Feature Channels: Family and Parenting

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Michael Neely, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, helps explain the facts about measles, and how parents can prevent further outbreak. MD, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, helps explain the facts about measles, how parents can prevent further outbreak, and what CHLA can do to help prevent infection and to treat those who have already been infected.

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Research has discovered a role for prolactin, the hormone that stimulates milk production in nursing mothers, in the bond between parents. The study on cotton-top tamarins found a link between prolactin levels and sexual activity and cuddling among paired adults. Although this was a first for prolactin, it has previously been found for oxytocin, a hormone that stimulates childbirth and is linked to a range of pleasurable emotions.

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New research from The Family Institute at Northwestern University, conducted by researchers including Jacob Goldsmith, PhD, Assistant Clinical Director at The Epstein Center, highlights the benefits of difficult moments between therapist and client.

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Much has been written about the history of the women’s and gay liberation movements of the late 20th century, but little is known about how heterosexual men navigated dramatic changes in the legal regulation of families in the 1980s. In a new paper forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review (2016), Deborah Dinner, JD, PhD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, provides the first legal history of the father’s rights movement, analyzing how middle-class white men responded to rising divorce rates by pursuing reform in both family law and welfare policy.

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University of Manchester researchers have piloted a parenting trial which aims to improve child behaviour in Panama City – the place with the eighth highest murder rate in the world.

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Men who exercise more have better erectile and sexual function, regardless of race, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

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Whether dealing with a two-year-old’s tantrum or a six-year-old’s refusal to clean up after herself, many adults have, at some point, pulled a time out from their bag of discipline tools. When used effectively, a time out can train children to behave in acceptable ways.

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Do parents go too far when it comes to creating a digital identity for their kids?

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Playing games with children over the summer can boost academic and social skills - while the family has some fun, to boot.

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For many reasons, a child being home from school while sick can be stressful. Parents worry about the severity of their child’s illness and about the child missing school, all while trying to shuffle work schedules to be home.

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Children whose parents think they’re God’s gift to the world do tend to outshine their peers – in narcissism.

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Would you want to know if you or your children had risk of hereditary cancer, a genetic risk for cardiovascular disease or carried the gene associated with developing Alzheimer’s disease?

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For a variety of reasons, many women choose to postpone childbearing until they are in their 30s or even 40s. But the difficult truth is that the biological clock waits for no one, and fertility declines with age. Increasingly, young women are turning to a procedure that allows them to freeze their eggs while they are fertile and store them until a pregnancy is desired.

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Penis size nomograms may be useful in clinical and therapeutic settings to counsel men and for academic research.

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Setting clocks forward this Daylight Savings Time may lead to your kids to be sleepy. Sanjeev Kothare, MD, has tips to ensure sleep isn’t disrupted.

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Researchers have pinpointed a region in the human genome associated with peanut allergy in U.S. children, offering strong evidence that genes can play a role in the development of food allergies.

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A study reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that consumption of a peanut-containing snack by infants who are at high-risk for developing peanut allergy prevents the subsequent development of allergy. The “Learning Early About Peanut allergy” (LEAP) study, designed and conducted by the Immune Tolerance Network and led by Gideon Lack at Kings College London, is the first randomized trial to prevent food allergy in a large cohort of high-risk infants.

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Henry Ford Hospital researchers say that breastfeeding and other factors influence a baby’s immune system development and susceptibility to allergies and asthma by what’s in their gut.

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Baby boomers trying to pick the best living arrangements for themselves or their parents as they age should be wary of a phrase they coined in their younger years: If it feels good, do it.

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A baby’s feeding habits are a common source of questions for pediatricians. Though every baby will spit up, some do it considerably more than others, which can cause parents to think something might be wrong.

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In an attempt to address the significant problem of childhood obesity in the United States territory, Puerto Rican officials have proposed a $500 - $800 fine for parents whose children have obesity and have not improved after parent-focused education. While some public and pediatric health organizations have called the bill “unfair,” The Obesity Society (TOS) and The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) go further to call it a misguided policy that ignores the core scientific understanding of obesity as a disease.

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A new Santa Fe Institute study by Paul Hooper and collaborators details the intergenerational food sharing in a society of Amazon forager-farmers and shows that differences in relative need determine contributions to children from parents, grandparents, and other kin.

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Researchers found that a baby’s diet during the first few months of life has a profound influence on the composition, diversity, and stability of the gut microbiome. These factors influence the baby’s ability to transition from milk to solid foods and may have long-term health effects.

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Parents with the most traditional beliefs about masculinity and femininity are likelier to view pay-to-play sports fees as too high for daughters compared with sons, a new study from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology suggests.

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A newly published research study conducted by researchers at the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at Arizona State University, examined whether noticing and using calorie menu labels was associated with demographic characteristics of customers at a national fast food chain currently posting calorie counts. They found that approximately 60% of participants noticed the calorie menu labels but only 16% reported using the labels to determine food and beverage choices.

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A new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers finds that a collection of simple strategies used by parents can lead to significant improvements in one-year-olds at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

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New research from Kansas State University finds that despite receiving food safety messaging, a majority of home chefs still contaminate their food because of poor food-handling techniques.

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Former National Football League (NFL) players who participated in tackle football before the age of 12 were more likely to have memory and thinking problems in adulthood, according to a new study published in the January 28, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Women whose bodies have high levels of chemicals found in plastics, personal-care products, common household items and the environment experience menopause two to four years earlier than women with lower levels of these chemicals, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings are reported online Jan. 28 in the journal PLOS ONE.

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In his new book, It’s not your fault!, Joseph Barone, MD, a pediatric urologist, debunks the myth that failed potty training is the fault of parents, or of a child, and provides practical, research-based approaches for toilet training, and for solving bedwetting and daywetting difficulties.

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43% of surveyed female meningioma survivors aged 25–44 yrs stated they were warned that pregnancy was a risk factor for meningioma recurrence. Nevertheless, these women were more likely to want a baby (70% vs 54%) and intend to have a baby (27% vs 12%) than same-age women in the general population.

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Perhaps father does know best. Female college students who said their fathers were involved in their lives as teens reported engaging in less sex and using contraception more when they do have sex.

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A new study finds that the factors influencing children’s readiness for kindergarten include not only whether they attend preschool, but also their families’ behaviors, attitudes and values — and that parents’ expectations go a long way toward predicting children’s success throughout their schooling.

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New research shows that stomach sleepers with epilepsy may be at higher risk of sudden unexpected death, drawing parallels to sudden infant death syndrome in babies. The study is published in the January 21, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Intrusive monitoring of Internet use by parents actually leads adolescents to increase their risky online behavior

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The majority of young women and men today would prefer an egalitarian relationship in which work and family responsibilities are shared equally between partners if that possibility were available to them, according to a new study.

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Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine previously reported that a drug used for almost a century to treat trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, reversed environmental autism-like symptoms in mice. Now, a new study published in this week’s online issue of Molecular Autism, suggests that a genetic form of autism-like symptoms in mice are also corrected with the drug, even when treatment was started in young adult mice.

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It’s normal for a very young child to have tantrums and be otherwise disruptive, but researchers have found that if such behavior is prolonged or especially intense, the child may have conduct disorder. The Washington University team, led by senior investigator Joan L. Luby, MD, recommends that children who exhibit these symptoms be referred to mental health professionals for evaluation and possible intervention.

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Depression and other behavior changes may show up in people who will later develop Alzheimer’s disease even before they start having memory problems, according to a new study published in the January 14, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Higher cognitive skills are found in the children of mothers who are consistently able to support the development of their baby’s sense of autonomy, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Montreal. The researchers specifically looked at executive functioning, which refers to a range of cognitive processes that are essential for cognitive, social and psychological functioning.

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A Georgia State University School of Public Health researcher's web-based training program has been proven to not only reduce the likelihood of college-age men becoming involved in sexual assaults, but also to intervene to stop an assault from happening.

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In a groundbreaking new study, UCLA researchers have discovered that children of melanoma survivors are not adhering optimally to sun protection recommendations. This is concerning as sunburns are a major risk factor for melanoma, and children of survivors are at increased risk for developing the disease as adults.

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An innovative new program developed at the University of Washington was designed specifically to help parents of children in foster care navigate the process of court-ordered visitations and become better parents. Called STRIVE, will be offered at no cost online and aims to reunite families while reducing the tremendous costs associated with children in care.

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Parenting practices and restrictions when it comes to alcohol use can make a difference with adolescent drinking, and there is considerable value to consistent and sustained parental attitudes about drinking, according to new UB research.

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Expectant parents should avoid the use of ultrasounds for nonmedical reasons, according to maternal-fetal medicine experts at Loyola University Health System. “Ultrasound is a valuable tool when done for medical purposes by trained professionals,” said Jean Goodman, MD, Loyola University Health System. “But this technology should not be used for entertainment purposes to see an image of a baby or to identify gender."

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Many parents don’t follow guidelines that call for using rear-facing car seats until age 2, according to National Poll on Children’s Health data