Demographic correlates of paternity confidence and pregnancy outcomes among Albuquerque men

Marital Status, Father Acknowledgement, and Birth Outcomes: Does the Maternal Education Matter?

We evaluated whether the maternal marital status and father acknowledgement (proxy for paternal presence) affect birth weight, and if so, whether the maternal educational attainment modifies this effect. The growing tendency of alternative forms of family structure affects maternal well-being and pregnancy outcome. However, it is not known whether poorer birth outcomes of out-of-wedlock childbearing can be overcome or compensated by maternal education. Using birth registry data, we assessed the impact of maternal civil status and child recognition by the father on birth-weight-for-gestational age (BWGA) z-scores, with respect to maternal education, among Polish mothers (N = 53,528). After standardization, the effect of being unmarried with father acknowledgement (UM-F) vs. married with father acknowledgement (M-F) reduced the BWGA z-score of 0.05 (p < 0.001), irrespective of educational attainment (p for interaction = 0.79). However, education differentiated the effect of father acknowledgement across unmarried mothers. BWGA z-scores were significantly lower among the low-educated unmarried group without father acknowledgment (UM-NF) as compared to UM-F (equaled -0.11, p = 0.01). The same effect among the higher-educated group was non-significant (p = 0.72). Higher maternal education can compensate for the negative effect of a lack of father acknowledgement, but it does not help to overcome the effect of out-of-wedlock stress exposure.

The Relationship Between Children and Their Maternal Uncles: A Unique Parenting Mode in Mosuo Culture

The relationship between children and their maternal uncles in contemporary Mosuo culture reveals a unique parenting mode in a matrilineal society. This study compared the responses of Mosuo and Han participants from questionnaires on the parent–child and maternal uncle–child relationship. More specifically, Study 1 used Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) to assess the reactions of the two groups to the relationship between children and their mothers, fathers, and maternal uncles. The results show that while Han people display a higher level of attachment toward their fathers than their maternal uncles, Mosuo people do not exhibit a significant difference in this aspect. Study 2 used a scenario-based method to compare how adults and teenagers perceive the rights and responsibilities of fathers/maternal uncles toward their children/nephews or nieces. The results show that Han adults attribute more rights and responsibilities to their own children than nephews/nieces, while their Mosuo counterparts have the reverse pattern and assign stronger responsibilities to their nephews/nieces than their own children. Both groups perceive the fathers to be the bearer of rights and responsibilities, although this perception was weaker among Mosuo. This paper concludes that in the Mosuo society, fathers have a relatively weak social role as a result of their unique matrilineal social structure.

The Effect of Prenatal Stress, Proxied by Marital and Paternity Status, on the Risk of Preterm Birth

Uncertainty and insecurity in the relationship between the mother and father of a child are responsible for heightened maternal stress, which can lead to preterm birth (PTB). Different intensities of prenatal stress (proxied by four levels of marital status linked with the presence or absence of paternal data on birth records) were defined as the Marital-Father Data index. We assessed the impact of those varying intensities of prenatal stress on PTB with respect to parity among a group of Polish mothers residing in Krakow (N = 87,916). We found a pattern across the adjusted risk ratios (RR) of preterm birth that ordered these estimates in an increasing trend towards higher risk, beginning with the group of married mothers with father data present (baseline), through the groups of legitimizing marriages—married after conception with father data present (RR = 1.1; 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) 1.0–1.2) and unmarried mothers with father data present (RR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.2–1.5) to the group of unmarried mothers with father data absent (RR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.7–2.2). The adjusted p for the linear trend between Marital-Father Data index and PTB was less than 0.001. The adjusted effect of perceived prenatal stress differed with respect to parity (confirmed by statistically significant interactions between Marital-Father Data index levels and parity), with a higher magnitude of this effect noted among multiparous versus primiparous women. Low paternal involvement and support during pregnancy may negatively affect PTB risk and this effect may differ in relation to parity status. More attention should be paid to maternal pregnancy stress, especially of multiparous mothers, to decrease the risk of unfavorable birth outcomes.

Psychosocial and biological paternal role in pregnancy outcomes

Background: Pregnancy outcomes are affected by many different factors. One of the influential factors on pregnancy outcomes is the male partner as an important person to mother's wellbeing.Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of male partner's role including socioeconomic support, emotional support, accompanying pregnant women during prenatal care visits (PNC) and labor, and the level of pregnant women's satisfaction from their partners' support and involvement during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes.Method: Two hundred first gravid pregnant women with mean age of 23.2 ± 4.3 were studied. Primary outcomes were total maternal and neonatal adverse outcome (TMNAO), total maternal adverse end result (TMAE), and total neonatal adverse outcome (TNAO), regardless of the type of outcomes. Preterm labor and delivery; premature rupture of membrane (PROM) and preterm premature rupture of membrane (PPROM); preeclampsia and eclampsia; placental abruption; chorioamnionitis; stillbirth; meconium passage; maternal death; postpartum hemorrhage; poor progression labor; abnormal vaginal bleeding in third trimester of pregnancy; low birth weight and neonatal need for CPR or intubation, neonatal anomaly, NICU admission, and neonatal mortality were also analyzed as subgroup outcomes.Results: One hundred twenty-seven (63.5%) participants showed a kind of total maternal and neonatal adverse outcome (TMNAO), 72 (36%) deliveries resulted in a kind of neonatal adverse outcome (TNAO), and 104 (52%) of participants had a kind of maternal adverse end result (TMAE). Iranian fathers showed a significantly higher rate of TMNAO than Afghan fathers did (82 versus 69%, odds ratio: 2.9, 95% CI 1.0-7.8, p: .01). Mother's nationality showed the same result (82 versus 64%, odds ratio: 2.6, 95% CI 0.9-6.8, p: .03). Iranian fathers showed a significantly higher rate of TMAE than Afghan fathers did (79 versus 58%, odds ratio: 2.7, 95% CI 1.1-6.3, p: .01). Mother's nationality showed the same result (78 versus 60%, odds ratio: 2.4, 95% CI 1.0-5.6, p: 0.02). Neonates with Iranian fathers showed significantly more TNAO than those with Afghan fathers (50 versus 31%, odds ratio: 2.21, 95% CI 0.9-5.5, p: .04). The same trend was observed among Iranian mothers in comparison to Afghan mothers (50 versus 32%, odds ratio: 2.11, 95% CI 0.9-4.6, p: .06). Of mother's age, mother's BMI, father's age, father's BMI, and mother's nationality, only father's BMI contributed significantly to the binary logistic regression model (n = 116, R²: 9%, p: .028). It was found that for each decreased unit in BMI, the risk of TNAO was increased by 16%, p: .03. Moreover, Father's family history of preeclampsia resulted in a higher prevalence of total neonatal adverse outcome (TNAO) in comparison with lack of such family history (87 versus 43%, odds ratio: 8.9, 95% CI 1.1-74.5, p: .02). Besides, mothers' participation in prenatal care (PNC) visits, assessed by caregivers, was significantly more satisfactory in neonates without any adverse outcome than those with neonatal adverse outcomes (median (IQR) = 2 (1-2) versus 2 (2-3), p: .04). PROM, pre-eclampsia, NICU admission, neonatal intubation, low Apgar score minute 0, and low Apgar score minute 5 were significantly more prevalent in participants revealing positive father's family history of pre-eclampsia. Regarding psychosocial exposures, placental abruption was more prevalent in mothers with exposure to verbal aggression versus non-exposed ones (9 versus 2%, odds ratio: 4.0, 95% CI 0.9-24.6, p: .04). Moreover, a weak positive association between neonatal gestational age at birth and quality of mother's participation in PNC visits (r: +0.3, p: .01) as well as mother's satisfaction from father's commitment to PNC visits was found (r: +0.1, p: .03).Conclusion: Male partners may play a key role in pregnant women and fetus's heath.

If looks could heal: Child health and paternal investment

Data from the first two waves of the Fragile Family and Child Wellbeing study indicate that infants who look like their father at birth are healthier one year later. The reason is such father-child resemblance induces a father to spend more time engaged in positive parenting. An extra day (per month) of time-investment by a typical visiting father enhances child health by just over 10% of a standard deviation. This estimate is not biased by the effect of child health on father-involvement or omitted maternal ability, thereby eliminating endogeneity biases that plague existing studies. The result has implications regarding the role of a father's time in enhancing child health, especially in fragile families.

Establishment of Legal Paternity for Children of Unmarried American Women : Trade-Offs in Male Commitment to Paternal Investment

The establishment of a legal father for children of unmarried parents reflects both high paternity confidence and male willingness to commit to paternal investment. Whether an unmarried man voluntarily acknowledges paternity after a child is born has important consequences for both the mother and child. This paper brings to bear a life history perspective on paternity establishment, noting that men face trade-offs between mating and parental effort and that women will adjust their investment in children based on expected male investment. I predict that paternity establishment will be more likely when the mother has high socioeconomic status, when maternal health is good, and when the child is male, low parity, or a singleton (versus multiple) birth. I further predict that establishment of paternity will be associated with increased maternal investment in offspring, resulting in healthier babies with higher birthweights who are more likely to be breastfed. These predictions are tested using data on 5.4 million births in the United States from 2009 through 2013. Overall the results are consistent with the hypothesis that the trade-offs men face between reproductive and parental investment influence whether men voluntarily acknowledge paternity when a child is born.

Rapid repeat pregnancy among unmarried, African American adolescent parent couples

This article describes rapid repeat pregnancy (RRP), getting pregnant or giving birth again within 24 months of giving birth, in a group of unmarried, low-income, African American first-time, adolescent parent couples from the perspectives of their kinship systems, that is, the adolescent parents and their parents or parental figures. RRP has been associated with prematurity, low birth weight, inadequate prenatal care, school dropout, increased potential for poverty, and prolonged welfare dependence. There were 21 RRPs among 24 kinship systems: 9 adolescent males who fathered RRPs with new partners and also reported having been denied access to their study babies; 6 adolescent mothers with new partners, who also reported intimate partner violence with the study adolescent father; and 6 study adolescent parent couples, whose paternal family reported doubts about the paternity of the study babies. Adolescent fathers should be offered the same child care and contraceptive information routinely offered to adolescent mothers.

Circulating cell-free fetal DNA for the detection of RHD status and sex using reflex fetal identifiers

OBJECTIVE

To determine the sensitivity and specificity of circulating cell-free fetal DNA in determining the fetal RHD status and fetal sex.

METHODS

Maternal blood was collected in each trimester of pregnancy from RhD negative nonalloimmunized women. Whole blood was centrifuged, separated into plasma and buffy coat, and frozen at -80°C. DNA analysis was conducted via allele-specific primer extensions for exons 4, 5, and 7 of the RHD gene and for a 37-base pair insertion in exon 4 (RHD pseudogene; psi) three Y-chromosome sequences (SRY, DBY, and TTY2), and an extraction control (TGIFL-like X/Y). RhD serotyping on cord blood and gender assessment of the newborns were entered into a Web-based database.

RESULTS

One hundred twenty women were enrolled. The median gestational age at the first venipuncture was 12.4 (range: 10.6-13.9) weeks with 120 samples drawn; 118 samples were drawn at 17.6 (16-20.9) weeks; and 113 samples at 28.7 (27.9-33.9) weeks. Overall accuracy for RHD was 99.1%, 99.1%, and 98.1% for each trimester and was 99.1%, 99.1%, and 100% for fetal sex determination.

CONCLUSIONS

Fetal RHD genotyping and sex can be very accurately determined in all three trimesters using circulating cell-free fetal DNA in the maternal circulation.

Cues of paternal uncertainty and father to child physical abuse as reported by mothers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

OBJECTIVE

Paternity is uncertain, so if paternal feelings evolved to promote fitness, we might expect them to vary in response to variables indicative of paternity probability. We therefore hypothesized that the risk of lapses of paternal affection, including abusive assaults on children, will be exacerbated by cues of non-paternity.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study of 331 Brazilian mothers, interviewed about 1 focal child (age 1-12) residing with her and the putative father. Child physical abuse was assessed using the Conflict Tactic Scales: Parent Child (CTSPC). Two potential cues of (non) paternity were (1) whether the parents co-resided when the child was conceived, and (2) whether third parties allegedly commented on father-child resemblance. Data were analyzed through multiple logistic regressions.

RESULTS

Mothers reported child physical abuse by 15.9% (95% CI 4.6-27.1) of fathers who had not cohabited with them at conception, compared to 5.9% (95% CI 3.1-8.7) of those who had. The odds ratio for abuse by fathers who had not cohabited at conception in relation to those who had-adjusted for income, education, age, sex of child, whether child was first born, household size, time father spent with child, and alcohol abuse and drug use by father-was 4.3 (95% CI 1.4-13.8). Mothers reported abuse of 7.0% (95% CI 4.0-10.0) of children who purportedly resembled their fathers, versus 8.7% (95% CI 0.2-17.1) of those who did not.

CONCLUSION

According to maternal reports, not having co-resided at conception quadrupled the chance of child physical abuse by currently co-residing Brazilian fathers. The reported prevalence of abuse was unrelated to reported allegations of father-child resemblance.

Evolutionary contributions to solving the "matrilineal puzzle": a test of Holden, Sear, and Mace's model

Matriliny has long been debated by anthropologists positing either its primitive or its puzzling nature. More recently, evolutionary anthropologists have attempted to recast matriliny as an adaptive solution to modern social and ecological environments, tying together much of what was known to be associated with matriliny. This paper briefly reviews the major anthropological currents in studies of matriliny and discusses the contribution of evolutionary anthropology to this body of literature. It discusses the utility of an evolutionary framework in the context of the first independent test of Holden et al.'s 2003 model of matriliny as daughter-biased investment. It finds that historical daughter-biased transmission of land among the Mosuo is consistent with the model, whereas current income transmission is not. In both cases, resources had equivalent impacts on male and female reproduction, a result which predicts daughter-biased resource transmission given any nonzero level of paternity uncertainty. However, whereas land was transmitted traditionally to daughters, income today is invested in both sexes. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.