Feature Channels: Family and Parenting

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Parents of newborns show poorer adjustment to their new role if they believe society expects them to be “perfect” moms and dads, a new study shows.

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The younger the parent and the younger the child, the more likely a family is to be poor, according to a new Child Trends report, Two Generations in Poverty: Status and Trends among Parents and Children in the United States, commissioned by Ascend: The Family Economic Security Program at the Aspen Institute. As policy makers ponder the merits of alternative measures of poverty, the Child Trends report outlines the disproportionate effects of poverty on young children, young parents, and children and parents in single-mother families.

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Engineers at North Carolina State University have developed a new handle for infant car seats (ICSs) that makes it easier for parents to lift the seat out of a car – while retaining a firmer grip on the handle – making it less likely that the seat will be dropped.

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For the holidays, professors offer expertise on parenting-related topics such as gender and toys, sharing family history, video games and children, encouraging generosity, and how to make the holidays happier for divorced parents

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During the holidays, Wake Forest University Professor of Counseling Samuel Gladding and his family will walk through the “halls of remembrance” at their home. Hanging on the walls are the picture collages Gladding and his wife, Claire, have created for every year since they’ve been married. The collages include highlights from each year: trips, soccer games, plays, family outings.

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Some things all new parents should know not to do.

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Whether comparing a man and a woman or a parent and a baby, we can still see when two people of different age or sex are genetically related. How do we know that people are part of a family? Findings from a new study published in the Journal of Vision increases our understanding of the brain’s ability to see through these underlying variations in facial structure.

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Hanging out with friends after school and on the weekends is a vital part of a teen’s social life. But for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, social activity outside of school is a rarity, finds a new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, autism expert and assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. He says that limited peer relationships can be detrimental to health and that promoting group activities is key for teens with ASDs.

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A Kansas State University research group is jumping ahead to improve nutrition and physical activity among young children and prevent childhood obesity. The researchers are reaching 3- to 5-year-olds and their parents through activities conducted at child care facilities.

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The majority of children experience personal changes and changes in relationships one year after their sibling has died from cancer; however, positive and negative changes are not universal. These are the findings from the first study – published online November 3, 2011 in Cancer Nursing – to examine changes in siblings after the death of a brother or sister to cancer from three different perspectives: mothers, fathers and siblings.

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Drs. Martin Finkel and Esther Deblinger, co-founders of the CARES Institute at UMDNJ, are available to discuss child sexual abuse, the "stranger danger" myth and how parents can protect their children from becoming victims.

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The ethical lapses at Penn State have provided some important lessons, says a prominent counselor and psychologist.