Girls’ Stuff? Maternal Gender Stereotypes and Their Daughters’ Fear

One of the most robust findings in psychopathology is the fact that specific phobias are more prevalent in women than in men. Although there are several theoretical accounts for biological and social contributions to this gender difference, empirical data are surprisingly limited. Interestingly, there is evidence that individuals with stereotypical feminine characteristics are more fearful than those with stereotypical masculine characteristics; this is beyond biological sex. Because gender role stereotypes are reinforced by parental behavior, we aimed to examine the relationship of maternal gender stereotypes and children’s fear. Dyads of 38 mothers and their daughters (between ages 6 and 10) were included. We assessed maternal implicit and explicit gender stereotypes as well as their daughters’ self-reported general fearfulness, specific fear of snakes, and approach behavior toward a living snake. First, mothers’ fear of snakes significantly correlated with their daughters’ fear of snakes. Second, mothers’ gender stereotypes significantly correlated with their daughters’ self-reported fear. Specifically, maternal implicit gender stereotypes were associated with daughters’ fear of snakes and fear ratings in response to the snake. Moreover, in children, self-reported fear correlated with avoidance of the fear-relevant animal. Together, these results provide first evidence for a potential role of parental gender stereotypes in the development and maintenance of fear in their offspring.

Prolactin action is necessary for parental behavior in male mice

Parental care is critical for successful reproduction in mammals. In comparison to maternal care, the neuroendocrine mechanisms supporting paternal care are less well-studied. Laboratory mice show a mating-induced suppression of infanticide (normally observed in virgins) and onset of paternal behavior. Using this model, we sought to investigate whether the hormone prolactin plays a role in paternal behavior, as it does for maternal behavior. First, using c-fos immunoreactivity in Prlr-IRES-Cre-tdtomato reporter mouse sires, we show that the circuitry activated during paternal interactions contains prolactin-responsive neurons, including the medial preoptic area, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and medial amygdala. To evaluate whether prolactin action is required for the establishment and display of paternal behavior, we conditionally deleted the prolactin receptor (Prlr) from 3 distinct cell types: glutamatergic, GABAergic, and CaMKIIα-expressing forebrain neurons. Prlr-deletion from CaMKIIα-expressing forebrain neurons, but not from glutamatergic or GABAergic cells, resulted in a profound effect on paternal behavior, as none of these males completed the pup retrieval task. Finally, although sires do not show an acute increase in circulating prolactin levels in response to pups, pharmacological blockade of prolactin-release at the time of pup exposure resulted in failure to retrieve pups, similar to when the Prlr was deleted from CaMKIIα neurons, with prolactin administration rescuing this behavior. Taken together, our data show that paternal behavior in sires is dependent on basal levels of circulating prolactin acting at the Prlr on CaMKIIα-expressing neurons. These new data in male mice demonstrate that prolactin has a similar action in both sexes to promote parental care.

Relation between ADHD and COVID-19: A Narrative Review to Guide Advancing Clinical Research and Therapy

Objective: To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, national health authorities temporarily closed cultural, religious, and educational institutions such as universities and schools. Children and adolescents with ADHD were challenged with the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic such as homeschooling and reduced physical activity. The present narrative review aimed to summarize the state-of-the-art regarding associations between COVID-19-related social restrictions and possible psychological and behavioral issues in children and adolescents with ADHD. Additionally, we discussed the underlying possible reasons of the association focusing on the role of parental influence and physical activity, vulnerabilities of individuals with ADHD to Covid-19 infection and to school closure and remote learning. Method: To collect data for the present narrative review, recent publications on these topics between February 1st, 2020 and January 10th, 2021 were retrieved from the most popular search engines (PubMed; Scopus; Google Scholar; Psych Info; Embase) through a comprehensive search using relevant keywords. Results: During confinement, children and adolescents with ADHD reported increased behavioral and ADHD-related symptoms and overall decreased psychological well-being. Factors negatively impacting children’s and adolescents’ behavioral symptoms and well-being were: less physical activity, adverse parental behavior, difficulties in coping with preventive guidelines, and school closure and remote learning consequences. Conclusion: Children and adolescents with ADHD and their caregivers faced both specific and general psychological issues related to the school lockdowns and homeschooling. Additionally, Individuals with ADHD seem to be more vulnerable to Covid-19 infection which highlights the need for better healthcare adaptation.

Tricking Parents: A Review of Mechanisms and Signals of Host Manipulation by Brood-Parasitic Young

Obligate avian brood parasites depend entirely on heterospecific hosts for rearing their offspring. From hatching until independence, the young parasites must deal with the challenge of obtaining sufficient parental care from foster parents that are attuned to provisioning their own offspring. Parent-offspring communication is mediated by complex begging displays in which nestlings and fledglings exhibit visual (e.g., gaping and postures) and vocal (e.g., begging calls) traits that serve as signals to parents to adjust and allocate parental effort. Parasites can manipulate host parental behavior by exploiting these stable parent-offspring communication systems in their favor. During the past 30 years, the study of host exploitation by parasitic chicks has yielded important insights into the function and evolution of manipulative signals in brood parasites. However, despite these major advances, there are still important gaps in our knowledge about how parasitic nestling and fledglings tune into the host’s communication channels and the adaptive value of the visual and acoustic signals they exhibit. Here we review the literature pertaining to host manipulation by parasitic young, focusing on four non-mutually exclusive mechanisms (i.e., host chick mimicry, begging exaggeration, host-attuned begging calls, and sensory exploitation) and the function and evolution of the signals involved, with the aim to summarize and discuss putative adaptations for stimulating parental feeding and escaping host discrimination. Finally, we bring some concluding remarks and suggest directions for future research on the ways in which brood parasites adapt to the communication systems of other birds to exploit the necessary parental care.

Student alienation and perceived organizational culture: A correlational study

<span>It is generally expected that the students are supposed to gain an engaging and enriching experience throughout their journey of higher education. The educational institutions have to take up the responsibility to ensure that students are engaged meaningfully and are in a state of well-being. However, in the present scenario, students at colleges and universities have started to feel alienated from the campus life. Research shows that alienation levels are rising among the youth. Factors like stress, coping mechanism, restrictive parental behavior, peer pressure, academic performance, and organizational culture have an impact on alienation among the students. This study attempts to understand the relationship between student alienation and organizational culture in an educational institution. The study employed a descriptive correlational design and collected data from 600 under graduate students studying in a university. The study used student alienation scale and organizational culture assessment instrument to collect the survey data. Study revealed that there is a negative correlation between student alienation and organizational culture. There were 30% variation in student alienation is explained by different types of organizational culture. Clan culture reduces student alienation compared to hierarchy culture. The researchers urge for further research to identify ideal organizational cultures that can promote student engagement and student well-being.</span>

Exploring the interplay of dopaminergic genotype and parental behavior in relation to executive function in early childhood

Child genotype is an important biologically based individual difference conferring differential sensitivity to the effect of parental behavior. This study explored dopaminergic polygenic composite × parental behavior interactions in relation to young children’s executive function. Participants were 135 36-month-old children and their mothers drawn from a prospective cohort followed longitudinally from pregnancy. A polygenic composite was created based on the number of COMT, DAT1, DRD2, and DRD4 alleles associated with increased reward sensitivity children carried. Maternal negative reactivity and responsiveness were coded during a series of structured mother–child interactions. Executive function was operationalized as self-control and working memory/inhibitory control. Path analysis supported a polygenic composite by negative reactivity interaction for self-control. The nature of the interaction was one of diathesis-stress, such that higher negative reactivity was associated with poorer self-control for children with higher polygenic composite scores. This result suggests that children with a higher number of alleles may be more vulnerable to the negative effect of negative reactivity. Negative reactivity may increase the risk for developing behavior problems in this population via an association with poorer self-control. Due to the small sample size, these initial findings should be treated with caution until they are replicated in a larger independent sample.

Perceived Parental Care and Next-Generation Family Members’ Succession Intentions: The Sequential-Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy and Perceived Person-Job Fit

ABSTRACT Whereas the existing literature on the relationship between parental behavior and family business succession mainly focuses on parental behavior in the business domain, we highlight the importance of parental behavior in the family domain. Integrating attachment theory, the family business succession literature, and person-job fit literature, our study proposes a theoretical framework hypothesizing that general self-efficacy and perceived person-job fit mediate the association between perceived parental care (an underrepresented family-domain-specific parental behavior) and next-generation family members’ succession intentions. This framework is tested by data from two surveys and further verified by qualitative interviews of next-generation family members. Multivariate analysis results suggest that next-generation family members’ general self-efficacy and perceived person-job fit played a sequential-mediating role in the relationship between perceived parental care and next-generation family members’ succession intentions. Our interviews not only confirm these results but also reveal new insights, particularly into the specific Chinese context in the study of family business succession.

Breeding biology of the Green-backed Tit (Parus monticolus) in southwest China

Studies on breeding biology enable us to broaden our understanding of the evolution of life history strategies. We studied the breeding biology of the Green-backed Tit (Parus monticolus) to provide comprehensive data on nest and egg characteristics, parental behavior throughout egg laying and nestling periods, and reproductive outcome. Our study reveals adaptive behavioral patterns and reproductive strategies for P. monticolus.

Stress and stressors experienced by the high-risk neonates admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and their parents: Protocol for a systematic review of available evidence from India

Background Hospitalization of a neonate is a significant stressor for the parents as well as family members especially when a high-risk neonate is admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) requiring continued intensive care. This prolonged physical separation from parent can have a negative psychological effect on both the neonate and the parent. These adverse health effects may last beyond hospitalization, impacting parental behavior and causing long-term emotional complications and health alteration. The neonatal period is crucial for initiating interaction and bonding between mother and child. Undue stress during this period can compromise the establishment and maintenance of a healthy mother-child bonding, which may negatively impact their long-term relationship. Methods The systematic review will include hospital-based observational studies, cross-sectional surveys, descriptive studies, qualitative studies, and mixed-method studies from India. Studies will be retrieved from global databases like CINAHL via EBSCO host, MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Ovid, Web of Science, ProQuest Medical Library, Microsoft academic, DOAJ, and Indian databases like Indian Citation Index, J-Gate, and Neonatal Database (JCDR) using database-specific keywords. Additionally, online hand searching will be done on Indian websites of relevant institutions, women and child welfare departments, NGOs, repositories, registries, search engines, pediatric journals, and grey literature. All the primary studies reference lists will be scrutinized for additional references. Two review authors will independently screen, extract data, and critically appraise included studies. In case of any disagreements, it will be resolved in consultation with a third reviewer. Results will be reported as per the PRISMA-P guidelines. Discussion This systematic review will identify and highlight the stress and stressors among high-risk neonates admitted to NICU and their parents, which will guide the health care team in planning and developing comprehensive family-centered programs or interventions to reduce stress and stressors among high-risk neonates and their parents. Registration of systematic review: Protocol is registered in PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews), Reg ID: CRD42021272323.