Including dads in positive parenting programme improves children’s behaviour

Auckland: University of Auckland research has found that including dads in a positive parenting programme adapted to enhance father engagement and teamwork greatly improved the behaviour of children, their own parenting practices, and the family’s overall relationship.

Where you live may modify your mothering

Scimex: An Australian-led study has looked at how the caretaking decision-making process differs between mothers in industrialised places, like Italy and South Korea, and mothers in small-scale populations, such as in areas of India and Indonesia. The researchers found that mothers in industrialised societies will take into account a wider range of factors, including fertility, infant mortality, and investments in public health and welfare, when taking care of their infants, in comparison to women in small-scale populations.

Bisphenol-A Can Adversely Affect Parenting Behaviors in Mice

Missouri: Biparental care of offspring, or care that is administered by both parents, occurs in only a minority of species, including humans. Past studies have shown that maternal care can be negatively affected when females are exposed to widely prevalent endocrine-disrupting chemicals including Bisphenol-A (BPA); however, no studies have shown how this chemical can affect maternal and paternal care when both parents are exposed. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have used the monogamous, biparental California mouse species to prove that offspring born to parents who are exposed to BPA receive decreased parental care by both the mother and father.

Portrait of Self-Control as a Young Process

PsychologicalScience: Among the most famous self-control experiments of all-time, the “marshmallow” test conducted several decades ago by APS Past President Walter Mischel offered young children one marshmallow immediately or, if they were capable of delaying gratification, two later. When revisited as adults, the children who’d controlled themselves better that day also showed more success on a number of measures, from SAT scores to healthy body mass. In the time since Mischel’s test, psychological science has learned a great deal about self-control — in particular, how it develops from a very early age. The panel outlined the emergence of self-control networks from the initial months of infancy to the throes of adolescence.

Strength-based parenting improves children’s resilience and stress levels

Melbourne: Children are more likely to use their strengths to effectively cope with minor stress in their life if they have parents who adopt a strength-based approach to parenting. In a groundbreaking study published recently in the Journal Psychology, Professor Lea Waters from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education outlines how children can draw on their personal strengths to cope with the demands that lead to stress. “While some stress such as toxic stress caused by a long lasting intense negative experience can have a debilitating effect on the wellbeing of children, not all stress is bad or damaging,” Professor Waters said.

What should parents do if their child is bullied at school?

TriplePblog: Having your child bullied at school is one of the greatest fears of parents – and research shows this fear is well founded. School bullying has been described as the single most important threat to the mental health of children and adolescents. Well-controlled studies show that being bullied in primary school increases the risk of serious mental health problems into adolescence and ongoing depression leading well into adulthood.

Give yourself some loving, parents urged

Queensland: The struggle of parenting is real, but are mothers and fathers making the situation worse by failing to give themselves sufficient credit? University of Queensland's Dr James Kirby has commenced a new study to examine the link between self-compassion and parenting. “Self-compassion is a helpful mindset to take when confronted with life’s problems,” Dr Kirby said. “Cultivating loving kindness towards yourself improves your ability to cope with day-to-day stress.