Feature Channels: Family and Parenting

• share
• favorite_border

The creator of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" said the shows have been called "one of the best public service campaigns to prevent teen pregnancy." A new Indiana University research study finds the opposite to be true. The paper accepted for publication in the journal Mass Communication and Society presents findings that such teen mom shows actually lead heavy viewers to believe that teen mothers have an enviable quality of life, a high income and involved fathers.

• share
• favorite_border

Smartphones, laptops, tablets and video games were happily crossed off many the wish lists of many young children and teens this Christmas. But for parents, giving children electronic devices has to be about more than just saving Christmas, it has to be about making sure kids are safe when they start getting online.

• share
• favorite_border

Common advice to new parents is that the more words babies hear the faster their vocabulary grows. Now new findings show that what spurs early language development isn't so much the quantity of words as the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.

• share
• favorite_border

Parents and other adults heap the highest praise on children who are most likely to be hurt by the compliments, a new study finds.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

University of Washington researchers evaluated about 20 parenting programs and found five that are especially effective at helping parents and children at all risk levels avoid adolescent behavior problems that affect not only individuals, but entire communities.

• share
• favorite_border

Whether it’s “A Christmas Story,” “The Santa Clause” or “Elf,” dads play a vital role in recent popular Christmas media. In real-life holiday scenarios, fathers do as well…and that’s true whether dads are merry makers or Christmas curmudgeons.

• share
• favorite_border

According to the Saint Leo poll, 84 percent of Americans say they agree with a policy of not allowing smart phones and other handheld devices at the table during family dinner. That number climbed to 87 percent when a family has guests joining them for dinner—with women even less tolerant than men (89 percent of women compared to 84 percent of women) of phones when guests are present.

• share
• favorite_border

Arizona State University Associate Professor and family therapist Larry Dumka offers insight into making the most of the season by focusing on things that really matter to you and those you love.

• share
• favorite_border

A new book by Murray Straus, founder and co-director of the Family Research Lab and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, brings together more than four decades of research that makes the definitive case against spanking, including how it slows cognitive development and increases antisocial and criminal behavior.

• share
• favorite_border

A prison sentence may not always have negative consequences for children of the incarcerated, says University of California, Irvine sociologist Kristin Turney. In a new study, she finds that when an uninvolved dad spends time behind bars, there are no negative effects on his parenting.

• share
• favorite_border

Expert shares quick, fun list of tips to avoid holiday-induced meltdowns

• share
• favorite_border

These pressures are particularly palpable during the holiday season. We often think our kids will be disappointed if we can’t measure up to their expectations at the holidays, and when we think it’s our job to keep them happy, we shudder at the thought of disappointing them. Dr. Aaron Cooper, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and author of I Just Want My Kids To Be Happy (Late August Press, 2008), provides expert tips to parents as they set and manage their children’s expectations during the holidays.

• share
• favorite_border

Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

• share
• favorite_border

More people than ever are living alone. That’s according to a new family profile from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University. Researchers found the percentage of households with just one person has more the doubled since 1960 from 13 to 27 percent.

• share
• favorite_border

Medical researchers point to developmental factors, specifically the decline of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, as an explanation for why children get less sleep as they become teenagers. But a new study suggests that social ties, including relationships with peers and parents, may be even more responsible for changing sleep patterns among adolescents.

• share
• favorite_border

Research shows that working a job that doesn’t keep 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours can hurt the relationships between parents and adolescents, increasing the likelihood that children will engage in delinquent behaviors. However, the researchers found that in some circumstances, an unconventional work schedule can be a benefit for children.

• share
• favorite_border

How malleable are we? Youths who experienced early maternal deprivation — specifically, time in an institution such as an orphanage — show similar responses to their adoptive mother and to strangers in a brain structure called the amygdala; for children never raised in an institutional setting, the amygdala is far more active in response to the adoptive mother alone.

• share
• favorite_border

Parents, let your children get messy in the high chair: They learn better that way. That's according to a new study from the University of Iowa, which concludes that a 16-month-old's setting and degree of interaction enhances his or her ability to identify nonsolid objects and name them. Results published in the journal Developmental Science.

• share
• favorite_border

Do drinking and marriage mix? That depends on who’s doing the drinking — and how much — according to a recent study by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

• share
• favorite_border

A new University of Michigan study found that the state immunization registry – the public health database that tracks vaccinations– can be an effective tool to encourage influenza vaccinations during a pandemic.

• share
• favorite_border

Does the use of government assistance by parents make their children more likely to use welfare, too? Yes, suggests research coauthored by University of California, San Diego economist Gordon Dahl. The question has been a difficult one and has fueled policy debates for decades

• share
• favorite_border

If there is a reasonable chance of increasing wealth in the parents’ environment then no difference is made between one’s own children and stepchildren.

• share
• favorite_border

Caregiver Monday is sharing survey results about caregivers neglecting their health during November, National Family Caregivers Month. The NFCM’s goals are to celebrate, educate, and raise awareness about the issues surrounding caregiving.

• share
• favorite_border

As little as 20 minutes of moderate exercise three times per week during pregnancy enhances the newborn child’s brain development, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children’s hospital. This head-start could have an impact on the child's entire life.

• share
• favorite_border

Women who met with each other for prenatal group visits felt less anxious and better prepared for childbirth and motherhood.

• share
• favorite_border

First randomized trial shows that texts and calls from parent coaches to young, at-risk mothers improved their parenting skills as well as their well-being and that of their children.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Even in couples most likely to believe in sharing parenting responsibilities, mothers still bear significantly more of the child care load, a new study reveals.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

The family is the singular most important factor influencing human identity. Expert clinicians at The Family Institute at Northwestern University are available to discuss a wide variety of the psychological issues facing today’s families. Our experts’ focuses include under-resourced couples, LGBTQ families, parents of special needs children, families of color, and the aging population.

• share
• favorite_border

Affluent girls residing in two-parent homes are much less likely to be sexually assaulted than other female youth, according to a new study conducted by University of Iowa School of Social Work professor Amy Butler. The results appear in the Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect.

• share
• favorite_border

A Mayo Clinic physician and two other pediatric experts say that parental perceptions pose a major barrier to acceptance of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination — and that many of those perceptions are wrong.

• share
• favorite_border

Most parents would love to get an e-mail response from their kids’ health care provider for a minor illness rather than making an office visit, but about half say that online consultation should be free.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Halloween stories can help children learn many important moral concepts.

• share
• favorite_border

The ways parents or caregivers interact with children around mealtimes can have unintended consequences, according to a new report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

A University of Iowa study shows that mothers with prematurely born babies benefit emotionally and mentally from one-on-one sessions with a hospital nurse. The pilot "listening visits" may provide a framework for helping pre-term infant mothers combat anxiety and depression. Results published in the Journal of Perinatology.

• share
• favorite_border

New findings suggest that attitudes coming into play about making medical decisions around vaccinating children are shaped by prior cultural values.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study for the first time examines the effects of abuse and lack of parental affection across the body’s entire regulatory system, and finds a strong biological link for how negative early life experiences affect physical health.

• share
• favorite_border

An unprecedented study of preterm birth suggests that only some of the problems previously associated with preterm birth are actually caused by preterm birth itself.

• share
• favorite_border

The extra demands on parents of chronically ill children cause stress that affects the whole family, according to a systematic review conducted by Case Western Reserve University researchers that also explored what factors in the child’s care most contribute to the added strain.

• share
• favorite_border

A series of 6 infographics on Youth Concussion Management is now available for free download from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's "Minds Matter" Initiative.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study finds that young women are more likely to have disordered eating attitudes when their mothers often communicate criticism and are over-involved. The study, “Family Interactions and Disordered Eating Attitudes: The Mediating Roles of Social Competence and Psychological Distress,” was published online today in the National Communication Association’s journal Communication Monographs.

• share
• favorite_border

Reading with your child is the key to building a child’s literacy skills. Emergent literacy begins at birth and continues through preschool and kindergarten. Learning is unbelievably powerful in early childhood development, according to Bradford Wiles, Kansas State University early childhood development assistant professor.

• share
• favorite_border

After a period of relative calm during the 1990s, rapid changes in American families began anew during the 2000s, a new analysis suggests.