Parent–offspring conflict and transition to crèche phase in Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica)

Parent–offspring conflict theory predicts that offspring seek to prolong the parental care period, while parents strive to shorten it as much as possible. Transition to the crèche phase in penguins involves changes in the dynamic of parental investment in chicks, and thus may be modulated by interests that benefit parent or offspring. We explored parent–offspring interactions in the Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) to understand the influence such interactions would have on transition to crèche phase. We studied the effect of hatching date, nestling age, brood size, and nest location on parent–offspring interactions and the length of the guard phase. All behavioral variables related to nestling demands for parental investment increased as well as parental aggression towards their chicks, with increased nestling age. Brood size showed significant effects on both nestling and parental behavior. Hatching date was negatively correlated with the age at crèche. Consequently, the decision to leave the chicks unguarded seemed to be more based on the condition of adults rather than of the chicks. Given the short time available for breeding in Antarctica and that penguins are long-lived birds with several opportunities to breed, there may be conflicting selective factors between investment in feeding chicks versus extending the period of resource acquisition and storage prior to moult.

The Gender Perspective on Parent-to-child Aggression: Gender and Gender-constellations

Parent-to-child aggressive behavior is a common risk factor for children’s health. Gender is correlated also to the odds of using aggression and the odds of being a victim of aggression. Yet, only few studies have considered the constellation of perpetrator’s and victim’s gender as a factor of parental aggression. The current study addresses parent-to-child aggressive behavior while focusing on the constellation of perpetrator’s and victim’s gender (i.e., mother–daughter, mother–son, father–daughter, father–son). It utilizes a community sample of Israeli university students ( N = 508), 78% of which are female, on average 25.67 years of age ( SD = 8.29). The participants reported the incidence and frequency of verbal and physical aggressive behavior of their parents against them during the years of middle school. The results show gender and gender-constellation to be significantly correlated with parental aggression. Overall, sons were more likely to suffer both verbal and physical aggression from their parents than daughters were. Only paternal verbal and physical aggression was more common against daughters, and only maternal verbal and physical aggression was more common against sons. Parental verbal and physical aggression from both parents were more common against sons. For all types and forms of parental aggression, daughters reported higher frequencies. These results suggest that while parent’s gender might predict their overall aggressive behavior, and child’s gender might predict their overall odds to be victimized by parental aggression, gender-constellation might create gender-specific selective patterns of parental aggressive behavior. Thus, the theoretical contribution of this study is in emphasizing that gender-constellations have an explanatory value beyond gender alone. These findings might be valuable to assess the risk of daughters and sons to suffer parental aggression, and for practitioners to provide apt professional response.

Managing aggression in hospitals: A role for clinical ethicists

Hospitals are places where patients are unwell, where patients and their families may be upset, confused, frustrated, in pain, and vulnerable. The likelihood of these experiences and emotions manifesting in anger and aggressive behaviour is high. In this paper, we describe the involvement of a clinical ethics service responding to a request to discuss family aggression within a rehabilitation department in a large paediatric hospital in Australia. We suggest two key advantages of involving a clinical ethics service in discussions about how to respond to family aggression. First, the process of ethics deliberation provides an opportunity for clinicians to be involved in the solution by articulating their perspectives, tolerance levels, and general concerns about the effects of family aggression towards staff. Second, supporting clinicians to articulate and identify the impact of parental aggression directly counters the disadvantages of the more blunt zero-tolerance policy response, which is necessarily imposed from the top down.

Exposure to Parental Aggression and the Development of Psychopathology in Young Children: The Mediating Role of Early Dissociative Symptoms

Exposure to child-directed parental aggression in early life has been found to increase the risk of later psychopathological symptoms among children and adolescents. However, little is known about intermediate phenotypes and the developmental progression of symptoms, especially across the transition to grade school. Using prospectively collected longitudinal data from a large sample of children enrolled in the Family Life Project ( n = 1,166, 49.7% female), the current study examined the mediating role of early dissociative symptoms in the relations between parental aggression and children’s psychopathological symptoms. Children’s exposure to parental aggression and their dissociative symptoms before school entry were assessed based on primary caregivers’ reports. Teacher ratings of children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms were collected in pre-kindergarten as well as in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades. Results showed that dissociative symptoms before school entry partially mediated the association between parental aggression and persistent externalizing symptoms in school years. However, no significant associations were found between parental aggression or dissociative symptoms and internalizing symptoms. Findings suggest that dissociative symptoms manifested early in life serve as a mediating mechanism and indicator of risk for persistent impulsivity and behavioral problems. Thus, these symptoms could be an important target of preventive services provided to children with adverse experiences in their families.

The Role of Olfactory Genes in the Expression of Rodent Paternal Care Behavior

Olfaction is the dominant sensory modality in rodents, and is crucial for regulating social behaviors, including parental care. Paternal care is rare in rodents, but can have significant consequences for offspring fitness, suggesting a need to understand the factors that regulate its expression. Pup-related odor cues are critical for the onset and maintenance of paternal care. Here, I consider the role of olfaction in the expression of paternal care in rodents. The medial preoptic area shares neural projections with the olfactory and accessory olfactory bulbs, which are responsible for the interpretation of olfactory cues detected by the main olfactory and vomeronasal systems. The olfactory, trace amine, membrane-spanning 4-pass A, vomeronasal 1, vomeronasal 2 and formyl peptide receptors are all involved in olfactory detection. I highlight the roles that 10 olfactory genes play in the expression of direct paternal care behaviors, acknowledging that this list is not exhaustive. Many of these genes modulate parental aggression towards intruders, and facilitate the recognition and discrimination of pups in general. Much of our understanding comes from studies on non-naturally paternal laboratory rodents. Future studies should explore what role these genes play in the regulation and expression of paternal care in naturally biparental species.

Examination of Parental Investment in Nest Defence in a Tropical Songbird, the Pied Bush Chat (Saxicola Caprata)

Most animals that demonstrate parental care are also engaged in such behaviour that increases their offspring chance of survival when confronted by a predator. The present study is equipped with a detailed account of the parental investment in nest defence behaviour of a tropic zone (Haridwar, Himalayan foothills, India) inhabiting species, the Pied Bush Chat ( Saxicola caprata) (PBC). During simulated nest defence treatments, we recorded two distinct types of calls which were used during the display of parental aggression by PBCs, threat calls and alarm calls. Significant differences were noted for the usage of the threat calls over the alarm calls during nest defence. For the most part males were found to be more aggressive than females (on the basis of their call rates) during the simulated attacks of the decoy predator. Results also indicated that parental aggression was more inclined towards nestlings than that of the eggs. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that the nest protection intensity increases with the progression of the nesting cycle.

Childhood Maltreatment, Limbic Dysfunction, Resilience, and Psychiatric Symptoms

Previous research has indicated that childhood maltreatment is predictive of psychiatric symptoms in adulthood. Among the potential intervening factors in this relationship are affective reactions in the victims, neurodevelopmental problems, and resilience. The purpose of this study was to test, in a nonclinical low-risk sample, an integrative developmentally based psychoneurological model of the roles of limbic system dysfunction, shame and guilt, and resiliency as potential intervening variables between childhood maltreatment and adult psychiatric symptoms. Also of interest was whether there were gender-specific pathways from maltreatment to symptoms. Based on the results of preliminary analyses, several regressions were conducted separately by gender, entering the different forms of parental aggression at Step 1, resilience at Step 2, the resilience by parental aggression interaction term at Step 3, shame and guilt at Step 4, and limbic dysfunction at Step 5, as predictors of psychiatric symptoms. Analyses indicated that both maternal psychological maltreatment and paternal physical maltreatment were predictive of total psychiatric symptomatology in adulthood, with shame mediating the relationship in women and guilt mediating it in men, limbic system symptoms mediating the relationship in both genders, and trait resilience moderating the relationship in both genders.

Parental aggression as a predictor of boys’ hostile attribution across the transition to middle school

Aggression among youth is a public health problem that is often studied in the context of how youth interpret social information. Social cognitive factors, especially hostile attribution biases, have been identified as risk factors for the development of youth aggression, particularly across the transition to middle school. Parental behaviors, including parental aggression to children in the form of corporal punishment and other aggressive behavior, have also been linked to aggressive behavior in children at these ages. Despite the important role played by these two risk factors, the connection between the two has not been fully studied in the literature. This study examined the link between parental aggression and children’s hostile attributions longitudinally among a diverse sample of 123 boys as they entered middle school. Results support acceptance of a model in which parental aggression to children prior to entering middle school predicted children’s hostile attributions after the transition to middle school above and beyond that which was predicted by previous levels of hostile attributions. As expected, hostile attributions also predicted change in parent- and teacher-rated child aggression. These findings provide important evidence of the role that parental behavior plays in youth social cognition at this critical age, which has implications for understanding the development of aggressive behavior.