Do Mothers and Fathers of Egyptian Stuttering Children View Stuttering Differently?

Purpose: Limited research has shown that knowing or interacting with a person who stutters facilitates more positive attitudes toward stuttering. This is true when the stuttering person is a close friend or a family member. The study sought to determine if Egyptian mothers held different stuttering attitudes than fathers as joint parents of children who stuttered. Method: Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering results of 25 mothers and 25 fathers of the same children who stuttered were compared. Also, children's severity scores were correlated with their parents' attitudes. Results: There were no significant differences between mothers' and fathers' stuttering attitudes; however, an unexpected trend for more positive attitudes of fathers was observed. Weak relationships between children's stuttering severity and their parents' attitudes existed, with slightly higher correlations for the fathers. Conclusion: Nonsignificant trends for slightly more positive attitudes for fathers than mothers should be explored in larger sample sizes in order to answer the question “Should information provided for parents of children who stutter be different or differently presented to mothers versus fathers?”

A Person-Centered Approach to Resilience and Vulnerability in Emerging Adulthood: Predictions From Parenting and Personality in Adolescence

In this person-centered study, we identified different profiles of resilience and vulnerability in emerging adulthood in response to previously experienced stressful life events. Additionally, we examined whether mothers’ and fathers’ parenting and participants’ personality traits in adolescence predicted these profiles. Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development (N = 346 families) were used. At T1 (2004; Mage = 11 years), T2 (2007), and T3 (2009), mothers and fathers reported on their parenting and their child’s personality. At T4 (2018; Mage = 25 years), emerging adults retrospectively self-reported the occurrence and impact of 22 stressful life events and rated current behavior problems and subjective well-being. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: Competent (71%; low stress, low behavior problems, high subjective well-being), Vulnerable (21%; average stress, high behavior problems, low subjective well-being), and Resilient (9%; high stress, average behavior problems, average subjective well-being). Emerging adults in the Resilient profile had experienced higher levels of maternal positive parenting and were less emotionally stable and conscientious than those in the Competent profile. Furthermore, emerging adults in the Vulnerable profile were less emotionally stable than their peers in the Competent profile. These findings reveal new insights into the heterogeneous patterns of emerging adults’ adaptation following stressful life events.

Shared leave, happier parent couples? Parental leave and relationship satisfaction in Germany

This study investigates how parental leave policies and uptake may impact heterosexual couples’ relationship satisfaction. It focuses on Germany as an example of a country with a history of familialist policies and long maternal leaves that has recently undergone a significant policy shift. We extend the literature by examining the effects of maternal and paternal leave duration on both partners’ relationship satisfaction while distinguishing between the length of solo, joint and overall leave. The study applies two different methods on data from the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam). First, the study applies fixed-effects regression models ( n = 1046 couples) to investigate the impact of parental leave duration on the change in mothers’ and fathers’ satisfaction over the child’s early years. Second, drawing on exogenous variation as a result of the parental leave reform of 2007, which shortened paid leave for mothers and incentivised fathers’ leave take-up, difference-in-difference analyses ( n = 1403 couples) analyse reform effects on relationship satisfaction of parents with 3-year-old children. The fixed-effects models indicated a consistent negative impact of maternal – especially solo – leave duration on both mothers’ and fathers’ relationship satisfaction. No significant effects of paternal leave length were found. The difference-in-difference approach revealed a positive reform effect on mothers’ relationship satisfaction. In combination, these results suggest that the reduction in maternal leave as part of the reform has had a greater impact on couples’ relationship quality than the relatively short duration of leave taken by most fathers after the introduction of the individual leave entitlement.

Struggling to ‘do family’ during COVID-19: evidence from a German mixed-methods study

Applying the concept of doing family, which centres on the organisation of, and the practices in, families’ everyday lives, our research questions focus on the efforts mothers and fathers undertake to keep everyday life going during the pandemic. We analysed two-wave panel data of the project ‘Growing up in Germany’, and conducted 20 in-depth interviews with mothers and fathers in order to examine their strategies in detail. Our findings confirm gender and other important differences, and reveal three major strategies to reconcile caring obligations with demands from paid work before and during the crisis.