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PubMed2006

Parental HIV serodiscordance: implications for the care of the HIV seropositive child in a resource-poor setting.

This prospective study compared the care and support provided for symptomatic HIV seropositive children of HIV serodiscordant parents (only the mother of the child is HIV infected) with children of seroconcordant parents (both parents are HIV infected) during admission and after discharge from a tertiary health institution in southwestern Nigeria. Information was collected from parents of eligible children by semi-structured questionnaires and observation of the children and their parents while on admission and at home. Of the 51 couples who met the study criteria, there were 27 seroconcordant couples and 24 serodiscordant couples. The children from serodiscordant couples were more frequently discharged against medical advice, abandoned, lost to follow-up, cared for by their mothers alone and were not up-to-date with their immunization schedule when compared with children from seroconcordant parents. These were statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was a higher mortality among these children and their mothers (p < 0.05). Paternal reasons for not providing adequate care for the children from serodiscordant parents included fear of being infected, doubt of child's paternity and waste of family resources on a 'child who is dying'. None of the children from both groups received support from governmental and non-governmental agencies. It is concluded that the care of sick HIV seropositive children of serodiscordant parents poses special challenges for clinicians working in Nigeria where there is no social support system.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2002

The evolution of avian parental care.

A stage model traces key behavioural tactics and life-history traits that are involved in the transition from promiscuity with no parental care, the mating system that typifies reptiles, to that typical of most birds, social monogamy with biparental care. In stage I, females assumed increasing parental investment in precocial young, female choice of mates increased, female-biased mating dispersal evolved and population sex ratios became male biased. In stage II, consortships between mating partners allowed males to attract rare social mates, provided a mechanism for paternity assessment and increased female ability to assess mate quality. In stage III, relative female scarcity enabled females to demand parental investment contributions from males having some paternity certainty. This innovation was facilitated by the nature of avian parental care; i.e. most care-giving activities can be adopted in small units. Moreover, the initial cost of care giving to males was small compared with its benefit to females. Males, however, tended to decline to assume non-partitionable, risky, or relatively costly parental activities. In stage IV, altriciality coevolved with increasing biparental care, resulting in social monogamy. Approaches for testing behavioural hypotheses are suggested.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Predicting paternal involvement with a newborn by attitude toward women's roles.

Significant change in the social roles played by American women has occurred during the past two decades. Recent research literature suggests, however, that attitudinal change may be lagging significantly behind the profound changes in behavior. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether expectant couples who hold more egalitarian views toward women's roles prior to the birth of a first child expect the new father to be more involved in the care of his own infant. A demographic questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Spence & Helmrich, 1972), and the Projected Paternal Behavior Scale (Alter, 1978) were administered to 103 prenatal couples between the sixth and eighth months of pregnancy. Findings confirmed a significant correlation between both expectant fathers' and expectant mothers' egalitarian views toward women's roles and their projections of the father's participation in the care of his infant. More liberal attitudes toward women's roles were also associated with increased age, higher combined family income, and increased levels of education.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Ontogenetic variation in small-bodied New World primates: implications for patterns of reproduction and infant care.

This paper explores relations of ontogeny, life history strategies and patterns of infant care in 11 species of small-bodied New World monkeys. Analysis of these data suggests that differences in the social systems of Aotus, Callicebus, Saimiri, Callimico, Saguinus, Leontopithecus, Cebuella and Callithrix are closely tied to both the costs of reproduction and to the ontogenetic requirements of maturing young. In Saimiri, both rapid prenatal body weight and perinatal brain growth result in relatively high metabolic costs to breeding females. These costs, coupled with minimal nonmaternal assistance in caregiving, appear to favor a reproductive strategy that limits offspring production to a single birth at 2-year intervals. In contrast, tamarins and marmosets are capable of producing twins twice in the same year. Prenatal investment in each offspring is relatively low, and the potentially high postnatal costs of nursing 2 infants are minimized by the evolution of a social system involving extensive extramaternal care-giving. Cooperative infant care in callitrichins (tamarins and marmosets) serves to distribute the metabolic costs of infant ontogeny among several group members. Callimico is also characterized by a high reproductive output, with females capable of producing a single infant twice during the year. Infants continue to grow rapidly after weaning. Patterns of infant development in Callimico are similar to those found in tamarins and marmosets and support a close phylogenetic relationship among these taxa. Aotus and Callicebus are characterized by an alternative strategy. In these taxa, a monogamous mating system is associated with paternal certainty, male parental care, and provisioning of the young. The transfer of male energetic resources to a single offspring allows night and titi monkeys to maintain a comparatively short interbirth interval (1 year). Ecological and social factors, such as predation and feeding competition, do not appear to adequately explain much of the observed variation in infant development and preadult growth rates in these platyrrhines. Instead, reproductive strategies are strongly linked to ontogenetic patterns and life histories.

Aging↗
PubMed1983

The relationship of paternal acceptance and control to college females' personality adjustment.

This study examined the relationship between father acceptance, father control, and personality adjustment of college-aged women. Women participating in this questionnaire study were 72 never-married students aged 18 to 26 who were raised with their natural father present in the home until age 16. Father acceptance and father control were assessed by means of the Children's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). Personality adjustment was measured by the Adjective Check List. As hypothesized, the father's acceptance and control was found to be positively related to the daughter's level of personality adjustment. Both paternal behavior dimensions added significantly to the amount of variance of the daughter's level of personality adjustment. Implications in terms of Baumrind's (1972) model of authoritative parenting were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Maternity, sterility and reproduction technology].

The idea of maternity--and paternity as well--reaches far beyond the field of biological reproduction inasmuch as it implies a subject's desire, besides being regulated by the symbolic order: Language, myths, patterns and values of a given culture. From this point of view, infertility cannot be considered as a mere somatic illness, but as a human problem implying psychological and social aspects that require a search for solutions unlikely to be reduced to a sole medical operation. The development of the new reproductive technology is in keeping with the increasing medicalization of human lives, human sexuality, and human bodies.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Paternal care in the social and diurnal striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio): laboratory and field evidence.

Paternal care is rare in mammals, occurring mainly in carnivores and neotropical primates, in which the difficulties of long generation time and large individuals lead to small sample sizes. Here, the authors show that paternal care can be easily studied in the four-striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) because (a) captive males show all the patterns of parental care as do females, with the obvious exception of nursing; (b) in the field, wild males act amicably toward juveniles and retrieve pups experimentally presented to them; (c) the striped mouse facilitates experimental approaches in captivity because it has a short generation period and can be kept in large numbers; and (d) the striped mouse is diurnal, not only making observations in captivity easier but also enabling direct observations in the field.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Extra-pair paternity and egg dumping in birds: life history, parental care and the risk of retaliation.

Molecular techniques have revealed striking variation among bird species in the rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP) and intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP). In terms of the proportion of broods affected, rates of EPP and IBP vary across species from 0-95% and 0-50%, respectively. Despite a plethora of hypotheses and several careful comparative analyses, few robust correlates of this interspecific variation have been identified. One explanation for this shortfall is that most comparative studies have tended to focus on contemporary ecological factors and ignored fundamental differences in reproductive biology that evolved millions of years ago. We show that, for both EPP and IBP, over 50% of interspecific variation is due to differences among taxonomic families and orders. Therefore, we test hypotheses that predict interspecific variation in the rate of alternative reproductive strategies should be associated with differences in life history and the form of parental care. Our analyses largely support these predictions, with high rates of reproductive cheating being associated with 'fast' life histories. High EPP rates are associated with high rates of adult mortality and reduced paternal care. High IBP rates are associated with high-fecundity rates. These patterns remain intact whether we use species as independent data points or evolutionary contrasts based on either molecular or morphological phylogenies. These results are interpreted as supporting the idea that alternative reproductive strategies are most common in taxa in which the risks of retaliation are low. We suggest a hierarchical explanation for interspecific variation in the incidence of alternative reproductive strategies. Variation between major avian lineages in the EPP and IBP rates are determined by fundamental differences in life history and parental care that evolved many millions of years ago. Variation between populations or individuals of the same species, however, are more likely to be determined by differences in contemporary ecological and genetic factors.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Discrimination between conspecific and allospecific infants by male gerbils and mice before and after experience of their own young.

Prior to the birth of their 1st litter, male gerbils generally respond paternally toward both gerbil and mouse pups. Once they have experience of their own pups, however, they continue to respond paternally toward unrelated gerbil pups but kill mouse pups. Male CSI mice, on the other hand, respond paternally to unrelated mouse pups both before and after the birth of their own litter but tend to ignore gerbil pups at these times. These data are discussed with respect to infanticide, onset of paternal care and the narrowing of effective stimuli for eliciting paternal care.

Aggression↗
PubMed2001

Parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior: prospective relationships to externalizing behavior problems in their young sons.

The hypothesis that parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior would be indirectly linked to child externalizing behavior problems through child lack of control, current levels of parent depression, family conflict, and parent-child conflict was tested using manifest variable regression analysis. Participants were a community sample of 125 families with an alcoholic father and 83 ecologically matched but nonsubstance abusing families involved in the first 2 waves of an ongoing longitudinal study (with 3 years between each wave). All families had a biological son who was 3-5 years old at study onset. Results revealed that child lack of control mediated the relation between paternal alcoholism and the son's subsequent externalizing behavior problems. Family conflict was a significant mediator of maternal and paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects and father-son conflict mediated paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects. Study implications are discussed within the context of parental socialization of antisocial behavior.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2000

Influence of gonadal hormones on the development of parental behavior in adult virgin prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).

Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are a socially monogamous species and both sexes are parental after the birth of pups. In contrast, sexually inexperienced adult prairie voles differ in their behavior towards pups such that virgin males are paternal whereas virgin females are often infanticidal. To test whether there exists a discrete perinatal 'sensitive period' during which gonadal hormones influence this behavior, and to distinguish between the relative contributions of estrogenic and androgenic mechanisms to this influence, prairie voles were exposed to testosterone propionate (TP), the anti-androgen flutamide, or the aromatase inhibitor 1,4,6-androstatriene-3,17-doine (ATD) either prenatally via their pregnant dam for the last 15-19 days of the 22-day gestational period or postnatally on days 1-7. None of the treatments altered the high paternal responsiveness of males or the high infanticide rate in females when compared with controls. Females exposed prenatally to ATD, however, had levels of parental behavior that were significantly higher than the lowest levels observed in prenatally TP-treated females. These results suggest that sex differences in the parental behavior of adult virgin prairie voles are not generated exclusively by androgenic or estrogenic mechanisms during a restricted prenatal or early postnatal 'sensitive period' and that the parental behavior of virgin females may be more susceptible to any influence of gonadal hormones during development than males.

Androgen Antagonists↗
PubMed2004

A study of genetic and environmental influences on maternal and paternal CBCL syndrome scores in a large sample of 3-year-old Dutch twins.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that behavioral problems are common in very young children, yet little is known about the etiology of individual differences in these problems. It is unclear to what degree environmental and genetic factors influence the development of early child psychopathology. In this paper, we focus on the following issues. Firstly, to what degree do genetic and environmental factors influence variation in behavioral problems? Secondly, to what degree are these underlying etiological factors moderated by sex and informant? We investigate these issues by analyzing Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) data on 9689 3-year-old twin pairs. METHODS: Rater Bias and Psychometric Models were fitted to CBCL/2-3 data obtained from mothers and fathers to determine the genetic and environmental contributions to the five CBCL syndromes:aggressive, oppositional, overactive, withdrawn, and anxious/depressed behavior. RESULTS: Parental ratings are influenced by aspects of the child's behavior that are experienced in the same way by both parents and by aspects of the child's behavior that are experienced uniquely by each parent. There is evidence for high genetic contributions to all CBCL syndromes. Shared and non-shared environmental influences play significant roles as well. One exception is overactive behavior, which is influenced by genetic and non-shared environmental influences only. CONCLUSIONS: Variation in behavior problems in the very young shows high heritability. Individual raters offer unique perspectives that can have an impact on estimates of problem behavior and genetic architecture. Therefore, multi-informant approaches in the assessment of the very young will be useful to clinicians and researchers alike.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Disruption of male reproductive behavior in threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus exposed to 17 beta-estradiol.

In past years we have witnessed decreased reproductive capacity in many wildlife species due to exposure to chemicals with endocrine-disrupting properties. In this laboratory experiment male threespine sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus exposed to 17 beta-estradiol (2.0 micrograms/g) dispersed in peanut oil, on days 1, 7, 14, and 21, showed impaired paternal care compared to control fish that were exposed to peanut oil only. There were no differences between the two groups in number of males that built nests or in courtship displays. However, exposed males started nest building significantly later than control males. This study suggests that some but not all essential traits of male reproductive behavior may be altered as a result of exposure to 17 beta-estradiol. To reveal harmful effects of chemicals with suggested reproductive-disrupting properties it is thus important to take a wide variety of variables related to reproductive behavior into consideration.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Behavioral disinhibition induced by tryptophan depletion in nonalcoholic young men with multigenerational family histories of paternal alcoholism.

OBJECTIVE: A deficit in serotonergic neurotransmission has been linked to impulsive behavior, as well as to disorders characterized by disinhibition. The present study tested the hypothesis that young men at high risk for alcoholism demonstrate greater behavioral disinhibition after acute dietary depletion of tryptophan, the amino acid precursor of serotonin. METHOD: A double-blind, placebo-comparison, between-subjects study design was used. Nonalcoholic young men with a multigenerational paternal family history of alcoholism (N = 13) or with no family history of alcoholism (N = 15) in two previous generations were administered mixtures of tryptophan-deficient amino acid to achieve plasma tryptophan depletion. Comparison subjects with a multigenerational paternal family history of alcoholism (N = 1) and comparison subjects with no family history of alcoholism (N = 18) were given a balanced mixture. Five hours after this, all were tested on a modified Taylor task and a go/ no-go task measuring aggressive response and disinhibition, respectively. RESULTS: Plasma tryptophan levels were reduced by 89% in both groups. Tryptophan depletion had no effect on aggressive response. In contrast, tryptophan-depleted individuals with a family history of alcoholism made more commission errors (responses to stimuli associated with punishment or loss of reward) than did tryptophan-depleted individuals with no family history of alcoholism and those receiving the balanced (comparison) mixture of amino acid in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Low serotonin levels may be implicated in the high disinhibition or impulsivity observed in some individuals with a genetic vulnerability to alcohol abuse or dependence.

Affect↗
PubMed2002

The relationship between older and newer parenting categories and child behavior.

The relationship between parenting and child behavior was assessed with 15 mothers and 15 fathers of 2- to 3-year-old children. Higher maternal overreactivity was found to be related to more maternal and paternal attributions of child externalizing problems. Self-perception of more paternal nurturance, fewer demands for age-inappropriate responsibility and autonomy, and less laxness were related to fewer paternal attributions of child behavior problems. New constructs for the descriptive categories positive parenting and negative parenting are proposed. These constructs allow one to strongly predict attributions of child behavior. Additionally, each specific behavior forming these new categories is related to specific attributions of child behavior. These specific behaviors and constructs could refine the focus of parent-training programs.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed2004

A transactional model of parent-infant interactions in alcoholic families.

This study examined the transactional nature of parent-infant interactions over time among alcoholic and nonalcoholic families. The sample consisted of 222 families assessed at 12, 18, and 24 months of child age. Results indicated that infant behavior did not influence parental behavior across time, but parental behavior was longitudinally predictive of infant behavior during play interactions. Higher paternal alcohol consumption at 12 months was longitudinally predictive of negative parental behavior at 24 months. Other significant risk factors included marital conflict, fathers' depression, and fathers' education. Results highlight the nested nature of risk in alcoholic families and the direction of influence from parent to child during interactions and suggest that 1 pathway to risk among these children is through negative parent-infant interactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Observations of paternal response to sudden unanticipated infant death.

Support provided to families experiencing the loss of an infant to sudden infant death syndrome has focused on the description of maternal bonding and the consequences to the mother. However fathers also develop significant relationships with their infants, and their responses to the unanticipated loss of their children may be different than those of mothers. In this study 28 fathers who lost infants to SIDS appeared to have identifiable patterns of behavior which were more peculiar to men: (1) the necessity to "keep busy" with increased work; (2) feelings of diminished self-worth; (3) self-blame because of lack of "care" involvement; and (4) a limited ability to ask for help. That men should be stoic and less emotional and that one need not be concerned with the reactions of fathers appears to be a reflection of societal attitudes. However, these paternal behaviors, which emerge at a time of crisis and which obstruct full expression of grief, may unwittingly be promoted by medical and health care providers who are anxious to help fathers fulfill societal expectations of masculine strength.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The relation between the absolute level of parenting and differential parental treatment with adolescent siblings' adjustment.

BACKGROUND: The present study extends existing studies on the role of differential parental treatment in explaining individual differences in adolescent problem behaviors above the absolute level of parenting and clarifies the function of gender of the child, birth rank and gender constellation of the sibling dyads. METHOD: The absolute level of parenting practices and differential treatment were examined in a sample of 288 Dutch families consisting of two parents and two adolescents. Parents reported on adolescent internalizing and externalizing problem behavior and adolescents reported on parental warmth and coercive control. RESULTS: Parenting dimensions were related to problem behavior for same- and mixed-gender sibling pairs, with coercive control as the strongest predictor. No direct association was found between differential parental treatment and child outcomes above the absolute levels of parenting in same-gender sibling pairs. However, differential maternal and paternal control was related to internalizing behavior of girls and differential paternal warmth was linked to externalizing behavior of the older siblings in mixed-gender sibling pairs. CONCLUSION: Differential parental treatment is uniquely associated with child problem behavior above the absolute level of parenting for girls and early-born children in mixed-gender sibling pairs. Any examination of the effects of differential treatment should not be undertaken without considering the gender and birth rank of the sibling pairs.

Adolescent↗