Associations between parental and child attachment representations.

In the present article on intergenerational transmission of attachment representations, we use mothers' and fathers' Adult Attachment Interview classifications to predict a 3-year-old's responses to the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). We present a Q-sort coding procedure for the ASCT, which was developed for children as young as three. The Q-sort yields scores on four attachment dimensions (security, deactivation, hyperactivation, and disorganization). One-way ANOVAs revealed significant mother-child associations for each dimension, although results for the hyperactivation and disorganization dimensions were significant only according to contrast tests. Conversely, no father-child association was found, regardless of the dimension considered. Findings are discussed in terms of the respective part played by each parent in their children's emotional development.

Smoking offsets the metabolic benefits of parental longevity in women : the CoLaus study

Rapport de synthèse : Objectif: nous avons regardé si les sujets dont les parents vivaient plus longtemps présentaient des niveaux plus faibles de facteurs de risques cardiovasculaires, y compris pour le syndrome métabolique. Méthodes: nous avons analysé les données d'un échantillon représentatif de la population suisse (1163 hommes et 1398 femmes) âgé de 55 à 75 ans, de la ville de Lausanne. Les participants ont été stratifiés par nombre de parents (0, 1, 2) qui ont vécu jusqu'à 85 ans ou plus. Les associations entre la longévité parentale et les facteurs de risques cardiovasculaires ou les variables métaboliques associées ont été analysées au moyen de régressions linéaires multiples. Résultats: la prévalence ajustée pour l'âge du syndrome métabolique varie de 24.8%, 20.5% à 13.8% chez les femmes (P<0.05) et de 28.8%, 32.1 % à 27.6% chez les hommes (non significatif) pour 0, 1 et 2 parents à forte longévité. L'association entre la longévité parentale et la prévalence du syndrome métabolique est particulièrement forte pour les femmes qui n'ont jamais fumé. Dans ce groupe, les femmes qui ont 2 parents à forte longévité ont un BMI plus faible et un tour de taille moins grand. Chez les gens qui n'ont jamais fumé, pour les deux sexes, les niveaux moyens (95% d'intervalle de confiance) et ajustés de cholestéro-HDL étaient de 1.64(1.61-1.67), 1.67(1.65-1.70) et 1.71(1.65-1.76) mmol/L pour 0, 1 et 2 parents à forte longévité (P<0.01), respectivement. La tendance n'était pas significative chez les anciens fiuneurs et fumeurs actuels. Conclusions: la longévité parentale est associée à un meilleur profil métabolique chez les femmes, mais pas chez les hommes. Les avantages métaboliques du fait d'avoir des parents âgés sont fortement atténués par le tabagisme.

Nestling detectability affects parental feeding preferences in a cavity-nesting bird

In many avian species, nestlings have evolved striking plumage, behaviours and mouth colours to obtain a greater share of parental investment. Studies revealing parental feeding preferences for nestlings with red gapes have proposed that red mouth colour in songbirds can act as a signal of nestling need or condition. Alternative hypotheses suggest that bright nestling mouths in cavity-nesting birds evolved to increase nestling detectability by the parents. We tested whether nestling mouth colour affects parental feeding preferences in great tits, Pants major L. In broods of six young, we experimentally painted mouth gapes and flanges either red or yellow and tested the effect of mouth colour on nestlings' mass gain under two lighting conditions. In nests with high luminosity, there was no significant effect of mouth colour on mass gain. In nests with low luminosity, nestlings with red gapes and flanges gained less mass than nestlings with red gapes and yellow flanges or both yellow gapes and flanges. Our results suggest that, in nests with low luminosity, red mouths decreased nestling detectability to the feeding parents and support the hypothesis that poor luminosity in nesting cavities can select for pale mouths. Overall, our results do not support the hypothesis that red mouth colour signals nestling need or condition to parent great tits.

Transitions in partnership and parental status, gender, and political and civic participation

Participation research has documented the effect of partner and parenthood status, thereby ignoring the dynamic aspect of status changes. Based on theoretical insights on changes in political resources and interest, this study looks at partnership and parenthood as dynamic characteristics. Using data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), it examines to what extent important life-cycle transitions in partnership and parental status influence various forms of political and civic participation and whether they affect men and women's participation differently. Our regression analyses reveal that particularly the entry into separation or divorce is a main key point driving change in political and civic participation. Its effect is also highly gendered. Following separation, women participate less in voting, whereas men's participation rates are not affected in a negative way. Separation even increases men's level of anticipated activism. Children entering or leaving the household do not seem to represent key points of change in political and civic participation of the couple. Yet, the transition to having school-aged children significantly increases some types of participation, at least for women.

The human Ia-associated invariant chain is synthesized in Ia-negative B cell variants and is not expressed on the cell surface of both Ia-negative and Ia-positive parental cells.

The expression of Ia-associated human Invariant (In) chain glycoproteins was studied in the Raji B cells as well as in their RJ 2.2.5 Ia-negative derived variant cells by using a specific rabbit anti-human In chain antiserum. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of immunoprecipitates from either biosynthetically labeled or surface labeled cells were analyzed. In addition, flow microfluorometric analysis of stained cells was performed. The results indicate that the In chain is constitutively produced in the Ia-negative B cell variant. Moreover, it appears that several forms of In chain-related molecules, with different charges and distinct m.w. are equally expressed in Ia-positive and Ia-negative B cells. Finally, no evidence could be obtained that the In molecular family was expressed on the cell surface of Ia-positive Raji and Ia-negative RJ 2.2.5 cells.

Education, Equity and Distributive Beliefs: Evidences from the Chilean Case

During the year 2011, Chile has been scenario of several student's demonstrations claiming for more equity in the access to the higher education. The high support to the protests by the side of the general population (nearly 89% of approval in public opinion polls) seems to suggest the existence of a large consensus about the weaknesses of the Chilean educative model, a model that would challenge the traditional ideals of meritocracy and social mobility that are at the core of the educational systems in modern societies. In this context, a question that remains open is to what extent these claims are mostly based on consensual equality ideals, or whether they are influenced by individual socio-economic determinants vis-à-vis rational motives. Using data of the social inequality module International Social Survey Program (ISSP) of 2009, this research analyzes perceptions and beliefs about education and the distributive system as well as the influence of income and educational variables, through a structural equation modeling framework. Preliminary results indicate the presence of socioeconomic cleavages in relation to the fairness of the educational system, questioning the assumption about a normative consensus.

Beliefs about and attitudes toward gambling in French-speaking Switzerland.

The present study aims to analyze attitudes and beliefs of the French-speaking general Swiss population (n = 2500; female n = 1280; mean age = 43 years) as regards gambling, which are to date almost exclusively studied in the North American and Australian contexts. Beliefs related to gambling include the perception of the effectiveness of preventive measures toward gambling, the comparative risk assessment of different addictive behaviors, the perceived risks of different types of gambling and attitudes are related to the gambler's personality. The general population perceived gambling rather negatively and was conscious of the potential risks of gambling; indeed, 59.0% of the sample identified gambling as an addictive practice. Slot machines were estimated to bear the highest risk. Compared with women and older people, men and young people indicated more positive beliefs about gambling; they perceived gambling as less addictive, supported structural preventive measures less often, and perceived gambling as a less serious problem for society. Gamblers were more likely to put their practices into perspective, perceiving gambling more positively than non-gamblers. General population surveys on such beliefs can deliver insights into preventive actions that should be targeted to young men who showed more favorable views of gambling, which have been shown to be associated with increased risk for problematic gambling.

Influence d'une hospitalisation prénatale sur les facteurs de stress parentaux lors d'une naissance prématurée [Influence of prenatal hospitalization on parental stressful experience in the case of a premature birth].

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of prenatal hospitalization before a premature birth, on the parental stressful experience, parental symptoms of post-traumatic stress and quality of parent-infant interaction during the hospitalization in neonatology. POPULATION AND METHODS: Population: 51 preterm infants born and 25 full term infants control. Four groups: controls, premature without prenatal hospitalization, premature with a short (<8 days) prenatal hospitalization and premature with a long (≥8 days) prenatal hospitalization. Instruments: the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU, Miles et al., 1993 [14]) and the Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire (PPQ, Quinnell and Hynan, 1999 [16]). RESULTS: When prenatal hospitalization of the mother occurred, parents acknowledged increased stress induced by the environmental factors during the infant's hospitalization. Furthermore, mothers from the group with a short prenatal hospitalization presented significantly more symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Parents presenting more symptoms of post-traumatic stress describe a significantly more difficult interaction with their infant in neonatology. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the necessity to deliver special care to women hospitalized shortly (<8 days) prior to the delivery of their premature baby. This group is at high risk of presenting post-traumatic stress symptoms, which could have a negative impact on the quality of parent-infant interactions.

Impact de la consommation de sel sur la santé: les croyances de la population suisse [Impact of salt intake on health: beliefs of the Swiss population].

Excessive salt intake increases the risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Sodium intake remains high both in developed and emerging countries. The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health has ordered a national survey on the salt intake in Switzerland, realized in different centers. This article presents the results of the awareness of the Swiss population concerning the relationship between excessive salt intake and health. This survey reveals a lack of knowledge regarding the association between high salt intake and cardiovascular disease, the sodium content of usual food, and the recommended daily value of sodium intake. Strategies to reduce salt consumption need to be reinforced by collaborations between health authorities and health care professionals.

Predation drives interpopulation differences in parental care expression.

Expressing parental care after oviposition or parturition is usually an obligate (evolved) trait within a species, despite evolutionary theory predicting that widespread species should vary in whether or not they express parental care according to local selection pressures. The lizard Eutropis longicaudata expresses maternal care only in a single population throughout its large geographical range, but why this pattern occurs is unknown. We used reciprocal translocation and predator exclusion experiments to test whether this intraspecific variation is a fixed trait within populations and whether predator abundance explains this perplexing pattern. Wild-caught female lizards that were reciprocally translocated consistently guarded or abandoned eggs in line with their population of origin. By contrast, most lizards raised in a common garden environment and subsequently released as adults adopted the maternal care strategy of the recipient population, even when the parents originated from a population lacking maternal care. Egg predation represents a significant fitness cost in the populations where females display egg-guarding behaviour, but guarding eggs outweighs this potential cost by increasing hatching success. These results imply that predators can be a driving force in the expression of parental care in instances where it is normally absent and that local selection pressure is sufficient to cause behavioural divergence in whether or not parental care is expressed.

What kind of relationships between the evolution of pain, beliefs and bio-psycho-social complexity after a locomotor traumatism?

Introduction: Pain and beliefs have an influence on the patient's course in rehabilitation, pain causes fears and fears influence pain perception. The aim of this study is to understand pain and beliefs evolutions during rehabilitation taking into account of bio-psycho-social complexity.Patients and methods: 631 consecutive patients admitted in rehabilitation after a musculoskeletal traumatism were included and assessed at admission and at discharge. Pain was measured by VAS (Visual Analogical Scale), bio-psycho-social complexity by Intermed scale, and beliefs by judgement on Lickert scales. Four kinds of beliefs were evaluated: fear of a severe origin of pain, fear of movement, fear of pain and feeling of distress (loss of control). The association between the changes in pain and beliefs during the hospitalization was assessed by linear regressions.Results: After adjustment for gender, age, education and native language, patients with a decrease in pain during rehabilitation have higher probability of decreasing their fears. For the distress feeling, this relationship is weaker among bio-psycho-socially complex patients (odds-ratio 1.22 for each decreasing of 10mm/100 VAS) than among non-complex patients (OR 1.47). Patients with a pain decrease of 30% or more during hospitalization have higher probability of seeing their fears decrease, this relationship being stronger in complex patient for fear of a severe origin of pain.Discussion: The relationships between evolution of pain and beliefs move in the same direction. The higher a patient feels pain, the less they could be able to modify their dysfunctional beliefs. When the pain diminishes of 30% or more, the probability to challenge the beliefs is increased. The prognostic with regard to feeling of distress and fear of a severe origin of pain, is worse among bio-psycho-socially complex patients.