peewee
have spacesuit — will travel
robert heinlein 1958
calvin and hobbes
bill watterson
あずまんが大王
azumangaDAIOH
books for toddlers
being childless theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/02/the-desire-to-have-a-child-never-goes-away-how-the-involuntarily-childless-are-forming-a-new-movement
birthstrikers: meet the women who refuse to have children until climate change ends
elle hunt 2019
http://theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/12/birthstrikers-meet-the-women-who-refuse-to-have-children-until-climate-change-ends
pubertal stress recalibration reverses the effects of early life stress in postinstitutionalized children
view orcid profilemegan r. et al. 2020
doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1909699116
achtung baby: an american mom on the german art of raising self-reliant children
sara zaske 2018
towards a fuller assessment of benefits to children’s health of reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change due to fossil fuel combustion
f. perera et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.12.016
The researchers say their goal is to expand the kinds of health outcomes used in calculations of the health and economic benefits of implementing clean air and climate change policies which are largely limited to the effects of air pollution on premature deaths and other outcomes in adults. The new paper aggregates research on outcomes, including adverse birth outcomes, cognitive and behavioral problems, and asthma incidence.
"Policies to reduce fossil fuel emissions serve a dual purpose, both reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change, with sizable combined health and economic benefits," says first author Frederica Perera, PhD, director of CCCEH and professor of Environmental Health Sciences. "However, because only a few adverse outcomes in children have been considered, policymakers and the public have not yet seen the extent of the potential benefits of clean air and climate change policies, particularly for children."
The researchers reviewed 205 peer-reviewed studies published between January 1, 2000 and April 30, 2018 which provided information on the relationship between the concentration of exposures to air pollutants and health outcomes. The studies relate to fuel combustion by-products, including toxic air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). A table provides information on the risk of health outcomes for exposure by study, encompassing research on six continents.
"There is extensive evidence on the many harms of air pollution on children's health," says Perera. "Our paper presents these findings in a convenient fashion to support clean air and climate change policies that protect children's health."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that more than 40 percent of the burden of environmentally related disease and about 90 percent of the burden of climate change is borne by children under five, although that age group constitutes only 10 percent of the global population. The direct health impacts in children of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion include adverse birth outcomes, impairment of cognitive and behavioral development, respiratory illness, and potentially childhood cancer. As a major driver of climate change, combustion of fossil fuel is also directly and indirectly contributing to illness, injury, death, and impaired mental health in children through more frequent and severe heat events, coastal and inland flooding, drought, forest fires, intense storms, the spread of infectious disease vectors, increased food insecurity, and greater social and political instability. These impacts are expected to worsen in the future.
abstract Background
Fossil fuel combustion by-products, including particulate matter (PM2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), are a significant threat to children's health and equality. Various policies to reduce emissions have been implemented to reduce air pollution and mitigate climate change, with sizeable estimated health and economic benefits. However, only a few adverse outcomes in children have been considered, resulting in an undercounting of the benefits to this vulnerable population.
Objectives
Our goal was to expand the suite of child health outcomes addressed by programs to assess health and economic benefits, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP), by identifying concentration-response (C-R) functions for six outcomes related to PM2.5, NO2, PAH, and/or PM10: preterm birth (PTB), low birthweight (LBW), autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, IQ reduction, and the development of childhood asthma.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review of the literature published between January 1, 2000 and April 30, 2018 to identify relevant peer-reviewed case-control and cohort studies and meta–analyses. In some cases meta-analyses were available that provided reliable C-R functions and we assessed their consistency with subsequent studies. Otherwise, we reviewed all eligible studies published between our search dates.
Results
For each pollutant and health outcome, we present the characteristics of each selected study. We distinguish between C-R functions for endpoints having a causal or likely relationship PTB, LBW, autism, asthma development) with the pollutants for incorporation into primary analyses and endpoints having a suggestive causal relationship with the pollutants (IQ reduction, ADHD) for secondary analyses.
Conclusion
We have identified C-R functions for a number of adverse health outcomes in children associated with air pollutants largely from fossil fuel combustion. Their incorporation into expanded assessments of health benefits of clean air and climate mitigation policies will provide an important incentive for preventive action.
environmental burden of childhood disease in europe
david rojas-rueda et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061084
every year exposure to particulate matter of less than 10 micrograms (PM10) in diameter and less than 2.5 micrograms (PM2.5) takes away 125,000 years of healthy life from children in Europe.
This analysis, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, assessed the burden of disease for the child population of the 28 countries in the European Union for seven environmental risk factors: air pollution -- PM10, PM2.5 and ozone -- passive tobacco smoke, humidity, lead and formaldehyde.
Population and health data were compiled from several European databases and the analysis of the environmental burden of disease was conducted in line with the comparative risk assessment approach proposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project. The researchers calculated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), a measure of overall burden of disease expressed as the number of years of healthy life lost to illness, disability or premature death.
The conclusions show that the environmental exposure factors included in this study take away 211,000 years of healthy life from the European population under 18 years old, accounting for 2.6% of the total. Air pollution (PM10, PM2.5 and ozone) was the most harmful exposure, causing up to 70% of the years of healthy life lost, followed by passive tobacco smoking at 20%.
"The environmental factors included in the study were chosen according to various criteria: they are the exposures for which the most data exist at national level and also those for which there is evidence of a causal relationship with effects on health, among others," states David Rojas, the lead author of the study.
The researcher emphasises that "out of all the risks studied, particulate matter are those that cause the greatest burden of disease, as they are associated with respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological illnesses, among others, as well as with higher infant mortality." "In fact, their real impact may be higher than that indicated by our estimates, as we have only taken into account their effects on infant mortality and asthma in the case of PM10, and lower respiratory tract infections in the case of PM2.5."
Out of the 28 countries included in the study, 22 - the exceptions were Luxembourg, Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Denmark -- reported PM10 levels above those recommended by the WHO (annual average below 20 g/m3) and all of them showed ozone levels above those considered safe (an average of 100 g/m3 over eight hours).
Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, coordinator of the study and of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal, points out that "this study shows the pressing need to implement effective policies to reduce children's exposure to environmental risk factors throughout Europe, paying special attention to air pollution and passive smoking." The researcher also points out that "common European databases need to be created to compile and harmonise exposure data for environmental risk factors, especially in childhood, as well as conducting epidemiological studies of multiple environmental risk factors."
abstract Environmental factors determine children’s health. Quantifying the health impacts related to environmental hazards for children is essential to prioritize interventions to improve health in Europe. Objective: This study aimed to assess the burden of childhood disease due to environmental risks across the European Union. Methods: We conducted an environmental burden of childhood disease assessment in the 28 countries of the EU (EU28) for seven environmental risk factors (particulate matter less than 10 micrometer of diameter (PM10) and less than 2.5 micrometer of diameter (PM2.5), ozone, secondhand smoke, dampness, lead, and formaldehyde). The primary outcome was disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), assessed from exposure data provided by the World Health Organization, Global Burden of Disease project, scientific literature, and epidemiological risk estimates. Results: The seven studied environmental risk factors for children in the EU28 were responsible for around 211,000 DALYs annually. Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) was the main environmental risk factor, producing 59% of total DALYs (125,000 DALYs), followed by secondhand smoke with 20% of all DALYs (42,500 DALYs), ozone 11% (24,000 DALYs), dampness 6% (13,000 DALYs), lead 3% (6200 DALYs), and formaldehyde 0.2% (423 DALYs). Conclusions: Environmental exposures included in this study were estimated to produce 211,000 DALYs each year in children in the EU28, representing 2.6% of all DALYs in children. Among the included environmental risk factors, air pollution (particulate matter and ozone) was estimated to produce the highest burden of disease in children in Europe, half of which was due to the effects of PM10 on infant mortality. Effective policies to reduce environmental pollutants across Europe are needed.
a prospective cohort study of adolescents’ memory performance and individual brain dose of microwave radiation from wireless communication
foerster m. et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp2427
organophosphate exposures during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment: recommendations for essential policy reforms
irva hertz-picciotto et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002671
Widespread use of organophosphate (OP) pesticides to control insects has resulted in ubiquitous human exposures.
High exposures to OP pesticides are responsible for poisonings and deaths, particularly in developing countries.
Compelling evidence indicates that prenatal exposure at low levels is putting children at risk for cognitive and behavioral deficits and for neurodevelopmental disorders.
memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: a prospective cohort study in adolescents
anna schoeni et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.09.025
your baby’s microbiome: the critical role of vaginal birth and breastfeeding for lifelong health
toni harman & alex wakeford 2017 not yet read
revisiting the marshmallow test: a conceptual replication investigating links between early delay of gratification and later outcomes
tyler w. watts et al. 2018
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618761661
rational snacking: young children’s decision-making on the marshmallow task is moderated by beliefs about environmental reliability
celeste kidd et al. 2012
doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.08.004
• Children wait longer in the marshmallow task when the experimenter is reliable. • Children’s behavior on this task is likely influenced by rational factors. • Self-control is not the sole determinant in delay-of-gratification success.
Children are notoriously bad at delaying gratification to achieve later, greater rewards (e.g., Piaget, 1970)—and some are worse at waiting than others. Individual differences in the ability-to-wait have been attributed to self-control, in part because of evidence that long-delayers are more successful in later life (e.g., Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Here we provide evidence that, in addition to self-control, children’s wait-times are modulated by an implicit, rational decision-making process that considers environmental reliability. We tested children (M = 4;6, N = 28) using a classic paradigm—the marshmallow task (Mischel, 1974)—in an environment demonstrated to be either unreliable or reliable. Children in the reliable condition waited significantly longer than those in the unreliable condition (p < 0.0005), suggesting that children’s wait-times reflected reasoned beliefs about whether waiting would ultimately pay off. Thus, wait-times on sustained delay-of-gratification tasks (e.g., the marshmallow task) may not only reflect differences in self-control abilities, but also beliefs about the stability of the world.
how children succeed: grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character
paul tough 2012 9780547564661
grit: the power of passion and perseverance
angela duckworth 2016
evolution-informed maternal–infant health
helen l. ball 2017
nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0073
the sleeping infant brain anticipates development
manuela friedrich et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.070
Memory consolidation during infant sleep parallels early stages of lexical development
The duration of sleep stage 2 determines the developmental stage of new infant memories
Local sleep spindles in N2 are involved in the formation of lexical-semantic LTM
Sleep-dependent memory consolidation precedes the normal course of development
From the age of 3 months, infants learn relations between objects and co-occurring words 1 . These very first representations of object-word pairings in infant memory are considered as non-symbolic proto-words comprising specific visual-auditory associations that can already be formed in the first months of life [ 2–5 ]. Genuine words that refer to semantic long-term memory have not been evidenced prior to 9 months of age [ 6–9 ]. Sleep is known to facilitate the reorganization of memories [ 9–14 ], but its impact on the perceptual-to-semantic trend in early development is unknown. Here we explored the formation of word meanings in 6- to 8-month-old infants and its reorganization during the course of sleep. Infants were exposed to new words as labels for new object categories. In the memory test about an hour later, generalization to novel category exemplars was tested. In infants who took a short nap during the retention period, a brain response of 3-month-olds 1 was observed, indicating generalizations based on early developing perceptual-associative memory. In those infants who napped longer, a semantic priming effect [ 15, 16 ] usually found later in development [ 17–19 ] revealed the formation of genuine words. The perceptual-to-semantic shift in memory was related to the duration of sleep stage 2 and to locally increased sleep spindle activity. The finding that, after the massed presentation of several labeled category exemplars, sleep enabled even 6-month-olds to create semantic long-term memory clearly challenges the notion that immature brain structures are responsible for the typically slower lexical development.
we can teach children to smell bullshit
julia belluz and alvin chang 2017
vox.com/science-and-health/2017/5/21/15505812/lancet-teach-informed-health-choices-teaching-kids
early childhood investment impacts social decision-making four decades later
yi luo et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07138-5
effects of the informed health choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in uganda to assess claims about treatment effects: a randomised controlled trial
daniel semakula et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31225-4
together i can! joint attention boosts 3- to 4-year-olds’ performance in a verbal false-belief test
elia psouni et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13075
the impact of gratitude on adolescent materialism and generosity
lan nguyen chaplin et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1497688
air pollution
quadruple abnormal protein aggregates in brainstem pathology and exogenous metal-rich magnetic nanoparticles (and engineered ti-rich nanorods). the substantia nigrae is a very early target in young urbanites and the gastrointestinal tract a key brainstem portal
liliancalderón-garcidueñas et al. 2020
doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110139
traffic-related air pollution and telomere length in children and adolescents living in fresno, ca
eunice y. lee et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000996
hallmarks of alzheimer disease are evolving relentlessly in metropolitan mexico city infants, children and young adults. apoe4 carriers have higher suicide risk and higher odds of reaching nft stage v at ≤ 40 years of age
lilian calderón-garcidueña et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.03.023
•Exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are associated with Alzheimer’s disease(AD) risk.
•AD starts in the brainstem of children.
•AD hallmarks are present in 202/203 CDMX residents ages 11 months to 40 years.
•APOE4 carriers have 4.92 times higher suicide odds versus APOE3.
•Highly oxidative, ubiquitous nanoparticles are a plausible path into AD pathogenesis.
Exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) above USEPA standards are associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk. Metropolitan Mexico City (MMC) residents have life time exposures to PM2.5 and O3 above USEPA standards. We investigated AD intra and extracellular protein aggregates and ultrastructural neurovascular pathology in 203 MMC residents age 25.36 ± 9.23 y. Immunohistochemical methods were used to identify AT8 hyperphosphorilated tau (Htau) and 4G8 (amyloid β 17-24). Primary outcomes: staging of Htau and amyloid, per decade and cumulative PM2.5 (CPM2.5) above standard. Apolipoprotein E allele 4 (APOE4), age and cause of death were secondary outcomes.
Subcortical pretangle stage b was identified in an 11month old baby. Cortical tau pre-tangles, neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) Stages I-II, amyloid phases 1–2, Htau in substantia nigrae, auditory, oculomotor, trigeminal and autonomic systems were identified by the 2nd decade. Progression to NFT stages III-V was present in 24.8% of 30–40 y old subjects. APOE4 carriers have 4.92 times higher suicide odds (p = 0.0006), and 23.6 times higher odds of NFT V (p < 0.0001) v APOE4 non-carriers having similar CPM2.5 exposure and age. Age (p = 0.0062) and CPM2.5 (p = 0.0178) were significant for developing NFT V. Combustion-derived nanoparticles were associated with early and progressive damage to the neurovascular unit. Alzheimer’s disease starting in the brainstem of young children and affecting 99.5% of young urbanites is a serious health crisis. Air pollution control should be prioritised. Childhood relentless Htau makes a fundamental target for neuroprotective interventions and the first two decades are critical. We recommend the concept of preclinical AD be revised and emphasize the need to define paediatric environmental, nutritional, metabolic and genetic risk factor interactions of paramount importance to prevent AD. AD evolving from childhood is threating the wellbeing of our children and future generations.
congenital heart defects and intensity of oil and gas well site activities in early pregnancy
lisa m. mckenzie et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.104949
"We observed more children were being born with a congenital heart defect in areas with the highest intensity of oil and gas well activity," said the study's senior author Lisa McKenzie, PhD, MPH, of the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
At least 17 million people in the U.S. and 6% of Colorado's population live within one mile of an active oil and gas well site.
The study was published today in the peer-reviewed journal Environment International.
The researchers studied 3,324 infants born in Colorado from 2005-2011. They looked at infants with several specific types of CHDs.
Researchers estimated the monthly intensity oil and gas well activity at mother's residence from three months prior to conception through the second month of pregnancy. This intensity measure accounted for the phase of development (drilling, well completion, or production), size of well sites, and production volumes.
They found mothers living in areas with the most intense levels of oil and gas well activity were about 40-70% more likely to have children with CHDs. This is the most common birth defect in the country and a leading cause of death among infants with birth defects. Infants with a CHD are less likely to thrive, more likely to have developmental problems and more vulnerable to brain injury.
Animal models show that CHDs can happen with a single environmental exposure during early pregnancy. Some of the most common hazardous air pollutants emitted from well sites are suspected teratogens -- agents that can cause birth defects -- known to cross the placenta.
The study builds on a previous one that looked at 124,842 births in rural Colorado between1996-2009 and found that CHDs increased with increasing density of oil and gas wells around the maternal residence. Another study in Oklahoma that looked at 476,000 births found positive but imprecise associations between proximity to oil and gas wells and several types of CHDs.
Those studies had several limitations including not being able to distinguish between well development and production phases at sites, and they did not confirm specific CHDs by reviewing medical records.
The limitations were addressed in this latest study. Researchers were able to confirm where the mothers lived in the first months of their pregnancy, estimate the intensity of well activity and account for the presence of other air pollution sources. The CHDs were also confirmed by a medical record review and did not include those with a known genetic origin.
"We observed positive associations between odds of a birth with a CHD and maternal exposure to oil and gas activities...in the second gestational month," the study researchers said.
The study data showed higher levels of CHDs in rural areas with high intensities of oil and gas activity as opposed to those in more urban areas. McKenzie said it is likely that other sources of air pollution in urban areas obscured those associations.
Exactly how chemicals lead to CHDs is not entirely understood. Some evidence suggests that they may affect the formation of the heart in the second month of pregnancy. That could lead to birth defects.
McKenzie said the findings suggested but did not prove a causal relationship between oil and gas exploration and congenital heart defects and that more research needs to be done.
"This study provides further evidence of a positive association between maternal proximity to oil and gas well site activities and several types of CHDs," she said. "Taken together, our results and expanding development of oil and gas well sites underscore the importance of continuing to conduct comprehensive and rigorous research on health consequences of early life exposure to oil and gas activities."
abstract •Higher pulmonary artery and valve defect prevalence in oil and gas activity area
•Congenital heart defect prevalence highest in rural areas with oil and gas activity
•Higher aortic artery and valve defect prevalence in rural oil and gas activity area
•Higher conotruncal defect prevalence in rural oil and gas activity area
•Higher tricuspid valve defect prevalence in rural oil and gas activity area
association of use of cleaning products with respiratory health in a canadian birth cohort
jaclyn parks et al. 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.190819
cleaning products and asthma risk: a potentially important public health concern
elissa m. abrams 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.200025
• A linked cohort study notes an association between use of household cleaning products early in life and risk of childhood wheeze and asthma at age 3 years.
• Accumulating evidence shows that household cleaning products increase the risk of asthma or wheeze across age groups.
• Chemicals in household cleaning products are currently underregulated in North America.
• Further research is required to examine the longer-term impacts of exposure to such products early in life on the developing airways of young children and any phenotypic variation in sequelae.
exposure to environmental toxicants and early language development for children reared in low-income households
hui jiang et al. 2020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0009922820908591
data on 190 families from the Kids in Columbus Study, a Crane Center research project that followed children born into low-income families in Columbus for five years after birth.
When they first started the study, mothers were asked about their use of household chemicals such as floor and toilet cleaners and solvents during pregnancy. They were asked again when their child was 14 to 23 months old. Mothers also reported whether they had mold in the home, their use of pesticides, and neighborhood pollution sources.
Children’s language development was measured when they were between 14 and 23 months old and again when they were 20 to 25 months old. The researchers used a standardized test that examines children’s understanding and expression of language — for example, recognition of objects and people, following directions, and naming objects and pictures.
Findings showed that neighborhood pollution, mold in the house and pesticide use were not significantly linked to child outcomes.
But the more household chemicals mothers reported using regularly after childbirth, the lower the child language and cognitive outcomes at 2 years of age.
There was no link between chemical use during pregnancy and child outcomes, possibly because mothers reported using significantly fewer chemicals during pregnancy.
Exposure to toxic chemicals was reported by about 20 percent of mothers during pregnancy, but that increased to 30 percent when their children were between 1 and 2 years old. Mothers also reported using more household chemicals after childbirth.
“A lot of mothers seem to know to limit exposure to toxic chemicals during pregnancy, but once their child is born, they may think it is no longer a problem,” Jiang said.
But research has shown these early years of a child’s life are key in many ways, said Laura Justice, co-author of the study and professor of educational psychology at Ohio State.
“When kids reach about 2 years old, that is a peak time for brain development,” said Justice, who is executive director of The Crane Center.
“If the use of toxic chemicals is interfering with that development, that could lead to problems with language and cognitive growth.”
While many mothers may use household cleaners and other toxic chemicals when their children are young, low-income mothers may face particular challenges, Jiang said.
For example, they often live in smaller apartments where it may be more difficult to keep children away from chemicals, particularly while they are cleaning.
Jiang noted that this study simply analyzed the relationship between mothers’ use of toxic chemicals and later child development and as such can’t prove that chemical use caused the developmental delays.
abstract Considerable evidence has highlighted the heightened susceptibility of developmental delay in children from low-income homes; consequently, this study explored whether environmental toxicant exposure may be a contributing factor to disruption in language and cognitive development for children reared in poverty. Using a sample of 190 low-income mothers and their young children, mothers completed questionnaires on toxicant exposure in the home environment. Exposure to toxicants, especially pesticides, was reported by about 20% of mothers at or around pregnancy, and 30% when their children were between 1 and 2 years of age. Toxicant exposure was significantly associated with lags in language and cognition even when controlling for socioeconomic factors.
child gender influences paternal behavior, language, and brain function
jennifer s. mascaro et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1037/bne0000199
parental exposure
sperm dna methylation epimutation biomarker for paternal offspring autism susceptibility
nicolás garrido et al. 2021
doi.org/10.1186/s13148-020-00995-2
long-term risk of neuropsychiatric disease after exposure to infection in utero
benjamin j. s. al-haddad et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0029
“The results indicate that safeguarding against and preventing infection during pregnancy as far as possible by, for instance, following flu vaccination recommendations, may be called for,” says Verena Sengpiel, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and last author of the study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Maternal infection with certain infectious agents, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) or the herpes virus, are already known to be capable of harming fetal brain development and boosting the risk of certain psychiatric disorders.
The findings of the current study, however, also show that infection in general during pregnancy, too — including when the actual infectious agent does not reach the fetal brain — is related to elevated risk of the child developing autism or depression later in life.
More autism and depression
The study is based on data on all children, totaling almost 1.8 million, born in Sweden during the years 1973-2014. The particulars from the Swedish Medical Birth Register were linked to the national inpatient register, which records whether the mother was treated in hospital with an infection diagnosis during the pregnancy concerned.
Using the inpatient register, the researchers also monitored these children’s mental health until 2014, when the oldest were aged 41.
It was found that if, during pregnancy, a mother with an infection diagnosis received hospital treatment, there was a marked rise in the risk of her child needing hospital care later in life, with a diagnosis of either autism or depression. The increase in risk was 79 percent for autism and 24 percent for depression.
In contrast, there was no association between the mothers being in hospital with an infection diagnosis during pregnancy and two other psychiatric diagnoses studied in their children: bipolar disorder and psychosis, including schizophrenia.
Increased risk even after mild infection
The pregnant women in the study may have been hospitalized with diagnoses other than infections, but then had infections diagnosed during their stay as well. The elevated risk of mental ill-health in the child was also evident after infections in the pregnant women that are usually considered mild, such as a common urinary tract infection.
The study, which was observational, provides no answer on how maternal infection during pregnancy affects fetal brain development. However, other studies have shown that an infection in the mother leads to an inflammatory reaction, and that some inflammatory proteins can affect gene expression in fetal brain cells.
Other research shows that inflammation in the mother boosts production of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the placenta, which may conceivably affect the unborn child’s brain development.
abstract Importance The developmental origins of mental illness are incompletely understood. Although the development of autism and schizophrenia are linked to infections during fetal life, it is unknown whether more common psychiatric conditions such as depression might begin in utero.
Objective To estimate the risk of psychopathologic conditions imparted from fetal exposure to any maternal infection while hospitalized during pregnancy.
Design, Setting, and Participants A total of 1 791 520 Swedish children born between January 1, 1973, and December 31, 2014, were observed for up to 41 years using linked population-based registries. Children were excluded if they were born too late to contribute person-time, died before being at risk for the outcome, or were missing particular model data. Infection and psychiatric diagnoses were derived using codes from hospitalizations. Directed acyclic graphs were developed from a systematic literature review to determine Cox proportional hazards regression models for risk of psychopathologic conditions in the children. Results were evaluated using probabilistic and simple bias analyses. Statistical analysis was conducted from February 10 to October 17, 2018.
Exposures Hospitalization during pregnancy with any maternal infection, severe maternal infection, and urinary tract infection.
Main Outcomes and Measures Inpatient diagnosis of autism, depression, bipolar disorder, or psychosis among offspring.
Results A total of 1 791 520 Swedish-born children (48.6% females and 51.4% males) were observed from birth up to age 41 years, with a total of 32 125 813 person-years. Within the directed acyclic graph framework of assumptions, fetal exposure to any maternal infection increased the risk of an inpatient diagnosis in the child of autism (hazard ratio [HR], 1.79; 95% CI, 1.34-2.40) or depression (HR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.08-1.42). Effect estimates for autism and depression were similar following a severe maternal infection (autism: HR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.18-2.78; depression: HR, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.88-1.73) or urinary tract infection (autism: HR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.23-2.90; depression: HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.04-1.61) and were robust to moderate unknown confounding. Within the directed acyclic graph framework of assumptions, the relationship between infection and depression was vulnerable to bias from loss to follow-up, but separate data from the Swedish Death Registry demonstrated increased risk of suicide among individuals exposed to pregnancy infection. No evidence was found for increased risk of bipolar disorder or psychosis among children exposed to infection in utero.
Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest that fetal exposure to a maternal infection while hospitalized increased the risk for autism and depression, but not bipolar or psychosis, during the child’s life. These results emphasize the importance of avoiding infections during pregnancy, which may impart subtle fetal brain injuries contributing to development of autism and depression.
assessment of glyphosate induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of pathologies and sperm epimutations: generational toxicology
deepika kubsad et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42860-0
a variety of diseases and other health problems in the second- and third-generation offspring of rats exposed to glyphosate, the world's most popular weed killer. In the first study of its kind, the researchers saw descendants of exposed rats developing prostate, kidney and ovarian diseases, obesity and birth abnormalities.
Michael Skinner, a WSU professor of biological sciences, and his colleagues exposed pregnant rats to the herbicide between their eighth and 14th days of gestation. The dose -- half the amount expected to show no adverse effect -- produced no apparent ill effects on either the parents or the first generation of offspring.
But writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers say they saw "dramatic increases" in several pathologies affecting the second and third generations. The second generation had "significant increases" in testis, ovary and mammary gland diseases, as well as obesity. In third-generation males, the researchers saw a 30 percent increase in prostate disease -- three times that of a control population. The third generation of females had a 40 percent increase in kidney disease, or four times that of the controls.
More than one-third of the second-generation mothers had unsuccessful pregnancies, with most of those affected dying. Two out of five males and females in the third generation were obese.
Skinner and his colleagues call this phenomenon "generational toxicology" and they've seen it over the years in fungicides, pesticides, jet fuel, the plastics compound bisphenol A, the insect repellant DEET and the herbicide atrazine. At work are epigenetic changes that turn genes on and off, often because of environmental influences.
Skinner said he decided to study glyphosate "due to it being one of the most commonly used compounds worldwide."
The chemical has been the subject of numerous studies about its health effects. The Skinner study is the third in the past few months out of Washington alone. A University of Washington study published in February found the chemical increased the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by as much as 41 percent. A Washington State University study published in December found state residents living close to areas subject to treatments with the herbicide are one-third more likely to die an early death from Parkinson's disease.
The chemical's generational toxicology represents a new downside that Skinner and his colleagues said should be incorporated into estimates of its risk.
"The ability of glyphosate and other environmental toxicants to impact our future generations needs to be considered," they write, "and is potentially as important as the direct exposure toxicology done today for risk assessment."
The research was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
abstract Ancestral environmental exposures to a variety of factors and toxicants have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease. One of the most widely used agricultural pesticides worldwide is the herbicide glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine), commonly known as Roundup. There are an increasing number of conflicting reports regarding the direct exposure toxicity (risk) of glyphosate, but no rigorous investigations on the generational actions. The current study using a transient exposure of gestating F0 generation female rats found negligible impacts of glyphosate on the directly exposed F0 generation, or F1 generation offspring pathology. In contrast, dramatic increases in pathologies in the F2 generation grand-offspring, and F3 transgenerational great-grand-offspring were observed. The transgenerational pathologies observed include prostate disease, obesity, kidney disease, ovarian disease, and parturition (birth) abnormalities. Epigenetic analysis of the F1, F2 and F3 generation sperm identified differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs). A number of DMR associated genes were identified and previously shown to be involved in pathologies. Therefore, we propose glyphosate can induce the transgenerational inheritance of disease and germline (e.g. sperm) epimutations. Observations suggest the generational toxicology of glyphosate needs to be considered in the disease etiology of future generations.
convergence of placenta biology and genetic risk for schizophrenia
gianluca ursini et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41591-018-0021-y
low-dose suramin in autism spectrum disorder: a small, phase i/ii, randomized clinical trial
robert naviaux et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1002/acn3.424
prenatal exposure to acetaminophen and children’s language development at 30 months
c.-g. bornehag et al. 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.10.007
the des saga: death risk high for young women exposed in utero
follow-up of patients with clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix
dezheng huo et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/nejmc1800097
new paralytic illness reported in USA, 90% children
https://www.scmp.com
prenatal allergen exposure perturbs sexual differentiation and programs lifelong changes in adult social and sexual behavior
kathryn m. lenz et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41258-2
Female rats born to mothers exposed to an allergen during pregnancy acted more characteristically "male" -- mounting other female rodents, for instance -- and had brains and nervous systems that looked more like those seen in typical male animals.
The male offspring also showed a tendency toward more female characteristics and behaviors, though the changes were not as significant.
"The study shows for the first time that an allergic reaction in a mother could alter the sexual development of its offspring," said Kathryn Lenz, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. The research appears online in the journal Scientific Reports.
"This allergic response is enough to make the female brain look like a male's brain, and that's something that endures throughout its entire life."
Previous research has shown that insults to the immune system, including stress, infection and malnutrition, can change brain development. This new research highlights the important role allergies could play, Lenz said.
She compared the allergic reaction in the study to an asthma attack -- something that prompts a more-robust immune response than low-grade seasonal allergies but less severe than an allergic attack that would require a person to use an EpiPen or go to the emergency department.
Sexual development occurs on a spectrum and, in and of themselves, these shifts in sexual behavior after allergy exposure are not particularly troubling, Lenz said. They do help researchers understand the interplay between allergens and brain development, however, and highlight that early life immune activation could be a source of normal variations in female behavior, which haven't been as well-studied.
And these types of brain changes as a response to an allergen could mean changes in other areas of concern, such as cognitive development.
"It's possible these changes could also contribute to things like impaired decision-making, attention and hyperactivity," she said.
The study builds on Lenz's previous work, which found changes in immune cells called microglia and mast cells in an area of the brain called the preoptic area, a region of the hypothalamus involved in sexual behavior.
"We wanted to see if an allergic exposure that activated these cells would also change typical development," said Lenz.
Mother animals in the study were either exposed once to an allergen derived from eggs or unexposed.
Then, the research team studied their pups into adulthood. Females born to mothers that had an allergic reaction during pregnancy exhibited higher levels of behavior normally attributed to males. They mounted other females more often and were as quick to mount another female as typical male rats. They also were drawn to bedding that smelled like other females.
Furthermore, they had increases in brain cells called mast cells and microglia and evidence of more synapses in the brain -- changes that looked more like what the researchers would expect in a male rat.
Males born to the allergy-exposed mothers behaved less like typical male rats. They had less interest in mounting and less interest in female bedding. The researchers also saw less activation of microglia and fewer synapses -- both of which point to a change in the rats as a result of the allergen exposure that made them more like females, Lenz said.
"Most of the scientific literature on immune activation during pregnancy and outcomes in offspring has focused on autism and schizophrenia. This is the first time we're seeing this kind of connection with altered sexual development," Lenz said.
"Interestingly, there's some research out there to show an increase in gender variance and gender-identity differences in people with autism. It suggests that something about sexual development is different in people with autism."
Lenz said she was especially interested in the profound changes seen in female brain development, because that's an area that hasn't been as well-studied in neuroscience.
"Oftentimes, we are focused on male animals because they appear to be more sensitive to environment changes and also have a higher incidence of conditions such as ADHD and autism. We often frame what we understand about the female brain and female behavior in relation to males. We need to move past that," Lenz said.
"Study of female sexual development has just really been neglected. Even though we know there's wide variety in girls' and women's behavior, we don't really understand what contributes to those variations."
abstract Sexual differentiation is the early life process by which the brain is prepared for male or female typical behaviors, and is directed by sex chromosomes, hormones and early life experiences. We have recently found that innate immune cells residing in the brain, including microglia and mast cells, are more numerous in the male than female rat brain. Neuroimmune cells are also key participants in the sexual differentiation process, specifically organizing the synaptic development of the preoptic area and leading to male-typical sexual behavior in adulthood. Mast cells are known for their roles in allergic responses, thus in this study we sought to determine if exposure to an allergic response of the pregnant female in utero would alter the sexual differentiation of the preoptic area of offspring and resulting sociosexual behavior in later life. Pregnant rats were sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA), bred, and challenged intranasally with OVA on gestational day 15, which produced robust allergic inflammation, as measured by elevated immunoglobulin E. Offspring of these challenged mother rats were assessed relative to control rats in the early neonatal period for mast cell and microglia activation within their brains, downstream dendritic spine patterning on POA neurons, or grown to adulthood to assess behavior and dendritic spines. In utero exposure to allergic inflammation increased mast cell and microglia activation in the neonatal brain, and led to masculinization of dendritic spine density in the female POA. In adulthood, OVA-exposed females showed an increase in male-typical mounting behavior relative to control females. In contrast, OVA-exposed males showed evidence of dysmasculinization, including reduced microglia activation, reduced neonatal dendritic spine density, decreased male-typical copulatory behavior, and decreased olfactory preference for female-typical cues. Together these studies show that early life allergic events may contribute to natural variations in both male and female sexual behavior, potentially via underlying effects on brain-resident mast cells.
associations of acetylcholinesterase activity with depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents growing up near pesticide spray sites
jose r. suarez-lopez et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.06.001
overweight in childhood, puberty or early adulthood: changing the asthma risk in the next generation?
ane johannessen et al. 2019
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2019.08.030
obese boys between 8 years old and their age when their voice breaks, have double the risk of having children with asthma, compared with others.
"The study shows that it does not matter if the fathers as boys where obese before or after this specific period," says Associate Professor Ane Johannessen at CIH, first author of the study.
The researchers have studied self-reported body shape in 6500 persons in Northern Europe, Spain and Australia in the EU-supported RHINESSA-study.
Reproductive cells in development
The study results show that the connection between obesity and asthma in the next generation is applicable for future fathers only, and not for future mothers. The researchers believes the connection has to do with the development of reproductive cells during the pre-puberty period.
"For the women, the eggs are ready and not much happens in puberty. For the boys, however, we know that the germ cells develop to sperm cells during this period. It is a vulnerable period for biological influences," Professor Cecilie Svanes explains, leader of the study.
Early planning
Svanes points out that the study underlines that it is no longer true that children's health is only be linked to their mother´s health. Father´s health is also important, from the time when he is only a boy.
"Maybe one could say that future fathers should plan for their children´s health beginning in their own childhood."
"The study indicates that the pre-puberty for men is an effective period for interventions, for both health- and economical reasons," Svanes says.
Fight obesity with free school lunch
Obesity is global problem. Svanes thinks the society should intervene and organize, for example, a healthy school period. It should not be up to individual parents to see that their children eat healthy food, because parents are so different and have such different understandings of healthy eating.
"The obesity we have seen growing during the last decades is caused by the fact that healthy food is expensive, and unhealthy food is inexpensive. This is a social affair. I suggest free and healthy school meals," says Cecilie Svanes.
the ancestral environment shapes antiviral cd8 t cell responses across generations
christina m. post et al. 2019
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.014
other studies have shown that environmental exposure to pollutants can have effects on the reproductive, respiratory, and nervous system function across multiple generations, the new research shows for the first time that the immune system is impacted as well.
This multigenerational weakening of the immune system could help explain variations that are observed during seasonal and pandemic flu episodes. Annual flu vaccines provide some people more protection than others, and during pandemic flu outbreaks some people get severely ill, while others are able to fight off the infection. While age, virus mutations, and other factors can explain some of this variation, they do not fully account for the diversity of responses to flu infection found in the general population.
"When you are infected or receive a flu vaccine, the immune system ramps up production of specific kinds of white blood cells in response," said Lawrence. "The larger the response, the larger the army of white blood cells, enhancing the ability of the body to successfully fight off an infection. Having a smaller size army -- which we see across multiple generations of mice in this study -- means that you're at risk for not fighting the infection as effectively."
In the study, researchers exposed pregnant mice to environmentally relevant levels of a chemical called dioxin, which, like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is a common by-product of industrial production and waste incineration, and is also found in some consumer products. These chemicals find their way into the food system where they are eventually consumed by humans. Dioxins and PCBs bio-accumulate as they move up the food chain and are found in greater concentrations in animal-based food products.
The scientists observed the production and function of cytotoxic T cells -- white blood cells that defend the body against foreign pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, and seek out and destroy cells with mutations that could lead to cancer -- was impaired when the mice were infected with influenza A virus. This weakened immune response was observed not only in the offspring of the mice whose mothers where exposed to dioxin, but in the subsequent generations, including as far out as the rodent equivalent of great-grandchildren. The researchers also found that this effect was more pronounced in female mice.
The study authors' hypothesis that the exposure to dioxin -- which binds a protein in cells called AHR -- in some fashion alters the transcription of genetic instructions. The exposure itself does not trigger a genetic mutation, rather the cellular machinery by which genes are expressed is altered and this phenomenon is passed onto subsequent generations.
abstract •Maternal AHR activation causes transgenerational effects on an immune response
•CD8 T cell response to influenza virus is decreased in male and female F1 offspring
•Transgenerational effects were observed in infected lungs of female F3 offspring
•Both maternal and paternal F1 generations contribute to the immune effects in F3
Recent studies have linked health fates of children to environmental exposures of their great grandparents. However, few studies have considered whether ancestral exposures influence immune function across generations. Here, we report transgenerational inheritance of altered T cell responses resulting from maternal (F0) exposure to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Since F0 exposure to TCDD has been linked to transgenerational transmission of reproductive problems, we asked whether maternal TCDD exposure also caused transgenerational changes in immune function. F0 exposure caused transgenerational effects on the CD8+ T cell response to influenza virus infection in females but not in males. Outcrosses showed changes were passed through both parental lineages. These data demonstrate that F0 exposure to an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) agonist causes durable changes to immune responses that can affect subsequent generations. This has broad implications for understanding how the environment of prior generations shapes susceptibility to pathogens and antiviral immunity in later generations.
costs of selective attention: when children notice what adults miss
daniel j. plebanek, vladimir m. sloutsky 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797617693005
contribution of sensory processing to chronic constipation in preschool children
lauren m. little et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.03.020
chronic constipation in young children accompanies heightened sensory sensitivity," says senior author Mark Fishbein, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "In many cases, chronic constipation might be the first hint that the child also has some sensory issues and could benefit from occupational therapy. Feeding problems due to sensory sensitivities are especially common in these children and they are best addressed when kids are under 5, before maladaptive behaviors become more entrenched."
In the study, Dr. Fishbein and colleagues assessed the differences in sensory processing patterns between 66 children, 3-5 years of age, with chronic constipation and a matched group of 66 controls. They also examined how the children's sensory profiles correlate to atypical toileting behaviors. They determined that children with chronic constipation showed increased responses to sensory stimuli and increased avoidance behaviors. Heightened oral sensory processing (sensitivity to food textures, tastes or odors) emerged as the most significant factor in predicting the child's tendency to behaviors such as withholding stool or overall bathroom avoidance.
"On the surface, the association between oral processing and constipation may not seem intuitive," says Dr. Fishbein. "However, increased sensory sensitivity can create discomfort and lead to avoidance, and we see that response in both food refusal and in the toileting behaviors of children with chronic constipation. Both feeding problems and constipation may develop as a result of sensory processing difficulties."
Recognition of the association between chronic constipation and sensory sensitivity could transform clinical practice.
"Our study offers an expanded tool kit to clinicians who care for children with chronic constipation," says Dr. Fishbein. "Comprehensive care of these children should include consideration of sensory issues and possible referral to occupational therapy."
relationship between patients’ month of birth and the prevalence of chronic diseases
jose antonio quesada, andreu nolasco 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.medcle.2017.05.006
cultural entrainment of motor skill development: learning to write hiragana in japanese primary school
tetsushi nonaka 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1002/dev.21536
goodnight sweetheart
the spaniels
Link: soundcloud.com/makiaea/goodnight-sweetheart-slow-lullaby-the-spaniels-cover-makiaea-vocal
tinybop
Link: tinybop.com/
touch press
fox and sheep
Link: foxandsheep.com/
toca boca
Link: tocaboca.com/
sago mini
Link: sagosago.com/
gro garden
edoki academy
edokiacademy.com
arrange apps you want to be used on first home page
remove apps that you no longer want to be used
emphasising preferred apps using app icon transparency (jailbroken devices only)
hidden folks
Link: appsto.re/gb/BxiKdb.i
anki
advanced
monument valley i and ii
webbfarbror
tiny bubbles
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-bubbles/id1116006048
momentum
Link: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/momentum-habit-tracker/id946923599
tally2
Link: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tally-2-quick-counter/id957912407
iplayer (uk only)
Link: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bbc-iplayer/id416580485
swift playgrounds
neurobehavioral evidence of interoceptive sensitivity in early infancy
lara maister, teresa tang, manos tsakiris 2017
dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25318
human milk oligosaccharides exhibit antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties against group b streptococcus
dorothy l. ackerman et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00064
presence and profile of innate lymphoid cells in human breast milk
babak baban et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0148
the cells can survive the acidic environment of the stomach, but ILCs and many other helpful cells don’t survive refrigeration.
glyphosate in children’s cereals
ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/
us emergency department visits for adverse drug events from antibiotics in children, 2011–2015
maribeth c lovegrove et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piy066
effects of maternal investment, temperament, and cognition on guide dog success
emily e. bray et al. 2017
m.pnas.org/content/early/2017/08/01/1704303114.abstract
infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist
julia leonard et al. 2017
10.1126/science.aan2317
ten-month-old infants infer the value of goals from the costs of actions
shari liu et al. 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aag2132
practicing for the future: deliberate practice in early childhood
melissa brinums et al. 2017
dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12938
asking children to “be helpers” can backfire after setbacks
emily foster-hanson et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13147
The research, conducted by a team of New York University scientists, suggests that using verbs to talk about actions with children, such as encouraging them to help, read, and paint, may help lead to more resilience following the setbacks that they inevitably experience rather than using nouns to talk about identities — for example, asking them to be helpers, readers, or artists.
The results run somewhat counter to those of a 2014 study that showed asking children to “be helpers” instead of “to help” subsequently led them to help more.
The difference between the 2014 work and the new scholarship, both of which appear in the journal Child Development, is that the latter tested what happened after children experienced setbacks while trying to help, underscoring how language choice is linked to children’s perseverance.
“The new research shows how subtle features of language can shape child behavior in ways not previously understood,” explains Marjorie Rhodes, an associate professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and the senior author of the study. “In particular, using verbs to talk to children about behavior — such as ‘you can help’ — can lead to more determination following setbacks than using nouns to talk about identities — for instance, ‘you can be a helper’.”
The paper’s other authors included Emily Foster-Hanson, an NYU doctoral student who led the study, as well as Andrei Cimpian, an associate professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology, and Rachel Leshin, an NYU doctoral student.
The 2014 work, which did not include any of the latest study’s researchers, found that asking children aged 4 to 5 to “be helpers” instead of “to help” subsequently led them to help on more tasks, such as picking up crayons that had fallen on the floor or assisting someone in opening a box that was stuck.
However, the NYU findings showed that this effect backfires after children experienced difficulty while trying to be helpful.
In a series of experiments, children, also aged 4 to 5, were asked either to “be helpers” or “to help,” and then were given the opportunity to assist the experimenter in cleaning up some toys. However, the situation was designed so that children would experience difficulties while they tried to help: for example, when children tried to pick up a box to move it to a shelf, the contents, due to a faulty box, spilled all over the floor — a problematic outcome similar to those young children experience in daily life.
The experiment continued with children getting three more opportunities to help the experimenter. The results showed that children who had originally been asked “to help” were more resilient after the setback than those asked to “be helpers.”
After the setbacks, children asked “to help” were just as likely to help in challenging situations that benefited only the experimenter as in easy situations that also benefited themselves. On the other hand, children asked “to be helpers” rarely helped in the challenging situations that benefitted the experimenter — they did so only when it was easy and also benefited themselves.
“This research shows how talking to children about actions they can take — in this case, that they can do helpful things — can encourage more persistence following setbacks than talking to children about identities that they can take on,” says Foster-Hanson
abstract Describing behaviors as reflecting categories (e.g., asking children to “be helpers”) has been found to increase pro‐social behavior. The present studies (N = 139, ages 4–5) tested whether such effects backfire if children experience setbacks while performing category‐relevant actions. In Study 1, children were asked either to “be helpers” or “to help,” and then pretended to complete a series of successful scenarios (e.g., pouring milk) and unsuccessful scenarios (e.g., spilling milk while trying to pour). After the unsuccessful trials, children asked to “be helpers” had more negative attitudes. In Study 2, asking children to “be helpers” impeded children’s helping behavior after they experienced difficulties while trying to help. Implications for how category labels shape beliefs and behavior are discussed.
interaction with adults
acquiring group bias: observing other people’s nonverbal signals can create social group biases
allison l. skinner et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000218
the process of acquiring bias based on nonverbal signals -- and extending that bias to a larger group -- is already in operation in early childhood, prior to the start of first grade," said Skinner, first author and assistant professor of psychology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "Exposure to biased nonverbal signals may be an important process through which group biases are rapidly and unintentionally transmitted within our culture."
Her study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, explores bias generalization in preschoolers aged 4 and 5.
With co-authors Kristina R. Olson and Andrew N. Meltzoff (both University of Washington), Skinner tested whether preschool children seeing one individual receive more positive nonverbal signals than another would lead them to develop bias in favor of that individual's group -- and whether such biases would be generalized to large classes of people, for example, those of the same nationality.
In the experiments, children watched video in which an adult actor displayed positive nonverbal signals -- appearing warm and friendlier -- toward an unknown adult from one fictitious place and negative nonverbal signals toward an unknown adult from another place. The preschoolers were then asked questions to assess their biases toward the adults in the videos and toward other people of their "nationality."
"Children's biases went beyond simply preferring people from one place relative to another," Skinner said. "They were more likely to imitate the words and actions demonstrated by the target of positive nonverbal signals, and they preferred to interact with members of that individual's group."
This study follows on the heels of her previously published work on the role of nonverbal signals in spreading attitudes and biases among adults. In a study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Skinner found that adults formed conscious attitudes toward an individual based on witnessing positive or negative nonverbal signals displayed toward that person. They also formed unconscious attitudes, but they were likely to misattribute the cause, according to Skinner.
"People were more likely to attribute their attitude to how the individual behaved, rather than how the individual was treated by others," she said. "It didn't matter if the individual responded neutrally. If people treated him as if he was behaving like a jerk, then that was their inference."
abstract Evidence of group bias based on race, ethnicity, nationality, and language emerges early in the life span. Although understanding the initial acquisition of group bias has critical theoretical and practical implications, precisely how group biases are acquired has been understudied. In two preregistered experiments, we tested the hypothesis that generalized social group biases can be acquired through exposure to positive nonverbal signals directed toward a novel adult from one group and more negative nonverbal signals directed toward a novel adult from another group. We sought to determine whether children would acquire global nonverbal signal-consistent social group biases that extended beyond their explicit social preferences, by measuring children’s preferences, imitation, and behavioral intentions. Supporting our preregistered hypotheses, preschool-age participants favored small and large groups whose member received positive nonverbal signals, relative to groups whose member received more negative nonverbal signals. We also replicated prior work indicating that children will acquire individual target biases from the observation of biased nonverbal signals. Here we make the case that generalized social group biases can be rapidly and unintentionally transmitted on the basis of observational learning from nonverbal signals.
speaker gaze increases infant-adult connectivity
leong, v et al. 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/108878
proof of concept of a smartphone app to support delivery of an intervention to facilitate mothers’ mind-mindedness
fionnuala larkin et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220948
The researchers observed the parents playing with their babies and assessed how attuned they were to their babies' thoughts and feelings. The mothers were compared against a control group of mothers with 6-month-olds who had not used the app. Compared with the control group mothers, the app users were significantly more attuned to their babies' thoughts and feelings.
The study included a wide age range of mothers, and the results for teenage mothers were particularly interesting. Professor Meins explained, "Previous research has shown that teenage mothers show less attunement to their babies' thoughts and feelings compared with mothers in their mid-twenties or older. Our study showed that young mothers who had used BabyMind were just as attuned as the older mothers who'd used the app.
"Even more impressive was the fact that the young app users were more attuned to their babies than the older mothers who had not used the BabyMind app. This suggests that using our app is associated with younger motherhood no longer being a disadvantage."
abstract The present study reports on the first evaluation of a parenting intervention utilizing a smartphone app, BabyMind. The intervention aimed to facilitate mothers’ mind-mindedness—attunement to their infants’ internal states. Mothers in the intervention group (n = 90) used the BabyMind app from their infants’ births and were followed up at age 6 months (n = 66). Mothers in the control group (n = 151) were recruited when their infants were age 6 months and had never used the BabyMind app. Mind-mindedness when interacting with their infants was significantly higher in intervention group mothers than in control group mothers. The intervention was equally effective in facilitating mind-mindedness in young and older mothers. These findings are discussed in terms of the potential for interventions utilizing smartphone apps to improve parenting and children’s developmental outcome in vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups.
no child left alone: moral judgments about parents affect estimates of risk to children
ashley j. thomas et al. 2016
http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.33
mothers’ and fathers’ self-regulation capacity, dysfunctional attributions and hostile parenting during early adolescence: a process-oriented approach
melissa l. sturge-apple et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954579418001694
"Discipline issues usually peak during toddlerhood and then again during adolescence, because both periods are really marked by exploration and figuring out who you are, and by becoming more independent," says Melissa Sturge-Apple, a professor of psychology and dean of graduate studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering at the University of Rochester.
Yet the developmental changes during puberty and the transition to adolescence mean that parents necessarily need to adjust their parenting behaviors, she adds. Part of that adjustment is parents' ability to think on their feet and navigate conflicts with flexibility as their teens strive for more autonomy and greater input in the decision-making processes. Sturge-Apple is the lead author of a recent study about mothers' and fathers' capacity for self-regulation as well as hostile parenting during their child's early adolescence. The study is published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.
The research was sparked by an obvious deficit: more than 99 percent of parent regulation studies have focused exclusively on mothers. In this study, Sturge-Apple and her colleagues -- Patrick Davies, professor of psychology at Rochester; Zhi Li, a postdoctoral fellow at the University's Mt. Hope Family Center; Meredith Martin '14 (PhD), now an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska; and Rochester psychology graduate student Hannah Jones -- looked at how mothers and fathers regulated their stress in response to conflict with their adolescent children. They then examined how the stress response affected their discipline of the child. The researchers measured parents' physiological regulation using RMSSD, a widely used measure to assess heart rate variability. The laboratory-based assessments were spaced roughly one year apart.
Dads are more likely than moms to think that their teen was being intentionally difficult, or "just trying to push buttons."
The researchers found that those parents -- both mothers and fathers -- who were less capable of dampening down their anger, as measured by RMSSD, were more likely to resort, over time, to the use of harsh, punitive discipline and hostile conflict behavior vis-à-vis their teenager.
The scientists also measured parents' set-shifting capacity -- that is, the parents' ability to be flexible and to consider alternative factors, such as their child's age and development.
"Set shifting is important because it allows parents to alter flexibly and deliberately their approaches to handling the changeable behaviors of their children in ways that help them to resolve their disagreements," says Davies.
On average, fathers were not as good as mothers at set shifting and were less able to control their physiological anger response. As a result, they were more likely to think that their teen was intentionally difficult, or "just trying to push buttons," which in turn guided their decisions about discipline.
However, the researchers found that those fathers who were better at set shifting than others were also better able to counteract difficulties in physiological regulation. These episodes of physiological dysregulation, the team discovered, predicted over time an increase in parents' angry responses -- and that essentially, set shifting offsets this angry response tendency.
"As we learn more, these findings may have important implications for building and refining parenting programs," says Davies. "For example, there are exercises that help increase physiological regulation in ways that may ultimately reduce hostile parenting behaviors for mothers and fathers."
There's an irony in past research studies' almost exclusive focus on mothers.
"Dads are typically the enforcer in the family and this role may be difficult to override," says Sturge-Apple. "Thus, the ability to be flexible in responses may help dads, more than moms, adjust to the changes of adolescence."
abstract The parent-child relationship undergoes substantial reorganization over the transition to adolescence. Navigating this change is a challenge for parents because teens desire more behavioral autonomy as well as input in decision-making processes. Although it has been demonstrated that changes in parental socialization approaches facilitates adolescent adjustment, very little work has been devoted to understanding the underlying mechanisms supporting parents’ abilities to adjust caregiving during this period. Guided by self-regulation models of parenting, the present study examined how parental physiological and cognitive regulatory capacities were associated with hostile and insensitive parent conflict behavior over time. From a process-oriented perspective, we tested the explanatory role of parents’ dysfunctional child-oriented attributions in this association. A sample of 193 fathers, mothers, and their early adolescent (ages 12–14) participated in laboratory-based research assessments spaced approximately 1 year apart. Parental physiological regulation was measured using square root of the mean of successive differences during a conflict task; cognitive regulation was indicated by set-shifting capacity. Results showed that parental difficulties in vagal regulation during parent-adolescent conflict were associated with increased hostile conflict behavior over time; however, greater set-shifting capacity moderated this association for fathers only. In turn, father's dysfunctional attributions regarding adolescent behavior mediated the moderating effect. The results highlight how models of self-regulation and social cognition may explain the determinants of hostile parenting with differential implications for fathers during adolescence.
parent contributions to friendship stability during the primary school years
daniel j. dickson et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000388
parenting is an environmental predictor of callous-unemotional traits and aggression: a monozygotic twin differences study
rebecca waller et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.07.882
parental expressed emotion-criticism and neural markers of sustained attention to emotional faces in children
kiera m. james et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2018.1453365
スマイルプリキュア！ 2012
(glitter force) 2015
the clangers
octonauts
hey duggee
boj
sarah and duck
ben and holly’s little kingdom
let’s play
how does it work?
hidden kingdoms (bbc natural history)
blue planet 2
Link: 07038-81540c28b795f22b121d3ae3492d3f12.html
do lessons in nature boost subsequent classroom engagement? refueling students in flight
ming kuo et al. 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02253
how kids learn better by taking frequent breaks throughout the day
timothy d. walker 2017
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/18/how-kids-learn-better-by-taking-frequent-breaks-throughout-the-day/
school-based interventions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review with multiple synthesis methods
moore, d; russell et al. 2018
https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/33886
attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder and month of school enrollment
timothy j. layton et al. 2018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1806828
randomized control trial of tools of the mind: marked benefits to kindergarten children and their teachers
adele diamond et al. 2019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222447
Emphasizing more play, hands-on learning, and students helping one another in kindergarten improves academic outcomes, self-control and attention regulation, finds new UBC research.
The study, published today in the journal PLoS One, found this approach to kindergarten curriculum also enhanced children's joy in learning and teachers' enjoyment of teaching, and reduced bullying, peer ostracism, and teacher burnout.
"Before children have the ability to sit for long periods absorbing information the way it is traditionally presented in school through lectures, they need to be allowed to be active and encouraged to learn by doing," said Dr. Adele Diamond, the study's lead author, a professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. "Indeed, people of all ages learn better by doing than by being told."
Through a randomized controlled trial, Diamond and her colleagues analyzed the effectiveness of a curriculum called Tools of the Mind (Tools). The curriculum was introduced to willing kindergarten teachers and 351 children with diverse socio-economic backgrounds in 18 public schools across the school districts of Vancouver and Surrey.
Tools was developed in 1993 by American researchers Drs. Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong. Its foundational principle is that social-emotional development and improving self-control is as important as teaching academic skills and content. The program emphasizes the role of social dramatic play in building executive functions -- which includes skills such as self-control and selective attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, and planning.
"Executive functioning skills are necessary for learning, and are often more strongly associated with school readiness than intelligence quotient (IQ)," said Diamond. "This trial is the first to show benefits of a curriculum emphasizing social play to executive functioning in a real-world setting."
Previous studies had demonstrated that Tools produces better results for reading and math and on laboratory tests of executive functions. Diamond's new study demonstrates for the first time that Tools also dramatically improves writing (exceeding the top level on the provincial assessment scale), improves executive functions in the real world, and has a host of social and emotional benefits not previously documented.
Teachers reported more helping behavior and greater sense of community in Tools classes. Cliques developed in most control classes, but in few Tools classes. Late in the school year, Tools teachers reported still feeling energized and excited about teaching, while control teachers were exhausted.
"I have enjoyed seeing the enormous progress my students have made in writing and reading. I have never had so many students writing two or three sentences by the end of kindergarten," said Susan Kochan, a Tools teacher in Vancouver. "I have also enjoyed seeing the students get so excited about coming to school and learning. They loved all the activities we did so much that many students didn't want to miss school, even if they were sick."
abstract The kindergarten program, Tools of the Mind (Tools), has been shown to improve executive functions (as assessed by laboratory measures) and academic performance. The objective here was to see if Tools can improve executive functions in the real world (in the classroom), academic outcomes not previously investigated, reduce bullying and peer ostracism, and increase teachers’ and students’ joy in being in the classroom. This first randomized controlled trial of Tools in Canada included 351 kindergarten children (mean age 5.2 years at entry; 51% female) in 18 public schools. Stratified randomization resulted in teachers and students in both groups being closely matched. Teachers in both groups received the same number of training hours and same funds for new materials. Outcome measures were pre and post standardized academic skill assessments and teacher online survey responses. This study replicated that Tools improves reading and shows for the first time that it improves writing (far exceeding levels the school districts had seen before), self-control and attention-regulation in the real world (e.g., time on task without supervision), reduces teacher burnout and children being ostracized or excluded, and increases the joy students and teachers experience in school. By Spring, Tools teachers were still enthusiastic about teaching; control teachers were exhausted. These results were not only better than the control group but also better than Tools teachers experienced the year before Tools. Thus, children in a kindergarten curriculum that emphasized play, improving self-regulation, working together and helping one another, and hands-on learning performed better academically, showed less bullying and peer ostracism and more kindness and helping behavior than students in more traditional classes, and teacher enthusiasm for teaching soared. Tools reduced initial disparities separating children, schools, and teachers.
beliefs about children’s emotions in chile
amy g. halberstadt et al. 2020
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00034
“I think many people, particularly in Western cultures, think children are less capable than they actually are,” says Amy Halberstadt, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper on the work. “Our study shows that this is not universal.
“For example, our work with the Mapuche people makes clear that they have different expectations about their children’s ability to manage fear. And the role they feel nature plays in helping children maintain their emotional equilibrium is also distinct.”
For the study, researchers conducted a survey of 271 parents and teachers in southern Chile. One hundred six of the study participants were Mapuche, an indigenous people of the region. The remaining 165 were non-Mapuche.
Survey questions were developed based on interviews and focus groups. The questions were aimed at gaining a better understanding of cultural differences regarding the beliefs that adults have about children and children’s emotions.
One finding was that Mapuche parents and teachers were significantly more likely than non-Mapuche to expect their children to be able to control fear.
“To be clear, we’re not talking about children being stoic about their fear,” Halberstadt says. “We’re talking about an expectation that children understand a situation and either take action or accept the situation without becoming afraid.”
“The Mapuche believe that part of growing up is learning not to be afraid, and this is something that is actively fostered,” says Dejah Oertwig, co-author of the paper and a Ph.D. student at NC State. “Mapuche parents support the development of emotional skills like this one through the way they help children interpret the world around them.”
The study found that Mapuche also place a great deal of value on a child’s relationship with nature.
“The Mapuche believe children should respect, but not fear, nature,” Halberstadt says. “They also believe nature can help children become calm, cope with sadness in a positive way and otherwise regulate negative emotions.
“Parents here in the U.S. may want to view these approaches as possible strategies they can use at home,” Halberstadt says. “I don’t think there are necessarily prescriptions for success in any one approach, but broadening our appreciation of what’s possible for kids could yield positive outcomes for young people. It might be a good idea to see if spending more time outside, and respecting and appreciating nature, do help us regulate our own emotions or help our children find balance.”
abstract To learn more about Chilean emotional beliefs related to emotion development, 271 Mapuche and non-Mapuche parents and teachers in urban and rural settings reported their emotion beliefs using a questionnaire invariant in the Chilean context (Riquelme et al., in press). Included are six beliefs previously found to resonate across three United States cultures (i.e., beliefs about the value and cost of certain emotions; control of emotion; knowledge of children’s emotion; manipulation of emotion; and emotional autonomy), and five others distinctive to the indigenous people of this region (i.e., value of being calm; controlling fear specifically; interpersonality of emotion; learning about emotion from adults; and regulation through nature). MANOVAs were conducted to examine these beliefs across culture (Mapuche, non-Mapuche), role (parent, teacher), and geographical location (rural, urban). For United States-derived beliefs, there were no main effects, although two interactions with culture by role and location were significant. For all five Mapuche-generated beliefs, there were significant main effects for culture, role, and location. Results highlight both similarities and differences in beliefs across cultures, roles, and geographical location. Implications for the Chilean context include the importance of non-Mapuche teachers’ sensitivity to the values and emotion-related beliefs of Mapuche families. Implications for the global context include an expanded view of emotion-related beliefs, including beliefs that children can control fear and be calm, that emotion-related values include attending to the needs of others, and that two ways of controlling emotion are through learning by listening to/watching elders, and by being in nature.
discipline without damage: how to get your kids to behave without messing them up
vanessa lapointe 2018 9781928055105
silicone impact–bumper ipad case with shoulder strap
coopercases.com
not tried
silicone minimal one hand case 12.9” 2017 £17.99
palmo case
case with cover
ZUGU-CASE
metabolic and fatigue profiles are comparable between prepubertal children and well-trained adult endurance athletes
anthony birat et al. 2018
doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00387
effectiveness of science videos
veritasium youtube.com/watch
what plants talk about 2014
youtube.com/watch
it’s okay to be smart
youtube.com/user/itsokaytobesmart
before the flood
leonarndo dicaprio 2016
youtu.be/IEqBduQIx-Q
everyday risk
jared diamond 2015
youtube.com/watch
swing a spinning ball
youtube.com/watch
ted ed
youtube.com/user/TEDEducation
the microbial jungles all over the place (and you)
scott chimileski 2017
youtube.com/watch?v=pHLP5CZMnL4
what would happen if you didn’t drink water?
mia nacamulli 2017
youtube.com/watch?v=9iMGFqMmUFs
how mucus keeps us healthy
katharina ribbeck 2016
youtube.com/watch?v=WW4skW6gucU
how to practice effectively...for just about anything
annie bosler and don greene 2017
youtube.com/watch?v=f2O6mQkFiiw
why do we hiccup?
john cameron 2017
youtube.com/watch?v=-AdQLkUkui8
maths as a language
randy palisoc 2014
youtube.com/watch
ted
the brain-changing benefits of exercise
wendy suzuki 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=BHY0FxzoKZE
looking for a job? highlight your ability, not your experience
jason shen 2017
youtube.com/watch?v=guXxy8LH2QM
you aren’t at the mercy of your emotions — your brain creates them
lisa feldman barrett 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=0gks6ceq4eQ
electrical experiments with plants that count and communicate
greg gage 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=pvBlSFVmoaw
the revolutionary power of diverse thought
elif shafak 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=KCr8s57hdzY
there’s more to life than being happy
emily esfahani smith 2018
youtube.com/watch?v=y9Trdafp83U
avoid
kurzgesagt
warning: they are pronuclear, profracking etc
bacteria infection
youtube.com/watch
light
youtube.com/watch
evolution
youtube.com/watch
limits
youtube.com/watch
h–i–p–p–o–t–a–m–u–s
jimmy osmond
makiaea
apple ipad howto videos
apple.com/ipad/how-to/
froggipedia
itunes.apple.com/gb/app/froggipedia/id1348306157?mt=8
free rivers
itunes.apple.com/gb/app/wwf-free-rivers/id1349935575?mt=8
do not buy anything using button batteries
ph-neutralizing esophageal irrigations as a novel mitigation strategy for button battery injury
rachel r. anfang et al. 2018
doi.org/10.1002/lary.27312
卜トロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
だれかが こっそり
小路に 木の実 うずめて
ちっさな芽 生えたら 秘密の暗号
森へのパスポート
すてきな冒険はじまる
となりのトトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
森の中に むかしから住んでる
となりのトトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
子供のときにだけ あなたに訪れる
不思議な出会い
雨ふり バス停
ズブヌレ オバケがいたら
あなたの雨ガサ さしてあげましょ
森へのパスポート
魔法の扉 あきます
となりのトトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
月夜の晩に オカリナ吹いてる
となりのトトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
もしも会えたなら すてきな しあわせが
あなたに来るわ
卜卜ロ 卜トロ 卜トロ 卜トロ
森の中に むかしから住んでる
となりのトトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
子供のときにだけ あなたに訪れる
不思議な出会い
トトロ トトロ トトロ トトロ
トロ トトロ 卜トロ トトロ……
gendered roles
stay at home dad
happy moms, happier dads: gendered caregiving and parents’ affect
cadhla mcdonnell et al. 2019
doi.org/10.1177/0192513x19860179
shame they only looked at cis gender roles but it is easy to extrapolate what results should have looked like
looked at childcare through the lens of a "care context." Going beyond measuring how much time mothers and fathers spend taking care of their children, the researchers also looked at the type of childcare activity, when and where it took place, who was present, and how much care was involved.
Cadhla McDonnell, a doctoral candidate in sociology and demography at Penn State, said the results suggest that while fathers in general are much more involved in their children's lives now than in the past, parenting is still highly gendered.
"There are many types of activities that can be considered childcare, but some are more strenuous or less enjoyable than others," McDonnell said. "A family trip to the playground is going to affect someone differently than changing diapers in the middle of the night, for example. In our study, we tried to capture those variations and see if they're related to the differences we see between mothers' and fathers' moods."
According to the researchers, previous work has shown that mothers tend to be more tired, stressed and unhappy than fathers during caregiving. But sociodemographic characteristics alone could not explain some of these differences. The researchers were curious about whether taking a closer look at how childcare activities were divided between parents could help explain discrepancies between parents' moods.
The researchers used data from the American Time Use Survey collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data included information about 4,486 childcare activities, as well as who performed the activity and that person's corresponding mood.
Additionally, the researchers analyzed each activity through the care context, which included five dimensions. The first was "activity type," and included physical (basic needs like eating and sleeping), recreational (like play and sports), educational (helping with homework or meeting with teachers), and managerial (planning doctor visits or transporting children).
The remaining dimensions included when and where the activity took place, who was present during the activity, and how much time the activity took.
The researchers found that fathers' childcare activities were more likely to be recreational and take place on the weekend, while mothers' activities were more likely to involve an infant and fit into the category of "solo parenting," that is, parenting without a partner present.
Also, the researchers found that taking the context of childcare activities into account fully explained differences in mother and father happiness, and partially explained differences in stress. It did not explain differences in tiredness.
McDonnell said the study -- recently published in the Journal of Family Issues -- suggests that moms are generally more tired and stressed than dads, and that they also are doing more childcare activities that tend to produce more stress and less happiness. But it is still not clear why these differences exist.
"Our findings show that some aspects of parenting are more enjoyable than others and that the way childcare is distributed between mothers and fathers right now brings more emotional rewards for dads than for moms," McDonnell said. "But it's impossible to say from our data whether this is the result of personal choices or whether it's a reaction to outside forces like job demands."
Additionally, the researchers found that despite their differences, one thing that remained consistent between mothers and fathers was how meaningful they found childcare.
"Traditionally caregiving has been seen as more central to women's identities than it is to men's, and that would suggest that mothers might find caring for their children more meaningful than fathers do," McDonnell said. "But that's not the case -- mothers and fathers both found caring for children highly meaningful and there is no difference by gender."
McDonnell said that in the future, additional research could focus on how gendered caregiving may have additional impacts on parents' well being.
"We know from other research that parents tend to have lower life satisfaction than non-parents, and this is especially true for women," McDonnell said. "An interesting question could be how that's related to gendered caregiving. Why do mothers seem to take on childcare in contexts that are less emotionally rewarding? For couples, how can they share caregiving in a way that is equally rewarding for both partners? These are all important questions."
abstract Parenting is emotionally demanding and highly gendered. We use data from the American Time Use Survey to examine mothers’ and fathers’ momentary affect during childcare activities. We observe a gender imbalance in the emotional rewards of childcare: Fathers report more happiness, less stress, and less tiredness than mothers. We introduce the “care context”—defined as the type of childcare activity, when and where it takes place, who is present, and how much care is involved—as an explanation for these gender differences in parents’ affect. The analysis reveals that most dimensions of the care context vary between mothers and fathers. We also find that the care context fully accounts for differences in mothers’ and fathers’ happiness, partially explains differences in stress, and does little to explain differences in tiredness. Thus, the gender imbalance in the emotional rewards of childcare is partially due to parents’ highly gendered engagement with their children.
how to speak science: gravity, relativity, and other ideas that were crazy until proven brilliant
bruce benamran 2018
what’s happening to me? (girls edition)
susan meredith 2006
eco-friendly crafting with kids
kate lilley 2012
the gardner and the carpenter; what the new science of child development tells us about the relationship between parents and children
alison gopnik 2016
montessori from the start; the child at home, from birth to age three
paula polk lillard
pocket guide for young men without fathers important life lessons
john taylor and ira somers 2018 to read next
the deepest well: healing the long-term effects of childhood adversity
nadine burke harris
make your kid a money genius
beth kobliner
first bite: how we learn to eat
bee wilson 2015
does your family make you smarter? nature, nurture, and human autonomy
james flynn 2016
unspoken legacy: addressing the impact of trauma and addiction within the family
claudia black 2018
there is no such thing as bad weather: a scandinavian mom’s secrets for raising healthy, resilient, and confident kids (from friluftsliv to hygge)
linda åkeson mcgurk 2017
teach like finland: 33 simple strategies for joyful classrooms
timothy walker 2017
einstein never used flashcards: how our children really learn and why they need to play more and memorize less
kathy hirsh-pasek 2004
how to raise kind kids: and get respect, gratitude, and a happier family in the bargain
thomas lickona 2018
communicating with children from birth to four years
debbie chalmers 2016
the parent’s tao te ching: ancient advice for modern parents
william martin 1999
how to raise a wild child: the art and science of falling in love with nature
scott sampson 2016
whoosh boom splat: build jam jar jets, elastic zip cannons, clothespin snap shooters, and more legendary launchers
william gurstelle 2017
mathemagic
rohini chowdhury 2012
the parents’ guide to climate revolution: 100 ways to build a fossil-free future, raise empowered kids, and still get a good night’s sleep
mary democker 2018
inventing ourselves: the secret life of the teenage brain
sarah-jayne blakemore 2018
vitamin n: the essential guide to a nature-rich life
richard louv 2016
the genius in all of us: new insights into genetics, talent, and iq
david shenk 2010
mental penguins: the neverending education crisis and the false promise of the information age
ivelin sardamov 2017
stop arguing with your kids: how to win the battle of wills by making your children feel heard
michael nichols 2004
scienceblind: why our intuitive theories about the world are so often wrong
andrew shtulman 2017
ungifted: intelligence redefined: the truth about talent, practice, creativity, and the many paths to greatness
scott barry kaufman 2013
the life of dad: the making of a modern father
anna machin 2018
hot skills: developing higher-order thinking in young learners
steffen saifer 2018
girls think of everything: stories of ingenious inventions by women
catherine thimmesh, melissa sweet 2002
the british betrayal of childhood: challenging uncomfortable truths and bringing about change
al aynsley-green 2018 unread
how to raise kind kids: and get respect, gratitude, and a happier family in the bargain
thomas lickona 2018
play the forest school way: woodland games and crafts for adventurous kids
peter houghton 2019
the little grey men
denys watkins-pitchford 1942
how to be a happier parent: raising a family, having a life, and loving (almost) every minute
k.j. dell’antonia 2018
we are water protectors
carole lindstrom, michaela goade 2020
toilet training
to read next
daiper free baby: the natural toilet training alternative
christine gross–loh 2007
oh crap! potty training: everything modern parents need to know to do it once and do it right
jamie glowacki 2015
nappy free baby
amber hatch 2016 unread
earth angel
the penguins
Link: soundcloud.com/makiaea/earth-angel-the-penguins-cover-makiaea-vocal
feed the birds
julie christie
Link: soundcloud.com/makiaea/feed-the-birds-mary-poppins-julie-andrews-cover-makiaea-vocal-solo
why like candy
but shouldn’t
supernormal stimulus
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus
“goose and basketball”
Ramachandran‘s Peak Shift Effect, aka supernormal stimuli: brain learns rules to discriminate things, if you present exaggerated version of a rule, we strongly prefer it. Tinbergen’s herring gull chicks peck at red spot on mother’s beak when hungry, if present fake beak with three red spots, herring chick overresponds
supernormal stimuli: how primal urges overran their evolutionary purpose
deirdre barrett 2010
silent door opening to check sleeping baby
because sometimes cannot hear through door because of street noise etc.
what a wonderful world
louis armstrong
Link: soundcloud.com/makiaea/what-a-wonderful-world-louis-armstrong-cover-vocal-solo