Longitudinal Study of Body Mass Index in Young Males and the Transition to Fatherhood.

Despite a growing understanding that the social determinants of health have an impact on body mass index (BMI), the role of fatherhood on young men's BMI is understudied. This longitudinal study examines BMI in young men over time as they transition from adolescence into fatherhood in a nationally representative sample. Data from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health supported a 20-year longitudinal analysis of 10,253 men beginning in 1994. A "fatherhood-year" data set was created and changes in BMI were examined based on fatherhood status (nonfather, nonresident father, resident father), fatherhood years, and covariates. Though age is positively associated with BMI over all years for all men, comparing nonresident and resident fathers with nonfathers reveals different trajectories based on fatherhood status. Entrance into fatherhood is associated with an increase in BMI trajectory for both nonresident and resident fathers, while nonfathers exhibit a decrease over the same period. In this longitudinal, population-based study, fatherhood and residence status play a role in men's BMI. Designing obesity prevention interventions for young men that begin in adolescence and carry through young adulthood should target the distinctive needs of these populations, potentially improving their health outcomes

Adolescent Reproductive Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs and Future Fatherhood.

PurposeWith a growing focus on the importance of men's reproductive health, including preconception health, the ways in which young men's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) predict their reproductive paths are understudied. To determine if reproductive KAB predicts fatherhood status, timing and residency (living with child or not).MethodsReproductive KAB and fatherhood outcomes were analyzed from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a 20-year, nationally representative study of individuals from adolescence into adulthood. Four measures of reproductive KAB were assessed during adolescence in waves I and II. A generalized linear latent and mixed model predicted future fatherhood status (nonfather, resident/nonresident father, adolescent father) and timing while controlling for other socio-demographic variables.ResultsOf the 10,253 men, 3,425 were fathers (686 nonresident/2,739 resident) by wave IV. Higher risky sexual behavior scores significantly increased the odds of becoming nonresident father (odds ratio [OR], 1.30; p < .0001), resident father (OR, 1.07; p = .007), and adolescent father (OR, 1.71; p < .0001); higher pregnancy attitudes scores significantly increased the odds of becoming a nonresident father (OR, 1.20; p < .0001) and resident father (OR, 1.11; p < .0001); higher birth control self-efficacy scores significantly decreased the odds of becoming a nonresident father (OR, .72; p < .0001) and adolescent father (OR, .56; p = .01).ConclusionsYoung men's KAB in adolescence predicts their future fatherhood and residency status. Strategies that address adolescent males' reproductive KAB are needed in the prevention of unintended reproductive consequences such as early and nonresident fatherhood

Early reading achievement of children in immigrant families: Is there an immigrant paradox

This article examines whether longitudinal reading trajectories vary by the generational status of immigrant children as they begin formal schooling through the 3rd grade. The results of the hierarchical linear model indicated that 1st and 2nd generation children (i.e., those born in a foreign country and those born in the United States to foreign-born parents, respectively) had higher achievement scores at the spring of kindergarten than did 3rd generation children. Yet, controlling for race/ethnicity and maternal education fully reduced the 1st generation advantage. In addition, 1st generation children grew in reading achievement at a faster rate than did 3rd generation children. Controlling for a host of proximal and distal factors that included demographic, race/ethnic, family, and school characteristics somewhat reduced the association between generational status and rate of growth. First and 2nd generation children continued to increase their reading scores at a faster rate than did 3rd generation children. It is likely that additional factors not measured in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Kindergarten cohort, such as selection, cultural, or motivational factors, would be useful in further explaining the immigrant advantage

Effects of Divorce on Mental Health Through the Life Course

The long-term effects of divorce on individuals after the transition to adulthood are examined using information from a British birth cohort that has been followed from birth to age 33. Growth-curve models and fixed-effects models are estimated. The results suggest that part of the seeming effect of parental divorce on adults is a result of factors that were present before the parents’ marriages dissolved. But in addition, the results also suggest that there is an effect of the divorce and its aftermath on adult mental health. Moreover, a parental divorce during childhood or adolescence appears to continue to have a negative effect when a person is in his or her twenties and early thirties

Parental Divorce in Childhood and Demographic Outcomes in Young Adulthood

We investigated the long-term effects of parental divorce in childhood on demographic outcomes in young adulthood, using a British longitudinal national survey of children. Our analyses control for predisruption characteristics of the child and the family, including emotional problems, cognitive achievement, and socioeconomic status. The results show that by age 23, those whose parents divorced were more likely to leave home because of friction, to cohabit, and to have a child outside marriage than were those whose parents did not divorce. Young adults whose parents divorced, however, were no more or less likely to marry or to have a child in a marriage. Moreover, even in the divorced group, the great majority did not leave home because of friction or have a child outside marriage.NICH

In the eye of the beholder: mothers' perceptions of poor neighborhoods as places to raise children

This study explores how mothers facing similar neighborhood conditions evaluate their neighborhoods as places to raise children. The authors relied upon a triangulation of methods, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with a sample of 91 low-income mothers. Content analysis of qualitative interviews revealed that mothers often hold divergent views about the quality of the same or similar neighborhoods. Mothers' overall neighborhood perceptions were influenced by several specific indicators, including social interaction, collective efficacy, fear of crime, personal victimization, and neighborhood incivilities. Moreover, mothers' subjective neighborhood perceptions were related to their parenting strategies. This study thus underscores the importance of not solely relying on “objective” neighborhood criteria such as census data, but of also attending to residents' subjective perceptions of their own neighborhoods. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69195/1/20372_ftp.pd

Well-being and philosophy of science

This article is a mutual introduction of the science of well-being to philosophy of science and an explanation of how the two disciplines can benefit each other. In the process I argue that the science of well-being is not helpfully viewed as a social or a natural, but rather as a mixed, science. Hence its methodology will have to attend to its specific features. I discuss two of its methodological problems: justifying the role of values, and validating measures. I suggest that tackling them calls for developing mid-level rather than high theories of well-being.This is the author's accepted manuscript and will be under embargo until 24 months after the date of publication. The final version is available from Wiley at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phc3.12203/abstrac

Financial stress

status: publishe