Parental Care Research Articles

Contrasting nidification behaviors facilitate diversification and colonization of the Music frogs under a changing paleoclimate

In order to cope with the complexity and variability of the terrestrial environment, amphibians have developed a wide range of reproductive and parental behaviors. Nest building occurs in some anuran species as parental care. Species of the Music frog genus Nidirana are known for their unique courtship behavior and mud nesting in several congeners. However, the evolution of these frogs and their nidification behavior has yet to be studied. With phylogenomic and phylogeographic analyses based on a wide sampling of the genus, we find that Nidirana originated from central-southwestern China and the nidification behavior initially evolved at ca 19.3 Ma but subsequently lost in several descendants. Further population genomic analyses suggest that the nidification species have an older diversification and colonization history, while N. adenopleura complex congeners that do not exhibit nidification behavior have experienced a recent rapid radiation. The presence and loss of the nidification behavior in the Music frogs may be associated with paleoclimatic factors such as temperature and precipitation. This study highlights the nidification behavior as a key evolutionary innovation that has contributed to the diversification of an amphibian group under past climate changes.

Islamic Education Strategy for Children Without Parental Care in Islamic-Based Orphanages

Islamic Education Strategy for Children Without Parental Care in Islamic-Based Orphanages

Home Anxiety Assessment and Influencing Factors among Adolescent Athletes in Yantai City.

To understand the prevalence of home-related anxiety among adolescent athletes during the novel coronavirus pandemic and to ascertain the factors influencing this anxiety. We employed cluster sampling to select 1150 adolescent athletes (aged 8-18 years) from six sports training schools in Yantai City, Shandong Province. Mental health status was assessed and recorded. Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to analyze the factors contributing to athletes' anxiety. The survey revealed a COVID-19 infection rate of 38.23% (437 individuals) with an anxiety score of 40.98 ± 8.20 and an anxiety detection rate of 11.29% (129 individuals) during the COVID-19 epidemic. Female athletes exhibited a higher anxiety rate of 14.40% compared to 8.40% in male athletes. Multivariate analysis identified female gender as a risk factor for anxiety (OR = 1.64), while participation in aquatics emerged as a protective factor (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 1.08-2.48). Professional training duration exceeding three years increased anxiety risk (OR = 3.05, 95% CI: 1.67-5.58), as did not seeking help during difficulties (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.33-5.01). Interestingly, parental care was linked to increased anxiety risk (OR = 2.44, 95% CI 1.34-4.44), while care from friends was protective (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.36-1.01), which was possibly due to the pressure associated with parental expectations. Adolescent athletes, particularly females and those with extended training durations, exhibit a heightened susceptibility to anxiety. This study also highlights that athletes who proactively seek assistance during challenging situations tend to experience lower anxiety levels. Additionally, a lack of COVID-19 infection and the involvement of concerned parents contribute to reduced anxiety among these young athletes.

Development and validation of the caregiver Burden from infant home NGT care instrument

ObjectiveTo design and validate an age and condition-specific health status instrument to best reflect the parental experience caring for these children with complex needs and home Nasogastric Tube (NGT) placement. Study designCombined Qualitative and Quantitative design, testing and implementation for item production and reduction, followed by formal validation by evaluating validity, reliability, and establishing a clinically meaningful change score. SettingsTertiary care, multi-disciplinary aerodigestive center. ParticipantsAll caregivers whose infant met criteria for eligibility for discharge home from the NICU or Special Care Nursery (SCN) with NGT in place were offered inclusion in this group.Intervention/Exposure: Structured qualitative interviews of these caregivers to explore and define these concepts and domains, to item generate and then reduce, and then psychometric analyses. MethodsStructured, moderated qualitative interviews with parents/caregivers of children who have undergone home NGT care of their children for item creation, design, and then reduction. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach alpha analysis. Construct validity and clinically meaningful change score was assessed using various query methods. Main outcome measuresCronbach's alpha to assess reliability, a priori hypotheses validity analyses, and minimally important clinical difference calculation. ResultsScaled scores of this condition specific instrument ranged from 14 to 74 where higher scores indicate better QOL related to managing the NGT. Cronbach's alpha with all 14 items was 0.93. Validity was assessed by a self-assessment question to discriminate between change (95% CI: 8.5–14.1; p < 0.0001) as well as by other comparators to identify the instrument's ability to discriminate among populations where parents felt a difference in experience. The minimally important difference was calculated at 18 points. ConclusionThis represents the initial validation of the first condition and age-specific health status instrument to assess parent experience of caring for infants requiring a home NGT for dysphagia.

The evolution of brood parasitism from host egg predation

Abstract Obligate brood parasites pass all their parental duties to foster parents of a host species. While best understood in birds and hymenopteran insects, obligate brood parasitism has evolved independently at least 59 times across many lineages. The ancestors of brood parasites often provided no parental care to their offspring. Instead, a trophic association with their eventual hosts commonly appears to precede the origin of a brood parasitic strategy. Here, we used a game theoretical model to explore the conditions under which brood parasitism can evolve from predation and be maintained in the population. Our model was inspired by the relationship between the cuckoo catfish (Synodontis multipunctatus) parasitizing mouthbrooding cichlid fishes in the African Lake Tanganyika. Our model demonstrates the facilitatory role of host egg predation on the origin and evolutionary maintenance of brood parasitism through the exploitation of the host response to egg predation by brood parasites. We found no conditions under which brood parasitism as a pure strategy is evolutionarily stable, but we describe a range of evolutionarily stable equilibria when predators and parasites coexist. While our model is tailored to the cuckoo catfish, it generally applies to other systems where brood parasitism has evolved from other antagonistic behavior.

Evolution of Maternal Provisioning and Development in the Ophiuroidea: Egg Size, Larval Form and Parental Care.

The Ophiuroidea is the most speciose class of echinoderms and has the greatest diversity of larval forms, but we know less about the evolution of development (evo-devo) in this group than for the other echinoderm classes. As is typical of echinoderms, evo-devo in the Ophiuroidea resulted in the switch from production of small eggs and feeding (planktotrophic) larvae to large eggs and non-feeding (lecithotrophic) larvae. Parental care (ovoviviparity or viviparity/matrotrophy) is the most derived life history. Analysis of egg data for 140 species (excluding viviparity and facultative planktotrophy) indicated a bimodal distribution in egg volume corresponding to planktotrophy and lecithotrophy+ovoviviparity, with three significant egg size groups due to the very large eggs of the ovoviviparous species. The marked reduction in fecundity in species with extremely large eggs is exemplified by the ovoviviparous species. Egg size in the two species with facultative planktotrophy were intermediate with respect to the two modes. Identifying the ancestral larval life history pattern and the pathways in the switch from feeding to non-feeding larvae is complicated by the two patterns of metamorphosis seen in species with planktotrophic development: Type I (ophiopluteus only) and Type II (ophiopluteus+vitellaria larva). The variability in arm resorption at metamorphosis across ophiuroid families indicates that the Type I and II patterns may be two ends of a morphological continuum. This variability indicates ancestral morphological plasticity at metamorphosis followed by canalization in some taxa to the vitellaria as the metamorphic larva. Vestigial ophiopluteal traits in lecithotrophic ophioplutei and vitellaria indicate evolution from the ancestral (feeding larva) state. Parental care has evolved many times from an ancestor that had a planktonic ophiopluteus or vitellaria and is often associated with hermaphroditism and paedomorphosis. A secondary reduction in egg size occurred in the viviparous species.

From molecular variations to behavioral adaptations: Unveiling adaptive epistasis in primate oxytocin system.

Our primary objective was to investigate the variability of oxytocin (OT) and the GAMEN binding motif within the LNPEP oxytocinase in primates. We sequenced the LNPEP segment encompassing the GAMEN motif in 34 Platyrrhini species, with 21 of them also sequenced for the OT gene. Our dataset was supplemented with primate sequences of LNPEP, OT, and the oxytocin receptor (OTR) sourced from public databases. Evolutionary analysis and coevolution predictions were made followed by the macroevolution analysis of relevant amino acids associated with phenotypic traits, such as mating systems, parental care, and litter size. To account for phylogenetic structure, we utilized two distinct statistical tests. Additionally, we calculated binding energies focusing on the interaction between Callithtrix jacchus VAMEN and Pro8OT. We identified two novel motifs (AAMEN and VAMEN), challenging the current knowledge of motif conservation in placental mammals. Coevolution analysis demonstrated a correlation between GAMEN, AAMEN, and VAMEN and their corresponding OTs and OTRs. Callithrix jacchus exhibited a higher binding energy between VAMEN and Pro8OT than orthologous molecules found in humans (GAMEN and Leu8OT). The coevolution of AAMEN and VAMEN with their corresponding OTs and OTRs suggests a functional relationship that could have contributed to specific reproductive and adaptive behaviors, including paternal care, social monogamy, and twin births, prominent traits in Cebidae species, such as marmosets and tamarins. Our findings underscore the coevolution of taxon-specific amino acids among the three studied molecules, shedding light on the oxytocinergic system as an adaptive epistatic repertoire in primates.

Ecological influences and visual attention to infant phenotypes.

In humans, the allocation of resources, such as parental care and attention, is vital to offspring survival. Life history strategies are influenced by cues in the environment, particularly those that signal the availability of resources. What has yet to be determined is how individuals allocate resources to infants as a function of perceived ecological harshness and life history strategy. In the current research we hypothesized that perceived ecology would influence infant ratings (Study 1), and that visual attention to infant phenotypes would be associated with life history strategies (Study 2). Study 1 investigated the effect of ecological conditions (control vs. harsh) on preferences to infant phenotypes (i.e., underweight, average weight, overweight). Participants (N = 246) were less likely to rate infants favorably under a harsh ecological condition. Study 2 investigated visual perception in processing infant images. Using an eye-tracking task, participants (N = 239) viewed images of infants while their eye movements were recorded. Participants displayed an early attentional bias (i.e., first fixation duration) to the head of the infant and focused most of their visual attention to the torso of infants (i.e., total visit duration). The results of the both studies indicate that ecological factors play an important role in rating infants, and data from eye-tracking demonstrates that phenotypes influence the amount of attention given to infants.

The evolution of sex roles: The importance of ecology and social environment

Males and females often have different roles in reproduction, although the origin of these differences has remained controversial. Explaining the enigmatic reversed sex roles where males sacrifice their mating potential and provide full parental care is a particularly long-standing challenge in evolutionary biology. While most studies focused on ecological factors as the drivers of sex roles, recent research highlights the significance of social factors such as the adult sex ratio. To disentangle these propositions, here, we investigate the additive and interactive effects of several ecological and social factors on sex role variation using shorebirds (sandpipers, plovers, and allies) as model organisms that provide the full spectrum of sex role variation including some of the best-known examples of sex-role reversal. Our results consistently show that social factors play a prominent role in driving sex roles. Importantly, we show that reversed sex roles are associated with both male-skewed adult sex ratios and high breeding densities. Furthermore, phylogenetic path analyses provide general support for sex ratios driving sex role variations rather than being a consequence of sex roles. Together, these important results open future research directions by showing that different mating opportunities of males and females play a major role in generating the evolutionary diversity of sex roles, mating system, and parental care.

Molecular sibship reconstruction reveals a promiscuous mating system in brood parasitic little bronze-cuckoos (Chalcites minutillus)

Abstract In theory, emancipation from parental care is expected to favor promiscuous mating systems. However, in avian brood parasites, monogamy is surprisingly widespread, and it has been proposed that this may be favored by factors such as low population density and territoriality. Correspondingly, our previous research revealed that brood parasitic Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoos (Chalcites basalis), which occur at low population densities and defend territories, are monogamous. Here, we contrast this study with the mating system of the congeneric little bronze-cuckoo (C. minutillus), an obligate brood parasite that exploits more concentrated hosts and is, therefore, likely to occur at higher population densities. We use single nucleotide polymorphisms to characterize the reproductive patterns of unsampled adults by inferring sibling relationships among 30 offspring. We show that (1) little bronze-cuckoos occurred at high densities, (2) polygamy was the most common mating pattern found in this study in both sexes, and (3) where multiple cuckoo eggs are laid in the same nest, they were unrelated. These results indicate that females do not defend exclusive territories, and males do not defend multiple females (polygyny). Instead, little bronze-cuckoos appear to have a non-territorial, promiscuous mating system. Our results are consistent with theoretical predictions that polygamy is more likely to evolve in species that are emancipated from parental care, where there are plenty of available mates, and where home ranges are not defended.

Androgen and glucocorticoid profiles throughout extended uniparental paternal care in the eastern hellbender salamander (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis)

The behavioral endocrinology associated with reproduction and uniparental male care has been studied in teleosts, but little is known about hormonal correlates of uniparental male care in other ectotherms. To address this gap, we are the first to document the seasonal steroid endocrinology of uniparental male hellbender salamanders during the transition from pre-breeding to nest initiation, and through the subsequent eight months of paternal care. In doing so, we investigated the correlates of nest fate and clutch size, exploring hellbenders’ alignment with several endocrinological patterns observed in uniparental male fish. Understanding the endocrinology of hellbender paternal care is also vital from a conservation perspective because high rates of nest failure were recently identified as a factor causing population declines in this imperiled species. We corroborated previous findings demonstrating testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to be the primary androgens in hellbender reproduction, and that cortisol circulates as the most abundant glucocorticoid. However, we were unable to identify a prolactin or a “prolactin-like” peptide in circulation prior to or during parental care. We observed ∼ 80 % declines in both primary androgens during the transition from pre-breeding to nest initiation, and again as paternal care progressed past its first month. In the days immediately following nest initiation, testosterone and DHT trended higher in successful individuals, but did not differ with males’ clutch size. We did not observe meaningful seasonality in baseline glucocorticoids associated with breeding or nesting. In contrast, stress-induced glucocorticoids were highest at pre-breeding and through the first two months of care, before declining during the latter-most periods of care as larvae approach emergence from the nest. Neither baseline nor stress-induced glucocorticoids varied significantly with either nest fate or clutch size. Both stress-induced cortisol and corticosterone were positively correlated with total length, a proxy for age in adult hellbenders. This is consistent with age-related patterns in some vertebrates, but the first such pattern observed in a wild amphibian population. Generally, we found that nesting hellbenders adhere to some but not all of the endocrinological patterns observed in uniparental male teleosts prior to and during parental care.

Associations between perceived parenting, brain activity and connectivity, and depression symptoms in Brazilian adolescents

ABSTRACT In adolescence, parental care is associated with lower depression symptoms whereas parental overprotection is associated with greater depression symptoms, effects which may be mediated by adolescent brain activity and connectivity. The present study examined associations between perceived parenting, brain activity and connectivity, and depression symptoms in adolescents from Brazil, a middle-income country (MIC). Analyses included 100 adolescents who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning while completing a face matching task. Parental care and overprotection were associated with adolescent depression symptoms in expected directions. We also found that parental care and overprotection were associated with amygdala connectivity with several brain regions; however, amygdala activity was not associated with parenting and neither activity or connectivity mediated the association between parenting and depression symptoms. Results identify how parenting influences brain function and depression symptoms in youth from a MIC.

Creative activity of younger schoolchildren left without parental care as a tool for preventing aggression and a condition for socio-pedagogical adaptation

Creative activity of younger schoolchildren left without parental care as a tool for preventing aggression and a condition for socio-pedagogical adaptation

The problems of social preparedness of orphanage graduates in Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT The key objective of the article was to analyze the current model of social preparedness of young people who were left without parental care in childhood and brought up in orphanages in Kazakhstan. The study utilized various scientific methods, including the structural-functional method, method of synthesis, logical and comparative analysis, and method of generalization. This article explores common issues facing orphanage graduates in Kazakhstan, analyzing factors contributing to their vulnerability and the impact of socio-demographic characteristics. Funded by the European Union, the study’s findings aim to enhance social work practices for this at-risk population.

Адаптация русскоязычной версии детского опросника соматических симптомов на выборке детей-сирот и детей, оставшихся без попечения родителей

&lt;p&gt;This study was aimed to adapt the Russian version of the Children&amp;rsquo;s Somatic Symptoms Inventory-8 (CSSI-8). The participants were 160 orphans and children and adolescents left without parental care, including 80 girls and 80 boys aged 9 to 17 years (M=14,51; Me=15 years; SD=1,79). All participants completed CSSI-8 and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-30 (RCADS-30). The Russian version of the inventory was reliable and valid: firstly, it has a high Cronbach&amp;rsquo;s &amp;alpha;, showing its internal reliability; secondly, it has a one-factor structure, indicating its factor validity; thirdly, the relationship of somatic symptoms with anxiety and depressive symptoms proves convergent validity. Thus, 76,2% of children and adolescents had at least one specific somatic symptom, 44,4% complained of pain in stomach or abdomen, 58,7% of headaches, 30,6% of pain in lower back, 19,4% of faintness or dizziness, 29,4% of pain in arms or legs, 28,7% of heart palpitations, nausea or upset stomach, 47,5% of weakness in some parts of the body. In conclusion, it is important to make future psychometric examinations of the adapted questionnaire, which allow us to recommend it for school diagnosis and psychological counseling of children and adolescents, as well as screening and monitoring of somatoform disorders.&lt;/p&gt;

Evolution of a novel adrenal cell type that promotes parental care.

Cell types with specialized functions fundamentally regulate animal behaviour, and yet the genetic mechanisms that underlie the emergence of novel cell types and their consequences for behaviour are not well understood1. Here we show that the monogamous oldfield mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) has recently evolved a novel cell type in the adrenal gland that expresses the enzyme AKR1C18, which converts progesterone into 20α-hydroxyprogesterone. We then demonstrate that 20α-hydroxyprogesterone is more abundant in oldfield mice, where it induces monogamous-typical parental behaviours, than in the closely related promiscuous deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Using quantitative trait locus mapping in a cross between these species, we ultimately find interspecific genetic variation that drives expression of the nuclear protein GADD45A and the glycoprotein tenascin N, which contribute to the emergence and function of this cell type in oldfield mice. Our results provide an example by which the recent evolution of a new cell type in a gland outside the brain contributes to the evolution of social behaviour.

Childhood Adversities and Caregiving for Older Parents: Building Capacity for a Caring Society.

This study investigates the relationships between childhood adversities and the provision of informal care for older parents in later life in China. The data came from 4 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N = 20,047). Using multilevel logistic regression models, we examined the relationships between adverse experiences in childhood and both the propensity and intensity of caregiving for older parents. Drawing on the regression results, we then estimated the total number of caregivers for older parents in China. Experiencing 1 additional childhood adversity was associated with a decrease of 8% in the odds of providing informal care (p < .001). The association between childhood adversity and caregiving remained significant after sociodemographic factors and later-life outcomes were controlled for. We estimated that 58.3 million middle-aged adults in China were providing care for parents in 2020. Had people experienced 1 fewer adversity in their childhood, there would have been 2.2 million more caregivers in 2020. Had they experienced 2 fewer adversities, there would have been 3.4 million more caregivers. The factors associated with informal caregiving can be traced back to early-life experiences. To address the shortage of informal care supply, it is crucial to foster a caring culture from the very beginning of human development.

Crowding in or Out？National Public Pension, Inter-Generational Contract, and Family Support to Empty-Nest Older Parents in Rural China

ABSTRACT Evidence to date has been inconclusive on the effects of public pension on family support to older adults, and the underlying mechanism behind such effects remains unclear. This study examines the effects of the New Rural Social Pension Scheme on family support to empty-nest older parents in rural China, where family care is traditionally favored for older adults. Using data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, the findings reveal that pension receipt promotes bidirectional financial transfers and intimate relationships between generations, thus increasing (or crowding in) children’s financial and care support to their empty-nest parents. On the other hand, receiving pensions may discourage parental care support to children and partially decrease (or crowd out) children’s financial and care support. This crowding-out effect, however, is limited and thus insufficient for counteracting the crowding-in effects from other pathways. Overall, these findings indicate that national welfare, such as pensions, can encourage family support through inter-generational contracts and intimacy, strengthening familial bonds and facilitating mutual assistance within families. For policy implications, government should prioritize improving benefit levels of public pensions to harness the caregiving potential of families and providing essential services that assist families in addressing care burdens.

MENTORING AS A FORM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN LEFT WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE

Relevance. The loss of parental care like nothing else affects the psychological well-being of the child and can have detrimental consequences for their further social adaptation and self-realization in adulthood. The emergence of effective mechanisms for child&amp;apos;s social adaptation is the result of its productive interaction with a human social environment and an indispensable condition for successful socialization in society. The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of mentoring on the social and psychological adaptation of children left without parental care. Methodology. By means of theoretical analysis using the methodology of the systemic and cultural-historical approach, the article analyzes in detail the history of mentoring, its types and functions in working with children. Results. The paper proves that a child left without parental care faces a number of problems ( compensation for the level of mental deprivation, formation of basic trust in the world and gender-role identification, understanding ethical norms, and formation of relevant values), which negatively affect their ability to social adaptation. To solve them, she needs competent psychological support from adults. Mentoring is considered as an effective form of psychological support and guidance for children, which, by transforming and enriching itself in the processes of formation, has found due recognition in modern society and is widely used as a tool for the personal development of a person as a subject of activity. It is concluded that the psychological and pedagogical potential of mentoring should be used in the psychological support of children who were left without parental care due to military operations on the territory of Ukraine.

The obligation of adult children to take care of their disabled parents as a common law problem

The relevance of the study is determined by insufficient study of the duty of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents and the necessity to clarify the general and legal characteristics of this duty. It is substantiated that the basis for understanding the issue of the obligation of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents should be the understanding of the legal obligation as such an appropriate behavior involving either the conscious voluntary assumption of the corresponding obligation, or the conscious consent of the person to the presence of a corresponding obligation; a legal prescription alone is not enough (such a legal prescription should be perceived by a person as necessary, just, etc.). It is emphasized that the general and theoretical understanding of the issue of the duty of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents should be the basis for the sectoral regulation of relevant relations. Herewith, the basis of such consideration is the distinction between moral obligation and legal obligation (the difference between the right and an ordinary coercion). The contradictions of the legislation's provisions regarding the obligation of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents in the context of legal capacity, as well as the institution of civil liability of the owner of the source of increased danger, are analyzed. The nature of the duty of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents differs from the legal duty to protect the Motherland (which arises under similar conditions) is characterized. Attention is focused on the lack of full conscious perception of the first, its indefiniteness, failure to take into account individual peculiarities of implementation, etc. The expediency of taking into account of the state's social obligations when determining the content of the duty of children who have reached the full age to take care of disabled parents is noted.