A Meta-Analysis of Sibling Sex Ratio and Sexual Orientation

In the past, several researchers have commented on a disproportionate number of brothers in the siblings of their (generally male) homosexual subjects. Conflicting data has also been presented, and the question remains unresolved. This paper explores the relationship of sexual orientation and sibling sex ratio through a meta-analysis of eighteen previously published studies from 1940 through 1982. A recent survey of adult heterosexual women provides more data, resulting in final sample sizes of 5553 homosexual male subjects, 1100 heterosexual male subjects, 445 homosexual female subjects, 436 female heterosexual subjects and 1880 male controls (sexual orientation undetermined). It was found that significantly more brothers were present in the families of both homosexual men (but not if older or single variable studies are removed) and homosexual women. The proportion of brothers in the families of heterosexual men and women did not differ significantly from the average proportion of male births in the United States. A brief summary of contemporary theories on the development of male and female homosexuality is included, as well as a review of the literature on factors affecting the human sex ratio at birth

Parental loss of family members within two years of offspring birth predicts elevated absorption scores in college.

Liotti proposed that interactions during infancy with a parent suffering unresolved loss could lead to vulnerabilities to altered states of consciousness. Hesse and van IJzendoorn provided initial support for Liotti's hypothesis, finding elevated scores on Tellegen's Absorption Scale - a normative form of dissociation - for undergraduates reporting that their parents had experienced the loss of family members within two years of their birth. Here, we replicated the above findings in a large undergraduate sample (N = 927). Additionally, we investigated mother's and father's losses separately. Perinatal losses, including miscarriage, were also considered. Participants reporting that the mother or both parents had experienced loss within two years of their birth scored significantly higher on absorption than those reporting only perinatal, only father, or no losses. While not applicable to the assessment of individuals, the brief loss questionnaire utilized here could provide a useful addition to selected large-scale studies.This research was supported by a Medical Humanities New Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust (Grant WT103343MA).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Taylor & Franics via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2016.118109

Disorganized Attachment in Infancy: A Review of the Phenomenon and Its Implications for Clinicians and Policy-Makers

Disorganized/Disoriented (D) attachment has seen widespread interest from policy makers, practitioners, and clinicians in recent years. However, some of this interest seems to have been based on some false assumptions that (1) attachment measures can be used as definitive assessments of the individual in forensic/child protection settings and that disorganized attachment (2) reliably indicates child maltreatment, (3) is a strong predictor of pathology, and (4) represents a fixed or static trait of the child, impervious to development or help. This paper summarizes the evidence showing that these four assumptions are false and misleading. The paper reviews what is known about disorganized infant attachment and clarifies the implications of the classification for clinical and welfare practice with children. In particular, the difference between disorganized attachment and attachment disorder is examined, and a strong case is made for the value of attachment theory for supportive work with families and for the development and evaluation of evidence-based caregiving interventions

Digital Audio Effects on Mobile Platforms

This paper discusses the development of digital audio effect applications in mobile platforms. It introduces the Mobile Csound Platform (MCP) as an agile development kit for audio programming in such environments. The paper starts by exploring the basic technology employed: the Csound Application Programming Interface (API), the target systems (iOS and Android) and their support for realtime audio. CsoundObj, the fundamental class in the MCP toolkit is introduced and explored in some detail. This is followed by a discussion of its implementation in Objective-C for iOS and Java for Android. A number of application scenarios are explored and the paper concludes with a general discussion of the technology and its potential impact for audio effects development