The role of evolution, bonding, and parenting style in understanding parental differences

This research demonstrates the influence of parental bonding and parental authority on the parent-child relationship and subsequent child development in both biological and step-families. Differential effects of parental behaviour on child attachment style development were found for biological children and stepchildren. The results provide guidance for intervention and future research.

Does family intervention for adolescent substance use impact parental wellbeing?

Adolescent substance abuse is a prevalent problem and family interventions are increasingly used to prevent this problem and to assist family coping. The effectiveness of a prevention-focussed family intervention was evaluated within a randomised school trial for its secondary impacts on improving parental mental health and family functioning.

Factors influencing the planning undertaken by women during pregnancy for their return to work after maternity leave

The planning women (N = 199) do during pregnancy for their return to work post birth and the factors that influence employment planning during late pregnancy were investigated in this study. The findings revealed three components of planning: Planning for Childcare, Planning with Partner, and Planning with Employer. Several factors emerged as consistent cross-sectional predictors of these components (work satisfaction, hours worked before commencing maternity leave, anticipated weeks of maternity leave and anticipated hours per week on the return to work). Anticipated support from family and friends, and from the workplace also predicted Planning with Partner and Planning with Employer, respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Parental and home influences on adolescents' TV viewing : a mediation analysis

Objective. To explore the association between home environmental variables and television (TV) time, and the mediating pathways underlying this association.

Methods. The current study used data from the longitudinal ENDORSE study. Self-reported data was available for 1 265 adolescents (mean age of 12–15 years at baseline) on home environment (availability of a TV in the bedroom, perceived parental modelling, family rules), potential mediators (intention, attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norm towards TV viewing) and TV viewing time. Mediation analyses were conducted using General Estimating Equations and mediation effects were calculated as the product-of-coefficients.

Results. Significant overall positive associations were found for the presence of a TV in the bedroom and parental modelling with self-reported TV viewing. Controlling family rules showed an inverse association with reported TV time. Similarly, parental modelling and a TV in the bedroom were significantly positively associated with the Theory of Planned Behaviour variables and habit strength, while family rules showed an inverse association with these potential mediators. In turn, most potential mediators were positively associated with TV viewing. Intention, attitude and habit strength were the strongest mediators in all three associations explaining more than 55% of the overall association. Habit strength alone explained 38.2%–58.0% of the overall associations.

Conclusions. Home and family environmental predictors of TV time among adolescents may be strongly mediated by habit strength and other personal factors. Future intervention studies should explore if changes in home and family environments indeed lead to reductions in TV time through these mediators.

Parental use of restrictive feeding practices and child BMI z-score. A 3-year prospective cohort study

This study examines associations between parental feeding restriction at baseline and child body mass index (BMI) z-score at 3-year follow-up. Parents of 204 5–6-year-old and 188 10–12-year-old children completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire at baseline (2002/3). In 2002/3 and 2005/6, children's BMI z-score was calculated from measured height and weight. Analyses were stratified by age-group. The association of follow-up zBMI and baseline feeding restriction score was explored using (i) linear regression with adjustment for baseline zBMI and (ii) with further adjustments for baseline maternal BMI, maternal education level and child sex. Baseline restriction was associated with follow-up zBMI at 3 years in 5–6-year-old children and was largely unchanged when adjusting for child sex, maternal BMI and education. Restriction was not associated with follow-up zBMI in 10–12-year-old children. This longitudinal study adds important depth to our understanding of associations between restrictive feeding and change in zBMI, suggesting that restriction of energy-dense foods and drinks may be protective of unhealthy weight gain in younger children but may have no effect among older children. These findings support a reconsideration of the notion that restriction is likely to result in increased child weight.

Parental correlates of young children's dietary intakes : a review

Evidence suggests that parental modeling, use of feeding strategies, nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy for providing healthy foods and food availability are all likely to be important correlates in determining the dietary habits of young children. This paper reviews the literature regarding parental correlates of the dietary intakes of young children and provides insights regarding areas which may be important in early life but have as yet not been well researched.

Parental nurturing and adverse effects of redistribution

This paper suggests that if parental nurturing is a dominating force in human capital formation then income redistribution may not promote economic growth. In particular, if, consistently with empirical evidence, parental human capital complements investment in a child’s education and yields increasing returns in the intergenerational production of human capital, income redistribution may have an adverse impact on the growth rate of average human capital. Redistribution shifts resources towards the less educationally-productive families and thus in the presence of credit markets imperfections and increasing returns, it reduces the aggregate level of investment in human capital. Moreover, if the degree of increasing returns is sufficiently large to produce sustained growth, this adverse effect on human capital formation may outweigh the conventional beneficial effects of redistribution that arises from the interaction between a production technology exhibiting diminishing returns and credit market imperfections.

Associations between parental concern for adolescent weight and the home food environment and dietary intake

Objective: Examine associations between parental concern about adolescent weight and adolescent perceptions of their dietary intake, home food availability, family mealtime environment, and parents' feeding practices.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Adolescents, aged 12-15 years from 37 secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, and their parents completed surveys in 2004-2005.

Participants: 1,448 adolescent–parent pairs.

Main Outcome Measures: Parental concern about adolescent weight; adolescent perceptions of their food intake and home food environment.

Analysis: Chi-square tests, exploratory factor analysis, independent t tests (P < .01).

Results: Although 12% of parents perceived their adolescent as overweight, 27% were concerned about their adolescent's weight (under- or overweight). Adolescents of concerned parents reported lower intakes of energy-dense snacks and less home availability of these food items, and they perceived that their parents less often listened to and considered their food preferences when shopping and cooking, than did adolescents of unconcerned parents. Concerned parents were no more likely to provide fruits and vegetables in the home or a positive family mealtime environment than unconcerned parents, at least as reported by their adolescents.

Conclusions and Implications: Parental concern about adolescent weight was associated with lower intakes of energy-dense snacks among adolescents, less home availability of these food items, and less supportive parental feeding practices. Parents should be encouraged to listen to and consider their adolescents' food preferences, and provide supportive family mealtime environments and healthful food in the home.

Looking after well siblings of adolescent girls with anorexia : an important parental role

Background Research has suggested that well siblings of children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses are at risk for negative outcomes and that parents’ responses to the illnesses can influence the adaptation of well siblings. Yet, parents’ efforts to look after well siblings in the context of illness are rarely considered in literature about sibling adaptation. The importance of attending to the needs of well siblings was a major theme to emerge from a qualitative analysis of the experiences of parents of adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.

Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 parents of adolescent girls with anorexia and analysed using grounded theory method.

Results The data indicated that parents viewed caring for well siblings in the context of anorexia as an important role and responsibility. Parents reported making conscious and active efforts to look after well siblings by: maintaining normality; compensating for changes to routines; protecting siblings; providing emotional support; and managing the consequences.

Conclusions This paper provides a picture of the actions parents take to help well siblings adapt to anorexia in the family. Further research is needed to develop and expand this understanding to families experiencing a wide range of chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The findings underline the importance of clinical attention and further research into the critical parental role of caring for well siblings.

Dual audiences, double pedagogies : representing family literacy as parental work in picture books

Narrative for a dual audience of children and adults is a field of expanding interest among children’s literature scholars. A great deal of the extant research is implicitly or explicitly informed by longstanding anxieties about the status of children’s fiction, a context that shifts the parameters of the analysis to questions of literary sophistication. Whilst some attention is paid to the readersubject position of the child reader, rather less is given to the positioning of the adult reader in relation to the pedagogical agendas of such texts. This article examines picture books featuring parents reading to preschool children. In the context of family literacy, it is an instance in which the pedagogical address to the adult reader is as significant as the address to the child. Drawing on distinctions between double and dual address, the article examines the ways in which representations of parents.

Determinants of maternity leave duration in Australia : evidence from the HILDA survey

We use the first five waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey to examine what determines the maternity leave taken by pre-birth employed mothers of newborn children in Australia. We find that the difficulties faced by mothers in finding appropriate child care in terms of both cost and quality hinder them from returning to the labour market following childbirth. Maternity leave entitlements lead to an earlier return to the labour market following the birth of a child, relative to those who have no leave rights at all. Mothers with higher wages in their pre-birth employment and mothers with higher education levels tend to return to the labour market earlier than their lower wage and less educated counterparts. More flexible pre-birth jobs are associated with an increase in the likelihood of mothers returning to the workforce earlier than the average. Household wealth, however, seems to play a facilitating role in mothers taking a longer period of maternity leave to look after the newborn child. That is, mothers who have higher wealth levels can ‘afford’ to stay on maternity leave longer, to look after their children better during their primary developmental months. We believe that this article provides useful insights into the employment transitions of Australian mothers after having a baby.

Parental status and childhood obesity in Australia

The overall aim of this study was to examine obesogenic factors in children from single and dual parent families. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) (8,717 children) were analyzed to examine the differences in children ’ s activity levels, dietary intake and BMI according to parental status and determine the likelihood of childhood overweight and obesity in a single-parent household. There were higher rates of overweight and obesity in girls aged four to nine whose parents were single (OR 1:60). Children in single-parent households watched more television, ate more food high in fat and sugar and less fresh fruit and vegetables than children from dual-parent households. The findings suggested that an additive effect of dietary and activity variables may contribute to the higher rates of overweight and obesity in Australian children, and that girls from single-parent households may be particularly at risk.

Parental influence and obesity prevention in pre-schoolers : a systematic review of interventions

Obesity is difficult to reverse in older children and adults and calls have been made to implement obesity prevention strategies during the formative pre-school years. Childhood obesity experts suggest that prevention of overweight in the pre-school years should focus on parents, because parental beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours appear to contribute to children’s development of excessive weight gain. While evidence suggests that parental variables may be instrumental in the development of obesity, there has been no systematic evaluation of whether intervening to change such variables will positively influence the development of excess adiposity during the pre-school years. This paper is a conceptual and methodological review of the literature on the parental variables targeted in interventions designed to modify risk factors for obesity by promoting healthy eating and/or physical activity and/or reducing sedentary behaviours in families of children aged 2–6 years. There were significant methodological limitations of existing studies and the scientific study of this area is in its infancy. However, the results suggest that the modification of parental variables known to be associated with obesity-promoting behaviours in pre-school children may show promise as an obesity prevention strategy; further research is needed.