Smoking Cessation during Pregnancy and Relapse after Childbirth: The Impact of the Grandmother's Smoking Status

Objectives Smoking during pregnancy can result in negative effects in exposed children. It is well established that the smoking status of husbands is a major predictor of smoking among pregnant women. It was investigated whether the smoking status of the women's parents and parents-in-law has an impact on smoking cessation during pregnancy and relapse after birth above the smoking status of the husband. Method An initial sample of 458 women and their husbands was assessed prospectively during a 17-month period after birth regarding smoking habits. Five months after birth the women and their husbands reported the smoking status of their own parents. Results Smoking during pregnancy was related to the smoking status of the women's husband and mother. Women with a husband and mother who smoke were more likely to continue smoking. Relapse after smoking cessation during pregnancy was related to the smoking status of the husband and the mother-in-law. The smoking status of the women's father and father-in-law was not related to smoking cessation or relapse. Conclusion The smoking status of the pregnant women's mothers and mothers-in-law is related to fetal and newborn's nicotine exposure. The findings suggest benefits of taking the smoking status of pregnant women's mothers and mothers-in-law into account in smoking prevention programs for pregnant women and mothers with infant

Risiko-Chancen-Analyse in der Investitionsrechnung – Integration von VOFI und Crystal Ball

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Midwives’ engagement in smoking- and alcohol-prevention in prenatal care before and after the introduction of practice guidelines in Switzerland : comparison of survey findings from 2008 and 2018

Background: Evidence suggests that cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy negatively impacts fetal health. Health agencies across countries have developed specific guidelines for health professionals in perinatal care to strengthen their role in smoking and alcohol use prevention. One such example is the “Guideline on Screening and Counselling for prevention of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption before, during, and after pregnancy” introduced by the Swiss Midwives Association in 2011. The current study assesses the changes in midwives’ engagement in smoking and alcohol use prevention before (2008) and after the introduction of the Guideline (2018). Further, the current study examines differences across regions (German vs. French speaking regions), graduation years (before and after the introduction of the Guideline) and different work settings (hospital vs. self-employed). Methods: Survey data were collected in 2008 (n = 366) and in 2018 (n = 459). Differences in how midwives engaged in smoking and alcohol use prevention between 2008 and 2018 were assessed with chi-square tests, as were differences across German and French speaking regions, graduation years (before and after the introduction of the Guideline) and across different work settings (working in hospitals or as self-employed). Results: An increase in midwives’ awareness of the risks of consuming even small quantities of cigarettes and alcohol for the unborn child between 2008 and 2018 is evident. Explaining the risks to pregnant women who smoke or use alcohol remained the most frequently reported prevention strategy. However, engagement with more extensive smoking and alcohol use preventive strategies across the whole course of pregnancy, such as assisting women in the elaboration of a plan to stop smoking/alcohol use, remained limited. Conclusions: Seven years after its introduction, the effectiveness of the Guideline in increasing midwives’ engagement in smoking and alcohol use prevention appears limited despite midwives’ increased awareness

Cohort Differences in Personal Goals and Life Satisfaction in Young Adulthood: Evidence for Historical Shifts in Developmental Tasks

This study investigated the influence of changing socio-historical conditions on personal goals in young adulthood. It was hypothesized that socio-historical changes related to individualization have resulted in shifts in goal pursuit. Participants from three birth cohorts reconstructed their important goals when they were 20years old. Members of the oldest cohort were born between 1920 and 1925. Members of the middle cohort were born between 1945 and 1950. Members of the youngest cohort were born between 1970 and 1975. Goal content, the degree to which goals were perceived as being shared by members of the same cohort (social sharedness), perceived control over goal attainment, success in attainment, and life satisfaction at age 25 were measured in a retrospective study. Results show consistent shifts over time. Whereas members of older cohorts mentioned goals related to classical developmental tasks, members of younger cohorts mentioned more individualistic, self-related goals and goals related to education. The processes through which goal pursuit influenced life satisfaction also changed. Perceived social sharedness of goals was a direct predictor of life satisfaction for the oldest cohort. For the younger cohorts, perceived control over goal attainment influenced success which in turn influenced life satisfaction. These changes support the contention that developmental tasks and processes are historically varian

Postpartum depressive symptoms in the first 17months after childbirth: the impact of an emotionally supportive partnership

Objectives: This study investigates the impact on different postpartum depressive trajectories (i.e., "non depressive symptoms”, "stable depressive symptoms”, "deterioration” and "improvement”) from 5-17months after childbirth exerted by emotional support that mothers receive from their partners and emotional support they provide to their partners. Methods: Postpartum depressive symptoms were assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale 5 and 17months after delivery in a sample of 293 mothers. Emotional support received from the partners was assessed among both mothers and partners. Results: The initial level and the change in emotional support that mothers received from their partners were related to different trajectories of postpartum depressive symptoms. Mothers who were living in a partnership with low reciprocal emotional support showed a significantly higher risk of suffering from "stable depressive symptoms” than mothers who were living in a partnership with high reciprocal emotional support. Conclusions: An increased risk of persistent depressive symptoms beyond the early postpartum period was observed in mothers with poor reciprocal emotional support in the partnership. Further research is needed for a better understanding of the mothers persistent depressive symptoms after childbirth associated with reciprocity of emotional support in the partnershi

Age-related changes in children’s cognitive–motor dual tasking: Evidence from a large cross-sectional sample

Children coordinate two tasks simultaneously at several occasions throughout the day; however, this dual-task ability and its development across childhood are poorly understood. Therefore, the current study investigated age-related changes in children’s dualtask ability using a large cross-sectional sample of 8- to 13-yearold children (N = 135). In our dual-task methodology, children were asked to walk across an electronic pathway while performing three concurrent cognitive tasks. These tasks targeted at children’s executive function components: inhibition, switching, and updating skills. Our findings indicate associations between age and children’s stride time variability but not with normalized velocity. Younger children showed higher stride time variability in the dual-task situation as compared with older children after accounting for their single-task performance, intelligence, anthropometric variables, and sex, indicating a more regular gait pattern in older children. Furthermore, age was differently related to children’s accuracy in solving the concurrent cognitive tasks. Whereas age was associated with children’s performance in the updating and switching task, there was no relation between age and children’s inhibitory skills. In addition, our data imply that children’s dualtask ability was associated with a number of individual variables. In particular, children with higher intelligence scores showed fewer errors and girls showed lower stride time variability in the dual tasks. Our results suggest a considerable developmental progression in children’s ability to coordinate two simultaneous tasks across middle childhood. Furthermore, our study qualifies previous dual-task research and implies that heterogeneous findings may be related to a differential involvement of executive function components in the dual task

Assessing associations in multi-member multi-group data: An actor-partner interdependence

Data from groups often have a multimember multigroup (MMMG) structure. Examples are two-parent families with a female or male child (three members, two groups), two same-gender and opposite-gender peers of different status (two members, four groups), or gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples (two members, three groups). To analyze such data, a framework called MMMG actor – partner interdependence model (MMMG APIM) is presented considering group composition. Three models are discussed in detail: the three-member two-group APIM, the two-member four-group APIM, and the two-member three-group APIM. Structural equation modeling and cross-sectional and longitudinal data are used to illustrate the approach. To ease the interpretation of APIM findings, a proposal of a general classification scheme is made

Correspondence of maternal and paternal perception of school-aged children’s sleep with in-home sleep- electroencephalography and diary-reports of children’s sleep

Objective: Parents are often the first to report children’s sleep difficulties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of parent reports by examining the correspondence of maternal and paternal reports of children’s sleep with in-home electroencephalography (EEG) sleep assessment and sleep diary reports. Methods: A total of 143 children (57 formerly very preterm born children) aged 7–12 years underwent one night of in-home sleep-EEG, mothers and fathers reported children’s sleep-related behavior by using the German version of the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire, and children and parents together completed a sleep diary of children’s sleep. Results: Less EEG-derived total sleep time (TST) was associated with increased mother questionnaire reports of sleep duration problems, while less sleep efficiency (SE) and longer sleep onset latency (SOL) were associated with increased mother questionnaire reports of sleep onset delay. For fathers, only longer SOL was related to increased father questionnaire reports of sleep onset delay. The above-mentioned associations did not change with children’s increasing age and did not differ for boys and girls. More parent questionnaire reports of sleep duration problems, sleep onset delay, and night wakings were related to shorter diary-reports of sleep duration, increased sleep latency, and more nocturnal awakenings, respectively. Conclusions: Mother questionnaire reports of children’s sleep corresponded moderately with objective measures of TST, SE, and SOL assessed with in-home sleep-EEG. Both mother and father questionnaire reports of children’s sleep duration problems, sleep onset delay, and night wakings were related to diary- reports of children’s sleep