Doting
Women's economic opportunities and the intra-household production of child human capital
Marianne Bruins
Labour Economics, January 2017, Pages 122–132
Abstract:
This paper exploits variation in the relative demand for male and female labour during the Great Recession to estimate the effect of women's relative economic opportunities on the resources parents allocate to children. Estimates from the American Time Use Survey suggest that a 5 percentage point increase in the female-to-male wage ratio raises parents' time with children by one hour per week. Child test scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test are estimated to increase by 8 per cent of a standard deviation in response to such an increase. Further analysis of our results suggests that an associated increase in female bargaining power is necessary to explain our empirical findings.
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When Children Rule: Parenting in Modern Families
Sebastian Galiani, Matthew Staiger & Gustavo Torrens
NBER Working Paper, January 2017
Abstract:
During the 20th century there was a secular transformation within American families from a household dominated by the father to a more egalitarian one in which the wife and the children have been empowered. This transformation coincided with two major economic and demographic changes, namely the increase in economic opportunities for women and a decline in family size. To explain the connection between these trends and the transformation in family relationships we develop a novel model of parenting styles that highlights the importance of competition within the family. The key intuition is that the rise in relative earnings of wives increased competition between spouses for the love and affection of their children while the decline in family size reduced competition between children for resources from their parents. The combined effect has empowered children within the household and allowed them to capture an increasing share of the household surplus over the past hundred years.
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The Early Origins of Birth Order Differences in Children’s Outcomes and Parental Behavior
Jee-Yeon Lehmann, Ana Nuevo-Chiquero & Marian Vidal-Fernandez
Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
Abstract:
We document birth order differences in cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes and maternal behavior from birth to adolescence using data from the Children of the NLSY79. As early as age one, latter-born children score lower on cognitive assessments than their siblings, and the birth order gap in cognitive assessment increases until the time of school entry and remains statistically significant thereafter. Mothers take more risks during pregnancy and are less likely to breastfeed and to provide cognitive stimulation for latter-born children. Variations in parental behavior can explain most of the differences in cognitive abilities before school entry. Our findings suggest that broad shifts in parental behavior from first to latter-born children is a plausible explanation for the observed birth order differences in education and labor market outcomes.
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Lifetime Prevalence of Investigating Child Maltreatment Among US Children
Hyunil Kim et al.
American Journal of Public Health, February 2017, Pages 274-280
Methods: We used the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child Files (2003–2014) and Census data to develop synthetic cohort life tables to estimate the cumulative prevalence of reported childhood maltreatment. We extend previous work, which explored only confirmed rates of maltreatment, and we add new estimations of maltreatment by subtype, age, and ethnicity.
Results: We estimate that 37.4% of all children experience a child protective services investigation by age 18 years. Consistent with previous literature, we found a higher rate for African American children (53.0%) and the lowest rate for Asians/Pacific Islanders (10.2%).
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Birth Order and Delinquency: Evidence from Denmark and Florida
Sanni Breining et al.
NBER Working Paper, January 2017
Abstract:
Birth order has been found to have a surprisingly large influence on educational attainment, yet much less is known about the role of birth order on delinquency outcomes such as disciplinary problems in school, juvenile delinquency, and adult crime: outcomes that carry significant negative externalities. This paper uses particularly rich datasets from Denmark and the state of Florida to examine these outcomes and explore potential mechanisms. Despite large differences in environments across the two areas, we find remarkably consistent results: in families with two or more children, second-born boys are on the order of 20 to 40 percent more likely to be disciplined in school and enter the criminal justice system compared to first-born boys even when we compare siblings. The data allow us to examine a range of potential mechanisms, and the evidence rules out differences in health at birth and the quality of schools chosen for children. We do find that parental time investment measured by time out of the labor force is higher for first-borns at ages 2-4, suggesting that the arrival of a second-born child extends early-childhood parental investments for first-borns.
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Sexual Socialization Messages in Television Programming Produced for Adolescents
Mona Malacane & Nicole Martins
Mass Communication and Society, January/February 2017, Pages 23-46
Abstract:
This study examined sexual content in American prime-time programs popular among the tween (9–14 years of age) audience on broadcast networks and programs aired on the most popular adolescent TV networks — an understudied area of media research. Consistent with past research, the majority of broadcast shows contained sexual talk and behaviors, as did adolescent shows. No significant difference was observed between the two types of shows regarding the frequency with which sexual behaviors were presented in a given hour of TV programming. The amount of scene focus paid to sexual themes varied, but studio audiences were almost always heard positively reinforcing these messages. The findings are discussed with respect to social cognitive and cultivation theories.
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Satoshi Kanazawa & Nancy Segal
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, April 2017, Pages 186–191
Abstract:
Recent studies show that human and other mammalian breast milk may be tailored for the sex of the offspring. Such sex bias suggests that opposite-sex twins, who receive breast milk that cannot simultaneously be tailored for both sexes, may be at a disadvantage for growth compared with same-sex twins. An analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) shows that, controlling for sex, age, birth weight, and zygosity, breastfed same-sex twins are, on average, about 1 inch taller and 12 pounds heavier than their opposite-sex counterparts through adolescence and early adulthood. In contrast, never-breastfed same-sex twins tend to be shorter and lighter than their opposite-sex counterparts. These results may be potential evidence for sex bias in human breast milk and its long-term effects.
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Clare Stocker et al.
Development and Psychopathology, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined whether adolescents’ genetic sensitivity, measured by a polygenic index score, moderated the longitudinal associations between parenting and adolescents’ psychological adjustment. The sample included 323 mothers, fathers, and adolescents (177 female, 146 male; Time 1 [T1] average age = 12.61 years, SD = 0.54 years; Time 2 [T2] average age = 13.59 years, SD = 0.59 years). Parents’ warmth and hostility were rated by trained, independent observers using videotapes of family discussions. Adolescents reported their symptoms of anxiety, depressed mood, and hostility at T1 and T2. The results from autoregressive linear regression models showed that adolescents’ genetic sensitivity moderated associations between observations of both mothers’ and fathers’ T1 parenting and adolescents’ T2 composite maladjustment, depression, anxiety, and hostility. Compared to adolescents with low genetic sensitivity, adolescents with high genetic sensitivity had worse adjustment outcomes when parenting was low on warmth and high on hostility. When parenting was characterized by high warmth and low hostility, adolescents with high genetic sensitivity had better adjustment outcomes than their counterparts with low genetic sensitivity. The results support the differential susceptibility model and highlight the complex ways that genes and environment interact to influence development.
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Chardée Galán et al.
Development and Psychopathology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous studies demonstrate that boys' monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype interacts with adverse rearing environments in early childhood, including punitive discipline, to predict later antisocial behavior. Yet the mechanisms by which MAOA and punitive parenting interact during childhood to amplify risk for antisocial behavior are not well understood. In the present study, hostile attributional bias and aggressive response generation during middle childhood, salient aspects of maladaptive social information processing, were tested as possible mediators of this relation in a sample of 187 low-income men followed prospectively from infancy into early adulthood. Given racial–ethnic variation in MAOA allele frequencies, analyses were conducted separately by race. In both African American and Caucasian men, those with the low-activity MAOA allele who experienced more punitive discipline at age 1.5 generated more aggressive responses to perceived threat at age 10 relative to men with the high-activity variant. In the African American subsample only, formal mediation analyses indicated a marginally significant indirect effect of maternal punitiveness on adult arrest records via aggressive response generation in middle childhood. The findings suggest that maladaptive social information processing may be an important mechanism underlying the association between MAOA × Parenting interactions and antisocial behavior in early adulthood. The present study extends previous work in the field by demonstrating that MAOA and harsh parenting assessed in early childhood interact to not only predict antisocial behavior in early adulthood, but also predict social information processing, a well-established social–cognitive correlate of antisocial behavior.
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Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure
Elseline Hoekzema et al.
Nature Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
Pregnancy involves radical hormone surges and biological adaptations. However, the effects of pregnancy on the human brain are virtually unknown. Here we show, using a prospective ('pre'-'post' pregnancy) study involving first-time mothers and fathers and nulliparous control groups, that pregnancy renders substantial changes in brain structure, primarily reductions in gray matter (GM) volume in regions subserving social cognition. The changes were selective for the mothers and highly consistent, correctly classifying all women as having undergone pregnancy or not in-between sessions. Interestingly, the volume reductions showed a substantial overlap with brain regions responding to the women's babies postpartum. Furthermore, the GM volume changes of pregnancy predicted measures of postpartum maternal attachment, suggestive of an adaptive process serving the transition into motherhood. Another follow-up session showed that the GM reductions endured for at least 2 years post-pregnancy. Our data provide the first evidence that pregnancy confers long-lasting changes in a woman's brain.
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Parent-offspring conflict and the evolution of infant-directed song
Samuel Mehr & Max Krasnow
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
We present a theory of the origin and evolution of infant-directed song, a form of music found in many cultures. After examining the ancestral ecology of parent-infant relations, we propose that infant-directed song arose in an evolutionary arms race between parents and infants, stemming from the dynamics of parent-offspring conflict. We describe testable predictions that follow from this theory, consider some existing evidence for them, and entertain the possibility that infant-directed song could form the basis for the development of other, more complex forms of music.
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Miguelina Germán et al.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Objective: Can an intervention that contained no content on sex or contraception reduce rates of early-age intercourse among Mexican American adolescents? The current study examined whether the Bridges to High School intervention designed, in part, to decrease harsh parenting, had a longitudinal effect on decreasing rates of early-age intercourse in the treatment versus control groups, as well as the moderating role of gender and linguistic acculturation.
Method: The sample consisted of 516 Mexican American adolescents (Mage = 12.31 years; 50.8% female) and their mothers who participated in a randomized, intervention trial. A series of longitudinal, meditational path models were used to examine the effects of the intervention on harsh parenting practices and early-age intercourse.
Results: Our findings revealed that participation in the treatment versus control group was indirectly linked to a lower likelihood of early-age intercourse through decreased maternal harsh parenting. Tests of mediation were significant. These findings did not vary across gender and linguistic acculturation.
Conclusion: Results suggest that the Bridges to High School intervention successfully decreased early-age intercourse among Mexican American adolescents through reduced harsh parenting among mothers. This finding is consistent with positive youth development programs that have been found to have broad, and sometimes nontargeted, effects on adolescent sexual behaviors.
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An investigation of child maltreatment and epigenetic mechanisms of mental and physical health risk
Dante Cicchetti et al.
Development and Psychopathology, November 2016, Pages 1305-1317
Abstract:
In the present investigation, differential methylation analyses of the whole genome were conducted among a sample of 548 school-aged low-income children (47.8% female, 67.7% Black, M age = 9.40 years), 54.4% of whom had a history of child maltreatment. In the context of a summer research camp, DNA samples via saliva were obtained. Using GenomeStudio, Methylation Module, and the Illumina Custom Model, differential methylation analyses revealed a pattern of greater methylation at low methylation sites (n = 197 sites) and medium methylation sites (n = 730 sites) and less methylation at high methylation sites (n = 907 sites) among maltreated children. The mean difference in methylation between the maltreated and nonmaltreated children was 6.2%. The relative risk of maltreatment with known disease biomarkers was also investigated using GenoGo MetaCore Software. A large number of network objects previously associated with mental health, cancer, cardiovascular systems, and immune functioning were identified evidencing differential methylation among maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Site-specific analyses were also conducted for aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (ANKK1), and nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 1 (NR3C1) genes, and the results highlight the importance of considering gender and the developmental timing of maltreatment. For ALDH2, the results indicated that maltreated girls evidenced significantly lower methylation compared to nonmaltreated girls, and maltreated boys evidenced significantly higher methylation compared to nonmaltreated boys. Moreover, early onset–not recently maltreated boys evidenced significantly higher methylation at ALDH2 compared to nonmaltreated boys. Similarly, children with early onset–nonrecent maltreatment evidenced significantly higher methylation compared to nonmaltreated children at ANKK1. The site-specific results were not altered by controlling for genotypic variation of respective genes. The findings demonstrate increased risk for adverse physical and mental health outcomes associated with differences in methylation in maltreated children and indicate differences among maltreated children related to developmental timing of maltreatment and gender in genes involved in mental health functioning.
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Katherine Ehrlich et al.
Development and Psychopathology, November 2016, Pages 1273-1283
Abstract:
Accumulating evidence suggests that the experience of early life adversity is a risk factor for a range of poor outcomes across development, including poor physical health in adulthood. The biological embedding model of early adversity (Miller, Chen, & Parker, 2011) suggests that early adversity might become embedded within immune cells known as monocytes/macrophages, programming them to be overly aggressive to environmental stimuli and insensitive to inhibitory signals, creating a “proinflammatory phenotype” that increases vulnerability to chronic diseases across the life span. We tested this hypothesis in the present study. Adolescent girls (n = 147) had blood drawn every 6 months across a 2.5-year period. To assess inflammatory responses to challenge, their monocytes were stimulated in vitro with a bacterial product, and production of the cytokine interleukin-6 was quantified. Hydrocortisone was added to cultures to assess the cells’ sensitivity to glucocorticoids’ anti-inflammatory signal. Using cluster analyses, we found that early life adversity was associated with greater odds of displaying a proinflammatory phenotype characterized by relatively larger interleukin-6 responses and relatively less sensitivity to glucocorticoids. In contrast, ongoing social stress was not associated with increasing odds of being categorized in the proinflammatory cluster. These findings suggest that early life adversity increases the probability of developing a proinflammatory phenotype, which, if sustained, could forecast risk for health problems later in life.
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Gene Brody et al.
Development and Psychopathology, forthcoming
Abstract:
An association has been found between receipt of harsh parenting in childhood and adult health problems. However, this research has been principally retrospective, has treated children as passive recipients of parental behavior, and has overlooked individual differences in youth responsivity to harsh parenting. In a 10-year multiple-wave prospective study of African American families, we addressed these issues by focusing on the influence of polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), variants of which appear to buffer or amplify responses to environmental stress. The participants were 303 youths, with a mean age of 11.2 at the first assessment, and their parents, all of whom were genotyped for variations in the rs53576 (A/G) polymorphism. Teachers rated preadolescent (ages 11 to 13) emotionally intense and distractible temperaments, and adolescents (ages 15 and 16) reported receipt of harsh parenting. Allostatic load was assessed during young adulthood (ages 20 and 21). Difficult preadolescent temperament forecast elevated receipt of harsh parenting in adolescence, and adolescents who experienced harsh parenting evinced high allostatic load during young adulthood. However, these associations emerged only among children and parents who carried A alleles of the OXTR genotype. The results suggest the oxytocin system operates along with temperament and parenting to forecast young adults’ allostatic load.