried state (RR 1.64, 1.39), a consistent reduced risk of pre-term delivery when the father was in a managerial post (RR 0.77), an excess risk of pre-term delivery if the mother was a housewife (RR 1.16), lifting heavy objects at the time of quickening (RR 1.63) or frequently bending and stooping at the time of quickening (1.15). Strong associations were found with both paternal and maternal education levels but these were strongest for the mother's education level. The association was far stronger for pre-term delivery than for low birth-weight and it is assumed that the low birth-weight effect is secondary to pre-term delivery. The only variation with maternal age concerned an excess of low birth-weight among teenage mothers, but not of pre-term delivery, and an excess of low birth-weight but not pre-term delivery among mothers with small head circumferences or small arm circumferences. We conclude that the aetiology of growth retardation and pre-term delivery are probably different in South-east Asia, and point out the need to elucidate further the strong variation with education level.

Asia, Southeastern↗