Fathers, Families, and the Future: A Plethora of Plausible Predictions

This commentary focuses on new directions in the study of fathers and families. Several topics that are ripe for more theoretical and empirical scrutiny are outlined. These include the biological determinants of fathering, cultural constraints on fathers, the impact of becoming a father on men’s development as adults, and an intergenerational perspective on fathering. The implications of the recent advances in our understanding of gay and lesbian parents for the critical nature of the father’s role in the family are examined. Finally, a wider range of methodological approaches—including qualitative as well as quantitative, experimental as well as correlational—is advocated in order to advance our appreciation of fathers in children’s lives

The Relations between Parental Friendships and Children's Friendships: Self-Report and Observational Analysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65697/1/1467-8624.00297.pd

Differences Between Mothers’ and Fathers’ Advice-Giving Style and Content: Relations With Social Competence and Psychological Functioning in Middle Childhood

The current study examines the relation between mothers’ and fathers’ advicegiving style and content and children’s social competence and psychosocial functioning at a single time point and across a 1-year period. Fifty-eight 3rdgrade children (50% Euro American, 40% Latino, and 10% African American, Asian American, or other) participated at Time 1 in this short-term longitudinal study. At Time 2, 46 of these children participated. Parental advice-giving style predicted social competence concurrently and one year later above and beyond content. In addition, results also indicate that fathers’ advice giving predicted peer and teacher ratings of social competence over and above mothers’ advice giving both concurrently and one year later. Parental advice-giving style was also related to children’s psychosocial functioning as measured by self-reports of loneliness and depression

Parent-Child Relationships

One of the most important and earliest relationships is the parent-child relationship. During infancy, this relationship focuses on the parent responding to the infant\u27s basic needs. Over time, an attachment forms between the parent and child in response to the these day-to-day interactions. During toddlerhood, parents attempt to shape their children\u27s social behaviors. Parents play various roles for their toddlers, including acting as teacher, nurturers, and providers of guidance and affection. Throughout childhood, children become more interested in peers. However, parents continue to influence their children through their parenting styles. In addition, parents serve as providers of social opportunities, confidants, coaches, and advisors. Although this relationship evolves throughout development, the parent-child relationship still exerts considerable influence over the child

Reactions of Juvenile Delinquents to "Justified" and "Less Justified" Movie Violence

In order to determine whether juvenile delinquents would respond to the sight of someone being beaten up the same way as previously studied university students, two-thirds of the in stitutionalized delinquents in the sample watched a brief filmed prize fight after having been insulted or treated in a neutral fashion by the experimenter's confederate. A story summary given to the subjects depicted the defeated movie character as either a callous exploiter of other persons or as a more sym pathetic individual. Immediately after the film the insulted de linquents shown the exploiter being beaten administered stronger electric shocks to the confederate than a no-movie control group and somewhat more than other provoked subjects seeing the sympathetic character being hurt. Like the university students, the delinquents had apparently regarded the exploiter's beating as "justified" aggression; and this interpretation temporarily legitimated their own attacks upon their tormentor.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68641/2/10.1177_002242787401100103.pd

R-parity violation and top quark polarization at the Fermilab Tevatron collider

The lepton or baryon number violating top quark interactions in the supersymmetric standard model with R parity violation contribute to the process d dbar to t tbar at the tree level via the t- or u-channel sfermion exchange. Since these interactions are chiral, they induce polarization to the top quark in the t tbar events at hadron colliders. We show in this article that the polarization can be a useful observable for probing these interactions at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron collider, because the polarization is expected to be very small in the standard model.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF

The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described

The relationship between gambling event frequency, motor response inhibition, arousal, and dissociative experience

Speed of play has been identified as a key structural characteristic in gambling behaviour, where games involving higher playing speeds enhance the experience of gambling. Of interest in the present study is the consistent finding that games with higher event frequencies are preferred by problem gamblers and are associated with more negative gambling outcomes, such as difficulty quitting the game and increased monetary loss. The present study investigated the impact of gambling speed of play on executive control functioning, focusing on how increased speeds of play impact motor response inhibition, and the potential mediating role arousal and dissociative experience play in this relationship. Fifty regular non-problem gamblers took part in a repeated-measures experiment where they gambled with real money on a simulated slot machine across five speed of play conditions. Response inhibition was measured using an embedded Go/No-Go task, where participants had to withhold motor responses, rather than operating the spin button on the slot machine when a specific colour cue was present. Results indicated that response inhibition performance was significantly worse during faster speeds of play, and that the role of arousal in this relationship was independent of any motor priming affect. The implications of these findings for gambling legislation and gambling harm-minimisation approaches are discussed

Models of Neutrino Masses and Mixings

We review theoretical ideas, problems and implications of neutrino masses and mixing angles. We give a general discussion of schemes with three light neutrinos. Several specific examples are analyzed in some detail, particularly those that can be embedded into grand unified theories.Comment: 44 pages, 2 figures, version accepted for publication on the Focus Issue on 'Neutrino Physics' edited by F.Halzen, M.Lindner and A. Suzuki, to be published in New Journal of Physics

Parents’ Promotion of Psychological Autonomy, Psychological Control, and Mexican–American Adolescents’ Adjustment

Mexican–American adolescents are at an elevated risk for adjustment difficulties. In an effort to identify parenting practices that can affect the adjustment of Mexican–American youth, the current study examined parents’ promotion of psychological autonomy and parents’ psychological control as perceived by Mexican–American early adolescents, and explored their associations with adolescents’ adjustment in the context of acculturation. In 5th grade, 134 (54.5% female) Mexican–American adolescents reported on their acculturation level and the parenting practices of their mothers and fathers. In 5th and 7th grade, adolescents also reported on their depressive symptoms, number of delinquent friends, and self-worth. Perceptions of promotion of psychological autonomy and of psychological control were positively correlated. However, perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy and of less psychological control predicted fewer depressive symptoms 2 years later. Perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy also predicted fewer delinquent friends two years later. Finally, perceptions of more promotion of psychological autonomy predicted higher self-worth only among less acculturated adolescents. The study underscores the roles that promotion of psychological autonomy and psychological control may play in Mexican–American children’s well-being during early adolescence