Breast feeding and weaning practices of urban housewives in Srinagar

Researchers interviewed 125 mothers in Srinagar, India about breast feeding and weaning practices. Overall the mothers were generally illiterate (52%), housewives (67.2%), Muslim (76%), and from a nuclear family (56%). 39% were in the low income group. Most of the children (48%) ranged for 6-12 months old. 96% of the children had been breast fed. Some of the reasons for breast feeding included nutritional quality, economical, pleased the mother, and made the infant feel secure. 65.8% breast fed their infants on demand. 65.7% weaned their infants between 7-9 months yet 52% believed breast feeding should continue to 18 months. 96% breast fed their infants while ill with diarrhea. 57% believed colostrum to be unhygienic and did not feed it to their infants. 72% decided to breast feed before becoming pregnant while 36% decided to bottle feed before pregnancy. 89% of illiterate mothers breast fed while only 45% of literate mothers did. Further, only 11.8% of the mothers whose family income was 1500 rupees/month breast fed whereas 47% in the lower and 41.2% in the middle income groups did. At 7-9 months, 69.8% of illiterate and 69.5% of literate mothers had already introduced semi solid foods. 78.3% of literate mothers gave semi solid foods to their infants 2 times/day, but only 11.6% of the illiterate mothers did so. Moreover 81.4% of illiterate mothers only fed their infants semi solid foods once a day. Literate mothers were more likely than literate mothers to feed their infants solid foods (75% vs. 46.2%), introduce them at an earlier age (22.2% vs 10%, 7-9 months), and feed them more often (55.5% vs 16.6%; twice a day). In conclusion, the higher the educational status the more likely mothers were likely to breast feed.     

The Role of Maternal Beliefs in Predicting Home Learning Activities in Head Start Families*

A conceptual model specifying that maternal beliefs (maternal self‐efficacy, perceived control) mediate the relation between child–family characteristics (child's difficult temperament, mother's education, stressful life events) and the extent of involvement in home learning activities in Head Start families was tested. The sample was 306 mothers (51% Mexican American, 36% Anglo American, 13% other minorities). Results provided partial support for the model (i.e., parental self‐efficacy mediated the effects of the child's difficult temperament on mothers' reports of family involvement in home learning activities). Maternal education and family stress were not directly related to home learning, although family stress influenced home learning indirectly through parental self‐efficacy. Separate analyses yielded comparable results for Anglo Americans and Mexican Americans. Ways to facilitate parent self‐efficacy are discussed.     

Feeding and sleeping problems in infancy – a follow‐up at early school age

Background Feeding and sleeping problems are common during infancy. Many regulatory problems of this kind are connected to various child and family factors. This study is a follow‐up of children with early feeding and/or sleeping problems, 6 years after clinical contacts. Methods A total of 230 families (72%) participated in the questionnaire follow‐up. Children and parents were compared with 227 (71%) reference families regarding sleeping and feeding problems, health factors in parent and child, psychosocial problems, stressful life events, social support, life satisfaction, and externalizing and internalizing behaviour in the child. Results Six years after clinical contacts the children with early feeding and/or sleeping problems still had more problems of this kind compared with the reference children. Early child health problems were more frequent within the clinical group, but recent health problems did not separate the two groups. Mothers in the clinical sample reported more health problems than mothers in the reference group and clinical parents were less content with their social support and had more psychosocial problems, including stressful life events. Children in the clinical sample had more internalizing problems than comparison children. Recent feeding and sleeping problems were connected to more externalizing and internalizing problems. Conclusions Early regulatory problems, concerning sleeping or feeding, are less frequent when the child grows up, but nevertheless tend to remain. A clinical recommendation for child health care is to take both child and family factors into account, to individualize contacts, work with an all‐inclusive perspective and have close follow‐ups.     

Who’s reading to children in low‐income families? The influence of paternal,maternal and child characteristics

Most research on parental bookreading has focused on mothers reading to their children. This study examined bookreading practices among approximately 800 fathers and mothers in low‐income families. We looked at differences and similarities between families where both parents read frequently compared to families where only mothers read frequently. In more than a third of the low‐income families in this study, both parents reported reading to their young children on a regular basis (daily or weekly). Parents who were higher educated, who had girls and who had children with better language and cognitive skills were more likely to read frequently to their children. Intervention efforts to increase reading in the home to toddlers and preschoolers in low‐income families should be targeted at fathers, a relatively under‐tapped resource, and should focus on families in which parents have lower levels of education and those whose children have less advanced cognitive and language skills.     

A clinico-epidemiological study of pyogenic meningitis in children

The study was conducted among the inpatients of the pediatric ward of J.N. Medical College Hospital, Aligarh Muslim University in India, from January 1989 to December 1991, to determine the etiological factors and the prevalence of pyogenic meningitis. Personal and family histories were recorded. Of 8168 patients admitted to the pediatric ward during the study period; 226 (2.73%) had pyogenic meningitis. 48.23% were under 3 years old, 17.73% were 9-14 years old. A male predominance (male to female ratio = 1.89 : 1) was observed. 67.94% of patients with pyogenic meningitis were urban dwellers, 71.05% lived in overcrowded conditions, and 82.75% belonged to large families. Seasonal variation of pyogenic meningitis was also noted with the peak (58.25%) in winter months. Mothers of 57.96% patients with pyogenic meningitis were illiterate. Proportional mortality was 3.7%. Maximum cerebrospinal fever rate (CFR) was noted in children under 3 years old (41.79% in males and 45.23% in females), belonging to large families (38.09%), those with illiterate mothers (49.01%), and those residing in rural areas (48.82%). CFR was highest (52.82%) among the patients who had to travel more than 10 km to reach the hospital and who were hospitalized 6-9 days after the onset of symptoms (52.45%). Since younger people are at risk of developing meningitis, health care services should also integrate facilities for early diagnosis and treatment of pyogenic meningitis, with an ambulance available at the primary health center level.     

Parental employment and work-family stress: associations with family food environments

Parental employment provides many benefits to children's health. However, an increasing number of studies have observed associations between mothers' full-time employment and less healthful family food environments. Few studies have examined other ways in which parental employment may be associated with the family food environment, including the role of fathers' employment and parents' stress balancing work and home obligations. This study utilized data from Project F-EAT, a population-based study of a socio-demographically diverse sample of 3709 parents of adolescents living in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States, to examine cross-sectional associations between mothers' and fathers' employment status and parents' work-life stress with multiple aspects of the family food environment. Among parents participating in Project F-EAT, 64% of fathers and 46% of mothers were full-time employed, while 25% of fathers and 37% of mothers were not employed. Results showed that full-time employed mothers reported fewer family meals, less frequent encouragement of their adolescents' healthful eating, lower fruit and vegetable intake, and less time spent on food preparation, compared to part-time and not-employed mothers, after adjusting for socio-demographics. Full-time employed fathers reported significantly fewer hours of food preparation; no other associations were seen between fathers' employment status and characteristics of the family food environment. In contrast, higher work-life stress among both parents was associated with less healthful family food environment characteristics including less frequent family meals and more frequent sugar-sweetened beverage and fast food consumption by parents. Among dual-parent families, taking into account the employment characteristics of the other parent did not substantially alter the relationships between work-life stress and family food environment characteristics. While parental employment is beneficial for many families, identifying policy and programmatic strategies to reduce parents' work-life stress may have positive implications for the family food environment and for the eating patterns and related health outcomes of children and parents.     

Perceived parenting styles and tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use among French adolescents: gender and family structure differentials

AIMS: To assess associations between parental control or parental emotional support and current tobacco, alcohol or cannabis use among 12-18-year-old students, according to gender and family structure (intact family, reconstituted family, single-parent family). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a national representative sample in France (2003) of 6-12th grade students (N = 16,532), as a part of the ESPAD study (European Study Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs). The self-administered questionnaire included questions on last 30 days' consumption of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis as well as on socio-demographic characteristics, school characteristics, and some simple questions on parental control and parental emotional support. Logistic modelling was carried out and (adjusted Odds Ratio) Ora calculated, adjusted for age, parental educational and characteristics of the school. RESULTS: A negative relationship exists between parental control and substance use, but this relationship is more marked for tobacco (OR a between 1.8 and 5.6 according to level of control, family status and gender) and cannabis (OR between 1.5 and 6.4) than for alcohol (OR a between 1.0 and 2.7). Parental control is more markedly related to substance use in girls than in boys. These tendencies were observed for intact families as well as for single-parent families or reconstituted families. Parental control has a greater impact than emotional support. Among girls, emotional support has a greater impact than among boys. CONCLUSIONS: There is a gradient relationship between parental control and current consumption, especially among girls. Thus, there may be a need for parental control, whatever the family structure.     

Children in planned lesbian families: stigmatisation, psychological adjustment and protective factors

The study assessed the extent to which children between eight and 12 years old in planned lesbian families in the Netherlands experience stigmatization, as well as the influence of protective factors (relationship with parents, social acceptance by peers, contact with children from other families headed by lesbian mothers or gay fathers) on their psychological adjustment (conduct problems, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, self-esteem). Data were collected by questionnaires filled out by the mothers and by the children themselves. The children in the sample generally reported low levels of stigmatization. However, boys more often reported that, in their view, they were excluded by peers because of their non-traditional family situation. Girls more often reported that other children gossiped about the fact that they had two lesbian mothers. Higher levels of stigmatization were associated with more hyperactivity for boys and lower self-esteem for girls. Having frequent contact with other children who have a lesbian mother or gay father protects against the negative influence of stigmatization on self-esteem. Findings support the idea that children in planned lesbian families benefit from the experience of meeting other children from similar families.     

Homeless and housed families in Los Angeles: a study comparing demographic, economic, and family function characteristics.

We studied 196 homeless and 194 housed poor families in Los Angeles, California to gain an understanding of events that precipitate family homelessness. Both homeless and housed poor mothers averaged 29 years old and were accompanied by two or three children. Three-fourths of both the homeless and housed families had income below the poverty level, and both groups expended almost two-thirds of their income on housing. Mothers in homeless families more commonly reported spousal abuse (35 vs 16 percent), child abuse (28 vs 10 percent), drug use (43 vs. 30 percent), or mental health problems (14 vs 6 percent) and weaker support networks. Homeless mothers more commonly came from homes where their parents abused drugs or alcohol (49 vs 34 percent) or more commonly lived outside the home or in foster care (35 vs 25 percent). Homelessness was reported as due primarily to economic pressures of housing costs, but personal and family problems frequently played a contributing role, especially for single parent families. Burdens of increasing housing costs and family dysfunction among housed poor families place many at risk for homelessness.     

Stunting in Brazilian children: relationship with social-environmental conditions and maternal nutritional status]

The relationship between stunting in Brazilian children with their mother's nutritional status and their social-environmental situation was assessed in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population in 1989. Data from 12644 mother-son pairs were analyzed. Maternal nutritional status was classified based on the body mass index and stunting was identified in children with stature or length for age Z < or = -2 of the American growth reference curve (NCHS). Stunting was observed in 14.4% of the children (15.9% of boys and 12.9% of girls) There was an inverse relationship between the level of stunting and maternal education, income and house living conditions. Children of illiterate mothers showed more stunting (OR = 17.2) than children whose mothers had had at least 9 years of formal education. Stunting was more frequently observed in children whose mothers were underweight (OR = 2.5), and who were from the first quartile of family income in comparison to the fourth quartile (OR = 11.0) and lived in the poorest living conditions (OR = 7.6). These results suggest a positive association between stunted children and underweight mothers.     

Parental overweight as an indicator of childhood overweight: how sensitive?

This study determined the sensitivity and specificity of parental overweight from self-reported height and weight to identify families with overweight school age children. A cross sectional study was conducted among 3059 parents and their children (1558 boys and 1501 girls) aged 7-12 years in five primary schools of Busan, Korea. BMI was calculated from parental reported height and weight and from children's measured height and weight. Parents were considered overweight when their BMI was >25 kg/m2 (WHO, 2000). Children were considered overweight when their BMI was >95th percentile (CDC, 2000). Prevalence of overweight was calculated and logistic regressions were performed. The sensitivity and specificity of parental overweight were calculated. A total of 26% (805/3059) parents were overweight. Of the families with one overweight parent, 15% (N = 109) had an overweight child. When both parents were overweight, 17% (N = 9) had an overweight child. After adjusting for child's age and gender, parental education, family income, and spouse's BMI as required, the odds of having an overweight child were 2.5 [1.8, 3.3] for one overweight parent, and 3.2 [1.4, 7.1] for both overweight parents. While the sensitivity of one overweight parent to identify families with overweight school age children was 44%, specificity was 75%. The presence of both overweight parents provided a 3% sensitivity and 98% specificity for the identification of an overweight school age child. Although parental overweight was obtained from self-reported weight and height in Busan (Korea), it is a practical indicator to identify families with an overweight school age child, it has poor sensitivity.     

Factors associated with unwanted pregnancy

The purpose of this study was to estimate the proportion of unwanted pregnancies (UWPs) and related factors among mothers delivering at all hospitals in Tehran. We investigated, in cross-sectional study 6,394 clients, parental age, education and occupation, interval of live children pregnancies, and rate of abortion. A Chi-square test and Hi-Log linear were used in this study. In this study, 2,443 (38.2%) of all cases were UWPs, of which 4.6% (n = 297) resorted to abortion (p < 0.0001). About 38% of all women had no prenatal care. Seventeen percent of the women under 20 and 66.2% of those above age 35 had had UWPs (p < 0.0001). Forty-one percent (n = 2,640) of all cases were illiterate or had primary education and 28% (n = 1,793) had a high school education or higher (p < 0.0001). Forty-seven percent (n = 18) of mothers were workers and 28.1% (n = 147) were employees (p < 0.0001). Although such variables as age, occupation, level of education, prenatal care, family size, and pregnancy interval affect rates of unwanted pregnancy in developing countries, regardless of the cause unwanted pregnancy and its negative consequences can be prevented by access to health services.     

中国城市12～36个月幼儿情绪社会性与父母教养方式关系的研究

目的:探讨中国城市父母教养方式对12～36个月幼儿情绪社会性发展的影响,优化儿童成长的教养环境,以促进12～36个月幼儿情绪社会性健康发展。方法:采取整群随机抽样的方法,抽取中国14个大中城市12～36个月幼儿的主要照顾者为父母的3400人作为调查对象。采用统一问卷,对父与母分别进行调查,再用SPSS统计软件对调查结果进行分析。结果:父与母在采用低压诱导的教养方式上,差异无统计学意义(t=1.33,P=0.18);但母亲较父亲更易采用接纳(母亲:33.32±5.47;父亲:32.51±5.45)及放任(母亲:7.78±2.10;父亲:7.67±2.27)的教养方式;父亲对女童采用接纳与放任的教养方式多于男童;多因素非条件Logistic回归分析显示父母分别采取接纳、拒绝、过渡关注及保护、惩罚及鼓励独立与探索等不同教养方式,影响着12～36个月幼儿情绪社会性的发展(P<0.05)。结论:增强父母理性的教育观念,改善其不良教养方式,对12～36个月幼儿情绪社会性健康发展具有重要意义。     

Use of commercial milk formula amongst children attending an urban hospital of Delhi

In India, interviews with 125 mothers and measurement of mid-arm circumference of their children younger than 35 months were conducted to examine use of commercial milk formula. 80% of children lived within a nuclear family. 12% of mothers were illiterate. 76% of the children were taking commercial milk formula at the time of the study. 48% first received it before 12 months of age. Physicians (52%) were the leading source of advice for using commercial milk formula, followed by peer mothers (12%) and relatives (8%). 64% of mothers did not know that there were preparation instructions on the packaging. 60 mothers used a bottle to feed their child commercial milk formula. 89% of children 12-35 months old receiving commercial milk formula had mild to moderate protein energy malnutrition. 60% had had a diarrheal episode within the last 15 days. Use of commercial milk formula increased with income and maternal education level. These findings reflect the need to educate physicians and mothers about the disadvantages of using commercial milk formula.     

上海市独生子女家庭的家庭功能及其影响因素研究

目的 调查上海市独生子女家庭的家庭功能,分析对家庭功能产生影响的社会人口学因素。方法 于2016年4月-2017年1月选取上海市4个区11所小学共1 189个独生子女家庭,使用家庭功能评定量表-总的功能(FAD-GF)评定家庭功能。使用χ²检验、t检验、方差分析、Spearman相关分析及Logistic回归分析家庭功能的影响因素。结果 1 189个独生子女家庭中GF均值为1.64,GF评定为“不健康”家庭功能的家庭共317个(26.7%)。在不同的家庭经济状况、父母受教育程度及儿童出生时父母年龄的家庭中,GF得分以及“不健康”家庭功能的家庭所占的比例差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05)。母亲受教育程度及儿童出生时母亲年龄对家庭功能的影响差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05),其中母亲受教育程度高为“健康”家庭功能的保护性因素(OR=0.477,95%CI:0.318~0.718),母亲高龄初产(＞35岁)为“不健康”家庭功能的危险性因素(OR=2.812,95%CI:1.480~5.344)。结论 上海独生子女家庭母亲首次生育年龄及母亲受教育程度为家庭功能的影响因素,提倡母亲适龄生育及提高女性受教育程度有助于家庭功能的改善。     

Family discipline practices with infants at six months of age

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To determine the frequency of 14 discipline strategies used by mothers (n?=?564) and fathers (n?=?335) in caring for their six-month old infant. Methods: Data on discipline practices were obtained from families participating in an obesity prevention trial (Prevention of Overweight in Infancy). Each parent was asked to indicate the frequency of using 14 different discipline strategies during the previous week with their infant. Associations between the use of these strategies and parity, deprivation, parental ethnicity, depression symptoms and infant sex were investigated. Results: Parents reported using both positive (mean: 8.8 for mothers and 7.9 for partners) and negative (0.7 for mothers and 0.7 for partners) strategies over the past week. At six months, positive strategies such as smiling, praising and distraction were most commonly reported (≥87% for both mothers and partners), negative strategies such as smacking, time out and shouting being reported infrequently (≤8% for all). Discipline requiring a level of cognitive understanding not developed at six months was reasonably common, including reasoning (17.7% for mothers, 23.4% for partners), negotiation (6.2%, 11.7%) and ignoring (26%, 19%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that mothers with more than one child had a lower positive discipline index than those with only one child (difference, 95% C.I.: 1.05 (0.57, 1.54). An increase of one point on the 10-point hostile parenting scale was associated with an increase of 0.18 (0.04, 0.31) for the mothers and 0.47 (0.23, 0.70) for partners on the negative strategy index. Conclusions: Discipline strategies emerge early in infancy and are associated with family size and parental hostility.     

Family risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy: study of a group of adolescent girls and their families in Ecuador.

PURPOSE: To identify characteristics within the family that were associated with adolescent pregnancy in a group of adolescent girls in Quito, Ecuador. METHODS: Of 135 female adolescents (12-19 years of age), 47 were pregnant and seen at the adolescent prenatal care clinic at an inner city hospital in Quito, and 88 were students from schools located within the same geographic area. Family variables were compared for pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents using chi-square, Student's t-test, and analysis of variance. RESULTS: More nonpregnant adolescents lived with their biological parents when compared with their pregnant peers (p < .002). Pregnant adolescents reported lower mother-daughter and father-daughter communication (p < .02), lesser life satisfaction and happiness in general, and more school and economic difficulties (p < .001). They were less likely to find support for their problems in or outside the family (p < .0001) and showed higher levels of depression and sexual abuse than their nonpregnant peers (68.8% vs. 34.5%, and 14.9% vs. 4.5%, respectively). Nonpregnant adolescents showed higher school performance and expectations regarding school achievement and future perspectives (p < .001). Values such as respect for others and religiosity were higher among nonpregnant adolescents (p < .0001). Parental education was lower in the families of pregnant adolescents (p < .05). Among nonpregnant adolescents, both parents worked outside the home (p < .006), whereas mothers of pregnant adolescents usually stayed at home. CONCLUSION: The current study showed that parental separation or divorce, and poor parent-daughter communication were associated with adolescent pregnancy. Families of nonpregnant adolescents had a higher educational level, and both parents worked to provide financial support to the family in an environment where family authority is shared by both parents. There were also better problem-solving strategies and parent-daughter communication, higher levels of cohesion, connectedness, and life satisfaction in general, and higher future expectations.