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Patterns of sperm precedence are not affected by female mating history in Drosophila melanogaster.

In promiscuously mating species, there is strong selection on males to maximize their share of paternity through both defensive and offensive means. This has been most extensively examined using the Drosophila melanogaster model system. In these studies, sperm competition has been examined by mating a virgin female to two consecutive males and then determining the fertilization success of both the first male (defending, P1) and the second male (offending, P2). Recent evidence suggests that male defense may be influenced by female mating history (i.e., virgin versus nonvirgin). Here, by mating females to males with three different genotypes, we show that female mating history does not affect male defensive or offensive abilities in sperm competition. We also show that, although female lifetime fecundity was not correlated with the number of times that she mated, it was reduced by increased exposure to males. These data indicate that measures of P1 and P2 previously reported in D. melanogaster may be robust to the specific mating history of the females used in these studies.

Animals↗

Mismatches in genetic markers in a large family study.

The Hawaii Family Study of Cognition provided an opportunity to investigate the frequency and implications of non-agreement, or mismatches, between observed and expected genetic marker phenotypes of husbands, wives, and children. Mismatch data from 68 families in which one or both spouses were known not to be a biological parent were used to determine the rate of undeclared nonparentage in 1,748 families in which conventional relationships were claimed. Two independent approaches gave consistent estimates, suggesting that approximately 2.3% of the 2,839 tested children from these families were probably the result of infidelity, concealed adoption, or another event. About two-thirds of the mismatches detected were probably due to properties of the techniques employed.

Adoption↗

Paternity after unilateral cryptorchidism: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if paternity is decreased among formerly unilateral cryptorchid men compared with a control group of men. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Formerly unilateral cryptorchid men who had orchiopexy between 1955 and 1971 at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and a group of control men have had their medical records reviewed and have been surveyed by questionnaire. RESULTS: Among the men who had ever married and had attempted paternity, significantly more of the unilateral cryptorchid men had been unable to father children (10.5%) than among the control group (5.4%). No difference was found when the groups were compared for the duration of regular intercourse without contraception to conception of their first child. There was no relationship between the age of orchiopexy or lifestyle factors and paternity or between the age of orchiopexy and months of regular unprotected intercourse to conception. Paternity among both groups was related to female-related infertility factors and to the presence of varicoceles. CONCLUSION: When compared with a control group, paternity was compromised after unilateral cryptorchidism. Infertility is about twice as frequent among the unilateral group. There was no evidence of subfertility requiring a longer exposure of regular intercourse without contraception among the fertile subgroup. No correlation was found between age of orchiopexy and paternity.

Adult↗

Increase in aggressiveness of male mice after irradiation of paternal spermatozoa with 600 R of gamma-rays as dependent on fertility.

The agonistic behavior of unexperienced pairs of NMRI male mice was determined by counting the bites received from and delivered to the opponent within 24 hr. The first 10 min of agonistic encounters was recorded by video tape to analyze the frequency and duration of ten behavioral traits. Each pair consisted of two F1 males, one of which was derived from paternal spermatozoa irradiated with 600 R of gamma-rays (600-F1), while the other stemmed from a sham-treated father (control-F1). The 600-F1 males exhibited higher aggressiveness than their control F1 counterparts, in which the sterile and semisterile males (presumed to be translocation heterozygotes) showed a higher level of agonistic behavior and overall activity than the normally fertile F1 males of the same group. 600-F1 males released more urine drops than the control males. No significant differences between 600-F1 and control-F1 males or between fertile and sterile plus semisterile males were found for learning ability.

Aggression↗

Interparental conflict and relations with parents as predictors of young adult functioning.

Interparental conflict is a known risk factor for child adjustment problems; yet few studies have examined its long-term effects. This study tests the following hypotheses: Interparental conflict has both longitudinal and concurrent influences on the functioning of young adult children, and the relationship between young adults and their parents mediates these influences. We assessed a community sample (N = 243) of families when the target child was in early to middle adolescence. We then reassessed them 6 years later during young adulthood. The links of interparental conflict measured at the two time points to young adults' general psychopathology and antisocial behavior were examined using multiple regression analyses. The quality of the relationship between young adults and each parent was added to each equation as a potential mediating variable. Results showed that concurrent, but not earlier, interparental conflict predicted males' antisocial behavior. No support was found for the mediational model, but support was found for an alternate model positing direct effects for interparental conflict and the parent-young adult relationship on young adult functioning. For females and males, problematic relationships with mothers and father predicted greater general psychopathology, while problems in paternal relationships predicted higher levels of antisocial behavior only for females.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A longitudinal examination of the link between parent alcohol problems and youth drinking: the moderating roles of parent and child gender.

The unique and interactive effects of paternal and maternal alcohol problems on the drinking behavior of adolescent girls and boys were investigated. A prospective design was employed to examine changes in youth drinking behavior over a 3-year period in a community-based sample of 695 families. Results revealed that, as maternal alcohol problems increased, the likelihood of adolescent alcohol use increased. Paternal alcohol problems were associated with an increased likelihood of alcohol use for girls only. Findings point to the need for future research to investigate both maternal and paternal alcohol problems in community samples and with a sample size large enough to examine both parent and adolescent gender. Implications for preventive and interventive efforts are considered.

Adolescent↗

Cuckoldry incites cannibalism: male fish turn to cannibalism when perceived certainty of paternity decreases.

Perceived certainty of paternity is expected to influence a male's behavior toward his offspring: if he is uncertain of his reproductive success with a current brood due to the presence of cuckolders, it may benefit him to invest instead in future reproduction. A decrease in perceived certainty of paternity incites filial cannibalism (the eating of one's own offspring) in some teleost fishes that provide parental care; however, no work has demonstrated that cannibalism increases proportionately with increased levels of cuckoldry. Here we show for the first time in a fish with no parental care that as the number of cuckolders at a spawning event increases, so does the probability that a male will cannibalize eggs. In field observations of Telmatherina sarasinorum, a small fish endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia, males increased filial cannibalism behavior threefold in the presence of one cuckolder and nearly sixfold in the presence of two or more cuckolders. This suggests that males may use detection of cuckolders as an indication that the paternity of current offspring has been compromised.

Animals↗

Negative maternal or paternal effects on tactic inheritance under a conditional strategy.

Alternative behavioral and life-history tactics are common in animal populations. The conditional strategy model provides a powerful explanation for the evolution and persistence of such tactics, as it allows alternative tactics to be perpetuated even if there is tactic inheritance and tactics yield unequal mean fitness. In many biological systems negative maternal or paternal effects complicate the inheritance of condition and, hence, the inheritance of alternative tactics. Indeed, the inheritance of condition may result in the alternation of tactics across generations. In this paper, we show that the conditional strategy is robust to these effects on progeny condition. There is a unique and stable proportion of tactics under standard inheritance and unequal tactic fitness, and these two important properties of the conditional strategy hold even if negative maternal or paternal effects on progeny condition cause tactics to alternate across generations. However, the dynamics of tactic proportions pursuant to a perturbation of the equilibrium tactic proportions depend on the form of tactic inheritance. An application of our theoretical results to data from a population of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in which negative paternal effects dictate progeny condition reveals that age at first reproduction in males alternates regularly across generations. Furthermore, the model indicates that the population would return rapidly to equilibrium if the proportions of males that mature early or late in life were perturbed from the equilibrium within the system. This example shows how the model of the conditional strategy can be used to gain insight into tactic dynamics in situations where some of the model parameters are difficult or impossible to measure empirically.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

The impact of appearance-related teasing by family members.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the prevalence and effects of teasing by family members on body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and psychological functioning. METHODS: Self-report data were collected from 372 middle school girls who were part of a larger study in a Tampa Bay, Florida area middle school (mean age: 12.6 years; 85% Caucasian). RESULTS: Twenty-three percent of participants reported appearance-related teasing by a parent, and 12% were teased by a parent about being heavy. Nineteen percent of the girls reported appearance-related teasing by fathers, 13% reported appearance-related teasing by mothers, and 29% reported appearance-related teasing by siblings. After controlling for body mass index (BMI) and maternal teasing, paternal teasing was a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction, comparison, thin-ideal internalization, restriction, bulimic behaviors, self-esteem, and depression. After controlling for BMI and paternal teasing, maternal teasing was a significant predictor of depression. After controlling for BMI and maternal teasing, paternal teasing significantly increased the odds of having a sibling who teases. Girls who reported being teased by at least one sibling demonstrated significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction, comparison, thin-ideal internalization, restriction, bulimic behaviors, depression, and significantly lower levels of self-esteem than those girls who reported they were not teased by their siblings. Frequency of teasing was associated with higher levels of negative outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This study has implications for treatment and prevention of eating disorders. The results suggest that health care providers should assess appearance-related teasing in their patients' lives to identify girls who may be at risk for body image and eating disturbance and poor psychological functioning.

Adolescent↗

Linking extreme marital discord, child rearing, and child behavior problems: evidence from battered women.

Relations between marital discord, parental behavior, and child behavior were investigated in a sample of 37 battered women and 37 comparison mothers and their children, aged 2-8 years. It was hypothesized that violent fathers would be more irritable but less involved, battered women more stressed and inconsistent in discipline, and both parents would reportedly use fewer positive and more negative child-rearing responses than comparison families. Based on maternal self-reports and mother-child observations, the only robust self-report difference between the groups of mothers were the level of stress and reports of inconsistency in parenting; in contrast, all of the expected differences were found between the mothers' reports of the 2 groups of fathers. Group effects on child behavior problems were also found. Children from violent families were reported to have more internalizing behavior problems, more difficult temperaments, and to be more aggressive than the comparison children. In the violent families, maternal stress and paternal irritability were the 2 significant predictors of child behavior problems, whereas in the comparison families only maternal stress was a reliable predictor.

Adult↗

Family relationships and children's emotional adjustment as correlates of maternal and paternal differential treatment: a replication with toddler and preschool siblings.

Recent behavioral genetic research emphasizes the nonshared family environment as an important contributor to psychological differences between siblings raised in the same family. Most studies of nonshared sibling experiences have examined the effects of differential maternal and paternal treatment separately and have not examined family-level processes. This study attempted to replicate the findings of McHale, Crouter, McGuire, and Updegraff and also of Volling in which relations between family patterns of differential parental treatment, child outcomes, and family functioning were examined. Questionnaire data were collected from 60 maritally intact families with toddler and preschool siblings. Congruence in mothers' and fathers' reports of differential treatment (i.e., similar treatment from both mother and father) was most frequent. Parents' reports of differential enjoyment were related to differential favoritism, whereas their reports of differential discipline were not. Both mothers and fathers were more likely to discipline the older sibling than the younger toddler. Sibling and marital harmony characterized families in which the father disciplined the older sibling more and mothers disciplined the two children equally. Incongruent patterns of differential favoritism (i.e., one parent treats the children equally while the other favors one child) were associated with marital distress. Preschool siblings exhibited greater internalizing and externalizing symptoms when both mothers and fathers disciplined them more than their younger sibling. The findings of this study with very young siblings differ in some respects from those with older children and suggest that future research needs to examine differential parental treatment as a developmental process across childhood.

Adult↗

Nonbreeding season pairing behavior and the annual cycle of testosterone in male and female downy woodpeckers, Picoides pubescens.

Studies in birds show that testosterone (T) concentrations vary over the annual cycle depending on mating system and life history traits. Socially monogamous species show pairing behavior throughout the year and low levels of male-male aggression and are underrepresented in these studies, yet the function of testosterone could be particularly important for sexual and social interactions occurring outside the breeding season. We measured fecal T concentrations over the annual cycle and the frequency of interactions between male and female downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) from late fall through early spring. We validated the fecal assay by collecting blood in conjunction with a subsample of our fecal samples: fecal T correlated with circulating levels in the blood. The annual peak level of T in males was relatively low and short-lived, similar to that of other bird species with low levels of male-male aggression and high paternal care. The annual cycle of female T resembled the male pattern, and the ratio of male T to female T was close to 1.0. Likewise, the frequency of aggression among females was similar to the frequency among males. Overall, testosterone levels in both sexes were variable, even in winter. In other bird species, sexual behavior during nonbreeding periods correlates with circulating levels of T in males. Based on this observation, we tested the hypothesis that T in winter was positively related to the frequency of interaction between mated downy woodpeckers. The results showed no such relationship. We discuss this finding and further relate the annual cycle of T in both males and females to behaviors that appear to facilitate mate choice and retention of the pair bond during conspecific challenge.

Animals↗

Are reproductive skew models evolutionarily stable?

Reproductive skew theory has become a popular way to phrase problems and test hypotheses of social evolution. The diversity of reproductive skew models probably stems from the ease of generating new variations. However, I show that the logical basis of skew models, that is, the way in which group formation is modelled, makes use of hidden assumptions that may be problematical as they are unlikely to be fulfilled in all social systems. I illustrate these problems by re-analysing the basic concessive skew model with staying incentives. First, the model assumes that dispersal is an all-or-nothing response: all subordinates disperse as soon as concessions drop below a certain value. This leads to a discontinuous 'cliff-edge' shape of dominant fitness, and it is not clear that selection will balance a population at such an edge. Second, it is assumed that subordinates have perfect knowledge of their benefits if they stay in the group. I examine the effects of relaxing these two assumptions. Relaxing the first one strengthens reproductive skew theory, but relaxing the latter makes evolutionary stability disappear. In cases where subordinates cannot accurately measure benefits provided by the individual dominant with which they live, so that their behaviour instead evolves as a response to population-wide average benefits, the logic of reproductive skew models does not apply. This warns against too indiscriminate an application of reproductive skew theory to problems in social evolution: for example, transactional models of extra-pair paternity assume perfect knowledge of paternity, which is unlikely to hold true in nature. It is recommended that models specify the mechanisms by which individuals can adjust their behaviour to that of others, and pay attention to changes that occur in evolutionary versus behavioural time.

Animals↗

Do alcohol expectancies moderate the relationship between parental alcoholism and adult drinking behaviors?

The relations between parental alcoholism, alcohol expectancies, and adult drinking behaviors were examined among 76 offspring of alcoholics and 68 offspring of nonalcoholics. The primary goals of the present study were to examine whether maternal and/or paternal alcoholism are related to adult alcohol expectancies and to explore whether the relationship between parental alcoholism and adult drinking behaviors is moderated by alcohol expectancies. Gender differences also were assessed. Findings indicated that alcohol expectancies were not significantly influenced by parental alcoholism. Significant moderating effects for global-positive expectancies and sexual enhancement expectancies also were not obtained. In contrast, social assertiveness expectancies were found to consistently moderate the relationship between paternal alcoholism and drinking behaviors. These results indicated that offspring of alcoholic fathers with high expectations for increased social assertiveness were most "at risk" for problematic drinking, especially males.

Adolescent↗

Oligonucleotide fingerprinting of free-ranging and captive rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago: paternity assignment and comparison of heterozygosity.

Multilocus DNA fingerprinting with oligonucleotide probes (GTG)5, (GATA)4, and (CA)8 was applied in order to determine paternity in one birth cohort (15 infants) of social group (S) from the free-ranging colony of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago. While sires could be identified in 11 cases, all males tested (N = 19) could be excluded from paternity for the remaining four infants. Data revealed marked discrepancies between actual paternity and paternity as inferred from the observation of copulation behavior. Thus, a dominant social rank does not appear to be strongly associated with reproductive success. Furthermore, alternative reproductive strategies were found to yield comparable net benefits in reproduction. A second group of animals (M) was translocated from Cayo Santiago to the Sabana Seca Field Station in 1984. They have continuously resided together in a large outdoor enclosure since then. Here paternity assessment was seriously impeded by a reduced number of discriminating bands, i.e. offspring bands which were unequivocally derived from the sires. This was initially held to be indicative of a smaller degree of heterozygosity in Group M, and was attributed to inbreeding due to a lack of male immigration or extra-group fertilizations. However, a comparison of the DNA fingerprint patterns obtained in Group S and Group M lends only partial support to this idea.

Animals↗

Relationship between family characteristics and aggressive behaviors of children and adolescents.

In order to identify family factors obviously relevant to aggression, and offer a theoretical foundation for the prevention of aggression, 4010 students from primary and secondary schools in 5 different areas in Hubei province were surveyed. The Child Behavior Checklist " parents' form" (Chinese version) and the four scales of Family Environment Scale were used. A multiple logistic regression was used to identify risk factors of children's and adolescents' aggressive behavior. The results showed that maternal education, paternal occupation, family type, parental child-rearing attitude and patterns, students' interpersonal relationship were significantly associated with the children's and adolescents' aggression. The risk factors of aggression were parental child-rearing patterns, peer relationship, teacher-student relationship, and family conflicts.

Adolescent↗

Non-nutritive sucking behaviors in preschool children: a longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: Prolonged duration of non-nutritive sucking behaviors may have consequences in regard to the developing orofacial structures and occlusion. Little is known as to why some children have prolonged sucking habits beyond the first 2 to 3 years of life. This paper reports on non-nutritive sucking patterns among a large cohort of healthy children from birth to 36 months of age and older, and identifies factors predictive of prolonged non-nutritive sucking habits. METHODS: Over 600 children were followed from birth to at least 36 months of age using mailed questionnaires sent when children reached the ages of 6 weeks, and 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, and 24 months, and then yearly thereafter. Parents answered questions concerning non-nutritive sucking behaviors including use of pacifier and digit sucking. The study categorized children who maintained habits to 36 months of age or older as having prolonged habits, and using multivariate analyses, compared them to children without prolonged habits on various sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: The study found that for over 20% of the children, a non-nutritive sucking habit was prolonged to 36 months of age or older. Factors associated with prolonged sucking habits included older maternal age, higher maternal education level, and having no older siblings. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying factors related to prolonged non-nutritive sucking habits may be important in developing and targeting recommendations regarding such behaviors in an effort to prevent malocclusions that result from prolonged sucking habits.

Chi-Square Distribution↗