Using a sample of 219 families of children with (n=94) and without (n=125) developmental disabilities, this study examined the longitudinal perspectives of maternal stress in early (ages 3-5) and middle childhood (ages 6-13) and its relationship to mothers' and children's characteristics. Multivariate latent curve models indicated that maternal stress remained high and stable with minimal indiv...

The relationships between severity, chronicity, and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child outcomes were examined in a cohort of 4,953 children. Mothers provided self-reports of depressive symptoms during pregnancy, immediately postpartum, and when the child was 6 months old and 5 years old. At the age 5 follow-up, mothers reported on children's behavior and children completed a recep...

OBJECTIVE Healthy People 2010 calls for reductions in rapid repeat births (RRBs), defined as births occurring within 24 months after a previous birth for women of all ages, and prevention of repeat births during adolescence, regardless of the birth interval. Home visiting has been promoted as a mechanism to prevent child abuse and neglect and to improve pregnancy outcomes. This study aims to as...

In prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), most virgin females are infanticidal. To determine the onset of maternal responsiveness, female prairie voles were tested for maternal behavior as virgins and at different times throughout pregnancy. Female voles that were infanticidal as virgins by and large remained infanticidal throughout pregnancy. In contrast, about 30% of voles that were maternal a...

I used the 2000 and 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys to analyze the effect of maternal education and its pathways on chronic and acute malnutrition in Ethiopia. The pathways examined in this study are socioeconomic status, maternal health-seeking behavior, maternal knowledge of health and family planning and reproductive behavior. I find that maternal education works through all ex...

Oxytocin produces uterine contractions and milk ejection, functions related to parturition and nuturing. Studies were conducted to determine if this peptide, native to the brain and the posterior pituitary gland, plays a role in the induction of maternal behavior. Intact virgin female rats were given 0.4 mug of oxytocin, 0.4 mug of [Arg(8)]vasopressin, or saline through lateral ventricular cann...

Individual variation in maternal care in mammals shows a significant heritable component, with the maternal behavior of daughters resembling that of their mothers. In laboratory mice, genetically distinct inbred strains show stable differences in maternal care during the first postnatal week. Moreover, cross fostering and reciprocal breeding studies demonstrate that differences in maternal care...