After I had my son, I desperately wanted a girl. When I got pregnant again, I was so convinced another XY was on the way that when the doctor delivered our daughter (XX, that is) and announced as much, I asked my husband: “Is …
Family & Parenting
Understanding the High C-section Rate in the US
The percentage of babies born by Cesarean section remains high, with one in three first-time moms giving birth via the surgical method according to the latest government study.
Scientists belonging to the Consortium on Safe Labor, a research project supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human …
Spouses Might Not Grow More Alike With Time After All, Study Says
Spend enough time with someone and you’ll grow to be just like them, the conventional wisdom goes. But is it really true? A new study from Michigan State University suggests not.
Instead, those researchers say, most people simply choose to marry like-minded others. In data covering more than 1,200 Minnesota couples, men and women who …
Is Child Abuse On the Decline?
The number of maltreated children in the U.S. has fallen steadily in the last two decades, according to a report this week from the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Overall, physical-abuse cases per capita fell 3% between and 2007 and 2008 (the most recent year for which stats are available). …
The Battle Over Homework: Getting Your Kids to Knuckle Down
You’ve tried carrots. You’ve tried sticks. But how do you get a recalcitrant child to do his or her homework?
Psychologists at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research think they may have an answer to that age-old question.
Attention-deficit diagnosis depends on kids’ birthdays, study shows
Kids who are young for their grade level are unusually likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — a worrying sign that, for many kids, plain old immaturity has been misdiagnosed as a clinical disorder.
In two separate studies — both appearing in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Health …
How couples meet
Nearly 30% of new couples now meet online. Today the Internet is the second-most common way to meet a partner, according to results from the How Couples Meet and Stay Together Survey, with web introductions ranked only behind introduction by mutual friends.
Asthma and Tylenol: How strong is the evidence?
Yet another new study — this one is in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine — is showing a link between asthma and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Researchers have found that, among 320,000 kids in 50 countries, 13- and 14-year-olds who take acetaminophen are more than twice as likely to have …
Stress may delay pregnancy, study finds
Women with mental stress may have more trouble conceiving than their unstressed peers, a new study shows. Among 274 English women, all trying to get pregnant, those with the highest levels of alpha-amylase — a salivary biomarker for stress — had an estimated 12% reduction in their chance of getting pregnant each menstrual cycle, …
Policy change aims to reduce C-section rate
New guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published in the August issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology aim to reduce the national C-section delivery rate by shifting policy to enable more women to attempt vaginal births after an initial C-section.
Among the factors contributing to the
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Drugging children: an under-recognized form of abuse?
The misuse of pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter medications and other types of drugs and alcohol on children should be considered a form of child abuse on par with neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse, concludes Dr. Shan Yin in a study published this week in the Journal of Pediatrics. Yin, of the University of Colorado and
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Analyzing baby sounds to detect autism early?
A new technique that identifies early differences in vocal development between children with an autism spectrum disorder or language delay and those developing on a normal trajectory could give pediatricians and other caregivers a tool for earlier detection of autism, and as a result facilitate earlier intervention. To distinguish the
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Is childhood obesity a symptom of neglect?
The issue of whether parents whose children are obese should be charged with neglect has fueled debate and generated controversial court cases, but, according to an article published this week in BMJ, so far there is little research analyzing negligence and obesity — and particularly whether obese children who are put into foster care
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