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Parenting stress and its relationship to the behavior of children with Joubert syndrome.

This study describes the relationship between parenting stress and behavior in children with Joubert syndrome, a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Parents (N = 43) reported severely impaired child adaptive behaviors. Most children did not show maladaptive behaviors, but a subset of approximately 20% displayed significant problems in areas such as inattention, overactivity, social withdrawal, and atypical behaviors. Mothers (59%) and fathers (40%) reported elevated levels of parenting stress. A hierarchical regression, including demographics, adaptive behavior, and maladaptive behavior, predicted 67% of the variance in mothers' stress and 40% of the variance in fathers' stress. Maladaptive behaviors uniquely contributed to maternal and paternal stress. The child's adaptive behavior level contributed significantly to parenting stress for mothers but not for fathers. Findings provide a better understanding of the impact of child behavior on parents caring for a child with Joubert syndrome.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Assays to determine allelic usage of gene expression in the placenta.

Mammalian placentas express a large number of so-called imprinted genes. Imprinting refers to mono-allelic or biased expression based on which parent contributed the allele. Many of these imprinted loci encode factors involved in growth and cell-cycle regulation, as well as maternal behavior. In general, paternally expressed genes tend to enhance growth, whereas maternally expressed genes inhibit growth. Methods are described for developing assays to test the allelic usage of a gene. The approaches described are best utilized within a system where multiple strains are available, and it is possible to perform reciprocal crosses. Only polymerase chain reaction-based methods are examined in any detail.

Alleles↗

["Be someone in life": a socio-anthropological analysis of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood in Belém, Pará State, Brazil].

Focused on a group of low-income youth in Belém, Pará State, Brazil, this study discusses the issue of adolescent pregnancy and motherhood from a socio-anthropological perspective. Aimed at an understanding of the cultural meanings of this event in this context, the study suggests that for adolescent girls, it does not mean a break with life projects. On the contrary, pregnancy and motherhood are valued to the extent that they produce changes in social status for the girls, in terms of affirmation of projects for social mobility in the future, thus justifying the continuity of studies in the face of difficulties imposed by the situation.

Adolescent↗

Relations between parent and adolescent problems among adolescents presenting for family-based marijuana abuse treatment.

Family-based treatments for adolescent substance abuse demonstrate efficacy and are becoming a treatment of choice. Family risk factors for substance abuse may present barriers to or suggest targets for modification during treatment. The sample included 149 adolescents presenting for substance abuse treatment and their parents. Structural equation modeling tested the hypothesis that parent psychological problems, parent substance use, and parenting behaviors influence adolescent psychological problems and substance use. This study is among the first to examine the unique impact of maternal and paternal variables on adolescent problems within one analytical model. Results indicated that parental psychological problems were directly associated with adolescent psychological problems after controlling for parent substance use and parenting behaviors. Paternal positive involvement and poor monitoring were also independently associated with adolescent substance use. Results suggest that both mothers' and fathers' symptoms of psychopathology play an important role in the symptoms of adolescents in treatment for substance abuse. Findings highlight the need for family-based assessment in adolescent treatment populations to address important clinical and research questions.

Adolescent↗

Darwinian grandparenting: preferential investment in more certain kin.

Studies on grandparental investment have revealed that mothers' fathers are emotionally closer to their grandchildren than are fathers' mothers. In the current study, it was hypothesized that this difference is caused by the fact that fathers' mothers often have the potential to invest in genetically more certain kin (children through their daughters). To test this hypothesis, 787 participants rated their emotional closeness and exposure to their grandparents and indicated whether they had cousins through paternal and maternal aunts and uncles. Results indicated that participants felt closer to mothers' fathers than fathers' mothers only when alternate investment outlets for fathers' mothers were available. Closeness ratings to fathers' fathers also were reduced when they had grandchildren through their daughters. Exposure to grandparents revealed a similar pattern of findings but did not show the same sensitivity to the presence of more certain kin and did not appear to account for the closeness ratings.

Adolescent↗

Developmental and functional outcomes at school age of preschool children with global developmental delay.

The later developmental trajectory of young children diagnosed early with global developmental delay was determined. Using a prospective study, preschool children diagnosed with global developmental delay were systematically reassessed during the early school years with standardized developmental and functional outcome measures (Battelle Developmental Inventory and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale). Of an original cohort of 99 children assessed and diagnosed at a mean age of 3.4 +/- 1.1 years, 48 were reassessed at a mean age of 7.3 +/- 0.9 years. Group performance on the Battelle Developmental Inventory overall was 66.4 +/- 4.3 (mean 100 +/- 15). Between 75% and 100% of the cohort performed at least 1.5 SD below the normative mean on the individual domains of the Battelle Developmental Inventory. Similarly, the group mean on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale overall was 63.5 +/- 20.8 (mean 100 +/- 15), with between 61% and 76% of the cohort scoring more than 1.5 SD below the mean on each of the domains. Univariate and multivariate analyses on potential predictor variables identified a lack of an underlying etiology as predictive of poorer performance on the Battelle Developmental Inventory fine motor and motor domains and increasing severity of initial delay as predictive of poorer performance on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale communication domain and overall score. Similarly, maternal employment and paternal postsecondary education improved Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale communication scores, whereas paternal postsecondary education alone predicted better socialization and total scores on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Children with early global developmental delay demonstrate persistent and consistently poor performance across all developmental and functional domains. Few variables are apparent at intake to predict later performance.

Child↗

Pregnant women quit smoking; what about fathers? Survey study in Bursa Region, Turkey.

AIM: To evaluate maternal and paternal smoking habits during pregnancy and determine their correlation with pregnancy complications and newborn status. METHODS: The study included 499 pregnant women who delivered at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Uludag University School of Medicine, over a period of one year. Women were interviewed about their smoking habits before and during pregnancy. They were also asked about the smoking habits of their spouses. The relationship between smoking habits and pregnancy complications and newborn status was researched. The outcomes measured included pregnancy complications, gestational age at the onset of labor, Apgar scores during labor, and fetal birth weight and height. RESULTS: The percentage of maternal smoking before pregnancy was 26.5% (n=132) and decreased to 9.8% (n=49) at the end of pregnancy, with 52.5% (n=262) of the fathers who continued to smoke at home during their wife's pregnancy. Low birth weight and preterm delivery rate were significantly higher in maternal (n=15 [30.6%], and n=12 [24.5%], respectively) and paternal smoking groups (n=52 [22.4%] and n=54 [23.3%], respectively). Paternal smoking had no effect on intrauterine growth retardation (n=10 [4.3%]) and prenatal death (n=4 [1.7%]), although maternal smoking had such an effect (n=7 [14.3%] and n=3 [6.1%], respectively). CONCLUSION: Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for preterm delivery, low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, and intrauterine death, but paternal smoking also carries risk for the fetus. During perinatal care, we should educate the expectant parents about the side effects, not only of maternal, but also of paternal smoking.

Adolescent↗

Dynamic paternity allocation as a function of male plumage color in barn swallows.

Paternity in male animals can be influenced by their phenotypic signals of quality. Accordingly, the behavior underlying patterns of paternity should be flexible as signals of quality change. To evaluate the dynamics of paternity allocation, we analyzed paternity before and after manipulating plumage coloration, a known signal of quality, in male barn swallows Hirundo rustica. We found that, in successive breeding bouts, only males whose plumage color was experimentally enhanced received greater paternity from their social mates, demonstrating evidence for flexible and dynamic paternity allocation and the importance for males of maintaining signals of quality well after pair bond formation.

Animals↗

Exogenous testosterone inhibits several forms of male parental behavior and stimulates song in a monogamous songbird: the blue-headed vireo (Vireo solitarius).

Natural variation in circulating testosterone is thought to play a role in creating inter- and intraspecific variation in paternal care in birds. Experimental elevation of plasma testosterone in males has reduced rates of male care in many species. However, a small number of studies suggest that male care is not inhibited by testosterone when there appears to be strong selection for male care. Both genetic monogamy and male incubation are thought to be the result of selection for biparental care, yet the sensitivity of male care to inhibition by T had not been examined in a species with both characteristics. Male blue-headed vireos have been shown to be strictly monogamous and provide extensive parental care, including incubation. Males received subcutaneous implants of testosterone, flutamide (an anti-androgen), or empty controls. Consistent with previous studies, testosterone treatment decreased the relative contribution to incubation by males and increased the average duration that the nest was left unattended during incubation, relative to control and flutamide treatments. The relative and absolute rates of feeding offspring and nest sanitation by T-treated males also decreased relative to controls. Flutamide-treated males incubated eggs and brooded young more than testosterone-treated males, with control males performing at intermediate values. Testosterone-treated males sang more often and at higher rates, and flutamide-treated males sang less often, than controls. These results demonstrate that even in a strictly monogamous songbird with biparental incubation, all forms of paternal care remain sensitive to elevated plasma testosterone, suggesting a shift from parental effort to mating effort.

Animals↗

Pair bonding and "the widow effect" in female prairie voles.

We conducted field and laboratory experiments with the well-studied monogamous prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, to distinguish among three hypotheses for the failure of females that lose their mates to bond with a new male ("the widow effect"). The reproductive value hypothesis predicts that males prefer young to older females because they potentially have a longer reproductive lifespan. The mate rejection hypothesis predicts that females will prevent repairing by aggressively deterring males that might harm their current offspring. The misdirected paternal care hypothesis assumes that females will mate during postpartum estrus and thus will be pregnant and/or nursing young throughout the breeding season; males will avoid pairing with older females to avoid providing care to unrelated offspring and/or because of a delay to the next breeding opportunity. Males associated and bred more with older than young females, allowing us to reject the reproductive value hypothesis. Our results were consistent with the male rejection hypothesis in that females were aggressive toward unfamiliar males. Our results were most consistent with the misdirected paternal care hypothesis in that once females started breeding, they continued to become pregnant and nurse young throughout the study period. Thus, our findings suggest that the potential of misdirected paternal care and delayed mating opportunity in conjunction with the aggressive behavior of females toward unfamiliar males are likely explanations for the lack of repairing for widow females.

Animals↗

Body satisfaction in adolescent boys and girls: associations with parental behavior.

In a sample of 449 high school students, maternal smoking and maternal and paternal eating habits were significantly related to self-reported Body Satisfaction for girls, as measured by the Body Shape Questionnaire of Cooper, Taylor, Cooper, and Fairburn. However, only paternal eating habits were significantly related to self-reported Body Satisfaction for boys.

Adolescent↗

The evolution of infidelity in socially monogamous passerines: the strength of direct and indirect selection on extrapair copulation behavior in females.

Many studies have been aimed at understanding the maintenance of female infidelity in socially monogamous birds. Because engaging in extrapair copulations (EPCs) is believed to be costly for females, it has been argued that EPC behavior must bring indirect benefits to females by elevating offspring fitness. We use empirical data from the literature to assess the relative strength of indirect and direct selection on female EPC behavior, using quantitative genetic approximations of selection. This analysis confirmed that there is generally negative direct selection on EPC behavior caused by depressed paternal investment by social males. In contrast, there was no significant positive indirect selection on EPC behavior in females. A comparison between the two types of selection suggests that the force of direct negative selection is generally much stronger than that of indirect positive selection. Indirect selection is thus unlikely to maintain EPC behavior in the face of direct selection against it. We suggest that EPCs may instead be the result of antagonistic selection on loci influencing the outcome of male-female encounters and that EPC behavior per se may not be adaptive for females but may reflect sexual conflict due to strong selection in males to achieve extrapair copulations.

Animals↗

Arginine vasotocin activates advertisement calling and movement in the territorial Puerto Rican frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui.

Arginine vasotocin (AVT) is a neuropeptide that modulates social behavior in amphibians and activates calling in frogs. The Puerto Rican coqui frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, is a terrestrial anuran that exhibits complex social behaviors, including territoriality and paternal care. Males have a distinctive social hierarchy and can be any of the following: satellite (non-calling), territorial (calling), or paternal (guards and broods embryos). Field experiments were conducted to determine the effects of AVT on satellite behavior and the male social hierarchy of E. coqui. Satellite males were captured within the territory held by a resident male, given injections (i.p.) of AVT or saline (control) and placed back in their original location. To determine if AVT affects all males, not merely satellite males, territorial (calling) males were injected with AVT. Significantly more satellite males commenced advertisement calling following AVT injections than did control males injected with saline. AVT-activated satellites did not challenge the resident territorial male for possession of the territory but instead moved into a new area before commencing to call. In fact, AVT-activated satellite males were significantly more likely to move into a new territory following AVT injections than AVT-injected territorial males. The effect of AVT was short lived, lasting only one night in all but two cases. It is concluded that AVT stimulates advertisement calling and AVT-activated males displayed territorial characteristics of E. coqui.

Animals↗

Genomic imprinting, sex-biased dispersal, and social behavior.

Some genes carry a record of the sex of the gene's carrier in the previous generation that influences the gene's expression in this generation. This additional information can result in intragenomic conflicts between an individual's maternally and paternally derived alleles over behaviors that affect relatives with whom the individual has different degrees of maternal and paternal relatedness. Asymmetries of relatedness can arise because of sex-biased dispersal. For example, if females remain in their natal group and males disperse, female members of a group will all be matrilineal relatives, but may have unrelated fathers. Sex-linked inheritance creates an evolutionary bias in favor of social groups that trace descent through the homogametic sex. This bias has a positive and negative aspect. The positive aspect is increased relatedness among siblings of the homogametic sex. The negative aspect is the lack of sex-linked relatedness between parents and offspring of the heterogametic sex.

Female↗

Paternal care and male mate-attraction effort in the European starling is adjusted to clutch size.

In facultative polygynous birds with biparental care, a trade-off may occur between male parental care and attraction of additional mates. If there is a cost associated with reduced male parental care, the relative benefit of mate attraction may be predicted to decrease as the size of a male's clutch or brood increases. We tested this prediction in monogamous pairs of facultatively polygynous European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). The larger the clutch, the more time the male spent incubating and the less time he spent attracting an additional female (i.e. singing near and carrying green nesting material into adjacent empty nest-boxes). Reduced paternal incubation resulted in lower overall incubation (the female did not compensate) and lower hatching success. Immediately after experimental reduction of clutches, males spent significantly less time incubating and more time singing and carrying greenery, and vice versa for experimentally enlarged clutches. Males with experimentally reduced clutches attracted a second female more often than males with experimentally enlarged clutches. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to provide experimental evidence for an adjustment of paternal care and male mate-attraction effort to clutch size. However, a trade-off between paternal nestling provisioning and mate attraction was not revealed, probably due to the absence of unpaired females by that time in the breeding season. Experiments showed that the relative contribution of the male and female to nestling provisioning was unrelated to brood size.

Animals↗

Complete elimination of maternal mitochondrial DNA during meiosis resulting in the paternal inheritance of the mitochondrial genome in Chlamydomonas species.

The non-Mendelian inheritance of organellar DNA is common in most plants and animals. In the isogamous green alga Chlamydomonas species, progeny inherit chloroplast genes from the maternal parent, as paternal chloroplast genes are selectively eliminated in young zygotes. Mitochondrial genes are inherited from the paternal parent. Analogically, maternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is thought to be selectively eliminated. Nevertheless, it is unclear when this selective elimination occurs. Here, we examined the behaviors of maternal and paternal mtDNAs by various methods during the period between the beginning of zygote formation and zoospore formation. First, we observed the behavior of the organelle nucleoids of living cells by specifically staining DNA with the fluorochrome SYBR Green I and staining mitochondria with 3,3'-dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide. We also examined the fate of mtDNA of male and female parental origin by real-time PCR, nested PCR with single zygotes, and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. The mtDNA of maternal origin was completely eliminated before the first cell nuclear division, probably just before mtDNA synthesis, during meiosis. Therefore, the progeny inherit the remaining paternal mtDNA. We suggest that the complete elimination of maternal mtDNA during meiosis is the primary cause of paternal mitochondrial inheritance.

Animals↗

Child health status and parental employment.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the relationship between several measures of child health status and the employment of parents. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study using 1994 National Health Interview Survey on Disability data. PARTICIPANTS: A nationally representative sample of children and their parents. OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternal and paternal employment (measured separately). INTERVENTION: We use a series of logistic regression models with maternal and paternal employment as the dependent variables and the health status of the child with the poorest health status in the family as the primary independent variable. Models additionally include sociodemographic correlates of employment. RESULTS: Having a child with poor health status, as measured by general reported health, hospitalizations, activity limitations, and chronic condition or disability status, is associated with reduced employment of mothers and fathers. For example, the odds ratios of being employed for having a child with an activity limitation are 0.75 for mothers (95% confidence interval, 0.67-0.85) and 0.66 for fathers (95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.82). CONCLUSIONS: Having a child with poor health status is associated with reduced maternal and paternal employment. Further studies are needed to determine whether poor child health status causes reductions in parental labor force participation. If such a causal relationship exists, it has important implications for social policy, employment policy, and clinical anticipatory guidance.

Adolescent↗