Brief
This fact sheet gives information on the cause of food-related disagreements in families and provides strategies for effective communication to overcome these disagreements in a healthy way.
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Journal Article This paper reviews the research of the past two decades that addresses the relationship between family structure and early child health outcomes. Specifically, we focus on family structure's influence on child health during pregnancy, birth, and infancy. We briefly summarize the most pervasive changes to family structure in the US during recent decades and discuss how early child health is linked to future outcomes for children and adults. We review research that highlights the mechanisms linking family structure to early child health and identify key risk and protective factors for children…
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Journal Article This study investigated the associations between fathers' contributions to housework and childcare and both spouses' parenting aggravation. It was hypothesized that greater father contributions to domestic labor would be associated with more paternal aggravation but less maternal aggravation. Data are from a four-wave study of 178 married couples undergoing the transition to first parenthood. Dyadic growth-curve models revealed gender differences in aggravation trajectories over the first year of the child's life. Fathers were higher in initial aggravation, but mothers' aggravation grew at a…
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Journal Article Background: Previous studies suggest a link between parental separation or divorce and risk of depression in adolescence. There are, however, few studies that have prospectively examined the effects of timing of biological father absence on risk for depressive symptoms in adolescence while controlling for a range of confounding factors.Method: We examine the association between father absence occurring in early (the first 5 years) and middle childhood (5-10 years) and adolescent depressive symptoms in a sample comprising 5631 children from the UK-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and…
Brief
This brief highlights programs that are re-thinking services for children and families based on the science of early childhood development and understanding of the consequences of adverse early experiences and toxic stress. Efforts by Acelero Learning in New York City, the Westside Infant-Family Network in Los Angeles, and Catholic Community Services of the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Cost in Oregon are described.
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Journal Article What do fathers teach their sons, how do sons learn? This paper considers the way boys develop, become men, specifically with regard to their relationships with their fathers or indeed any other male authority figures they come into contact with. The material examined is a mix of the author's own biographical experience, a clinical vignette and a film--The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005). In all three, the development of young men is considered with particular emphasis on how 'sons' manage the urge to love the father, to placate him, with a need to hate him, to triumph over him.…
Other
Little Children, Big Challenges provides resources for families with young children (ages 3-8) as they encounter the difficult changes and transitions that come with a parent's incarceration.
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Journal Article Adult men often report a sense of feeling a father wound when reflecting on their own father-son relationship. Perhaps in part due to a rejection of traditional fathering practices that may have contributed to such wounds, fathers today are increasingly adopting a 'new involved father' role that is more welcoming of emotional expression and involvement in a child's life. This paper argues that adopting this new role may allow men to not only connect with their sons, but also to come to terms with problematic aspects of their own father-son relationship. In this way, fathering a son may allow…
In our discussion, we review and synthesize research evidence on five identified domains of instability that have been well established in the literature: family income, parental employment, family structure, housing, and the out-of-home contexts of school and child care. In our review of the evidence, we also discuss some of the key pathways through which instability may affect development. Specifically, research points to the underlying role of parenting, parental mental health, and the home environment in providing the stability and support young children need for positive development. We…
