Shaping children’s mobilities: expectations of gendered parenting in the English rural idyll

This paper explores the impact of local parenting practices and children's everyday use of public space within two villages in the rural South West of England, an issue that has been underexplored in recent research. Drawing upon the concept of hybridity, it explores the interplay between the social, natural and material in shaping local cultures of rural parenting. The paper begins by drawing upon recent research on parenting in the global North, the gendering of rural space and hybridity to show how these bodies of work can be interlinked to better understand rural parenting practices and norms. Through empirical research that focused on the relationships between gendered parenting strategies, idealised notions of rural motherhood and materiality, the paper explores the diverse ways in which a group of working and middle-class mothers construct and define ideas about their children's lives and mobilities. Whilst dominant discourses of rurality focus upon the idyll, and gendered identities of rural women still remain within the domestic sphere, so we examine how these deeply embedded notions of ‘normality’ can be powerful social tools in rural villages, mobilised through discourses of materiality and anxiety. In our conclusions, we argue that the hybrid integration of the material and social provides a useful framework for understanding the everyday geographies of rural parenting.

Child anxiety and parenting in England and Italy: the moderating role of maternal warmth

BACKGROUND: Parenting factors have been implicated in the aetiology and maintenance of child anxiety. Most research has been correlational with little experimental or longitudinal work. Cross-cultural comparison could be illuminating. A comparison of Italian and British children and their mothers was conducted. METHODS: A sample of 8- to 10-year old children, 60 Italian and 49 English, completed the Spence Child Anxiety Scale. Mothers also completed two questionnaires of parenting: the Skills of Daily Living Checklist (assessing maternal autonomy granting) and the Parent-Child Interaction Questionnaire (assessing maternal intrusiveness). Parenting was assessed in two video-recorded blindly rated mother-child interaction tasks, the 'belt-buckling tasks and the 'etch-a-sketch', providing objective indices of overcontrol, warmth, lack of autonomy granting, and overprotection. RESULTS: There were no differences between the children in overall anxiety and specific forms of anxiety. Parenting, however, was markedly different for the two countries. Compared to English mothers, on the two questionnaires, Italian mothers were significantly less autonomy granting and more intrusive; and in terms of the observed indices, a significantly greater proportion of the Italian mothers displayed a high level of both overprotection and overcontrol, and a low level of autonomy granting. Notably, Italian mothers evidenced significantly more warmth than English mothers; and maternal warmth was found to moderate the impact of self-reported maternal intrusiveness on the level of both overall child anxiety and the level of child separation anxiety; and it also moderated the relationship between both observed maternal intrusiveness and overall child anxiety and observed maternal overprotectiveness and child separation anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Although, compared to the British mothers, the Italian mothers were more likely to evidence high levels of parenting behaviours previously found to be anxiogenic, the high levels of warmth displayed by these mothers to their children appears to have neutralised the adverse impact of these behaviours.

Parenting difficulties and postnatal depression: implications for primary healthcare assessment and intervention

Postnatal depression (PND) is associated with impairments in the mother–child relationship, and these impairments are themselves associated with adverse child outcomes. Thus, compared to the children of non-depressed mothers, children of mothers with PND are more likely to be insecurely attached, and to have externalising behaviour problems and poor cognitive development. Each of these three child outcomes is predicted by a particular pattern of difficulty in parenting: insecure attachment is related to maternal insensitivity, particularly in relation to infant distress and emotional vulnerability; externalising problems are particularly common in the context of hostile parenting; and poor cognitive development is related to parental difficulties in noticing infant signs of interest and supporting their engagement with the environment. This article sets out procedures for how parenting could be assessed in ways that are sensitive to the domain-specific associations between parenting and child outcome, while remaining sensitive to the child's developmental stage. This set of assessments requires field testing.

Evidence for interplay between genes and parenting on infant temperament in the first year of life: monoamine oxidase A polymorphism moderates effects of maternal sensitivity on infant anger proneness

Background The low expression polymorphism of the MAOA gene in interaction with adverse environments (G × E) is associated with antisocial behaviour disorders. These have their origins in early life, but it is not known whether MAOA G × E occurs in infants. We therefore examined whether MAOA G × E predicts infant anger proneness, a temperamental dimension associated with later antisocial behaviour disorders. In contrast to previous studies, we examined MAOA G × E prospectively using an observational measure of a key aspect of the infant environment, maternal sensitivity, at a specified developmental time point. Methods In a stratified epidemiological cohort recruited during pregnancy, we ascertained MAOA status (low vs. high expression alleles) from the saliva of 193 infants, and examined specific predictions to maternal report of infant temperament at 14 months from maternal sensitivity assessed at 29 weeks of age. Results Analyses, weighted to provide general population estimates, indicated a robust interaction between MAOA status and maternal sensitivity in the prediction of infant anger proneness (p = .003) which became stronger once possible confounders for maternal sensitivity were included in the model (p = .0001). The interaction terms were similar in males (p = .010) and females (p = .016), but the effects were different as a consequence of an additional sex of infant by maternal sensitivity interaction. Conclusions This prospective study provides the first evidence of moderation by the MAOA gene of effects of parenting on infant anger proneness, an important early risk for the development of disruptive and aggressive behaviour disorders.

Shared parenting, law and policy: considering power within the framework of autopoietic theory

This paper uses the last few decades’ developments in the area of shared parenting to explore power within the framework of autopoietic theory. It traces how, prompted by turbulence from the political subsystem, family law has made several unsuccessful attempts to solve the perceived problem of post-separation dual-household parenting. It agrees with Luhmann and Teubner that closed autopoietic systems’ developments are limited by their normative and cognitive frameworks, and also argues that changes, which have occurred in family law, show that closed social systems do not function in total isolation. It considers power as ego’s ability to limit alter’s choices. In our functionally differentiated society, with its recent proliferation of communication, power appears more diffuse and impossible to plot into causal one-way relationships.

The relationship between challenging parenting behaviour and childhood anxiety disorders

Background: This research investigates the relationship between challenging parenting behaviour and childhood anxiety disorders proposed by Bögels and Phares (2008). Challenging parenting behaviour involves the playful encouragement of children to go beyond their own limits, and may decrease children’s risk for anxiety (Bögels & Phares, 2008). Method: Parents (n = 164 mothers, 144 fathers) of 164 children aged between 3.4 and 4.8 years participated in the current study. A multi-method, multi-informant assessment of anxiety was used, incorporating data from diagnostic interviews as well as questionnaire measures. Parents completed self-report measures of their parenting behaviour (n = 147 mothers, 138 fathers) and anxiety (n = 154 mothers, 143 fathers). Mothers reported on their child’s anxiety via questionnaire as well as diagnostic interview (n = 156 and 164 respectively). Of these children, 74 met criteria for an anxiety disorder and 90 did not. Results: Fathers engaged in challenging parenting behaviour more often than mothers. Both mothers’ and fathers’ challenging parenting behaviour was associated with lower report of child anxiety symptoms. However, only mothers’ challenging parenting behaviour was found to predict child clinical anxiety diagnosis. Limitations: Shared method variance from mothers confined the interpretation of these results. Moreover, due to study design, it is not possible to delineate cause and effect. Conclusions: The finding with respect to maternal challenging parenting behaviour was not anticipated, prompting replication of these results. Future research should investigate the role of challenging parenting behaviour by both caregivers as this may have implications for parenting interventions for anxious children.

Parenthood in transition : Somali-born parents' experiences of and needs for parenting support programmes

BACKGROUND: Pre- and post-migration trauma due to forced migration may impact negatively on parents' ability to care for their children. Little qualitative work has examined Somali-born refugees' experiences. The aim of this study is to explore Somali-born refugees' experiences and challenges of being parents in Sweden, and the support they need in their parenting. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken. Data were collected from four focus group discussions (FGDs) among 23 Somali-born mothers and fathers living in a county in central Sweden. Qualitative content analysis has been applied. RESULTS: A main category, Parenthood in Transition, emerged as a description of a process of parenthood in transition. Two generic categories were identified: Challenges, and Improved parenting. Challenges emerged from leaving the home country and being new and feeling alienated in the new country. In Improved parenting, an awareness of opportunities in the new country and ways to improve their parenting was described, which includes how to improve their communication and relationship with their children. The parents described a need for information on how to culturally adapt their parenting and obtain support from the authorities. CONCLUSIONS: Parents experienced a process of parenthood in transition. They were looking to the future and for ways to improve their parenting. Schools and social services can overcome barriers that prevent lack of knowledge about the new country's systems related to parenthood. Leaving the home country often means separation from the family and losing the social network. We suggest that staff in schools and social services offer parent training classes for these parents throughout their children's childhood, with benefits for the child and family.

Use of vitamin D to reduce lameness in broilers reared in harsh environments

In tropical poultry-producing countries, poultry houses usually have little environmental control. This study investigated the effect of dietary vitamin D on the incidence of leg abnormalities of a fast-growing broiler strain reared under harsh conditions. In this study, 300 one-day-old male broilers were distributed in two treatments with three replicates of 50 birds each. One group was fed a placebo and the other group was fed 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH-D3) in a soluble form. The environmental variables were weekly recorded during until birds were 49 days old. Birds were weekly gait scored, and their walking speed and vertical force while walking were assessed. Post-mortem examination was performed and skeletal lesions were assessed. Control birds presented more leg problems than those that ingested 25-OH-D3. These results suggest that dietary vitamin D is effective in decreasing the severity of lameness by reducing tibial dyschondroplasia and other leg abnormalities.

Broiler walking ability and toe asymmetry under harsh rearing conditions

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Cellulolytic bacteria from soils in harsh environments

It is believed that the exposure of organisms to harsh climate conditions may select for differential enzymatic activities, making the surviving organisms a very promising source for bioprospecting. Soil bacteria play an important role in degradation of organic matter, which is mostly due to their ability to decompose cellulose-based materials. This work focuses on the isolation and identification of cellulolytic bacteria from soil found in two environments with stressful climate conditions (Antarctica and the Brazilian semi-arid caatinga). Cellulolytic bacteria were selected using enrichments at high and low temperatures (4 or 60A degrees C) in liquid media (trypic soy broth-TSB and minimum salt medium-MM) supplemented with cellulose (1%). Many of the isolates (119 out of 254-46.9%) displayed the ability to degrade carboxymethyl-cellulose, indicating the presence of endoglucolytic activity, while only a minority of these isolates (23 out of 254-9.1%) showed exoglucolytic activity (degradation of avicel). The obtained isolates revealed a preferential endoglucolytic activity according to the temperature of enrichments. Also, the identification of some isolates by partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that the Bacteroidetes (e.g., Pedobacter, Chryseobacterium and Flavobacterium) were the main phylum of cellulolytic bacteria isolated from soil in Antarctica; the Firmicutes (e.g., Bacillus) were more commonly isolated from samples from the caatinga; and Actinobacteria were found in both types of soil (e.g., Microbacterium and Arthrobacter). In conclusion, this work reports the isolation of bacteria able to degrade cellulose-based material from soil at very low or very high temperatures, a finding that should be further explored in the search for cellulolytic enzymes to be used in the bioenergy industry.

Design and prototyping of electronic PCBs for the study of the atmosphere in harsh environmental conditions

Progettazione, test e creazione di schede elettroniche per lo studio dell'atmosfera in condizioni ambientali difficili.

Novel transparent and flexible transistors for radiation harsh environment

La scoperta dei semiconduttori amorfi ha segnato l’era della microelettronica su larga scala rendendo possibile il loro impiego nelle celle solari o nei display a matrice attiva. Infatti, mentre i semiconduttori a cristalli singoli non sono consoni a questo tipo di applicazioni e i s. policristallini presentano il problema dei bordi di grano, i film amorfi possono essere creati su larga scala (>1 m^2) a basse temperature (ad es. <400 °C) ottenendo performance soddisfacenti sia su substrati rigidi che flessibili. Di recente la ricerca sta compiendo un grande sforzo per estendere l’utilizzo di questa nuova elettronica flessibile e su larga scala ad ambienti soggetti a radiazioni ionizzanti, come lo sono i detector di radiazioni o l’elettronica usata in applicazioni spaziali (satelliti). A questa ricerca volge anche la mia tesi, che si confronta con la fabbricazione e la caratterizzazione di transistor a film sottili basati su ossidi semiconduttori ad alta mobilità e lo studio della loro resistenza ai raggi X. La micro-fabbricazione, ottimizzazione e caratterizzazione dei dispositivi è stata realizzata nei laboratori CENIMAT e CEMOP dell’Università Nova di Lisbona durante quattro mesi di permanenza. Tutti i dispositivi sono stati creati con un canale n di ossido di Indio-Gallio-Zinco (IGZO). Durante questo periodo è stato realizzato un dispositivo dalle ottime performance e con interessanti caratteristiche, una delle quali è la non variazione del comportamento capacitivo in funzione della frequenza e la formidabile resistenza alle radiazioni. Questo dispositivo presenta 114 nm di dielettrico, realizzato con sette strati alternati di SiO2/ Ta2O5. L’attività di ricerca svolta al Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia di Bologna riguarda prevalentemente lo studio degli effetti delle radiazioni ionizzanti su TFTs. Gli esperimenti hanno rivelato che i dispositivi godono di una buona stabilità anche se soggetti alle radiazioni. Infatti hanno mostrato performance pressoché inalterate anche dopo un’esposizione a 1 kGy di dose cumulativa di raggi X mantenendo circa costanti parametri fondamentali come la mobilità, il threshold voltage e la sub-threshold slope. Inoltre gli effetti dei raggi X sui dispositivi, così come parametri fondamentali quali la mobilità, si sono rivelati essere notevolmente influenzati dallo spessore del dielettrico.