Parental Marital Status Research Articles

Family functioning in adolescents with major depressive disorder: A comparative study

The goal of this study was to evaluate family functioning in two groups of adolescents: adolescents with major depressive disorder (cases) and adolescents with no psychiatric disorders (controls). A total of 18 adolescents (13-18 years) and their first-degree relatives (N = 70) were evaluated. Cases and controls were matched for the adolescent's age, gender, level of education, number and age of siblings, parental marital status, and economic condition. A family therapist conducted the Structured Family Interview with each family to evaluate nine family functioning dimensions (communication, rules, roles, leadership, conflict, aggressiveness, affect, individuation, and integration). The interview transcripts were independently rated by two different family therapists blinded to case-control status, i.e., without knowing whether they were evaluating cases or controls. The raters scored all interview items using a standardized coding system (overall agreement = 83.5%), and when compared to the controls, the cases showed lower mean scores in seven dimensions, particularly affect (p = 0.0078). There was no difference between cases and controls regarding the dimensions rules and leadership. Difficulty in expressing affect in parent-child relationship was the main disturbance in the families of depressive adolescents evaluated.

Differences in Views of Family Life According to Age, Gender, and Parental Marital Status

A sample (N = 706) of children, adolescents, young adults, and older adults were surveyed with regard to their views of family. Young adults endorsed more nontraditional views than children and older adults and were more likely than other age groups to indicate that there is no best family type. Children and older adults were more likely than adolescents and young adults to endorse married or living together parents as the best family type. Women and respondents who had experienced parental divorce endorsed traditional views of family less strongly, but women also endorsed stronger expectations for their own family formation. Findings support the possibility of both developmental and sociocontextual influences on attitudes toward family life.

The Relationship Between Maternal Awareness, Socioeconomic Situation of Families and Metabolic Control in Children With Type 1 Diabetes Miletus in an Iranian Population

diabetes in this group of patients. Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive analytic study on 80 diabetic children and their mothers, who were registered in the diabetes association of Iran, for outpatient control of disease. Diabetes knowledge was measured by Michigan diabetes knowledge test and glycemic control was assessed by glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). To assess the socio-economic status of a diabetic child’s family, educational level, occupational and marital status of parents were asked and the socioeconomic status (SES) was evaluated with Hollingshed four-factor index of SES. Results: Mothers’ mean knowledge score was 17.72, children’s mean HbA1c was 7.77 and mean of SES was 27.89. There was no significant correlation between children’s HbA1c and mother’s SES. Also, there was an inverse linear relationship between mothers’ knowledge score and children’s HbA1c and there was a direct linear relationship between the mothers’ knowledge score and SES. Conclusions: Finally, based on the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that the awareness of mothers of T1DM children has a good impact on blood sugar control, whereas the SES of families has no direct effect on blood sugar control. Additionally, SES can indirectly impact on the consciousness of mothers and lead to the reduction of HbA1c.

The Association Between Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Systematic Review.

This systematic review examines associations between parental socioeconomic disadvantage and childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured by parental income, education, occupation and marital status. Results were mixed by measure of SES with no one aspect being differentially related to ADHD. 42 studies were included in the review, of which 35 found a significant univariate association between socioeconomic disadvantage and ADHD. Meta-analyses of dimensions of SES and their association with ADHD indicate that children in families of low SES are on average 1.85-2.21 more likely to have ADHD than their peers in high SES families. In spite of substantial between-study heterogeneity, there is evidence for an association between socioeconomic disadvantage and risk of ADHD measured in different ways. This is likely mediated by factors linked to low SES such as parental mental health and maternal smoking during pregnancy.

Family Background and School Achievement of Children with Motoric Disorders

There is no pedagogical literature about school achievement that does not include the family as a very important factor. Family and family relationships of children with motoric disorders are determined by the ability of parents and other family members to build an objective attitude toward the child with disability. That includes the construction priority in the development of the child. The main aim of this paper is to provide information about possible correlation between various family backgrounds of children with motoric disorders and their school achievement. The family background is defined by several general and specific pedagogical aspects. General aspects of the family background are related to the socio – economic status. Special pedagogical characteristics are related to parents interest in school achievements of their children, parens' help with the child learning (defined through the school curriculum), parent’s involving in forcing studying habits and their support in exploring children social surrounding. Participants in this research were 75 parents all with children with motoric disorders in one school for education of children with different forms of disability. The survey used in this study was designed by the researchers. The results show that there is no correlation between economic conditions of family and school achievement of children with motoric disorders. There is a correlation between school achievement and educational status of parents, marital status of parents, parental assistance in homework, encouraging child to learn when child is coping with some difficulties at school, ensuring consistency in learning and conversation between parents and child on various topics.

Factors related to perceived parental approval of adult sons’ and daughters’ heterosexual engagements

This study examined factors that may predict perceived parental approval of an adult child's heterosexual engagement relationship as parental approval has been shown in previous studies to be an important predictor of later couple quality and stability. A total of 4175 engaged individuals completed the RELATE inventory. Among the items in the questionnaire were measures of perceived parental approval of the relationship, parents’ marital quality, autonomy from the family of origin and couple relationship quality. The individuals also reported their age, education, length of their relationship, parents’ marital status and parents’ socioeconomic status. The results showed that adult sons’ and daughters’ age, parental marital quality, autonomy and couple relationship quality predicted parental approval. Length of the relationship and parental marital status did not influence parental approval for either gender. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed. Practitioner points Perceived parental approval of an adult child's heterosexual engagement relationship should be assessed with engaged couples. Assess current couple relationship as this is not always as high as we may assume. Perceived quality of each partner's parents’ marriage should be discussed as to how it may affect perceptions of parental approval. Assess differentiation of self in the family of origin and increase it using transgenerational couple therapy approaches.

Music's Dual Influence on Dyadic Behaviors

The current study tested a mechanism through which music serves as a model of intimate relationship behaviors for those from noncontinuously intact family structures. The current study theorized that music would both mediate and moderate the relationship between family structure and risky sexual behaviors. Participants included 357 emerging adults who came from married, divorced, reconstituted, and never-married households. Results of hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that sexual lyrical content serves as a moderator between parental marital status and sexual behaviors of participants from noncontinuously intact homes, supporting the notion that those from noncontinuously intact homes seek models of intimate relationship behaviors outside of their family unit. This was found especially for age at first date, number of dating partners, and number of sexual partners for those from reconstituted and never-married households. A Test of Joint Significance confirmed the mediational influence of music in that sexual lyrical content in music influenced the sexual attitudes of participants, which, in turn, influenced their sexual behaviors.

Family Background and Propensity to Engage in Infidelity

The current study explored how a variety of family-of-origin experiences are related to individuals’ infidelity history. A survey was completed by 294 participants and we found that parental infidelity, parental marital status, parental conflict, and parental marital satisfaction were associated with the likelihood of offspring having ever engaged in infidelity. When considered together, parent infidelity and parent satisfaction were uniquely related to offspring infidelity. Additionally, parental marital status moderated the relationship between parent infidelity and offspring infidelity, as individuals who experienced neither event were particularly unlikely to have ever engaged in infidelity. Little evidence was found that individuals’ infidelity beliefs were linked with their family-of-origin experiences or their own infidelity behavior. Results indicate that family-of-origin experiences are related to individuals’ infidelity behavior, a finding that has implications for future research as well as clinical intervention.

Health literacy and parent attitudes about weight control for children

The purpose of this study was to examine associations between parental health literacy and parent attitudes about weight control strategies for young children. Parental low health literacy has been associated with poor child health outcomes, yet little is known about its relationship to child weight control and weight-related health information-seeking preferences. Data were drawn from the STRONG Kids Study, a Midwest panel survey among parents of preschool aged children (n = 497). Parents endorsed an average of 4.3 (SD = 2.8) weight loss strategies, 53% endorsed all three recommended weight loss strategies for children, and fewer than 1% of parents endorsed any unsafe strategies. Parents were most likely to seek child weight loss information from healthcare professionals but those with low (vs. adequate) health literacy were significantly less likely to use the Internet or books and more likely to use minister/clergy as sources. Poisson and logistic regressions showed that higher health literacy was associated with endorsement of more strategies overall, more recommended strategies, and greater odds of endorsing each specific recommended strategy for child weight control, after adjusting for parent age, education, race/ethnicity, income, marital status, weight concern, and child BMI percentile. Findings suggest that health literacy impacts parental views about child weight loss strategies and health information-seeking preferences. Pediatric weight loss advice to parents should include assessment of parent attitudes and prior knowledge about child weight control and facilitate parent access to reliable sources of evidence-informed child weight control information.

Someone to Look Up to

This study tested the hypothesis that male role models inhibit delinquent peer selection but not delinquent peer influence in adolescent boys, whereas female role models inhibit delinquent peer selection but not delinquent peer influence in adolescent girls. On analyzing longitudinal data from 425 boys and 425 girls, it was discovered that a role model index (1 = biological parent, 2 = other role model, 3 = no role model) correlated significantly with subsequent offending in both sexes. After controlling for the effects of age, race, parental marital status, and caregiver deviance, male and female versions of the role model index—male role model (MRM) and female role model (FRM)—predicted peer selection but not peer influence in boys and girls, respectively. These results suggest that same-sex role models are capable of protecting youth against peer selection but have little apparent impact on peer influence or socialization.

Relationships among Parent-child Communication, Self-esteem and Sexual Assertiveness for Male and Female University Students: Gender Difference.

The purpose of this study was to compare the relationships among parent-child communication, self-esteem and sexual assertiveness for male and female university students. This descriptive study used a comparative survey design that utilized self-report questionnaires. A total of 470 participants were male and female university students in B metropolitan city. The degree of open communication use was higher for female students in comparison to male students, There were no differences in dysfunctional communication for both the father-child communication. There were no differences between males and females for the mother-child communication either. The degree of self-esteem was higher for male students in comparison to the female students. The degree of sexual assertiveness was higher for female students in comparison to the male students. The grade, religion, major, allowance source, marital status of parents, and relationship experience with opposite sex were influencing factors for the male students' sexual assertiveness whereas the individual's major and physical contact were influencing factors for the female students. Self-esteem and mother-child open communication were influencing factors of sexual assertiveness. Thus, the nursing intervention based on the influencing factors is needed in order for male and female students to express sexual assertiveness.

Parental Control: the Relationship Amongst Parental Supervision, Education, Income and Children’s Viewing Habits

This paper explores children’s relationship with TV and influence of parental mediation on that relationship by examining factors such as parents’ income, marital status, age, education, religion and the effects of the child’s time spent with nannies. We employed the Parents Topline study by Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research and Hart Research (2007) to investigate children's relationship with parents/guardians and television consumption in Kuwait. After pre-testing the survey was modified and several questions were omitted and altered to align it with the cultural factors and variables and was then translated into Arabic. In total, 827, surveys were deemed valid of which, 56.3% were females, and 43.7 % were males. Statistical significant variables were found in parental age, marital status, and domestic help and socioeconomic status and nationality in our results. Additionally what was found was that the socioeconomic status of the parents had no significance in parental mediation of their children’s TV consumption habits as much as age and education of the parent and age of the child.

“In Everything Illegitimate”: Bastards and the National Family

“In Everything Illegitimate”: Bastards and the National Family

Risk for household safety hazards: Socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors

IntroductionMany unintentional injuries to young children occur in the home. The current study examines the relation between family socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors and risk factors for home injury. MethodsPresence of household hazards was examined in 80 families with toddler-aged children. Parental ability to identify household hazards in pictures was also assessed. ANOVAs and Pearson product–moment correlations examined the relationship between presence of household hazards, knowledge to identify hazards, and factors of yearly family income, parental age, parental education, parental marital status, child ethnicity, and the number of children living in the home. ResultsA greater number of hazards were found in the homes of both the lowest and highest income families, but poorer knowledge to identify household hazards was found only among parents of the lowest income families and younger parents. Across family socioeconomic status, parent knowledge of hazards was related to observed household hazards. ConclusionsThe relationship between family income and risk for injury is complex, and children of both lower and higher SES families may be at risk for injury. Practical applicationsWhile historically particular focus has been placed on risk for injury among children in low income families, injury prevention efforts should target reducing presence of household hazards in both high and low SES families.

Parents' health and children's help.

The paper uses 'within-parent' variation to study how changes in British parents' health, marital status and financial resources affect receipt of help from their children. The analysis considers two measures of children's help (one enumerating specific activities and another reporting assistance with particular difficulties) and two measures of parents' health: self-reported assessments of overall health and enumeration of difficulties with activities of daily living. It uses three longitudinal data sets from Britain: the British Household Panel Study, Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The primary finding is that children's help is highly responsive to problems arising from a parent's health that limit a parent's mobility or their ability to live independently in a community. But it is not responsive to severe difficulties requiring daily care. The estimates of responsiveness that are based fully or partially on between-individual variation overstate the impact of parent's health on help.

Neighborhood racial composition and trajectories of child self-rated health: An application of longitudinal propensity scores

Children function within multiple socio-environmental contexts including family, school, and neighborhood. The role each of these contexts play in determining well-being is dynamic and changes throughout early-middle childhood. Recent literature on neighborhood context and health suggests that the life-course processes involved in building trajectories of health are not adequately captured in cross-sectional analysis, which has been the empirical focus of much of the research in this area. In this study we use a nationally representative longitudinal sample of approximately 21,400 United States school children derived from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) survey to examine the impact of longitudinal measures of neighborhood racial composition on child self-rated health between kindergarten and 8th grade. We employ two-level multilevel longitudinal logistic regression models with time-varying propensity scores to examine variation in the initial status and trajectories of child self-rated health between kindergarten and 8th grade. Since the ECLS-K tracked child mobility over time, we are able to model the impact of changes in neighborhood racial composition. We find significant differences in initial poor self-rated health by child race, household socioeconomic status and parental marital status but no evidence of a change in trajectory of health over time. Using time-varying propensity scores, we find no effect of neighborhood racial composition on initial health status or health status trajectories.

Differences in quality of life between pediatric sickle cell patients who used hydroxyurea and those who did not.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in quality of life (QoL) between two groups of pediatric sickle cell patients: those who used hydroxyurea and those who chose not to use the medication to treat sickle cell disease. The study was a quantitative, non-randomized, cross-sectional, comparative study. In total, 100 children ages seven to 17 participated in the study. Parents of the patients completed a demographic questionnaire while the participants completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (Peds QoL) and Sickle Cell Disease Quality of Life Inventory (SCD QoL). The Ped QoL regression analysis revealed that hydroxyurea use and parental marital status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in Ped QoL. The SCD QoL regression analysis also revealed that hydroxyurea and age accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in SCD QoL. Finally, the regression analysis revealed that SCD, parental marital status, parental income, sex, age, race and number of siblings did not account for a significant proportion of the variance in SCD crises per year. This paper proved a need to study the differences in QoL between those pediatric patients who used hydroxyurea and those who did not use the medication.

Parental marital status and childhood overweight and obesity in Norway: a nationally representative cross-sectional study

ObjectiveSociodemographic changes in Norway and other western industrialised countries, including family structure and an increasing proportion of cohabiting and divorced parents, might affect the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity...

The relationship between parental marital status and suicidal ideation and attempts by gender in adolescents: Results from a nationally representative Korean sample

ObjectiveSuicide in adolescents is a major problem worldwide. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in suicidal behaviors with respect to parental marital status. MethodsThe data used in this study were obtained from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS) of middle and high school students in 2010. Using a national representative sample, this study analyzed data from 73,238 subjects. With respect to gender, the odds ratios of suicidal behavior were calculated based on the parental marital status, living situation, and family affluence scale (FAS). ResultsAfter adjusting for age, achievement, sadness, and substance use, the prevalence of suicidal ideation in adolescents with a remarried parent significantly increased among boys to 1.364 [95% confidence interval (CI)=1.027–1.813] and among girls to 1.511 (95% CI=1.215–1.879). The odds ratio of suicide attempts increased to 1.808 (95% CI=1.119–2.923) for adolescent boys and to 1.947 (95% CI=1.609–2.356) for adolescent girls. However, having a single parent did not affect the prevalence of suicidal ideation in either gender. In girls, as family affluence decreased, the odds ratio of suicidal ideation notably increased. For girls whose families were in a low tier of the FAS, the odds ratio of both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts increased. ConclusionsBoth boys and girls were more likely to report suicidal ideation and attempts after a parent’s remarriage, whereas family affluence was inversely related to suicidal ideation and attempts in girls.

Cumplimiento del tratamiento antibiótico en niños en Atención Primaria

Antibiotic treatment compliance of children in Primary Care settings. Object: Collecting information about treatment compliance of children who have been prescribed antibiotics and identifying factors related to treatment noncompliance. Design of the study: Observational descriptive study. Setting: Primary Care Pediatric Outpatient Clinics. Participants: A group of 117 children under antibiotic treatment were assessed one week after prescription in Basic Healthcare areas. Main measures: Several socio-demographic variables were studied: age, sex, child and parentsnationality, parentseducational level, marital status of parents and their social status. Health problems (ICPC-2 classification), treatment compliance (Morisky-Green questionnaire) and other characteristics in relation to the prescribed antibiotic and to the participants were also assessed. Results: The average age of participants was 4.8 years (SD: 3.3). Treatment compliance (Morisky-Green) was inadequate in 55.6% (CI95%: 45.1-65.0%) of patients. The most frequent reasons for incorrect administration or treatment discontinuation were: not waking up the child (43.8%), improved condition (28.1%) and forgetting administration (13.8%). Fourteen patients (12.0%) presented adverse effects. The associated variables, by logistic regression, to antibiotic treatment noncompliance were: having one of the parents with secondary or higher studies (OR: 3.1; p=0.020), mother with primary education or lower (OR: 3.3; p=0.010) and antibiotic administration in three daily doses (OR:5.2; p=0.012). The variable two or more visits to the pediatric clinic in the last month bordered on statistical significance (OR: 2.2; p=0.059). Conclusions: More than half of the children with antibiotic treatment in Primary Care do not comply correctly with the prescribed therapy. The parentslevel of studies and the number of daily doses are related to noncompliance with antibiotic treatment, factors which should be