Racial Socialization of Biracial Youth: Maternal Messages and Approaches to Address Discrimination

We explored how mothers of biracial youth prepare their children to navigate diverse racial ecologies and experiences of racism and discrimination. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify racial socialization messages mothers used and emergent racial socialization approaches. Mothers of biracial youth engaged in the full range of racial socialization discussed in the literature, including cultural, minority, self‐development, egalitarian, and silent racial socialization. These messages varied by the biracial heritage of the youth, such that mothers of biracial youth with Black heritage were more likely to provide self‐development racial socialization messages, whereas mothers of biracial youth without Black heritage were more likely to provide silent racial socialization. On the basis of the array of racial socialization messages mothers delivered, we identified three emergent approaches: promotive, protective, and passive racial socialization.     

Household consumption profile of cowpea (vigna unguiculata) among low‐income families in Nigeria

Two hundred and fifty households comprising in general three adults and four children were randomly sampled in and around Nsukka Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria, to investigate the patterns of consumption and utilisation of cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata), with the long‐term aim of finding ways of maximising its production and consumption. Information was obtained by means of a questionnaire administered in the households, and general physique was assessed by anthropométrie measurements on pre‐school children. The study showed that 13 % of the children investigated were mildly malnourished according to their weight‐for‐height, while 41 % were stunted. It was found that cowpea was very popular; being consumed twice a week or more often by 88 % of respondents, usually in the form of bean‐staple mixes, and 96 % of the households used cowpea for infant feeding. Different techniques for repelling weevils during household storage and current methods of preparing traditional cowpea foods were reported. Reasons for infrequent preparation of these foods were identified. The possible role of an inexpensive, locally manufactured weaning food based on cowpea is discussed.     

Acute Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Family Members in the United States

We investigated 32 families of persons with acute toxoplasmosis in which >1 other family member was tested for Toxoplasma gondii infection; 18 (56%) families had >1 additional family member with acute infection. Family members of persons with acute toxoplasmosis should be screened for infection, especially pregnant women and immunocompromised persons.     

Intervening to Improve Health Indicators Among Australian Farm Families

ABSTRACT

The Sustainable Farm Families project (http://www.sustainablefarmfamilies.org.au/) was a 3-year demonstration and education project designed to influence farmer behavior with respect to family health and well-being among cropping and grazing farmers in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, Australia. The project was conducted by the Western District Health Service, Hamilton, Australia, in partnership with farmers; Farm Management 500 (peer discussion group); the Victorian Farmers Federation; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and Land Connect. During the 3 years of the project, 128 farmers—men (70) and women (58)—were enrolled. The project utilized a combination of small group workshops, individualized health action plans, and health education opportunities to encourage farm safety and health behavior changes and to elicit sustained improvements in the following health indicators: body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, and blood pressure. Mean changes in these health indicators were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and McNemar's test compared the proportion of individuals with elevated indicators. Among participants with elevated values at baseline, the following average reductions were observed: BMI 0.44 kg/m² (p = .0034), total cholesterol 48.7 mg/dl (p < .0001), blood glucose 10.1 mg/dl (p = .0016), systolic blood pressure 12.5 mm Hg (p < .0001), and diastolic blood pressure 5.0 mm Hg (p = .0007). The proportion of participants with elevated total cholesterol at baseline decreased after 24 months (p < .001). Such findings suggest that proactive intervention by farmer associations, rural health services, and government agencies may be an effective vehicle for promoting voluntary farm safety and health behavior change while empowering farm families to achieve measurable reductions in important health risk factors.     

Evaluation of methods accounting for population structure with pedigree data and continuous outcomes

Methods to account for population structure (PS) in genome-wide association studies have been well developed in samples of unrelated individuals, but when a sample is composed of families, the task of finding and accounting for PS is not as straight forward. Family-based tests that condition on parental genotypes or their sufficient statistics are immune to biases due to PS, but are known to have low power, particularly for unselected samples. Population-based approaches that use all available data are an attractive alternative, but the methods have not been evaluated for continuous outcomes when a sample has both family and PS. Therefore, we compare through simulation the performance of population-based regression models that account for family and PS with continuous outcomes using a range of family sizes and structures, including two and three generational families with admixed and discrete PS. We find that when computation time is a concern, the Dupuis et al. efficient score test performs very well. When computational time is not an issue, a linear mixed effects model adjusting for genetic principal components tends to have slightly better power than the score test and may be preferred.     

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.     

Informative-transmission disequilibrium test (i-TDT): combined linkage and association mapping that includes unaffected offspring as well as affected offspring

To date, there is no test valid for the composite null hypothesis of no linkage or no association that utilizes transmission information from heterozygous parents to their unaffected offspring as well as the affected offspring from ascertained nuclear families. Since the unaffected siblings also provide information about linkage and association, we introduce a new strategy called the informative-transmission disequilibrium test (i-TDT), which uses transmission information from heterozygous parents to all of the affected and unaffected offspring in ascertained nuclear families and provides a valid chi-square test for both linkage and association. The i-TDT can be used in various study designs and can accommodate all types of independent nuclear families with at least one affected offspring. We show that the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) (Spielman et al. [1993] Am. J. Hum. Genet. 52:506-516) is a special case of the i-TDT, if the study sample contains only case-parent trios. If the sample contains only affected and unaffected offspring without parental genotypes, the i-TDT is equivalent to the sibship disequilibrium test (SDT) (Horvath and Laird [1998] Am. J. Hum. Genet. 63:1886-1897. In addition, the test statistic of i-TDT is simple, explicit and can be implemented easily without intensive computing. Through computer simulations, we demonstrate that power of the i-TDT can be higher in many circumstances compared to a method that uses affected offspring only. Applying the i-TDT to the Framingham Heart Study data, we found that the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is significantly linked and associated with cross-sectional measures and longitudinal changes in total cholesterol.     

上海核心家庭亲子沟通状况及其影响因素分析

目的了解上海市核心家庭中的亲子沟通状况，并探讨亲子沟通的影响因素，为有针对性地开展亲子沟通的教育干预提供科学依据。方法采用分层抽样的方法，对上海市徐汇区2个街道57个居委会644户核心家庭(一对夫妻和一个孩子，孩子≥10周岁)进行问卷调查，并用SAS 8．2进行统计分析。结果亲子沟通时间以4～7h／周居多，近一半的父母在与孩子沟通时“畅所欲言”，近3／4的父母与孩子的沟通以餐桌交流为主，大多数父母在与孩子沟通时感到宽松；母亲与子女沟通状况优于父亲。影响母子沟通的因素包括母亲文化程度、母亲月收入、孩子年龄、沟通时间以及沟通时机；影响父子沟通的因素包括沟通时间和沟通时机。结论亲子沟通状况不容乐观，特别是父亲与子女之间的沟通较少。亲子沟通的主动性和科学性较差，沟通方式较为单一。应大力加强对亲子沟通特别是父子沟通的宣传教育，转变父母的教育观念，促进父母与子女之间经常性的沟通，并注重加强对父母进行有针对性沟通技能的培训。从而有效地改善亲子沟通状况。促进家庭教育的顺利开展。     

Neighborhood Disorder and Paternal Involvement of Nonresident and Resident Fathers

Using data of 775 nonresident father families and 1,407 resident father families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examined whether neighborhood disorder was associated with fathers' supportive involvement in child care. Bivariate analysis indicated that mothers and children of nonresident father families were more likely to live in disordered neighborhoods than those of resident father families. Multivariate analysis indicated that neighborhood disorder was negatively associated with nonresident fathers' involvement in child care, but not with that of resident fathers. In addition, relationship quality between the father and mother, father or mother married to or cohabiting with another person, fathers' income and alcohol dependence, and child health status were associated with nonresident or resident fathers' involvement. Policy and practice implications of the findings are discussed.     

Predictors of parent-teacher communication during infant transition to childcare in Portugal

ABSTRACT

Although literature reports associations between parent-teacher communication and childcare quality, little is known about how such communications are related to family, child and childcare characteristics. This study examines whether child, family and childcare experience characteristics predict the level of parent-teacher communication, and differences between parents’ and teachers’ reports of communication. Participants were mothers of 90 infants and their teachers in childcare in Portugal. Results show that both parents and teachers report higher levels of communication in higher-quality programmes. Teachers reported more frequent communication than parents. Teachers, but not parents, reported more frequent communication when children spent fewer hours in childcare. Discussion highlights the relevance of monitoring the quality of childcare contexts, especially in early ages, and to increase parent-teacher communication when children spend more time in childcare. The importance of promoting high-quality childcare and accounting for variables at the mesosystemic level of development in teacher training are also discussed.