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PubMed2002

The Parent Threat Inventory: development, reliability, and validity.

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to develop a retrospective inventory of parental threatening behavior to facilitate a better understanding of such behavior's role in the etiology of psychological distress. METHOD: Inventory items were developed based on theory and 135 students' responses to a question eliciting examples of threatening parental behavior. Following item development, two additional student samples (n = 200 and n = 603) completed batteries of self-report measures. Responses were used to eliminate unstable or redundant items from the inventory and to examine the inventory's psychometric properties. RESULTS: Factor analysis of the inventory revealed three factors, accounting for 66.2% of variance; this factor structure is compatible with theory, and consistent across maternal behavior scores, paternal behavior scores, and combined maternal and paternal scores. Cronbach's coefficient alphas indicated acceptable internal consistency; Pearson correlation coefficients indicated acceptable 4-week test-retest reliability. Moderate intercorrelations with two retrospective measures of childhood experiences suggested construct validity. Regression analyses demonstrated the ability of the inventory to predict both anxious and depressive symptomatology and lifetime symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorder. Normative data on combined parent scores, maternal scores, and paternal scores are also presented. CONCLUSIONS: Initial psychometric testing of the Parent Threat Inventory (PTI) suggests it is a reliable and valid tool for investigating the developmental antecedents of adult psychological distress. Further research should focus on addressing two limitations: (1) lack of normative and psychometric data on men and women suffering from clinical disorders, and (2) lack of validation by parental reporting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Brain preparations for maternity--adaptive changes in behavioral and neuroendocrine systems during pregnancy and lactation. An overview.

Pregnancy, parturition and lactation comprise a continuum of adaptive changes necessary for the development and maintenance of the offspring. The endocrine changes that are driven by the conceptus and are essential for the maintenance of pregnancy and are involved in the preparations for motherhood are outlined. These changes include large increases in the secretion of sex steroid hormones, and the secretion of peptide hormones that are unique to pregnancy. The ability of these pregnancy hormones to alter several aspects of brain function in pregnancy is considered, and the adaptive importance of some of these changes is discussed, for example in metabolic and body fluid adjustments, and the induction of maternal behavior. The importance of sex steroids in determining the timing of the various adaptive changes in preparing for parturition and maternal behavior is emphasized, and the concept that the actions of prolactin and oxytocin, quintessential mammalian motherhood neuropeptides, can serve to coordinate a spectrum of adaptive changes is discussed. The part played by oxytocin neurons and their regulatory mechanisms is reviewed to illustrate how neural systems involved in maternity are prepared in pregnancy via changes in phenotype, synaptic organization and in the relative importance of their different inputs, to function optimally when needed. For oxytocin neurons secreting from the posterior pituitary, important in parturition and essential in lactation, these changes include mechanisms to restrain their premature activation, and adaptations to support synchronized burst firing for pulsatile oxytocin secretion in response to stimulation via afferents from the birth canal, olfactory system or suckled nipples. Within the brain, expression of oxytocin receptors permits centrally released oxytocin to facilitate the expression of maternal behavior. Changes in other neuroendocrine systems are similarly extensive, leading to lactation, suppression of ovulation, reduced stress responses and increased appetite; these changes in lactation are driven by the suckling stimulus. The possible link between these adaptations and changes in cognition and mood in pregnancy and post partum are considered, as well as the dysfunctions that lead to common problems of depression and puerperal psychoses.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1982

Mother-child interactions: a comparison of a clinic-referred developmentally delayed group and two non-delayed groups.

The purpose of the present study was to compare a clinic-referred sample of developmentally delayed children to two groups of children who were not delayed: a clinic-referred sample and a nonclinic sample. Multiple outcome measures, including home observations of mother-child interactions, parental perceptions of child adjustment, and parental measures of depression and marital adjustment, were utilized. The results indicated that the delayed sample differed from the two nondelayed samples primarily in terms of emitting more maternal behavior, particularly the number of commands issued. A lower rate of compliance to total maternal commands also occurred for the delayed group. Finally, the clinic-referred delayed sample differed from the nonclinic non-delayed sample by perceiving their children as less well-adjusted. Implications of the results are discussed.

Attitude↗
PubMed1998

Maternal deprivation effect on the infant's neural stress markers is reversed by tactile stimulation and feeding but not by suppressing corticosterone.

After 24 hr of maternal deprivation, significant elevations in ACTH and the naturally occurring glucocorticoid corticosterone (CORT) are observed during the stress-hyporesponsive period. The deprived pups also showed in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) a marked increase of stress-induced c-fos mRNA and a reduction of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA; in hippocampal CA1, a reduction of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and GR was observed. Here, we examined whether these changes are reversed by (1) preventing the elevations of CORT characteristic for the 11-d-old deprived pups by administering the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX); or (2) reinstating some aspects of maternal behavior. The pups were either (1) left undisturbed, (2) stroked, or (3) stroked and episodically fed by cheek cannulation. At postnatal day 12, peripheral and neural stress markers were measured. Nondeprived animals served as controls. Experiment 1 demonstrates that although CORT was kept low by DEX, the central effects on CORT receptors, CRH, and c-fos mRNA were still present, except for MR in hippocampal CA1. Experiment 2 shows that stroking alone prevented the stress-induced rise in ACTH and c-fos mRNA and in the reduction in CRH and MR mRNA. In pups that were fed and stroked, CORT and GR mRNA resembled nondeprived controls. In conclusion, the changes in peripheral endocrine responses and in the brain cannot be attributed to the effect of elevated CORT concentrations, which are characteristic of the maternally deprived neonate. However, reinstating some components of the dams' nurturing behavior can reverse the effects evoked by maternal deprivation.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1998

Swimming and self-grooming development of pups nursed by neonatally underfed rats.

Swimming and self-grooming development were analyzed in experimental animals nursed by neonatally underfed dams by a method including the deprivation of both food and sensory cues which provoke long-term altered maternal behavior. Experimental animals obtained from these dams manifested a significant retardation in physical growth, as evidenced by a decrease in body weight and a 1-day delay in ear and eye-opening, as well as a significant delay in swimming ability, escaping from the water and an increase in self-grooming behavior. These alterations of experimental animals may be presumably related with the carelessness in maternal care and altered so-matosensory stimulation given by the neonatally underfed dams to her experimental pups. Data suggest that the poor somatosensory stimulation given by the mother to her pups, the reduced early social interaction or the motivational stage of pups may be important determinants for the development of brain mechanisms underlying reflex activity of the progeny.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Prolactin, psychological stress and environment in humans: adaptation and maladaptation.

Non-puerperal lactation and/or hyperprolactinemia in humans have been related to psychological variables in a variety of ways: (1) Non-puerperal nursing; (2) Pseudopregnancy; (3) Rapid weight gain; (4) Psychogenic galactorrhea; (5) Acute prolactin responses to psychological stress; (6) High prolactin levels in persons who cope passively in real life stress situations; (7) Paternal deprivation in women with pathological hyperprolactinemia; (8) Clinical onset of prolactinomas following life-events. Publications on the above subjects are scattered in the literature as curiosities, anecdotal case-reports or unexplained associations, as there is no theoretical frame of reference to accommodate them. We propose that prolactin is a component of a biological, "maternal", subroutine, adaptive to the care of the young, which promotes accumulation of fat for the extraordinary expenses of pregnancy and lactation, the production of milk and maternal behavior. In an attempt to characterize the stimuli responsible for the activation of the maternal subroutine in the absence of pregnancy we studied the hormonal profiles of female volunteers during three types of sessions under hypnosis: (1) Relaxation-only, control sessions; (2) Sessions in which a fantasy of "nursing" was induced; (3) Sessions of evocations of memories. Prolactin surges were related to the evocation, with rage, of humiliating experiences, but not with the fantasy of nursing. Cortisol surges were related to surprise and shock and were negatively associated with prolactin. In conclusion--Prolactin and cortisol are measurable markers of two different, and alternative, coping strategies to "psychological stress".

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1993

Depressive symptomatology and interaction behaviors of mothers having a child with disabilities.

Previous research has indicated that parents who raise children having disabilities report greater emotional distress than other parents. To investigate the association between symptoms of depression and maternal behaviors, interactions between 48 mothers and children having disabilities were rated. Measures of maternal depression and child functioning were also administered. Analyses indicated that mothers reported a relatively large number of symptoms often associated with depression. However, reports of depressive symptomatology were not meaningfully related to the children's developmental status or parent-child interaction behaviors.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Behavior, family function, school performance, and predictors of persistent disturbance in sexually abused children.

OBJECTIVE: Although sexual abuse is widely considered to have severe sequelae, most studies of children's status after sexual abuse have had major limitations, including retrospective design, small sample sizes, selective enrollment of subjects, no comparison groups, and lack of information about potentially confounding characteristics of studied children. The aim of this study was to clarify the impact of sexual abuse on children's psychological well-being. METHODS: We prospectively studied 154 children who were brought to urban, university-affiliated hospitals for assessment of recently disclosed sexual abuse and compared them with a control group of 53 demographically similar children not known to have been sexually abused. RESULTS: In comparison with the control children, fewer of the sexually abused children had health insurance and more had received psychiatric care unrelated to the sexual abuse. Most initial ratings of behavior, maternal psychiatric status, family function, and school performance were less favorable among the sexually abused than among the control children (P < .05). At follow-up 6 months later, the psychiatric status of the mothers of the abused children apparently improved, but the children's difficulties largely persisted. Baseline characteristics of the abused children significantly or suggestively associated with persisting problematic behavior were older age (P = .04), lower maternal educational attainment (P = .06), poorer maternal psychiatric status (P = .04) and lower family integration (P < .001). These four factors accounted for 31% of the variance in the children's behavior at 6-month follow-up (P < .001). Unexpectedly, characteristics of the children's sexual abuse experiences did not predict their later behavioral status. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that preexisting, long-standing adverse psychosocial circumstances may contribute importantly to persistently problematic behavior and school performance among sexually abused children. The findings also suggest that it is children's preexisting psychosocial circumstances, rather than the abuse, that determine, at least in part, the nature of their functional outcomes.

Achievement↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The "push" for evidence: management of the second stage.

Recognition that the available evidence does not support arbitrary time limits for the second stage of labor has led to reconsideration of the influence of maternal bearing down efforts on fetal/newborn status as well as on maternal pelvic structural integrity. The evidence that the duration of 'active' pushing is associated with fetal acidosis and denervation injury to maternal perineal musculature has contributed to the delineation of at least two phases during second stage, an early phase of continued fetal descent, and a phase of "active" pushing. The basis for the recommendation that the early phase of passive descent be prolonged and the phase of active pushing shortened by strategies to achieve effective, but non-detrimental pushing efforts is reviewed. The rational includes an emphasis on the obstetric factors that are optimal for birth and conducive to efficient maternal bearing down. Explicit assessment of these obstetric factors and observation of maternal behavior, particularly evidence of an involuntary urge to push, should be coupled with the use of maternal positions that will promote fetal descent as well as reduce maternal pain. The use of epidural analgesia for pain relief can also be accompanied by these same principles, although further research is needed to verify the strategies of "delayed pushing" and maintenance of pain relief along with a reconceptualization of the second stage of labor.

Caregivers↗
PubMed2002

Childhood adversities associated with risk for eating disorders or weight problems during adolescence or early adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: A community-based prospective longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the association between childhood adversities and problems with eating or weight during adolescence and early adulthood. METHOD: A community-based sample of 782 mothers and their offspring were interviewed during the childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood of the offspring. Childhood maltreatment, eating problems, environmental risk factors, temperament, maladaptive parental behavior, and parental psychopathology were assessed during childhood and adolescence. Eating disorders and problems with eating or weight in the offspring were assessed during adolescence and early adulthood. RESULTS: A wide range of childhood adversities were associated with elevated risk for eating disorders and problems with eating or weight during adolescence and early adulthood after the effects of age, childhood eating problems, difficult childhood temperament, parental psychopathology, and co-occurring childhood adversities were controlled statistically. Numerous unique associations were found between specific childhood adversities and specific types of problems with eating or weight, and different patterns of association were obtained among the male and female subjects. Maladaptive paternal behavior was uniquely associated with risk for eating disorders in offspring after the effects of maladaptive maternal behavior, childhood maltreatment, and other co-occurring childhood adversities were controlled statistically. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood adversities may contribute to greater risk for the development of eating disorders and problems with eating and weight that persist into early adulthood. Maladaptive paternal behavior may play a particularly important role in the development of eating disorders in offspring.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Maternal smoking and behavior problems of children.

Numerous health consequences of children's exposure to maternal smoking have been demonstrated, including increased rates of low birth weight, infant mortality, respiratory infections, asthma, and modest impairments of cognitive development. There is little evidence, however, linking maternal smoking and increased rates of children's behavior problems. Data from the population-based National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were used to investigate the possible association of maternal smoking and behavior problems among 2256 children aged 4 through 11 years. In multiple regression analyses the authors controlled for child's race, age, sex, birth weight, and chronic asthma; family structure, income, and divorce or separation in the prior 2 years; mother's education, intelligence, self-esteem, employment status, chronic disabling health conditions, and use of alcohol during pregnancy; and the quality of the home environment as assessed by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form to investigate the relationship between maternal smoking and children's behavior problems. The measure of maternal smoking status reflected two levels of smoking intensity (less than a pack per day and a pack or more per day) for each of three different categories of children's exposure: prenatal only (mother smoked only during pregnancy), passive only (mother smoked only after pregnancy), and prenatal plus passive exposure (mother smoked both during and after pregnancy). Measures of children's behavior problems included the overall score on a 32-item parent-reported child Behavior Problem Index (PBI), scores on the BPI's subscales, and rates of extreme scores on the BPI.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Racial discrepancies in the association between paternal vs. maternal educational level and risk of low birthweight in Washington State.

BACKGROUND: The role of paternal factors in determining the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes has received less attention than maternal factors. Similarly, the interaction between the effects of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on pregnancy outcomes is not well known. Our objective was to assess the relative importance of paternal vs. maternal education in relation to risk of low birth weight (LBW) across different racial groups. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study using Washington state birth certificate data from 1992 to 1996 (n = 264,789). We assessed the associations between maternal or paternal education and LBW, adjusting for demographic variables, health services factors, and maternal behavioral and obstetrical factors. RESULTS: Paternal educational level was independently associated with LBW after adjustment for race, maternal education, demographic characteristics, health services factors; and other maternal factors. We found an interaction between the race and maternal education on risk of LBW. In whites, maternal education was independently associated with LBW. However, in the remainder of the sample, maternal education had a minimal effect on LBW. CONCLUSIONS: The degree of association between maternal education and LBW delivery was different in whites than in members of other racial groups. Paternal education was associated with LBW in both whites and non-whites. Further studies are needed to understand why maternal education may impact pregnancy outcomes differently depending on race and why paternal education may play a more important role than maternal education in some racial categories.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1980

Failure of mammalian prolactin to induce incubation behavior in chickens and turkeys.

Three experiments on a high-broody strains of chickens that had not been selected for egg production for 50 generations and one experiment on a commercial strain of turkeys were conducted to test the effectiveness of mammalian prolactin (NIH-S10) in inducing regression of the ovary and incubation behavior. In two experiments on chickens, environmental factors known to favor the expression of broodiness were provided, and four components of nesting or incubation behavior were monitored continuously during the light period with a closed-circuit television system and timelapse videotape recorder. Although all doses of prolactin used caused regression of large ovarian follicles, none induced incubation behavior in either chickens or turkeys. Some prolactin-injected chickens occasionally displayed the covering stance of maternal behavior. An explanation for the discrepancy between these results and the results of studies conducted more than 20 years ago, in which mammalian prolactin was highly effective in inducing incubation behavior in chickens, may lie in differences in purity of the prolactin preparations used.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Early postnatal behavior deficits after maternal carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that maternal pneumoperitoneum produces early postnatal behavior deficits in the offspring. METHODS: Time-dated pregnant guinea pigs were exposed to 45 min of carbon dioxide (CO2) pneumoperitoneum at a pressure of 7 mmHg. There was no manipulation of the control animals. On postnatal days (PND) 10 and 20, the behavior of their offspring was assessed by monitoring the locomotor activity of each of the pups in a 1 x 1 m chamber demarcated into 100 squares. Locomotor data was log-transformed and expressed as mean values (SD). RESULTS: At PND 10, pneumoperitoneum offspring exhibited significantly higher levels of locomotor activity than the offspring of controls (1.81 +/- 0.48 vs 1.33 +/- 0.78). The pneumoperitoneum pups continued to exhibit hyperactive behavior at PND 20 (1.83 +/- 0.72 vs 1.20 +/- 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal pneumoperitoneum produces postnatal hyperactivity in guinea pig offspring, suggesting that there may be long-term consequences associated with the physiologic changes produced in the fetus during CO2 insufflation.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Developmental changes in pre-adult behavior in confined colonies of golden hamsters.

Eight litters of hamsters living in a large enclosure were observed from birth to 120 days. For the first 65 days each litter was confined to a separate compartment. Basic motor coordination was reached by the 3rd week. Marking was seen during the 6th week when males began to mount their mothers sexually, but lordosis was not seen in female pups before the 7th week. Fighting appeared at this time with the females being the more aggressive. At 65 days the litters were combined into 2 groups of 4.A gradual shift followed in the relative aggressiveness of the sexes. Females, which had previously initiated over 90% of attacks, became less aggressive, whereas attacks by males increased to the former female level. This unusual behavior for hamsters, where females are normally dominant, may have been due to crowding. Also, severe disruption of maternal behavior occurred with marked infanticidal tendencies.

Aggression↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Oxytocin facilitates the sexual receptivity of estrogen-treated female rats.

Oxytocin (OXY) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are widely distributed within the brain and have a number of behavioral effects resulting from central administration. We have previously found that central OXY administration accelerated the onset of maternal behavior in ovariectomized (OVXed) estrogen-treated nulliparous rats. We now report that intracerebroventricular (ICV) injections of OXY enhance lordosis behavior in OVXed estrogen-treated rats. After treatment with 0.15, 0.20, or 0.25 micrograms EB IM for three days, OXY (800 ng) infusion ICV on the fourth day produced a significant increase in lordosis behavior between 20 and 90 minutes after administration. Doses of OXY between 0.8 and 5 micrograms injected ICV significantly increased lordosis behavior in animals pretreated with 0.5 micrograms EB for three days. In other OVXed rats treated with 0.5 micrograms EB for three days, ICV injections of 1 micrograms OXY or an equimolar dose of AVP significantly increased lordosis while equimolar doses of ACTH1-10, ACTH4-10, arginine-vasotocin, GnRH and alpha-MSH did not significantly increase lordosis behavior over saline vehicle levels. ACTH1-24 significantly lowered lordosis quotients. We have concluded from these data that central administration of OXY (and possibly AVP) enhance female sexual receptivity. This effect is estrogen dependent, dose related and under our test conditions, specific to OXY and AVP.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

[Effect of early intervention on the interaction of developmentally delayed infants and their mothers].

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the interaction patterns of mothers and their developmentally delayed infants during free play and instructional episodes; (2) to investigate the influence of an early intervention program on the interaction patterns of mothers and their developmentally delayed infants; and (3) to investigate to what extent the maternal perceptions and expectations, perceived stress and involving motivation were associated with maternal behavior while interacting with their developmentally delayed infants. The participants of this study were twenty-one developmentally delayed infants and their mothers. Each mother-child dyad was videotaped in a laboratory playroom for 10-minutes of free play and a 5-minute instructional session. Mental and psychomotor development of the child were measured by Bayley scale. The perception of child development, expectation, and the stress of mothers were measured by a self-report questionnaire which was designed by a researcher in this study. The mothers' motivation of involvement was evaluated by teachers. On year after early intervention, it was found that (1) developmentally delayed infants increased locomotion, (2) mothers demonstrated more positive emotional expression during mother-child interaction, and (3) the score of HOME, mother's involvement, and the quality of mother-child interaction which was evaluated by teachers were significantly increased. Furthermore, the differences between situations indicated that the developmentally delayed infants were more toy-oriented during play than instruction. The mothers tended to be more helpful in attitude while they instructed their children. The mother's perception of child development and stress were found to be the critical factors affecting maternal teaching, controlling, and caring behavior.

Child Development↗