Horizontal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from father to child

An unusual case of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection in a child was studied. The child, identified as HIV-1 infected at 5 years of age, lived with his parents and a 3-year-old sister. HIV-1 infection was excluded in the mother and sister, but confirmed in the father, who was unaware of his infection and was in good health, apart from an atopic dermatitis on the face and limbs. A portion of the HIV-1 proviral envelope gene was amplified from the father's and child's peripheral blood cells, and the amplified products were cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis disclosed that the father's and child's viral sequences clustered together, and were clearly distinct from the sequence sets obtained from six epidemiologically unlinked mother-child HIV-1-infected pairs included in the analysis. HIV-1 variability was lower in the child's sequence set than in the father's, and the variability between father's and child's sequences was significantly lower than that found between epidemiologically unlinked cases (p < 0.001). An uncommon APGR motif on the tip of the V3 domain was found in both the father's and child's viral clones. These data, together with the epidemiological investigations, strongly suggest that the child acquired the infection from his father, possibly by exposure to bleeding skin lesions.     

A model of fathers' behavioral involvement in child care in dual-earner families.

Fathers and mothers (n?=?120) of preschool-aged children completed 2 measures assessing fathers' behavioral involvement in child care (i.e., the amount of time that the father was the child's primary caregiver and the number of child-care tasks performed). The results reaffirm the findings from previous studies that father's long work hours can be a barrier to greater participation in child care but that mothers' extended work hours serve to increase father participation in child care. Women's perception of their husbands' competence as parents and marital satisfaction also explain fathers' involvement. Fathers' gender role ideology and attitudes about the fathers' role appear important for fathers' involvement in child care, and findings indicate that men's involvement may be more self-determined than previously believed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural influences on positive father involvement in two-parent Mexican-origin families.

A growing body of research documents the importance of positive father involvement in children's development. However, research on fathers in Latino families is sparse, and research contextualizing the father–child relationship within a cultural framework is needed. The present study examined how fathers' cultural practices and values predicted their fifth-grade children's report of positive father involvement in a sample of 450 two-parent Mexican-origin families. Predictors included Spanish- and English-language use, Mexican and American cultural values, and positive machismo (i.e., culturally related attitudes about the father's role within the family). Positive father involvement was measured by the child's report of his or her father's monitoring, educational involvement, and warmth. Latent variable regression analyses showed that fathers' machismo attitudes were positively related to children's report of positive father involvement and that this association was similar across boys and girls. The results of this study suggest an important association between fathers' cultural values about men's roles and responsibilities within a family and their children's perception of positive fathering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy in young children: Relation to parents' empathy, affection, and emphasis on the feelings of others.

Explored the relation between (a) the young child's empathy and (b) the parents' self-reported empathy, affection, and emphasis on another individual's feelings in discipline and nondiscipline situations. Ss were 25 boys and 28 girls in preschool and kindergarten classes in a middle-class community. Heightened empathy in 4–6 yr old girls was associated with a particular (i.e., sex-stereotyped) pattern of mother–father empathy. The factors believed to enhance the development of empathy were reported to be more prevalent in the mother's interaction with the child than in the father's. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father Involvement Moderates the Effect of Maternal Depression During a Child's Infancy on Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten.

This research investigated whether father involvement in infancy may reduce or exacerbate the well-established adverse effect of maternal depression during a child's infancy on behavior problems in childhood. In a community sample (N = 350), the authors found that fathers' self-reported parenting styles interacted with the amount of time fathers spent caring for their infants to moderate the longitudinal effect of maternal depression during the child's infancy on children's internalizing, but not externalizing, behaviors. Low to medium amounts of high-warmth father involvement and high amounts of medium- or high-control father involvement at this time were associated with lower child internalizing behaviors. Paternal depression during a child's infancy exacerbated the effect of maternal depression, but this moderating effect was limited to depressed fathers spending medium to high amounts of time caring for their infants. Results emphasize the moderating role fathers may play in reducing or exacerbating the adverse long-term effects of maternal depression during a child's infancy on later child behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father absence and children's cognitive development.

Reviews literature showing detrimental effects of father absence on children's cognitive development as assessed by standardized IQ and achievement tests and school performance. Differential effects associated with characteristics of the absence (cause, duration, onset), the child (age, sex, race, socioeconomic status), and the skill tested (quantitative, verbal) are examined. The evidence suggests that financial hardship, high levels of anxiety, and, in particular, low levels of parent–child interaction are causes of poor performance among children in single-parent families; sex role identification, however, does not play an important role. An alternative hypothesis concerns the representativeness of father-absent families. The mother's ability to compensate for loss of the father is also considered. (77 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family members' uncertainty about parental chronic illness: the relationship of hemophilia and HIV infection to child functioning

Examined the relationships among parental and child uncertainty about fathers' illnesses and child internalizing problems. Participants included 65 families in which the father had hemophilia, approximately one half of the fathers also were HIV infected. Within each family, respondents included the father, the mother and one child. Outcome variables included both self- and parent-reported child internalizing behaviors. Results indicated that family members' illness uncertainty was intercorrelated, that child uncertainty about the father's illness predicted both anxiety and depressive symptoms in the child, and that mother's uncertainty predicted child-reported anxiety beyond the child's uncertainty.     

Parental factors and the young child's postdivorce adjustment: A meta-analysis with implications for parenting arrangements.

A model-based meta-analytic review highlighted relationships critical for understanding the young child's postdivorce adjustment when planning parenting arrangements. This review confirmed the utility of an interactional model that includes preseparation information and information about father, mother, and the parental alliance. Interactions among the quality and frequency of father's involvement in relation to postdivorce child adjustment that were not clear in studies looking only at direct effects of father-access variables were identified. Results indicated that maternal variables should not be viewed in isolation from the parental alliance or from the father-child relationship. The review discusses variables promoting developmental competence as well as risk factors that clearly interfere with both parental and child functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' child-rearing style and child's sociometric status.

Examined relationships between parents' childrearing style, the child's prosocial behavior, and the child's sociometric status. The sample consisted of 112 children (6–11 yrs of age) and both their parents. Parental behavior in the interaction with the child was observed at home when parents and child worked together in 2 structured tasks. Factor analyses of parental behavior revealed that 2 factors, Authoritative/Democratic and Authoritarian/Restrictive, can be found in the subsamples of mothers and fathers. These 2 dimensions of maternal and paternal behavior appeared to be predictive of both the child's prosocial behavior and sociometric status. Results are discussed in terms of the possible link between parent and peer systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using the Marschak Interaction Method Rating System for Chinese families: Relationship between parent-child interaction pattern and child's social behavior.

This study investigated the use of the Marschak Interaction Method Rating System (MIMRS) in assessing parent–child interaction patterns and its relationship with preschool children's social behavior in a Chinese sample. Fifty-two preschoolers and their parents (either mother or father) participated in the study. The MIMRS demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency. There was also a moderate positive correlation between the MIMRS and the Kinship Centre Attachment Questionnaire (Kappenberg & Halpern, 2006). With reference to parent–child interaction and the child's social behavior, a negative relationship was identified between child anger/aggressive behavior and parent's nurturing toward his or her child. In addition, a child's demonstration of exploratory behavior, reciprocity with parent, and regulatory capacities were positively related to that child's social competence and negatively related to the child's anger/aggressive behavior. The practical uses of the MIMRS as a screening tool for working with parents and children in a non-Western culture are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role stereotypes and attitudes toward parental blame for the psychological problems of children.

Randomly assigned 100 male and 70 female college students to groups that read 15 case histories of boys, girls, or children of unspecified sex who had specific disorders. Ss were asked to assume that 100% of the blame for the disorders was caused by the child's parents, and to divide up this total blame between the mother and father. Results reveal that the 5 disorders defined as stereotypically "masculine" (e.g., aggression) were all blamed more on the father than the mother, whereas the mother was blamed more for the 5 disorders conceptualized as "feminine" (e.g., emotionality). The 5 disorders conceptualized as not relating to sex-role stereotypes in an obvious way (e.g., mental retardation) were also blamed more on the mother. Results support the notion of a relationship between sex-role stereotypes and parental-blame attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The heritability of hypnotic susceptibility in twins.

Tested 140 pairs of twins (mean age = 9 yrs) and their families on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A. A significant heritability index for the scores of the twin pairs and a significant correlation between the midparent score (i.e., the average of the mother's and father's score) and the mean child score were obtained, supporting a genetic component in hypnotizability. However, a statistically significant interaction between parent hypnotizability and the child's hypnotizability, conditional upon the resemblance of the child to the like-sexed parent in personality, was interpreted as a consequence of environmental influence, either through social learning or identification. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Domestic violence, parents' view of their infant, and risk for child abuse.

This investigation used longitudinal data from 181 couples with firstborn infants to test the hypothesis that parents' negative cognitions about the child mediate the effect of domestic violence on risk of child abuse. Analysis of covariance showed that mothers and fathers who experienced domestic violence during the 1st year of their child's life developed a significantly more negative view of their child. Hierarchical regressions showed that the effect of domestic violence on the family's risk of child abuse was mediated by the mother's and father's negative views of the child. Intervention and prevention applications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The sexual preferences of incest offenders.

Inclusive fitness theory suggests that discriminative solicitude and inbreeding avoidance are important mechanisms regulating parent–children interactions. From an inclusive fitness perspective, sex with one's biological children is paradoxical. The authors hypothesized that incest can occur when these mechanisms are not activated (e.g., if a father is uninvolved in child rearing) or are overwhelmed by another factor, such as pedophilic interest. They predicted that biological fathers, who presumably have been the most involved in the rearing of their victims, would show greater phallometrically measured pedophilic interest than would other incest offenders against children (e.g., grandfathers, uncles, stepfathers). The prediction was not supported. A testable alternative hypothesis to explain biological father incest is presented and the importance of assessing pedophilic interest among incest offenders is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of family variables on child weight change.

Analyzed the effects of family variables (e.g., family size, family weight composition, parental weight) on child weight loss in a series of family-based, behaviorally oriented weight control programs for children from 102 families. Results show that the amount of relative weight change was related to initial treatment success, the number of children in the family, and the gender of the child. Children who were more successful lost more weight initially, had fewer siblings, and were female. It is suggested that family size may interact with treatment to determine weight change, possibly by reducing the amount of time a parent has to spend promoting behavior change or the effectiveness of parents in managing their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of maternal employment in the two-parent family.

Recent research is reviewed to consider the effects of the mother's employment on the child in the two-parent family. This work deals mainly with maternal employment during the child's preschool years. Because of the difficulties in measuring enduring traits in young children, and because neither previous nor current research has revealed clear differences between children in dual-wage and single-wage families, attention is also given to the effects on the family processes that mediate child outcomes: the psychological well-being of the parents, their marital relationship, the father's role, and parent–child interaction. The influence of maternal employment on these variables, as well as on child outcomes, is found to be dependent on the attitudes of the parents, the number of hours the mother is employed, social support, and the child's gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Artificial insemination as a legal problem

This paper which was submitted to the Fifth World Congress on Medical Law, which oonvened in the Philippines July 16-19, 1976, presents some of the as yet unresolved problems in Polish law that may occur in decisions involving artificial insemination. Legal standards must be established, so that when applied to family and inheritance rights, they will not conflict with international law as it affects the individual. Basically Polish law accepts artificial insemination by husband (AIH). Regardless of whether the husband's sperm was used with or without his consent, he is legally obligated as the child's father and must provide for it. He may not disinherit the child. On the other hand artificial insemination by donor (AID) is highly controversial. There ae those who claim it destroys the real meaning of marriage, family and motherhood, and thus should be declared illegal, forbidding doctors to practice it. This is no solution to the problem. The law presently bars the donor from paternal rights since he did not have physical relations with the mother. Under the law, a married woman who has been artificially inseminated by an unknown donor may not claim that her husband has paternal responsibilities toward the child. The wife's husband may accept the child, but legally may not adopt it. If a couple jointly decide to try AID, they should first agreee to financially provide for the child. In the case of a single woman, or a married women who decided on AID without the husband's consent, financial support should perhaps be offered by the Alimony Fund if the mother has insufficient means. Knowing that in the future sperm may be preserved for many years, legal tangles will develop even with AIH if for example the husband has been dead for several years prior to the wife's insemination. As the law stands today, the child could not inherit the father's estate.     

Personal and contextual influences on househould energy adaptations.

Examined the interactive effects of economic, demographic, structural, and psychological variables on 4 behaviorally distinct types of reported conservation response involving energy efficiency improvements or curtailment of the services that energy provides, using data collected from 478 residential customers in 1980. The causal model assumed that contextual variables (i.e., demographic, economic, and structural) may affect behavior indirectly through personal variables (e.g., attitudes, beliefs, norms) and that between personal variables, causality moves from the general through the specific to reported behavior. A path analysis incorporating these assumptions suggested that although behaviors that are relatively unconstrained for most households (such as temperature settings) are strongly influenced by norms, personal variables have much less influence on more constrained actions (such as major insulation activity). The effect of high and rising fuel prices was stronger in producing economic sacrifice than in producing energy savings. The 15 variables used in analysis and their intercorrelations are appended. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-monitoring in behavioral medicine: Children.

Self-monitoring in children is a valuable method for collecting data, some of which may be obtained in no other way. Self-monitoring has been particularly prevalent in behavioral medicine. This article discusses children's monitoring of their own behavior and parental monitoring when the child is too young to self-monitor (e.g., an infant) and the parent is monitoring as a proxy for the child's own monitoring. Factors that influence the choice of who will perform the monitoring and the accuracy of the monitoring are considered. Monitoring may occur for assessment purposes only or may be an active part of treatment; both of these uses of self-monitoring are described. Barriers to accurate self-monitoring, as well as strategies to increase accuracy, are discussed. Self-monitoring is an integral part of disease assessment and management for many children, and the research described provides suggestions for improvements in the use of self-monitoring in children's behavioral medicine in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking workplace and homeplace: Relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting behaviors.

A total of 188 employed mothers and fathers and their 5–7 yr-old child participated in a study of the relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting attitudes and behaviors (a line of research influenced by both socialization and stress perspectives). In general, positive features of work (i.e., complexity of work with people, challenge, and stimulation) tended to be associated with both self-report and observational measures of developmentally sound parenting (e.g., less harsh discipline, more warmth and responsiveness). Interaction effects indicated that gender of parent and child further condition these relations. Analyses partially support the interpretation that conditions of work influence parenting through their effect on mood but also suggest that certain conditions of work may directly socialize behavior in the parental role (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)