No place like home
“Back Off”! Helicopter Parenting and a Retreat From Marriage Among Emerging Adults
Brian Willoughby et al.
Journal of Family Issues, April 2015, Pages 669-692
Abstract:
The present study used a sample of 779 unmarried emerging adult college students to test the hypothesis that higher levels of helicopter parenting would be related to less positive marital attitudes. Helicopter parenting entails intense and intrusive involvement by parents under the guise of caring and protection. Using hierarchical multiple regression models, results suggested that helicopter parenting was not associated with the general importance placed on marriage but did influence emerging adults’ beliefs about the advantages of being single versus being married and their expected age of marriage. Higher reported helicopter parenting among emerging adults was associated with stronger beliefs that being single held more advantages than being married and an expected delay of eventual marriage. Other results suggested that parental warmth with mothers and fathers was also an important correlate of emerging adults’ marital attitudes.
---------------------
Origins of narcissism in children
Eddie Brummelman et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 March 2015, Pages 3659–3662
Abstract:
Narcissism levels have been increasing among Western youth, and contribute to societal problems such as aggression and violence. The origins of narcissism, however, are not well understood. Here, we report, to our knowledge, the first prospective longitudinal evidence on the origins of narcissism in children. We compared two perspectives: social learning theory (positing that narcissism is cultivated by parental overvaluation) and psychoanalytic theory (positing that narcissism is cultivated by lack of parental warmth). We timed the study in late childhood (ages 7–12), when individual differences in narcissism first emerge. In four 6-mo waves, 565 children and their parents reported child narcissism, child self-esteem, parental overvaluation, and parental warmth. Four-wave cross-lagged panel models were conducted. Results support social learning theory and contradict psychoanalytic theory: Narcissism was predicted by parental overvaluation, not by lack of parental warmth. Thus, children seem to acquire narcissism, in part, by internalizing parents’ inflated views of them (e.g., “I am superior to others” and “I am entitled to privileges”). Attesting to the specificity of this finding, self-esteem was predicted by parental warmth, not by parental overvaluation. These findings uncover early socialization experiences that cultivate narcissism, and may inform interventions to curtail narcissistic development at an early age.
---------------------
Jennifer Sumner et al.
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
A theory-driven confirmatory approach comparing diathesis–stress and differential susceptibility models of Gene × Environment (G × E) interactions was applied to examine whether 5-HTTLPR genotype moderated the effect of early maternal caregiving on autonomic nervous system (ANS) stress reactivity in 113 adolescents aged 13–17 years. Findings supported a differential susceptibility, rather than diathesis–stress, framework. Carriers of one or more 5-HTTLPR short alleles (SS/SL carriers) reporting higher quality caregiving exhibited approach ANS responses to a speech task, whereas those reporting lower quality caregiving exhibited withdrawal ANS responses. Carriers of two 5-HTTLPR long alleles (LL carriers) were unaffected by caregiving. Findings suggest that 5-HTTLPR genotype and early caregiving in interaction are associated with ANS stress reactivity in adolescents in a “for better and for worse” fashion, and they demonstrate the promise of confirmatory methods for testing G × E interactions.
---------------------
Further Examination of the Immediate Impact of Television on Children’s Executive Function
Angeline Lillard et al.
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Three studies examined the short-term impact of television (TV) on children’s executive function (EF). Study 1 (N = 160) showed that 4- and 6-year-olds’ EF is impaired after watching 2 different fast and fantastical shows, relative to that of children who watched a slow, realistic show or played. In Study 2 (N = 60), 4-year-olds’ EF was as depleted after watching a fast and fantastical educational show as it was after a fast and fantastical entertainment one, relative to that of children who read a book based on the educational show. Study 3 (N = 80) examined whether show pacing or fantasy was more influential, and found that only fantastical shows, regardless of their pacing, disrupted 4-year-olds’ EF. Taken together, these studies show that 10–20 min watching televised fantastical events, relative to other experiences, results in lower EF in young children.
---------------------
Elizabeth Ehrhardt Mustaine & Richard Tewksbury
American Journal of Criminal Justice, March 2015, Pages 89-99
Abstract:
Using Data from Wave 9 of the Fragile Families and Child Well Being Study (2011) this study examines predictors of fathers’ use of harsh physical child discipline methods. Central to the investigation is the question of whether fathers who have been incarcerated experience a brutalization effect of imprisonment which is manifested in harsh physical means of child discipline. Also examined are measures of demographics, scope and quality of interactions with child(ren), interactions with mother, attitudes/beliefs about the fathering role and degree of satisfaction derived from parenting. Results show that the most influential measures are those regarding scope and quality of interactions with child(ren). Whether or not a father has been incarcerated shows no statistically significant effect on methods of child discipline.
---------------------
Kenneth Kendler et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Cognitive ability strongly aggregates in families, and prior twin and adoption studies have suggested that this is the result of both genetic and environmental factors. In this study, we used a powerful design — home-reared and adopted-away cosibling controls — to investigate the role of the rearing environment in cognitive ability. We identified, from a complete national Swedish sample of male–male siblings, 436 full-sibships in which at least one member was reared by one or more biological parents and the other by adoptive parents. IQ was measured at age 18–20 as part of the Swedish military service conscription examination. Parental educational level was rated on a 5-point scale. Controlling for clustering of offspring within biological families, the adopted siblings had an IQ 4.41 (SE = 0.75) points higher than their nonadopted siblings. Each additional unit of rearing parental education was associated with 1.71 (SE = 0.44) units of IQ. We replicated these results in 2,341 male–male half-sibships, in which, controlling for clustering within families, adoption was associated with a gain of IQ of 3.18 (SE = 0.34) points. Each additional unit of rearing parental education was associated with 1.94 (SE = 0.18) IQ units. Using full- and half-sibling sets matched for genetic background, we found replicated evidence that (i) rearing environment affects IQ measured in late adolescence, and (ii) a portion of the IQ of adopted siblings could be explained by the educational level of their adoptive parents.
---------------------
Childhood Health and Human Capital: New Evidence from Genetic Brothers in Arms
John Parman
Journal of Economic History, March 2015, Pages 30-64
Abstract:
Negative shocks to childhood health can have a lasting impact on the economic success of an individual by altering families' schooling investment decisions. This article introduces a new dataset of brothers serving in World War II and uses it to demonstrate that improvements in childhood health led to substantial increases in educational attainment in the first one-half of the twentieth century. By exploiting variation in health within families, the data show that this relationship between childhood health and educational attainment holds even after controlling for both observed and unobserved household and environmental characteristics.
---------------------
The “birds and the bees” differ for boys and girls: Sex differences in the nature of sex talks
Barry Kuhle et al.
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, April 2015, Pages 107-115
Abstract:
The daughter-guarding hypothesis posits that “parents possess adaptations with design features that function to defend their daughter’s sexual reputation, preserve her mate value, and protect her from sexual victimization” (Perilloux, Fleischman, & Buss, 2008, p. 219). One way that parents may attempt to guard their daughters’ sexualities is by conveying to them certain messages about sex. To explore this possibility we administered an online questionnaire that tested 8 sex-linked predictions derived from the daughter-guarding hypothesis about the content of parent–child communications about sex. Participants were undergraduates from a Northeastern U.S. Jesuit Catholic university (n = 226) and young adults recruited through Facebook (n = 391). As predicted, daughters were more likely than sons to recall receiving messages from their parents that (a) emphasized being discriminating in allocating sexual access; (b) emphasized abstinence; (c) encouraged them to deter, inhibit, and defend against their partners’ sexual advances; (d) encouraged them to not emulate depictions of sexual activity; (e) stipulated when they were old enough to date; and (f) curtailed contact with the opposite sex. Results supported several hypothesized design features of the daughter-guarding hypothesis. Parents may be socializing children in ways that fostered ancestral reproductive success through sex-linked birds-and-the-bees talks and messages.
---------------------
Luciana Assini-Meytin & Kerry Green
Journal of Adolescent Health, forthcoming
Purpose: The aim of this study was to improve understanding of long-term socioeconomic consequences of teen parenting for men and women.
Methods: Analysis is based on the Woodlawn Study, a longitudinal study of an African-American cohort from a socially disadvantaged community in Chicago; data were collected at childhood (N = 1,242), adolescence (N = 705), young adulthood (age 32 years, N = 952), and midlife (age 42 years, N = 833). This analysis focused on the 1,050 individuals with data on teen parenting. We used propensity score matching to account for differences in background characteristics between teenage parents and their peers and used multiple imputation to account for differential attrition.
Results: The regression models after propensity score matching showed that at the age of 32 years, in comparison to nonteen mothers, teenage mothers were more likely to be unemployed, live in poverty, depend on welfare, and have earned a GED or completed high school compared to finishing college. At the age of 32 years, teen fathers were more likely to be without a job than nonteen fathers. At the age of 42 years, the effect of teen parenting for women remained statistically significant for education and income. There were no significant associations between teen parenting and outcomes for men at the age of 42 years.
Conclusions: Socioeconomic consequences of teenage parenting among African-Americans from disadvantaged background seem to be primarily concentrated in women and persist throughout adulthood. In addition to promoting the delay of parenting after the teenage years, it is critical to provide programs at early stages in the life course to mitigate the negative socioeconomic consequences of teenage motherhood as effects for women are broad.
---------------------
The “New Father”: Dynamic Stereotypes of Fathers
Sarah Banchefsky & Bernadette Park
Psychology of Men & Masculinity, forthcoming
Abstract:
Fathers have become increasingly involved in childcare and housework. According to social role theory, as fathers engage in more traditionally maternal roles and fewer traditionally paternal roles, they should be seen as having more maternal traits and fewer paternal traits over time, suggesting dynamic stereotypes of fathers. To test this hypothesis, participants were randomly assigned to imagine the typical mother or father in the year 1950, the present, or 2050 and to rate the likelihood that the parent would possess stereotypically maternal traits (e.g., kind, understanding) and paternal traits (e.g., stern, authoritative). In addition, they rated the likelihood that each parent would engage in traditionally maternal (e.g., arrange for babysitter) and paternal (e.g., provide household income) roles. Mothers and fathers were viewed as becoming more alike from the past to the present and continuing into the future, with fathers showing particularly marked change. Mediation analyses indicated that perceived changing roles drove perceived changes in parent traits, especially for fathers.
---------------------
Welfare-to-Work Reform and Intergenerational Support: Grandmothers' Response to the 1996 PRWORA
Christine Ho
Journal of Marriage and Family, April 2015, Pages 407–423
Abstract:
The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; Pub. L. 104-193) in the United States aimed at encouraging work among low-income mothers with children below age 18. In this study, the author used a sample of 2,843 intergenerational family observations from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate the effects of the reform on single grandmothers who are related to those mothers. The results suggest that the reform decreased time transfers but increased money transfers from grandmothers. The results are consistent with an intergenerational family support network where higher child care subsidies motivated the family to shift away from grandmother provided child care and where grandmothers increased money transfers to either help cover the remaining cost of formal care or to partly compensate for the loss in benefits of welfare leavers.
---------------------
Cesar Victora et al.
Lancet Global Health, April 2015, Pages e199–e205
Background: Breastfeeding has clear short-term benefits, but its long-term consequences on human capital are yet to be established. We aimed to assess whether breastfeeding duration was associated with intelligence quotient (IQ), years of schooling, and income at the age of 30 years, in a setting where no strong social patterning of breastfeeding exists.
Methods: A prospective, population-based birth cohort study of neonates was launched in 1982 in Pelotas, Brazil. Information about breastfeeding was recorded in early childhood. At 30 years of age, we studied the IQ (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd version), educational attainment, and income of the participants. For the analyses, we used multiple linear regression with adjustment for ten confounding variables and the G-formula.
Findings: From June 4, 2012, to Feb 28, 2013, of the 5914 neonates enrolled, information about IQ and breastfeeding duration was available for 3493 participants. In the crude and adjusted analyses, the durations of total breastfeeding and predominant breastfeeding (breastfeeding as the main form of nutrition with some other foods) were positively associated with IQ, educational attainment, and income. We identified dose-response associations with breastfeeding duration for IQ and educational attainment. In the confounder-adjusted analysis, participants who were breastfed for 12 months or more had higher IQ scores (difference of 3•76 points, 95% CI 2•20–5•33), more years of education (0•91 years, 0•42–1•40), and higher monthly incomes (341•0 Brazilian reals, 93•8–588•3) than did those who were breastfed for less than 1 month. The results of our mediation analysis suggested that IQ was responsible for 72% of the effect on income.
Interpretation: Breastfeeding is associated with improved performance in intelligence tests 30 years later, and might have an important effect in real life, by increasing educational attainment and income in adulthood.