Differences In Mothers Research Articles

Families Created by Egg Donation: Parent-Child Relationship Quality in Infancy.

Increasing numbers of children are being born through egg donation and thus do not share a genetic relationship with their mother. Parent–infant relationship quality was examined in 85 egg donation families and a comparison group of 65 in vitro fertilization families (infant M = 11 months). Standardized interview and observational measures were used to assess mother–infant and father–infant relationship quality at the representational and behavioral levels. Few differences were found between family types in parents’ representations of the parent–infant relationship. Differences were found between family types in the observational assessment of mother–infant relationship quality, indicating less optimal interactions in egg donation families. Findings suggest that egg donation families function well in infancy overall, but there may be subtle yet meaningful differences in mother–infant interaction quality.

Institutional change and women’s work patterns along the family life course

This study examines country variation and change over time in mothers’ work patterns along the family life course, focusing on the effect of policies and labor market characteristics. Using ISSP data from 1994 and 2012, the findings show that in many countries, although not in all, mothers increased their attachment to market work. Family policy and the opportunities open for women affected the decision to work when children were young, as well as the choice of strong or moderate attachment to the labor force. Family policy also had an effect on reducing educational differences in mothers’ work patterns.

Cohort Differences in Mothers' Perceptions of Neighborhood Quality, Child Well-being, and Parental Strain, 1976-2002.

To examine differences in mothers' subjective experiences of child-rearing between two cohorts who lived in different eras of sociodemographic contexts and parenting norms. A resource perspective suggests that child-rearing experiences should be easier when mothers have a higher standard of living, higher education, and fewer children, as was the case for mothers in the 2000s compared with mothers in the 1970s. However, a cultural perspective indicates that the intensive mothering ideology, emerged in the 1980s, increased mothers' anxiety and stress over their children's safety and proper development. Data from two national samples of mothers with children between 6 and 12 years of age in the United States collected in 1976 and 2002 (N = 2,465) were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression models. Mothers in 2002 reported better neighborhood quality and better health of their children than mothers in 1976, even after sociodemographic advantages of mothers in 2002 relative to 1976 were taken into account. Despite these sociodemographic advantages of mothers in 2002, there was little difference in mothers' reports of their children's behavioral adjustments between the two cohorts. Furthermore, albeit among Whites only, mothers in 2002 reported more parental strain than did mothers in 1976. There was little variation in mothers' perceptions by socioeconomic status (as measured by a college degree). Our results support the idea of a stressed-moms phenomenon in the contemporary United States, particularly among Whites. Experts who advise parent education policy and programs should take into account the psychological burden of the current neoliberal emphasis on personal responsibility for raising children on individual mothers.

Mind-mindedness in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundLittle is currently understood about the ways in which caregivers represent the internal mental states of their child with autism. Previous research has shown that being mind-minded can limit the experience of parenting stress in typically developing samples. The current study explored mind-mindedness in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and examined whether this related to the experience of parenting stress. MethodMind-mindedness was coded from mothers’ descriptions of their child obtained from an online survey (N=55). A subsample of these mothers also provided data on a non-ASD sibling (n=27). We compared mothers’ mind-mindedness when describing their child with ASD and a non-ASD sibling. ResultsMothers predominantly described their child with ASD using mental and behavioral attributes. There were no overall differences in mothers’ use of mental state descriptors when referring to their child with ASD or a sibling, however, when considering the valence of descriptors, a significantly higher proportion of the mental attributes used to describe the child with ASD were negative. Associations between mind-mindedness and overall parenting stress failed to reach significance. ConclusionsParenting a child with ASD does not appear to limit the parent’s ability to tune-in to their child’s mind. Maternal mind-mindedness scores were similar for the ASD and non-ASD sibling, although there were differences in the valence of representations. Being mind-minded did not protect against parenting stress, however we suggest that the high levels of stress experienced by our sample were beyond the protective reach of mind-mindedness.

Higher Stakes: Generational Differences in Mother and Daughters’ Feelings about Combining Motherhood with a Career

The purpose of this article is to illuminate differences in feelings and attitudes about managing motherhood and work between career women and their adult daughters. Intergenerational narrative interviews with 30 mother and daughter pairs are used to explore the relative influences of contemporary motherhood culture and the experience of being mothered by a woman who also worked full-time or close to full-time in a professional or managerial career. Almost all the daughters felt well-mothered and planned or had embarked upon a high-status career path. Despite this, a clear majority did not want to emulate their mothers and instead embraced a dominant idea that part-time work offers ‘the best of both worlds’. The daughters are strongly influenced by the contemporary culture of motherhood with its growing emphasis on ‘balance’ (measured by time), individualisation and parental determinism. It appears that the stakes have been raised to make it feel too risky to one’s child’s well-being and progress to emulate the more pragmatic attitude to combining work and motherhood demonstrated by many of their own mothers. Much research demonstrates that part-time work presents strong barriers both to career satisfaction and progress. This reinforces the need for organisations to offer more genuinely flexible ways of working in senior roles and for policy initiatives to facilitate the greater involvement of fathers in caring for their children. For individuals, I advocate challenging the idea of measuring good mothering by ‘balanced’ hours spent at work and at home.

The relationship of mothers' coping strategies and health behavior with oral health care for children

ObjectivesIn the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, coping strategies and presence of social support influence health behavior. This study aimed to reveal relationships between mothers' coping styles, self-health behavior, children's oral health care, and social support from dental professionals. MethodsA total of 313 mothers participated in this study from all elementary schools in 2 cities in Japan. We classified participants into high and low groups with reference to self-health behavior and oral health care. To examine the associations of mother's coping styles, health behavior, and the presence of social support, logistic regression analysis was conducted. ResultsThere were significant differences in mother's coping styles associated with self-health behavior, oral health care, and presence of social support. In logistic regression analysis, the good self-health behavior group was more likely to use coping strategies of obtaining information and positive interpretation, to have fewer children, and less frequent use of avoidance-like thinking. The good oral health care group had a higher probability of obtaining information and using problem focused coping, and a lower probability of evading one's responsibility. Those who consulted dental offices used more positive interpretation, while mothers who did not consult dental offices used evading one's responsibility more frequently. ConclusionsMother's coping styles had different associations with self-health behavior and children's oral health care. We may be able to use behavioral modification strategies effectively according to whether a mother consults with dental professionals. Future intervention studies based on this research are expected.

Maternal feeding practices and children's eating behaviours: A comparison of mothers with healthy weight versus overweight/obesity

This study aimed to explore differences between mothers with healthy weight versus overweight/obesity in a wide range of their reported child feeding practices and their reports of their children's eating behaviours. Mothers (N = 437) with a 2-6-year-old child participated. They comprised two groups, based on their BMI: healthy weight (BMI of 18.0–24.9, inclusive) or overweight/obese (BMI of 25.0 or more). All mothers provided demographic information and completed self-report measures of their child feeding practices and their child's eating behaviour. In comparison to mothers with healthy weight, mothers with overweight/obesity reported giving their child more control around eating (p < 0.001), but encouraged less balance and variety around food (p = 0.029). They also had a less healthy home food environment (p = 0.021) and demonstrated less modelling of healthy eating in front of their children (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in mothers' use of controlling feeding practices, such as pressure to eat or restriction, based on their own weight status. Mothers with overweight/obesity reported their children to have a greater desire for drinks (p = 0.003), be more responsive to satiety (p = 0.007), and be slower eaters (p = 0.034). Mothers with overweight/obesity appear to engage in generally less healthy feeding practices with their children than mothers with healthy weight, and mothers with overweight/obesity perceive their children as more avoidant about food but not drinks. Such findings are likely to inform future intervention developments and help health workers and clinicians to better support mothers with overweight/obesity with implementing healthful feeding practices and promoting healthy eating habits in their children.

Associations Between Parenting Styles and Perceived Child Effortful Control Within Chinese Families in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan.

The current study examined the associations between parentally perceived child effortful control (EC) and the parenting styles of 122 Chinese mothers (36 first-generation Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom, 40 first-generation Chinese immigrants in the United States, and 46 Taiwanese mothers) of 5- to 7-year-old (M age = 5.82 years, SD = .805; 68 boys and 54 girls) children. The findings showed significant cultural group differences in mothers’ reported authoritarian parenting style. Significant associations also emerged between mothers’ reports of their children’s EC and some parenting dimensions, although there were no cultural group differences in perceived child EC. Different patterns of associations between perceived child EC and parenting styles in these three groups also demonstrated heterogeneity within the Chinese population, and highlighted the need to consider differences between original and receiving societies when seeking to understand parenting and child development in different immigrant groups.

Mother-Infant and Extra-Dyadic Interactions with a New Social Partner: Developmental Trajectories of Early Social Abilities during Play.

Mother–infant interactions during feeding and play are pivotal experiences in the development of infants’ early social abilities (Stern, 1985, 1995; Biringen, 2000). Stern indicated distinctive characteristics of mother–infant interactions, respectively, during feeding and play, suggesting to evaluate both to better describe the complexity of such early affective and social experiences (Stern, 1996). Moreover, during the first years of life, infants acquire cognitive and social skills that allow them to interact with new social partners in extra-dyadic interactions. However, the relations between mother–child interactions and infants’ social skills in extra-dyadic interactions are still unknown. We investigated longitudinally the relations between mother–child interactions during feeding and play and child’s pre-verbal communicative abilities in extra-dyadic interactions during play. 20 dyads were evaluated at T1 (infants aged between 9–22 months) and 6 months later, at T2. The interdyadic differences in mother–infant interactions during feeding and play were evaluated, respectively, with the “Feeding Scale” (Chatoor et al., 1997) and with the “Play Scale” (Chatoor, 2006) and the socio-communicative abilities of children with a new social partner during play were evaluated with the “Early Social Communication Scales” (Mundy et al., 2003). We distinguished the dyads into two categories: dyads with functional interactions (high dyadic reciprocity, low dyadic conflict) and dyads with dysfunctional interactions (lower dyadic reciprocity, higher dyadic conflict). At T1, infants belonging to dyads with dysfunctional interactions were significantly lower in “Initiating Joint Attention” and in “Responding to Joint Attention” in interaction with a new social partner compared to the infants belonging to dyads with functional interactions. At T2, infants belonging to dyads with dysfunctional interactions were significantly lower in “Initiating Social Interactions” with a new social partner compared to the infants belonging to dyads with functional interactions. There were significant correlations between the quality of mother–infant interactions during feeding and infants’ social abilities in interaction with a stranger both at T1 and at T2. This study showed a stable relation over time between mother–child interactions and child’s social communicative skills in extra-dyadic interactions.

Differences in Mothers’ and Children’s Dietary Intake during Physical and Sedentary Activities: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

BackgroundPhysical activity and diet are major modifiable health behaviors contributing to obesity risk. Although patterns of these behaviors tend to cluster within individuals and within family units, it is unknown to what extent healthy and unhealthy dietary intake might differentially accompany sedentary and physical activities in mothers compared with their children. ObjectiveOur goal was to examine differences in co-occurrence of activities and dietary intake between mothers and children, as measured in real time using ecological momentary assessment. Participants/settingThis study examined cross-sectional data from 175 mothers and their children aged 8 to 12 years. Main outcome measuresParticipants completed 8 days of ecological momentary assessment surveys, reporting on whether the following activities had occurred during the past 2 hours: sedentary screen activity, physical activity, and intake of healthy (ie, fruits and vegetables) and unhealthy (ie, fast food, chips/fries, pastries/sweets, and soda/energy drinks) foods. Statistical analyses performedMultilevel logistic regression models estimated the adjusted odds of consuming healthy and unhealthy dietary intake for mothers and children during time periods reporting physical activity (vs no physical activity) or sedentary screen activity (vs no sedentary screen activity). Post hoc tests compared estimates for mothers vs children. ResultsChildren were significantly more likely than their mothers to consume unhealthy foods during 2-hour windows that included physical activity (odds ratio [children] 1.85, 95% CI 1.47 to 2.31; odds ratio [mothers] 0.83, 95% CI 0.58 to 1.20; Pdiff <0.05), but not sedentary screen activity (Pdiff=0.067). In addition, children and their mothers did not differ in their likelihood of consuming healthy foods during 2-hour windows with sedentary screen activity (Pdiff =0.497) or physical activity (Pdiff =0.170). ConclusionsResults indicate that the consumption of unhealthy foods may be more likely to co-occur within a 2-hour window including physical activity in children as compared to their mothers. Future research should examine reasons for this difference, and potential areas for intervention.

Importance-Performance Analysis(IPA) of Mothers’ Perception on the Rights of Young Children with Developmental Delays

본 연구에서는 발달지체유아 권리 존중에 대한 어머니의 인식을 중요도와 실행도의 측면에서 살펴보고, 이를 IPA기법으로 분석함으로써 발달지체유아 권리 보장을 위해 우선적으로 고려되어야 할 요소를 탐색하였다. 이를 위해 2개 광역시와 5개도에 거주하는 발달지체유아 어머니들을 대상으로 조사를 실시하고, 224명의 응답 자료를 분석하였다. 그 결과, 첫째, 어머니들은 유아권리 존중의 중요도를 매우 높이 인식하였지만, 실행도는 그보다 유의하게 낮게 인식하였다. 둘째, 발달지체유아 권리의 중요도와 실행도 간 차이는 유아의 연령과 장애진단 여부에 따라 달리 나타났다. 셋째, 보호권과 발달권의 6가지 하위요소들이 집중 지원요소로 나타났고, 참여권의 모든 요소들이 저순위 지원요소에 포함되었다. 넷째, 발달지체유아의 권리 보장을 위해 우선적으로 고려해야 할 요소는 차별과 유해 자극으로부터의 보호, 유아의 개별적 요구와 놀이에 기반한 발달로 나타났다. 본 연구를 통해 발달지체유아 어머니들에게 자녀권리 존중의 중요성을 인식하고 그 실행정도를 점검하는 계기를 제공하였으며, 발달지체유아의 권리 증진을 위한 기초자료를 제공하였다.The purpose of this study was to identify elements that need to be supported for rights of young children with developmental delays. Through the study mother’s perception was analyzed about their children’s rights with IPA technique. The participants were 224 mothers whose children have developmental delays and they were selected. The results of this study were as follows. First, the importance level of mothers’ perception on their children’s rights was high, but the performance level was lower than that. Second, there was differences in mothers’ perception according to children’s age and diagnosis of disabilities. Third, it proved that 6 elements of protection rights and development rights were in the ‘Concentrate area’, and all the elements of participation rights were in the ‘Low priority area’ within IPA matrix. Fourth, protecting against discrimination or noxious environment, and supporting child’s individual needs were core elements. This study provided opportunities that mothers thought about their child’s rights. And it indicated practical discussion items to promote children‘s rights.

9: ADAPTATION OF PREGNANCY RISK ASSESSMENT MONITORING SYSTEM (PRAMS) AND PROVIDE A MODEL ON IT

Background and aims:A surveillance system helps to detect epidemics and the pattern of the problems incidence in the community and it is essential part of evidence based decision making process....

청소년들의 치과 공포감이 구강건강 삶의 질에 미치는 영향

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of dental fear on the oral health related quality of life in teenagers. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire by Likert 5 point scale was completed by 900 high school students in J area from March 10 to April 20, 2014. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects, dental fear survey, and oral health related quality of life. Data were analyzed by t-test and One-way ANOVA using SPSS 12.0 program. Results: Oral symptoms had no significant differences in mother's education and family economic status. Emotional well-being factors had no significant difference in age, religion, school performance, and family economic strength. Dental fear was closely related to emotional well-being, Oral symptoms, social stabilities, functional limit and mental stabilities. Explanation power of the model was 29.1%. Conclusions: It is very important to explain the dental fear procedure to teenagrers before dental surgery and this will enhance the oral health related quality of life in teenagers.

Market Access, Well-being, and Nutrition: Evidence from Ethiopia

Summary We use a unique data source from a rural area in northwestern Ethiopia to analyze the relationship between household/individual well-being, nutrition, and market access. We find that households residing in relatively more remote areas consume substantially less than households nearer to the market, they are more food insecure, and their school enrollment rates are lower. Although their diets are also less diverse, we find no significant differences in mother and child anthropometric measures. Part of the differences in well-being that we do observe can be attributed to lower household agricultural production in remote areas. Nonetheless agricultural production differences alone do not account for all the differences in household consumption levels for remote households. An additional contributing factor is the terms of trade for remote households that negatively affect both the size of the agricultural surplus that these households market and the quantity of food items that they purchase. Reducing transaction costs for remote households and facilitating migration could help equalize well-being among more or less favored locations.

Marital Biography and Mothers’ Wealth

We used over 20 years of data to estimate differences in mothers’ wealth across marital biography, following a marital first birth. Our study is the first to account for the selection of mothers into divorce or remarriage when estimating the role that marital history plays in wealth accumulation. Mothers who remained stably married to the biological father of their firstborn child reported greater wealth in their forties than mothers who divorced and did not remarry. Those who married at younger ages, women of color, and women from lower-income families were less likely to remain stably married. Net of selection, mothers who remained remarried had the same wealth as continuously married mothers. Thus the characteristics that predispose mothers to divorce, and not divorce per se, are linked to lower wealth. Once these selection effects were accounted for, we concluded that divorce was not necessarily detrimental to mothers’ economic security, a new finding that contradicts past studies.

How Parents Fare

The shift to more time-intensive and child-centered parenting in the United States is widely assumed to be positively linked to healthy child development, but implications for adult well-being are less clear. We assess multiple dimensions of parents’ subjective well-being in activities with children and explore how the gendered nature of time potentially contributes to differences in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting experiences. Relying on nationally representative time diary data linked to respondents’ feelings in activities from the 2010, 2012, and 2013 well-being module of the American Time Use Survey ( N = 12,163 persons and 36,036 activities), we find that parents consistently report greater subjective well-being in activities with children than without. Mothers, however, report less happiness, more stress, and greater fatigue in time with children than do fathers. These gaps are relatively small and can be accounted for by differences in the activities that mothers and fathers engage in with children, whether other adults are present, and the quality of their sleep and leisure. We go beyond prior work on parental happiness and life satisfaction to document how contemporary parenting is woven differently into the lives of mothers and fathers.

Interculturality and Early Attachment: A Comparison of Urban/ Non-Mapuche and Rural/Mapuche Mother-Baby Dyads in Chile

It is well known in the field that culture and context play an important role in child rearing and parenting practices. However, many studies do not address the cultural dimension of attachment, although evidence indicates that aspects of early attachment differ across cultures. With the goal of comparing the quality of mother–baby interactions, this study analyzed attachment behaviors and maternal sensitivity in two settings: urban/non-Mapuche and rural/Mapuche in Chile. The sample was composed of 34 mother-baby dyads (17 urban/non-Mapuche and 17 rural/Mapuche) with 12-month-old children. During a feeding episode, the attachment style of the interaction was assessed with the Attachment during Stress scale, and maternal sensitivity was evaluated with the Child-Adult Relationship Experimental Index-Toddlers (CARE-Index). The groups differed in their interaction attachment style and in affective and proximity modalities: Urban/non-Mapuche mothers tended to have secure and ambivalent attachment styles, and rural/Mapuche mothers tended to have avoidant styles. When educational level is controlled, ethnicity group can explain the differences in mothers’ attachment styles. The findings of the study and their implications are discussed.

A Social Domain Approach to Informant Discrepancies in Parental Solicitation and Family Rules.

An extensive body of research has explored the effects of parental monitoring on adolescent outcomes, but studies consistently find substantial discrepancies between parent and adolescent reports of different monitoring behaviors. Little research has examined whether parents and adolescents are more or less discrepant when reporting on parents' rules or solicitation for different adolescent problem and health risk behaviors and few studies have explored potential explanatory variables to explicate individual variability in parent-adolescent discrepant reporting. To address this gap in the literature, the current study examined discrepancies in mother-adolescent reports of family rules and solicitation across five distinct adolescent behaviors: personal behaviors and four different risk behaviors (alcohol-related, cyber, over- and under-eating). Participants were 143 mother-adolescent dyads (Adolescent M age =14.42, SD=1.73, range=12-18, 81% white, 60% female). Mean-level discrepancies between maternal and adolescent reports significantly differed by category of adolescent behavior and also varied as a function of reported parental monitoring behavior (rules vs. solicitation). Discrepancies in mother-adolescent reports of behavior-specific rules and solicitation were positively associated with discrepancies in mother and adolescent judgments of the harmfulness of the activities. The results demonstrate that discrepancies in mother-adolescent reports of family process differ by category of adolescent behavior and may be undergirded by differences in mother and adolescent informational assumptions about the potential harm involved with different activities.

Reproductive effort alters immune parameters measured post‐partum in European rabbits under semi‐natural conditions

SummaryReproduction is energetically costly, and females frequently trade off their reproductive effort with allocation to other physiological processes. One of these processes is the maintenance of a functional immune defence. However, such interactions between immunity and reproduction have rarely been explored in mammals under natural conditions.In our study on females of an individually marked European rabbitOryctolagus cuniculuscolony, we measured different components of the maternal immune system from peripheral blood and serum 1 day after parturition, and we associated variation in these measures with differences in mothers' reproductive effort. We used total litter mass as a measure of the mother's current reproductive effort. In addition, we recorded whether or not mothers gave birth and nursed another litter shortly before and considered this a measure of prior reproductive effort.Mothers with higher current or prior reproductive effort showed generally lower concentrations of white blood cells, in particular neutrophils and lymphocytes, but a higher activity of the complement system and higher IgG serum concentrations than females with lower reproductive effort.We obtained similar results when comparing individual changes in immune parameters measured post‐partum across repeated reproductive events. Cell concentrations of neutrophils and lymphocytes increased when individual females decreased their reproductive effort. In contrast, IgG serum concentrations and the activity of the complement system increased when mothers increased their reproductive effort.In conclusion, the results underline differential responses of different branches of the maternal post‐partum immune system to variation in reproductive effort. On the one hand, our study indicates that females might compromise at least some cellular immune parameters for reproduction. On the other hand, the positive association between IgG concentrations and reproductive effort could be adaptive as a higher litter mass and higher number of pups requires an intensified transfer of this immune parameter via placenta or colostrum and milk. This positive association might constitute an additional, immunological component of the energetic costs of reproduction.Alay summaryis available for this article.

Differences in sedentary time and physical activity among mothers and children using a movement-to-music video program in the home environment: a pilot study.

Measured objectively, less than a quarter of adults and under half of preschool children in Finland meet the physical activity recommendations. Moreover, higher sedentary time among parents (such as watching television) is associated with higher sedentary time of their children. The study introduces an intervention based on reducing sedentary behavior among mothers and their children. It utilizes a combination of music and exercise via a motivation-targeting movement-to-music video program in the home environment. Data were collected in summer 2014 from Finland’s Pirkanmaa region. Each mother–child pair (n = 24, child age: 4–7 years) was assigned to the intervention and control group. Both groups used an accelerometer and completed physical activity diaries for two consecutive weeks (14 days) during waking hours. In addition, the intervention group was instructed to use the movement-to-music video program during the second week. Differences between groups were expected in analysis of sedentary time and physical activity between weeks 1 and 2. The parameters assessed were sedentary time (i.e., lying down or sitting), standing still, and time spent in physical activity. Less sedentary time was revealed in week 2 than in week 1 among both intervention group mothers (56.6 vs. 53.3 %) and for intervention group children (49.5 vs. 46.0 %). The opposite was true of control group mothers (52.1 vs. 52.4 %) and children (46.7 vs. 49.8 %). Within-group differences in mothers’ sedentary time correlated moderately with the children’s sedentary time (Spearman’s r = 0.56). All groups exhibited slightly more standing in the second week than in week 1. Both sets of intervention participants also engaged in more light physical activity in week 2, with the opposite evident for the two control sets. In all groups, except the control children, the proportion of moderate to vigorous physical activity was higher in the second week than the first. The use of music and video content together may yield added benefits in efforts to reduce sedentary behavior and increase physical activity among mothers and their children in the home environment.