Parental Investment Research Articles

Air pollution and education investment

Our study examines the impact of air pollution on household investment in children's education. We use panel data from secondary schools in Shandong Province in China and find that a one-unit increase in PM2.5 concentration leads to a decrease in the probability of parental investment in their children's education by 3.9 percentage points. Factors such as educational expectations, financial considerations and personal well-being will mediate this impact. Additionally, our results suggest that education level and living area may moderate the relationship between air pollution and educational investment. These findings imply that air pollution may undermine human capital development due to alterations in parental investment behavior prompted by environmental conditions.

Nestling size and ornamentation interact to shape early development in house sparrow families

Abstract In many nuclear families, dependent offspring receive unequal shares of parental investment. Initial overproduction can be adaptive from the perspective of parents, but parents must be able to identify appropriate candidates for favourite status. We studied early nestling development in house sparrows (Passer domesticus), a species in which the loss of some brood members is common, testing the prediction that body mass and carotenoid-rich flange colours are important to nestling success. There was substantial variation in both traits within broods, even only 1 day after hatching. Nestlings low in the within-brood mass hierarchy gained more mass if they displayed more carotenoid-rich flanges than broodmates. Position in the colour hierarchy did not, however, predict mass gain for individuals that were heavier than their broodmates. Nestlings that were heavier or had more carotenoid-rich mouths were also less likely to be the victim of brood reduction. Our results suggest that house sparrow parents use both nestling body size and mouth colour when making allocation decisions. Understanding both how and when offspring traits and parental preferences function is key to understanding how selective pressures act on offspring–parent communication.

Weak Identification in Low-Dimensional Factor Models with One or Two Factors

Abstract This paper describes how to reparameterize low-dimensional factor models with one or two factors to fit weak identification theory developed for generalized method of moments models. Some identification-robust tests, here called “plug-in” tests, require a reparameterization to distinguish weakly identified parameters from strongly identified parameters. The reparameterizations in this paper make plug-in tests available for subvector hypotheses in low-dimensional factor models with one or two factors. Simulations show that the plug-in tests are less conservative than identification-robust tests that use the original parameterization. An empirical application to a factor model of parental investments in children is included.

The Role of Interpersonal Communication in Handling Tantrum Children in Winduaji Village, Brebes

The presence of smartphone technology has positive and negative impacts on its users, both adults and children. Positive benefits for children: they can gain knowledge and entertainment through smartphones. However, this positive impact can create comfort and addiction, which, if uncontrolled, can have a negative impact. One example is that children have tantrums when their smartphone use is stopped by their parents. This is what happened to children in Winduaji village, Brebes. Interpersonal communication between children and parents plays an important role in handling tantrums in children due to smartphone use. This study aims to determine the strategies or efforts of parents in dealing with tantrum children due to the use of smartphones. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with observation techniques, in-depth interviews, and document studies, as well as a review of previous research relevant to the research. The results showed that parents’ handling of tantrum children have not been effective based on interpersonal needs theory. It happened because parents lack or even do not involve children in handling tantrums (inclusion), lack of mastery in communication (control), and affection carried out by parents in dealing with child tantrums. Based on operant conditioning theory, parents need to provide positive reinforcement to their children. In addition, parents need to be role models for their children in the use of smartphones that are not excessive.

TANGGUNG JAWAB SINGLE PARENT ATAS KESEJAHTERAAN ANAK DI ERA COVID-19 MENURUT UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 4 TAHUN 1979

In this Covid-19 era, children are one of the groups of people who are vulnerable to being exposed to the corona virus or its physical and non-physical impacts. In the Legislation, children are also protected by law and their welfare is guaranteed as in Indonesian Law Number 4 of 1979, both parents as part of society, must contribute to maintaining the welfare of children, including single parents. Then what about the responsibilities and efforts of single parents for the welfare of their children in the Covid-19 era? The research uses normative type with the nature of research descriptive analysis with deductive thinking method. The results of the study found the low responsibility and efforts of single parents in fulfilling children's welfare in the Covid-19 Era.

Ocean salinity, early-life health, and adaptation

We study the effects of in utero exposure to climate change induced high ocean salinity levels on children's anthropometric outcomes. Leveraging six geo-referenced waves of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys merged with gridded data on ocean salinity, ocean chemistry and weather indicators (temperature, rainfall and humidity) from 1993 to 2018, we find that a one standard deviation increase in in utero salinity exposure leads to a 0.11 standard deviation decline in height-for-age. Effects on weight-for-height and weight-for-age for a similar magnitude increase in salinity are 0.13 and 0.15 standard deviations, respectively. Analyses of parental investments and health-seeking behaviors demonstrate that compensating actions along these dimensions to attenuate the detrimental effects of salinity are few and restricted to poorer households. Using satellite-sourced datasets on agriculture and land-use, we find that increasing salinity constrains farmers' land use choices, restricting cultivation in the more profitable seasons which leads to lower agricultural potential. In particular, the effects of salinity on child health originate in areas with lower agricultural intensity caused by the progressive salinization of productive lands. These results highlight the climate change related costs of environmental insults on early-life health outcomes in vulnerable populations.

Delay in Adélie penguin nest occupation restricts parental investment in nest construction and reduces reproductive output.

Reproductive success is an important demographic parameter that can be driven by environmental and behavioural factors operating on various spatio-temporal scales. As seabirds breed on land and forage in the ocean, processes occurring in both environments can influence their reproductive success. At various locations around East Antarctica, Adélie penguins' (Pygoscelis adeliae) reproductive success has been negatively linked to extensive sea-ice. In contrast, our study site in the Windmill Islands has limited fast ice present during the breeding season, allowing us to examine drivers of reproductive success under vastly different marine environmental conditions. Here, we examined the reproductive success of 450 Adélie penguin nests over a 10-year period using images obtained from remotely operated cameras. We analysed nest survival in relation to marine and climatic factors, environmental conditions at the camera site and immediately around the nest, and behavioural attributes reflecting parental investment and phenological timing. Our key result was a strong positive association between nest structure and chick survival, particularly when ground moisture and snow cover around the nest were high. Earlier nesting birds were more likely to build bigger nests, although it is unclear whether this is due to more time available to build nests or whether early arrival and high-quality nests are complementary traits. This intrinsic activity is likely to become more important if future predictions of increased snowfall in this region manifest.

Interplay of cooperative breeding and predation risk on egg allocation and reproductive output.

Predation risk can influence behavior, reproductive investment, and, ultimately, individuals' fitness. In high-risk environments, females often reduce allocation to reproduction, which can affect offspring phenotype and breeding success. In cooperative breeders, helpers contribute to feed the offspring, and groups often live and forage together. Helpers can, therefore, improve reproductive success, but also influence breeders' condition, stress levels and predation risk. Yet, whether helper presence can buffer the effects of predation risk on maternal reproductive allocation remains unstudied. Here, we used the cooperatively breeding sociable weaver Philetairus socius to test the interactive effects of predation risk and breeding group size on maternal allocation to clutch size, egg mass, yolk mass, and yolk corticosterone. We increased perceived predation risk before egg laying using playbacks of the adults' main predator, gabar goshawk (Micronisus gabar). We also tested the interactive effects of group size and prenatal predator playbacks on offspring hatching and fledging probability. Predator-exposed females laid eggs with 4% lighter yolks, but predator-calls' exposure did not clearly affect clutch size, egg mass, or egg corticosterone levels. Playback-treatment effects on yolk mass were independent of group size, suggesting that helpers' presence did not mitigate predation risk effects on maternal allocation. Although predator-induced reductions in yolk mass may decrease nutrient availability to offspring, potentially affecting their survival, playback-treatment effects on hatching and fledging success were not evident. The interplay between helper presence and predator effects on maternal reproductive investment is still an overlooked area of life history and physiological evolutionary trade-offs that requires further studies.

"…in the middle of nowhere…" Access to, and quality of, services for autistic adults from parents' perspectives: a qualitative study.

Adequate education, employment, and services for autistic individuals contribute significantly to their and their parents' quality of life. Services and support for adults are dramatically more limited than those for children. The main purpose of this study was to explore how parents perceive factors supporting/hindering access to services, and how they assess the quality of services. Qualitative data provided by 12 parents via a semi-structured interview with a broader focus on parental quality of life and its factors were analyzed. Their autistic children were between 20 and 34 years of age. A thematic analysis was performed on parts of the narratives on their adult periods of life. A complex pattern of parental perception of supportive and hampering factors influencing access to services unfolded. The sparsity of services/activities and reliable information on them made the space for autonomous decisions on service take highly limited. Parents have modest expectations on quality of services, evaluating them along two key aspects: a safe, positive atmosphere, and communication between parents and professionals. Other aspects of individualized autism-specific support were not or just rarely mentioned. Parents perceive themselves as investing a lot of effort and resources in getting some form of regular service and/or activity for their adult child. However, these parental efforts often fail, their child becoming inactive, and dependent on their presence. This suggests system-level problems with services for autistic adults in Hungary, with literature showing it is not specific to this country.

Ayurvedic approach to Embryogenesis: Exploring Fetal Development

Background: Embryology in Ayurveda is the study of embryonic and fetal development using Ayurvedic principles. Ayurveda describes the conception process, fetal development, and the effect of Doshas (biological energies) on the fetus's growth and health. Ayurvedic embryology emphasizes the mother's health and well-being during pregnancy, as well as the effect of the father's Doshas on the child's genetic makeup. It also includes prenatal care guidelines, such as diet, lifestyle, and herbal remedies, to help the fetus develop normally. Aims: This review applies Ayurvedic concepts of Grabhasharir to embryology, analyzing the genesis of progeny using modern scientific knowledge. Materials and Methods: Brihattrayee along with other relevant literature were reviewed to identify the hidden core of embryology described in chapters about Garbhasharir. Results: The Ayurvedic essence outlines two types of processes in progeny genesis: dependent and independent, with dependent processes modifying and independent processes unaffected by parental efforts. Conclusion: Even though the embryology concepts outlined in Ayurveda extend back millennia, they are still relevant in today's scientific world when properly interpreted.

Evolution of parental care in haploid-diploid plants.

In bryophytes that alternate between haploid gametophytes and diploid sporophytes through sexual reproduction, sporophytes are often attached to and nurtured on the female gametophyte. A similar phenomenon is seen in Florideophyceae (a group of red algae). These systems in which a gametophyte (mother) invests nutrients in sporophytes (offspring) are ideal for studying the evolution of 'parental care' in non-animal organisms. Here, we propose a model of a haploid-diploid life cycle and examine the evolution of maternal investment in sporophytes focusing on two effects: the degree of paternal or maternal control of investment and the number of sporophytes. We find that when the female dominantly controls the investment, the evolutionarily stable level of investment is that which maximizes the expected reproductive success of the female gametophyte. The genomic conflict between maternal and paternal alleles complicates the evolutionary outcome; however, a greater male allelic effect and a higher number of sporophytes favour a higher energy investment, which may lead to evolutionary branching or run-away escalation of the investment level. This suggests that the selfishness of the paternal gene is the evolutionary driver of parental care and that complex structures such as fusion cells in red algae may have evolved to suppress it.

Parental perceptions of economic inequality and investment in education in China

Using data from the 2012–2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we investigate how parenting practices vary by parents’ perception of inequality in contemporary China. We ask three questions: (1) Whether and how do parents’ perceptions of inequality differ by their socioeconomic background? (2) Are parenting practices related to parents’ perception of inequality? (3) Whether and how the relationship between parenting practices and perception of inequality varies across parents of different socioeconomic status (SES)? The results show that the higher the SES of parents, the more pessimistic is their perception of inequality. In addition, parents who are more aware of income inequality tend to spend more money on children’s education, have higher expectations for their children’s academic performance and educational achievement, and are more engaged in intensive parenting behaviors than parents who perceive income inequality to be less severe. Mothers’ perceptions of inequality are more strongly associated with investment in children’s education than those of fathers. In addition, the relationship between perceived inequality and parental investment in out-of-school education only varies by family SES among mothers.

Semen promotes oocyte development in Sebastes schlegelii elucidating ovarian development dynamics in live-bearing fish

In some vertebrates and invertebrates, semen release factors affecting female physiology and behavior. Here, we report that semen delivered to females is potentially beneficial for promoting oocyte development in a viviparous teleost, Sebastes schlegelii. 88% of mated ovaries develop normally and give birth to larval fish, whereas 61% of non-mated ovaries are arrested in the previtellogenic stage. Semen's significant role (p<0.0001) in promoting oocyte development may involve remodeling follicular cells and regulating the expression of the extracellular matrix, which facilitates cell communication. Furthermore, the ovarian response to semen may influence the brain, affecting hormone release, follicular cell development and steroid production, and crucial for oocyte growth. This mechanism, which could potentially delay maternal investment in offspring until male genetic input occurs to avoid energy wastage, has not been previously described in teleosts. These findings enhance our understanding of ovarian development in viviparous fish, with broader implications for reproductive biology.

Why cash grants fail to raise household investment in child education in developing countries

AbstractThis study formulates a theoretical framework to shed light on why cash grants fail to increase parental investment in child education, and what can be done to address the issue. The paper asserts that consumption vulnerability, loss aversion, and information friction render lump‐sum cash grants ineffective. Redesigning interventions as demand‐side cost‐sharing schemes would nudge parents to buy educational materials for their children.

Preserving Heritage Language in Turkish Families in the USA

A dearth of research concerning Turkish immigrant families in the United States exists, prompting this study’s focus. This research aims to illuminate the influence of parental language attitudes among Turkish immigrants on their motivation to foster the preservation of their heritage language (HL) in their children, alongside an exploration of the strategies employed for HL retention. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents (16 mothers and 4 fathers), with each interview spanning 15–20 min. The interviews, conducted individually by the primary author in Turkish and later translated into English, unveiled a spectrum of parental language attitudes, impacting their motivation to uphold HL. Variances in motivation were observed, intertwined with factors such as home and community environments, parental acculturation experiences, perceptions regarding the relationship between culture and language, and the perceived advantages of bilingualism for children’s cognitive development and future prospects. Despite differing motivations, all parents expressed a desire to preserve HL, prompting the deployment of diverse Heritage Language Management Strategies (HLMS). This study significantly contributes to the understanding of how parental attitudes shape HL preservation efforts within families, offering insights crucial to the field of HL and family language policy, thereby highlighting implications for practice and further research.

Revisiting implications of early family economic conditions for adolescent adaptations: An integrative cascade model.

Implications of family economic conditions (FECs) for child development have been extensively examined. What remains sparse is research spanning multiple life stages to delineate the far-reaching influences of early FECs for child subsequent development in different domains and how various family stress and investment processes jointly account for such association. To address these gaps, using data from 929 families in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2001, 2005), this study examined how family income-to-needs ratio (FITNR) when children were 1-36 months old was associated with child language skills, social competence, externalizing, and internalizing problems at 6th grade. Parental investment and maternal/paternal depressive symptoms and sensitivity when children were 54 months old and in 3rd grade were tested as potential mediators. Results indicated that early FITNR shaped child cognitive, social, and behavioral adaptation in early adolescence indirectly through parental investment, depressive symptoms, and sensitive parenting in the preschool period and middle childhood. Parental investment, depressive symptoms, and sensitive parenting played such mediating roles above and beyond each other. Parental investment primarily accounted for the association between early FITNR and child later language skills, whereas parental depressive symptoms and sensitive parenting uniquely explained the associations between early FITNR and child subsequent internalizing symptoms, externalizing problems, social competence, and language skills. Theoretical/practical implications of such findings were discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Nurture of Nature and the Nature of Nurture: How Genes and Investments Interact in the Formation of Skills

This paper studies the interplay between genetics and family investments in the process of skill formation. We model and estimate the joint evolution of skills and parental investments throughout early childhood. We document three genetic mechanisms: the direct effect of child genes on skills, the indirect effect of child genes via parental investments, and family genetic influences captured by parental genes. We show that genetic effects are dynamic, increase over time, and operate via environmental channels. Our paper highlights the value of integrating biological and social perspectives into a single unified framework. (JEL I24, I26, J12, J13, J24)

The Role of Parents in Implementing the Post-School Transition

The importance of parental involvement in every student's school life has been well-documented in various studies. However, empirical data in the field show that some parents of students with disabilities in Yogyakarta did not fully participate in it. This study aimed to describe the role of parents of students with disabilities in implementing the post-school transition. This study employed qualitative method and used interviews as data collection. The participants in this study were six parents of students with disabilities. This study also revealed that implementation of the transition program post-high school could succeed from parental efforts, namely: 1) the role of students were unique in the implementation transition post-school, 2) the parental role of the students’ need, particularly in the implementation of the transition period post-school, 3) the role of parents students’ need particular in giving training family in implementation of the transition period post school. However, there were a number of possible obstacles to influencing transition program success post-school, namely 1) concern about accompanying child post-school, 2) parents not knowing IEP, 3) parents not being involved in programming, and 4) parents empowerment as companions still less.

Mate preference dissimilarity predicts friendship attraction at zero-acquaintance for men, not women

We hypothesized that dissimilar mate preferences would augment friendship attraction in zero-acquaintance interactions whereas similar mate preferences would hinder friendship attraction. Heterosexual participants completed an online survey to assess their mate preferences. They also rated the attractiveness of opposite-sex photos. Next, they attended a 3-hr speed-friending session in which they interacted with same-sex others for 3-min each. After each interaction, they completed a 2-min assessment about the person they just met. Two sessions were held, one for women ( N = 20) and one for men ( N = 18). The social relations model was used to regress unique feelings of friendship attraction on similarity in terms of mate preferences while controlling for perceiver and target variance. Our hypothesis was supported among men: Interactions in which two people differed in mate preferences were rated more positively than those in which participants had similar mate preferences. These results are consistent with Parental Investment Theory and highlight the importance of mate preferences in friendship attraction among men.

Juvenile hormone and temperature effects in the postzygotic parental investment of male waterbug Abedus ovatus (Belostomatidae)

AbstractParental investment is any expenditure of time or energy by parents that increases their offspring survival at the cost of future reproduction. The costs associated with parental investment can be reflected in a deterioration of their physiological condition. In insects, juvenile hormone has been identified as having a role in the control of parental care. However, its effects on parental investment remain unclear for many taxa, especially in species with exclusive paternal care. We evaluated whether juvenile hormone influences postzygotic parental investment in Abedus ovatus, a waterbug with exclusive paternal care. Males provide parental care by carrying eggs on their backs and ventilating them by generating water currents through push‐ups called brood pumping. In an experiment, we applied methoprene (an analog of juvenile hormone) to males at early and late parental care stages and quantified the frequency of brood pumping and the contents of energy reserves (lipids, carbohydrates, and glycogen) at the end of parental care as a measure of physiological condition. We found that methoprene increases the frequency of brood pumping only when the water temperature increases. However, there was no correlation between the parent's energy reserves and methoprene treatments. We found that males who cared for large egg pads had lower amounts of lipids and carbohydrates at the end of parental care, and both effects are greater as the water temperature increases. These results suggest that energy expenditure during parental care is high due to intense muscular activity during brood pumping, which depletes male energy reserves and could affect future reproduction.