All posts tagged "Parenting"

Scientists have discovered that watching everyday mother-infant interactions can trigger similar brain activity patterns across different mothers. This neural synchrony, observed particularly in contexts showcasing mother-child bonding, highlights the profound impact of such primary attachments on our brains. The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, sheds new light on the neural underpinnings of human social connections. Human brains are incredibly adept at processing and responding to social cues, a skill essential for survival and social interaction. Researchers have long been fa......

The findings of a new study call into question the widely held belief that facial masculinity is a reliable indicator of a man’s potential for paternal involvement. The authors of the study did not find a significant relationship between facial masculinity and actual self-reported paternal involvement or perceived paternal involvement. This implies that facial masculinity may not consistently signal higher or lower levels of paternal investment in a reliable manner. The research, published in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, provides insights into the complex interplay between facial ma......

A new longitudinal study of parents and children in the United Kingdom found that children whose mothers were more likely to have internalizing problems, like feeling anxious or withdrawn, which can lead to disorders like depression. On the other hand, children whose mothers were atheists were more likely to have externalizing problems, such as being aggressive or defiant. The study was published in Psychological Medicine. Mental health issues during childhood can be tough for both the child and the family. These issues can take two forms: internalizing and externalizing. Internalizing problem......

New research provides evidence that a parent’s focus on different time frames is associated with important parenting behaviors and experiences. The study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, indicates that those who are more focused on the present tend to experience greater parental distress and exhibit more negative parenting behaviors compared to those who are more focused on the future. The authors of the new study sought to explore the concept of future orientation, which refers to how much importance individuals place on the potential long-term consequences of their behav......

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Karen McGirt was barely making it as a young, single mom in Charlotte decades ago with three children. Her part-time job was hardly earning enough to pay monthly expenses. More often than not, McGirt had to decide whether to pay the electric bill or provide food for her children. She also was a trade school student. “I had to find a second wind with each new challenge to finish what I set out to accomplish,” she said. More than 30 years after graduating from Harding University High School — much of it working as a bus driver or in a salon — the 48-year-old mom will cross the......

After 2-year-old Aiden McCarthy’s parents were killed in a mass shooting on the 4th of July in Highland Park, Illinois, the boy, according to his maternal grandfather, asked, “Are mommy and daddy coming soon?” “He doesn’t know,” Michael Levberg said in the days after the shooting. “He doesn’t realize it.” That very question — whether to tell Aiden what happened to his parents — became the focus of a debate among the relatives taking care of the boy, who recently turned 3. One psychologist recommended telling him, while another recommended waiting until he asked. The debate is one of several th......