Reducing Unwanted Pregnancies & Abortion Through Prevention in Early Childhood © 2005
By Andrew Kenny Donlan, Ph.D.

Few national policy issues are so politically charged as abortion, and few so polarize citizens concerned with good government, values and public policy. Many citizens passionately advocate policies that might reduce abortion rates, such as prohibiting late stage abortion. Yet many others argue as fervently that abortion should remain legal and accessible. Despite the intensity of the debate, few avenues appeal to partisans of opposing political orientations, and rates of unwanted pregnancy and abortion remain high relative to other industrialized nations. To many the opposing views seem irreconcilable, and the result is political stalemate with little hope of resolution.

Many voters seek assurances that policy proposals will succeed in achieving their intended aims; however, in some instances policy makers are charged to advance whatever legislative change may be readily attainable, regardless of efficacy. But initiatives developed ad hoc may undermine the intended aims, and cases of policy failures are not too rare. In other instances, the impact of legislation is merely benign without impact.

In a debate as emotional as that over abortion, there seems greater threat that public demands for legislative change will be based on the political inertia of the moment, and conceived with less forethought than is called for. Such considerations remind us of the imperative that policy change be crafted with due reflection. Accordingly, lessons of history and research may play an essential role in guarding society from the impulse to implement hastily conceived initiatives.

This paper introduces the strategy of early prevention to reduce unwanted pregnancy and abortion. This approach is research based and provides a novel opening for common ground. It differs from policies such as prohibition of abortion, which has been debated yet lacks support. And it differs from policies such as sex education, which too employs prevention, but has its operative action only after an adolescent's development (and risk profile for later life unwanted pregnancy) have been powerfully affected by factors already at play in early childhood.

The strategy of early prevention stands out somewhat in that it would proactively target risk factors for later unwanted pregnancy (and abortion) in an individual's childhood, before the many risk factors arising from early family experiences have a chance to so fully determine an individuals risk for later unwanted pregnancy.

The policy avenue of prevention in early childhood draws on evidence to a greater degree than is required of many policy proposals. Voluminous research indicates, with as much certainty as can be attained in the social sciences, that early childhood is a critical period in human development; in this period individuals are particularly susceptible to family influences on later life outcomes (such as social relationships and economic status). In particular, aspects of early family life such as parent-child interactions and socioeconomic status have been consistent predictors of later life outcomes.

Furthermore, research provides many instances of effective social policy interventions that target early childhood and that positively impact social and economic outcomes in later life such as social attachments to others and economic status. Examples of initiatives identified as effective include domestic violence prevention, high quality early education, parenting classes, family support through home visitation, and WIC. Many preventive interventions have been identified that yield long term societal benefits that can exceed by several factors the initial investment.

Such findings are of no small consequence for abortion; the social and economic outcomes they can influence are a pivotal part of the context in which a woman makes decisions about becoming a mother. A woman's support network and economic status have been linked to abortion and the reasons given for having an abortion. Related, studies indicate that poor women represent a disproportionate share of those that have elected to have an abortion. Early childhood experiences are a consistent risk factor for poverty and risky behavior later in adulthood.

These findings provide a strong foundation for the idea that social policy interventions that target early childhood could positively affect social and economic precursors of unwanted pregnancy and abortion. If children growing up in poverty and/or a conflictive family environment are at greater risk for unwanted pregnancy and abortion in adulthood, then it follows that policy initiatives designed to strengthen the early family experiences of children could be a sound strategy for preventing abortion.

In short, early prevention derives support from in three research areas. The first is the critical role of the early years of life. Research points to a rich array of ways that early life factors can influence later life outcomes. The second set of research points to the many early-preventive programs that have been found effective in influencing diverse socioeconomic and behavioral outcomes in later life. Moreover, there are many programs whose societal benefits are found to be much greater than the initial investment outlays. Finally, findings indicate that the many social and economic outcomes that prevention can influence are a pivotal part of the context in which a woman makes decisions about becoming a mother.

The strength of the theoretical and empirical foundation of the strategy of early prevention of abortion compares well to many popular policy proposals; accordingly, the prevention approach warrants attention as an important new line or research. Innumerable studies in the social sciences affirm in broad outlines the long-term benefits of early prevention, but no study identified has comprehensively synthesized relevant evidence from the pertinent literatures such as child development, sociology, abortion, and public policy. A new line of research should be spawned and supported.

In parallel, social science research and media ought to give attention to many policy options and scrutinize carefully claims that they will be successful in reducing abortion rates. Does parental notification reduce abortion rates? What about other strategies? Questions of the likely efficacy of policy proposals ought not go unexamined by national institutions of news and research.

Furthermore, activists and researchers drawn to just this or that insular policy avenue ought keep in mind that strategies that employ comprehensive and multifaceted interventions are often more effective than those using a narrower piecemeal approach. Early prevention may complement well other options such as public support to expecting mothers, limits on abortion where viable, and the advance of non-government and other initiatives have been effective.

Policy proposals of past decades addressing abortion have yielded doubtful consensus and uncertain policy impact. Strategies of early prevention are a promising alternative that may complement well other policy options, and should provide an opening to change the spirit of the debate over abortion. Equally important, in this policy avenue there is promise of positively impacting a multiplicity of social and economic outcomes in adult life, not just unwanted pregnancy and abortion.


Andrew K. Donlan, Ph.D. is a teacher and writer in Washington, D.C.

The Long-Term Sequelae of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Women

Child Maltreatment:

The authors conducted a meta-analytic review of the relationship between a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) and psychological problems in adult women in 38 studies meeting rigorous research criteria. Across all symptoms, a significant association was found between history of CSA and adult symptomatology. Analysis of the role of moderating variables indicated the associations were stronger among subjects recruited from clinical populations. When individual symptom domains were examined, anxiety, anger, depression, revictimization, self-mutilation, sexual problems, substance abuse, suicidality, impairment of self-concept, interpersonal problems, obsessions and compulsions, dissociation, posttraumatic stress responses, and somatization all yielded significant associations with sexual abuse. These results are discussed in light of their relevance to research methodology and clinical intervention.

Creating a culture of vocabulary acquisition for children living in poverty

Journal of Children and Poverty: _
This paper presents a compelling case for early and sustained vocabulary development for children reared in poverty. Research findings indicate that vocabulary knowledge is a critical factor in literacy and academic success for low-income children from preschool to higher levels of schooling. Vocabulary proficiency is strongly related to language and reading understanding and to success in academic subjects, particularly when topics are presented with semantically laden words related to conceptual knowledge. Practitioners learn which words to emphasize in the continuum range of high frequency/high utility to rare words and why conversation, discussion, book readings, morpheme and root word play, and writing become so important in the learning of new words. Presented are four broad suggestions relating to (1) using enhanced talk in the classroom, (2) capitalizing on the rich vocabulary of children's book authors, (3) manipulating morphemes with word roots, and (4) developing the vocabulary of informational topics. Practitioners can readily implement these suggestions in their own classroom contexts, thereby creating positive climates of vocabulary acquisition for children with low and meager receptive and productive vocabularies.

Maternal Socialization of Positive Affect: Impact of Invalidation on Adolescent Emotion Regulation and Depressive Symptomatology

Child Development:__
This study examined the relations among maternal socialization of positive affect (PA), adolescent emotion regulation (ER), and adolescent depressive symptoms. Two hundred early adolescents, 11–13 years old, provided self-reports of ER strategies and depressive symptomatology; their mothers provided self-reports of socialization responses to adolescent PA. One hundred and sixty-three mother–adolescent dyads participated in 2 interaction tasks. Adolescents whose mothers responded in an invalidating or "dampening" manner toward their PA displayed more emotionally dysregulated behaviors and reported using maladaptive ER strategies more frequently. Adolescents whose mothers dampened their PA more frequently during mother–adolescent interactions, and girls whose mothers reported invalidating their PA, reported more depressive symptoms. Adolescent use of maladaptive ER strategies mediated the association between maternal invalidation of PA and early adolescents' concurrent depressive symptoms.

Preventing Problem Behavior by Increasing Parents' Positive Behavior Support in Early Childhood

Child Development:__
Seven hundred thirty-one income-eligible families in 3 geographical regions who were enrolled in a national food supplement program were screened and randomized to a brief family intervention. At child ages 2 and 3, the intervention group caregivers were offered the Family Check-Up and linked parenting support services. Latent growth models on caregiver reports at child ages 2, 3, and 4 revealed decreased behavior problems when compared with the control group. Intervention effects occurred predominantly among families reporting high levels of problem behavior at child age 2. Families in the intervention condition improved on direct observation measures of caregivers' positive behavior support at child ages 2 and 3; improvements in positive behavior support mediated improvements in children's early problem behavior.

Can Technology and the Media Help Reduce Dysfunctional Parenting and Increase Engagement With Preventative Parenting Interventions?

Child Maltreatment
In an evaluation of the television series "Driving Mum and Dad Mad," 723 families participated and were randomly assigned to either a standard or technology enhanced viewing condition (included additional Web-support). Parents in both conditions reported significant improvements from pre- to postintervention in their child's behavior, dysfunctional parenting, parental anger, depression, and self-efficacy. Short-term improvements were maintained at 6-months follow-up. Regressions identified predictors of program outcomes and level of involvement. Parents who watched the entire series had more severe problems at preintervention and high sociodemographic risk than parents who did not watch the entire series. Few sociodemographic, child, or parent variables assessed at preintervention predicted program outcomes or program engagement, suggesting that a wide range of parents from diverse socioeconomic status benefited from the program. Media interventions depicting evidence-based parenting programs may be a useful means of reaching hard to engage families in population-level child maltreatment prevention programs.

Cost-Effective Investments in Children - Brookings Institution

Brookings Institution
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American children are facing an uncertain economic future. Rising spending for health and retirement benefits for an aging population, combined with falling tax revenues after several rounds of tax cuts, have led to a fiscal crisis. If the current generation fails to take on the responsibility for balancing the budget, future generations will pay the cost—plus interest—of paying off the debt and addressing unfunded financial commitments. Balancing the budget will require a combination of reductions in entitlement spending, reforms in defense and other discretionary spending, and increases in revenues. While the major focus of a responsible, future-oriented budget plan should be deficit reduction, a good budget strategy also needs to make targeted investments in programs that will improve America’s future economic well-being. Chief among these is effective investments in children to ensure they have the skills to become tomorrow’s adult workers, caregivers, taxpayers, and citizens.

Abortion Reduction Has Its Day

Third Way
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The Democrats are showing signs of change on abortion. Yesterday, the Democratically controlled House easily passed an appropriations bill that contains a major – and brand new – abortion initiative. But unlike Democratic abortion bills of yore, this one brings together both sides of the debate and is aimed squarely at abortion reduction.

This “Reducing the Need for Abortions Initiative,” which grew out of a bill crafted by Tim Ryan (pro-life D-OH) and Rosa DeLauro (pro-choice D-CT) passed as part of the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill. It invests real money – $647 million – in reducing the need for abortion by funding programs that address the circumstances that lead to abortion. It contains provisions that prevent unintended pregnancies, such as increasing the funding for the nation’s only dedicated family planning program (Title X) and also creates and funds a new teen pregnancy prevention program at CDC. At the same time, it includes measures designed to help support pregnant women and new families who need more support to go forward with their pregnancies, such as increased funding for child care, after-school programs, and nurse home visitation programs for new moms. It also funds an adoption awareness campaign at CDC and domestic violence prevention.

In proposing and then passing this bill, the Democrats have made a bold new statement about their changed outlook on abortion. First, they are showing that they are dedicated to finding common ground on this divisive issue. As Congressman Ryan put it: “It is our moral obligation to address those issues with which all sides agree. Whether you are pro-life like me or pro-choice like my friend Congresswoman DeLauro, the common ground we must build upon is our serious desire to reduce the rate of abortions.”

Second, – the Party is now letting pro-life Democrats inside the tent. We saw this with their loyalty to Bob Casey, Jr. in Pennsylvania – his dad was barred from the podium at the 1992 Democratic Convention for his pro-life views, but now-Senator Casey (who shares his father’s views on abortion) was warmly embraced by the Party during his Senate run last year. We are seeing it again in their decision to listen closely and follow the lead of pro-life Congressman Tim Ryan.

Third, by prioritizing an initiative designed to reduce the need for abortion, Democrats are making a clear statement that they understand the moral complexity of abortion.

The Democrats remain and will always be the party of abortion rights, but they are looking more and more like they are ALSO the party of reducing the need for abortion.

Importance of Early Neglect for Childhood Aggression

Pediatrics
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RESULTS. Only early neglect significantly predicted aggression scores. Early abuse, later abuse, and later neglect were not significantly predictive in a controlled model with all 4 predictors.

CONCLUSION. This longitudinal study suggests that child neglect in the first 2 years of life may be a more-important precursor of childhood aggression than later neglect or physical abuse at any age.

Community Violence, Interpartner Conflict, Parenting, and Social Support as Predictors of the Social Competence of African American Preschool Children

Journal of Black Psychology
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Adopting an ecological framework, this study examines the role of community violence exposure, interpartner conflict, positive parenting, and informal social support in predicting the social skills and behavior problems of low-income African American preschoolers. Participants were 184 African American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Regression analyses revealed that greater community violence exposure predicted more internalizing and externalizing child behavior problems and lower levels of self-control and cooperation. Greater interpartner conflict predicted more internalizing problems. Positive parenting was predictive of fewer internalizing and externalizing problems and higher levels of child self-control and cooperation. Greater informal social support predicted higher levels of all four child social skills, including self-control, cooperation, assertion, and responsibility. Positive parenting and informal social support failed to moderate the relationships between community violence exposure and interpartner conflict and child outcomes. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.

Predictors (0–10 months) of psychopathology at age 1½ years ...

J Child Psychol & Psychiatry
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...
Conclusions: Predictors of neuro-developmental disorders and parent–child relationship disturbances can be identified in the first 10 months of life in children from the general population.

Current-Generation Youth Programs: What Works, What Doesn't, and at What Cost?

RAND
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Policymakers nationwide must decide how to best invest in education and related opportunities, such as out-of-school-time programs targeting youth and early-childhood education programs. In this paper, we review the costs, benefits, and costs and benefits relative to one another for one alternative type of investment: youth programs that are offered during the time that students are not in school. Such programs are often viewed as a mechanism for addressing working parents’ needs for care of their school-age children, for improving the developmental outcomes of youth, and for reducing the gap in academic achievement between advantaged youth and disadvantaged youth.

At this time, the evidence of evaluations of such programs, all of which were geared to at-risk youths, is strongest for programs that are costlier and provide more-intense resources to youth.

The Family: America's Smallest School

ETS
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If the United States is to reach our ambitious national education goals, we need to focus as much attention on the starting line as we do on the finish line. While most reform debate centers on improving schools, increasing teaching quality and raising student achievement, success also requires changes within America’s smallest school as well: the family.

In the ETS Policy Information Center’s new report, The Family: America's Smallest School, ETS researchers Paul E. Barton and Richard J. Coley outline the family and home conditions affecting children’s cognitive development and school achievement and how gaps beginning early persist throughout life. With a preface and endorsement by Marc H. Morial, President of the National Urban League, both organizations call on leaders and policymakers to improve not only schools, but also home and family conditions, to help all students succeed.

Critical factors examined in the report include child care quality, parental involvement in schools, parent/pupil ratio, family finances, literacy development, student absences and physical home environments.

Early motherhood and subsequent life outcomes

Journal Child Psychology & Psychiatry
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Results: Early motherhood was associated with higher levels of mental health disorders, lower levels of educational achievement, higher levels of welfare dependence, lower levels of workforce participation, and lower income. Control for confounding factors reduced the associations between early motherhood and later mental health disorders to statistical non-significance. However, the associations between early motherhood and later educational achievement and economic circumstances persisted after control for potentially confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that early motherhood puts young women at risk for educational underachievement and poorer economic circumstances. The linkages between early motherhood and later mental health difficulties can largely be accounted for by childhood, family, and related circumstances that occurred prior to parenthood.

Reducing Maternal Depression and Its Impact on Young Children

NCCP
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Maternal depression is a significant risk factor affecting the
well-being and school readiness of young children. Low-income
mothers of young children experience particularly high levels
of depression, often in combination with other risk factors.
This policy brief provides an overview of why it is so important
to address maternal depression as a central part of the effort
to ensure that ALL young children enter school ready to succeed.
...

Early motherhood and subsequent life outcomes

Blackwell Synergy - J Child Psychol & Psychiat, Volume 49 Issue 2 Page 151-160, February 2008 (Article Abstract)
q:
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Results: Early motherhood was associated with higher levels of mental health disorders, lower levels of educational achievement, higher levels of welfare dependence, lower levels of workforce participation, and lower income. Control for confounding factors reduced the associations between early motherhood and later mental health disorders to statistical non-significance. However, the associations between early motherhood and later educational achievement and economic circumstances persisted after control for potentially confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that early motherhood puts young women at risk for educational underachievement and poorer economic circumstances. The linkages between early motherhood and later mental health difficulties can largely be accounted for by childhood, family, and related circumstances that occurred prior to parenthood.

Programs that Work | Healthy Families New York (HFNY)

Promising Practices Network | RAND
Q;
The Healthy Families New York program seeks to improve the health and well-being of children at risk for abuse and neglect by providing intensive home visitation services. The study on which the updated HFNY program summary is based found that this Proven program continued to reduce child abuse and neglect in the second year of the study. This study is noteworthy because it is one of the few evaluations of home visiting programs that have used a rigorous randomized control design. Additionally, it is the only study of a program using the Healthy Families America guidelines that meets PPN study design criteria, and it finds significant and sizeable effects at a much lower cost than models that rely exclusively on nurses.

Twenty-First Century Pink or Blue: How Sex Selection Technology Facilitates Gendercide and What we Can do About It

Family Court Review
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In the midst of a genetic revolution in medicine, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has become a well-established technique to help infertile women achieve pregnancy. But many women are now turning to ART not just to circumvent infertility, but consciously to shape their families by determining the sex of their children. Many patriarchal cultures have a gender preference for males and to date have used technological advances in reproductive medicine to predetermine the sex of the child being born. Women have sought sex-selective abortions, where the pregnancy was being terminated solely on the basis of the sex of the unborn fetus. The combination of ART advances and gender preference has led to the disappearance of at least 100 million girls from the world's population leading to a mass gendercide. This article examines the societal impact of unbalanced gender ratios and the need to regulate sex selection to avoid nations of bachelors.

Perspect Sexual Reprod Health

Perspectives Sexual Reproductive Health
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RESULTS: In recent years, more countries experienced a decline in legal abortion rates than an increase, among those for which statistics are complete and trend data are available. The most dramatic declines were in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where rates remained among the highest in the world. The highest estimated levels were in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, where surveys indicate that women will have close to three abortions each, on average, in their lifetimes. The U.S. abortion rate dropped by 8% between 1996 and 2003, but remained higher than rates in many Northern and Western European countries. Rates increased in the Netherlands and New Zealand. The official abortion rate declined by 21% over seven years in China, which accounted for a third of the world’s legal abortions in 1996. Trends in the abortion rate differed across age-groups in some countries.

In Gaps at School, Weighing Family Life

New York Times
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In Gaps at School, Weighing Family Life
By MICHAEL WINERIP

THE federal No Child Left Behind law of 2002 rates schools based on how students perform on state standardized tests, and if too many children score poorly, the school is judged as failing.

But how much is really the school’s fault?

A new study by the Educational Testing Service — which develops and administers more than 50 million standardized tests annually, including the SAT — concludes that an awful lot of those low scores can be explained by factors that have nothing to do with schools. The study, “The Family: America’s Smallest School,” suggests that a lot of the failure has to do with what takes place in the home, the level of poverty and government’s inadequate support for programs that could make a difference, like high-quality day care and paid maternity leave.

The E.T.S. researchers took four variables that are beyond the control of schools: The percentage of children living with one parent; the percentage of eighth graders absent from school at least three times a month; the percentage of children 5 or younger whose parents read to them daily, and the percentage of eighth graders who watch five or more hours of TV a day. Using just those four variables, the researchers were able to predict each state’s results on the federal eighth-grade reading test with impressive accuracy.

“Together, these four factors account for about two-thirds of the large differences among states,” the report said. In other words, the states that had the lowest test scores tended to be those that had the highest percentages of children from single-parent families, eighth graders watching lots of TV and eighth graders absent a lot, and the lowest percentages of young children being read to regularly, regardless of what was going on in their schools.

Which gets to the heart of the report: by the time these children start school at age 5, they are far behind, and tend to stay behind all through high school. There is no evidence that the gap is being closed.

“Kids start school from platforms of different heights and teachers don’t have a magic wand they can wave to get kids on the same platform,” said Richard J. Coley, director of E.T.S.’s policy information center and co-author of the report with Paul E. Barton, a senior researcher. “If we’re really interested in raising overall levels of achievement and in closing the achievement gap, we need to pay as much attention to the starting line as we do to the finish line.”

What’s interesting about the report — which combines E.T.S. studies with research on families from myriad sources, including the Census Bureau and Child Trends research center — is how much we know, how often government policy and parental behavior does not reflect that knowledge, and how stacked the odds are against so many children. (The study is at www.ets.org/familyreport.)

Being raised by a single parent in itself steepens the odds considerably. Keep in mind that findings are based on statistical averages, and we all know people raised by a single parent who have thrived; I count seven nieces, nephews and cousins in my own extended family. But on average, the child with a single parent is 2.5 times more likely to repeat a grade. That child on average scores a third of a standard deviation lower on tests — the difference between 500 and 463 on the SAT.

And the demographics are not promising. In 1980, 77 percent of American children lived with two parents compared with 68 percent today. For black children the numbers are more stark: 42 percent lived with both parents in 1980, versus 35 percent today. In contrast, in Japan, 92 percent of children live with both parents.

Single parents on average will have less income and less time for a child, given all the demands. While 11 percent of white children live in poverty, 36 percent of black children and 29 percent of Hispanic children are poor. Half of black children live in families where no parent has year-round full-time employment, according to the analysis.

By age 4 the average child in a professional family hears about 35 million more words than a child in a poor family. While 62 percent of kindergartners from the richest 20 percent are read to at home every day, 36 percent of kindergartners in the poorest 20 percent are read to daily.

The report also found that 24 percent of white eighth graders spend at least four hours in front of TV on a weekday compared with 59 percent of black eighth graders.

These issues are intertwined in complex ways. A child watching five hours of TV can be a case of neglect or it may mean a single parent is trying to make ends meet by working two jobs and is not around to supervise. Absence rates are higher for poor children, whose families are more transient than wealthier families.

But whether it is a parent’s fault or the societal pressures on the parent, the results are hard on the child: The average scores for black and Hispanic children on reading and math assessments at the start of kindergarten are 20 percent lower than for white children.

And when those children are ready to apply to college, one of the surest predictors of how they will perform on the SAT is their family’s income: for every $10,000 of additional family income, the SAT score climbs an average of about 10 points, according to statistics from the College Board.

The report describes how much we rely on child care from an early age — half of 2-year-olds are in some kind of nonparental care — and how much worse that care is for poor and minority children. According to the report, poor children are twice as likely to be in low quality care as middle and upper class children, black children more than twice as likely as white children.

And it is black families who rely on day care most: 63 percent, compared with 49 percent of whites and 44 percent of Asians. Says Mr. Coley, “Our day care system may be reinforcing the gap rather than closing it.”

Another way to support parents of young children is paid leave when a child is born, which is routine in most of the world, but not in the United States.

According to Dr. Jody Heymann, director of the Institute of Health and Social Policy at McGill University, 172 of the 176 countries she surveyed this year offer guaranteed paid leave to women who have just had babies. The four that do not? Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and the United States.

The United States guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, but many parents do not qualify for even that, since employers with fewer than 50 workers are exempt.

To better support young families, California in 2004 became the first state to pass a law providing paid leave for new parents. A few more states, including New Jersey and New York, are considering similar legislation.

Mr. Coley believes this kind of government support is necessary if we are serious about closing the gap. “We don’t seem to get it,” he said. “Or maybe we think we can’t afford it, I don’t know.”

Parenting programmes: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research

Child Care Health Dev
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Background Parenting programmes are at the heart of intervention strategies for parents of children with emotional and behaviour problems. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have indicated that such programmes can improve many aspects of family life. However, there is currently a dearth of information concerning what it is that makes parenting programmes meaningful and helpful to parents. The aim of this paper was to examine parents' experience and perceptions of parenting programmes using the meta-ethnographic method, in order to sensitize policymakers and practitioners to the key factors that parents perceive to be of value.

A lines-of-argument synthesis was developed which suggests that the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding, together with feelings of acceptance and support from other parents in the parenting group, enabled parents to regain control and feel more able to cope. This led to a reduction in feelings of guilt and social isolation, increased empathy with their children and confidence in dealing with their behaviour.

Conclusion
This evaluation provides an indication of the components that parents perceive to be necessary in the provision of parenting programmes, independent of the particular type of programme being provided. It may therefore aid policymakers in decisions about which programmes to provide.

Scholastic Attainment Following Severe Early Institutional Deprivation: A Study of Children Adopted from Romania

JOurnal of Abnormal Child Development
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The relationship between severe early institutional deprivation and scholastic attainment at age 11 in 127 children (68 girls and 59 boys) adopted from institutions in Romania was compared to the attainment of 49 children (17 girls and 32 boys) adopted within the UK from a non-institutional background. Overall, children adopted from Romania had significantly lower attainment scores than those adopted within the UK; the children within the Romanian sample who had spent 6 months or more in an institution had significantly lower attainment scores than those who had spent less than 6 months in an institution, but there was no additional risk of low attainment associated with longer institutional care after 6 months. The lower scholastic attainment in the children adopted from Romanian institutions, as compared with domestic adoptees, was mediated by IQ, and to a lesser degree, inattention/overactivity. When these factors were taken into account, only small between-group differences in attainment remained.

The Next Generation of Antipoverty Policies

The Future of Children

Reduce Nonmarital Births and Increase Marriage.

Poverty in female-headed families is four or five times greater than poverty in married-couple families, and studies have shown that children fare better in married-couple families. Paul Amato and Rebecca Maynard argue for investments in more effective teen pregnancy reduction programs and premarital education to increase the share of children reared by their married parents.

Improve Preschool Education.

Greg Duncan and his colleagues note that high-quality preschool can boost children’s development and decrease the achievement gap between poor children and their more advantaged peers. They propose to fund a high-quality preschool initiative that targets resources towards the most disadvantaged children.

Improve Public Education.

Children living in poverty tend to be concentrated in low-performing schools staffed by ill-equipped teachers. These children are especially likely to drop out and to leave school without the skills necessary to earn a decent living in a rapidly changing economy. Richard Murnane proposes to build on the No Child Left Behind Act in ways that would improve the accountability, incentives, and capacity for schools to address these shortcomings.

Help the Most Disadvantaged Mothers.

Some mothers face multiple barriers to work, including low education, health problems, or a history of domestic violence or substance abuse. Rebecca Blank argues that these mothers and their children need greater assistance and support than that provided by current welfare-to-work programs. She proposes a new program that would focus exclusively on serving the most disadvantaged mothers.

Food Insecurity and Adjustment Problems in a National Sample of Adolescents

Journal of Children and Poverty
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This study examined a structural equation model of the associations among food insecurity, parental emotional distress, quality of parenting, and adolescents' adjustment problems, controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), sex, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, we examined the relative effects of food insecurity, SES, parental emotional distress, and quality of parenting on adjustment problems. A sample of 11,139 12-17-year-olds selected from the 2002 National Survey of American Families data set were used. The results revealed the following: first, the model exhibited a reasonable fit to the data. Second, heightened food insecurity was associated with increased parental emotional distress, poor quality of parenting, and increased adjustment problems. Third, increased parental emotional distress was associated with poor quality of parenting and with higher levels of adjustment problems; and better quality of parenting was associated with lower levels of adjustment problems. Fourth, food insecurity had an indirect effect on adjustment problems through its effect on parental emotional distress and quality of parenting. Finally, parental emotional distress and quality of parenting had stronger total effects on adjustment problems than did food insecurity. The implications of these findings for policy are also discussed.

The Response of Abortion Demand to Changes in Abortion Costs

Social Indicators Research
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This study uses pooled cross-section time-series data, over the years 1982, 1992 and 2000, to estimate the impact of various restrictive abortion laws on the demand for abortion. This study complements and extends prior research by explicitly including the price of obtaining an abortion in the estimation. The empirical results show that the real price of an abortion has a statistically and numerically significant negative impact on abortion demand. Over the period 1982–2000 approximately 20% of the decline in the incidence of abortion was due solely to the increase in the real price of obtaining an abortion. A state Medicaid funding restriction of abortion and a parental involvement law reduce the abortion demand, but a state waiting period and a mandatory counseling law have no statistically significant impact on the abortion demand. The empirical results also provide support for the hypothesis that increases in abortion costs not only reduce the number of abortions, but also reduce the number of pregnancies by altering women’s sexual/contraceptive practices.

Maternal Predictors of Rejecting Parenting and Early Adolescent Antisocial Behavior

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
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The present study examined relations among maternal psychological resources, rejecting parenting, and early adolescent antisocial behavior in a sample of 231 low-income mothers and their sons with longitudinal assessments from age 18 months to 12 years. The maternal resources examined were age at first birth, aggressive personality, and empathy. Each of the maternal resources predicted rejecting parenting during early childhood in structural equation models that controlled for toddler difficult temperament, and rejecting parenting in early childhood predicted antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Rejecting parenting accounted for the indirect effect of each of the maternal resources on antisocial behavior, but a direct effect was also supported between maternal aggressive personality and youth antisocial behavior. Results highlight the importance of these relatively understudied maternal resources and have implications for prevention and intervention programs that focus on parenting during early childhood.

Underreporting of Induced and Spontaneous Abortion in the United States

Studies in Family Planning
q:
Underreporting of induced abortions in surveys is widespread, both in countries where the procedure is illegal or highly restricted and in those where it is legal. In this study, we find that fewer than one half of induced abortions performed in the United States in 1997–2001 (47 percent) were reported by women during face-to-face interviews in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Hispanic and black women and those with low income were among the least likely to report their experience of abortion. Women were also less likely to report abortions that occurred when they were in their 20s. Second-trimester abortions were more likely to be reported than first-trimester terminations. The levels of recent spontaneous abortion reported in the 2002 NSFG were consistent with the accumulated body of clinical research, although substantially more lifetime pregnancy losses were reported on self-administered surveys than in face-to-face interviews. Subsequent research should explore strategies to improve information collected on abortion, and, in the interim, research involving pregnancy outcomes should be adjusted for unreported induced abortions.

Corporal punishment can lead to more bad behavior by children

Medical News net
q:
"'Even minimal amounts of spanking can lead to an increased likelihood in antisocial behavior by children,' said Grogan-Kaylor, whose findings are published in the September issue of Social Work Research."
...

Family Connections: A Program for Preventing Child Neglect

Child Maltreatment
q:
Family Connections was a demonstration program specifically designed to prevent child neglect. This article describes the development of prevention strategies and the assessment of outcomes for families who received two versions of the intervention. The sample included 154 families (473 children) in a poor, urban neighborhood who met risk criteria for child neglect and who were randomly assigned to receive either a 3- or 9-month intervention. Self-report and observational data were analyzed using analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures. Results for the entire sample indicated positive changes in protective factors (parenting attitudes, parenting competence, social support); diminished risk factors (parental depressive symptoms, parenting stress, life stress); and improved child safety (physical and psychological care of children) and behavior (decreased externalizing and internalizing behavior). Results further reflected no advantage of the 9-month intervention for improving parenting adequacy. Further testing of the intervention with other target populations is being conducted.

The Long-Term Sequelae of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Women: A Meta-Analytic Review

Child Maltreatment
q:
The authors conducted a meta-analytic review of the relationship between a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) and psychological problems in adult women in 38 studies meeting rigorous research criteria. Across all symptoms, a significant association was found between history of CSA and adult symptomatology. Analysis of the role of moderating variables indicated the associations were stronger among subjects recruited from clinical populations. When individual symptom domains were examined, anxiety, anger, depression, revictimization, self-mutilation, sexual problems, substance abuse, suicidality, impairment of self-concept, interpersonal problems, obsessions and compulsions, dissociation, posttraumatic stress responses, and somatization all yielded significant associations with sexual abuse. These results are discussed in light of their relevance to research methodology and clinical intervention.

Corporal punishment can lead to more bad behavior by children

medical news net
q:
A new University of Michigan study that used stronger statistical controls than previous research lends additional support against corporal punishment, saying the effects can be detrimental to children.

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, an assistant professor in U-M's School of Social Work and the study's author, used data from three years (1994, 1996 and 1998) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which examined the effects of corporal punishment. The analysis attempted to determine if corporal punishment, which typically involves spanking, affected children's antisocial behavior in later years.

"Even minimal amounts of spanking can lead to an increased likelihood in antisocial behavior by children," said Grogan-Kaylor, whose findings are published in the September issue of Social Work Research.

In addition, the study found no evidence for differences in the impact of physical punishment across racial and ethnic groups.
...

International Comparisons Child Well Being

The Foundation for Child Development
q:
This analysis compares the United States to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. By comparing the United States to other industrialized, English-speaking countries, the report provides a more accurate baseline for comparison than other international assessments of child well-being. These Anglophone countries share a common language, similar cultural heritage, as well as comparable political and economic cultures. The report assembles 19 key international indicators of child well-being within seven domains of social life.

Released at a July 17, 2007 event at the New America Foundation, 2007 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) Special Focus Report on International Comparisons finds that American children are generally in the middle of the pack in terms of their overall well-being; but there are serious deficiencies in key areas.
...

Number of Physical Abuse Victims (by state)

Stop Hitting org

State Number of Physical Abuse Victims
Alabama 3,659
Alaska 392
Arizona 1,303
Arkansas 1,566
California 12,118
Colorado 1,623
Connecticut 809
Delaware 544
D. Columbia 457
Florida 15,661
Georgia 4,919
Hawaii 307
Idaho 344
Illinois 7,783
Indiana 2,630
Iowa 1,881
Kansas 603
Kentucky 2,407
Louisiana 3,427
Maine 751
Maryland 3,893
Massachusetts 5,055
Michigan 4,399
Minnesota 1,438
Mississippi 1,302
Missouri 2,460
Montana 225
Nebraska 931
Nevada 887
New Hampshire 192
New Jersey 3,273
New Mexico 1,055
New York 7,957
North Carolina 1,162
North Dakota 258
Ohio 8,889
Oklahoma 2,545
Oregon 1,064
Pennsylvania 1,411
Puerto Rico 3,802
Rhode Island 479
South Carolina 3,228
South Dakota 187
Tennessee 6,126
Texas 14,491
Utah 1,937
Vermont 523
Virginia 1,773
Washington 1,311
West Virginia 2,588
Wisconsin 1,234
Wyoming 60
Total 149,319
No. Reporting 52

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2005 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007).

State of the States’ ECCS Initiatives

NCCP
q:
The primary purpose of the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration’s (MCHB-HRSA) State Maternal and Child Health Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) grants is to assist states and territories in their efforts to build and implement comprehensive statewide systems of care that support family and community approaches to promote positive early development and early school success for young children. These grants originated with a MCHB-HRSA Strategic Plan for Early Childhood that called on State Title V MCH programs to use their leadership and convening powers to foster the development of cross-agency early childhood systems development planning.1

Building a more comprehensive early childhood system requires intentional efforts to bridge the gaps created by multiple, discrete funding streams for early childhood services to create a deliberate framework to foster integrated early childhood service systems at the federal, state, and community levels.2 This Project THRIVE Short Take summarizes the results of Project THRIVE’s review and analysis of state ECCS plans, reports, and other related documents related to early childhood systems.
...

Reducing Disparities Beginning in Early Childhood

NCCP
Research shows that many disparities in health and well-being are rooted in early childhood. These disparities reflect gaps in access to services, unequal treatment, adverse congenital health conditions, and exposures in the early years linked to elevated community and family risks. 1 Early health risks and conditions can have long-range implications for physical, emotional, and intellectual development as well as health. Their contribution to disparities in health status, disabilities, and educational achievement is well documented. 2 But many risks can be addressed in the early years, starting with quality prenatal care and interventions in the earliest stages of life. Thus, literally, reducing disparities begins with babies.

Risks for disparate outcomes disproportionately affect young children, low-income children, and minority children. 3 Poverty brings risks for children of all races; however, racial/ethnic status is an independent risk factor. 4 Young children are more likely than older children to live in families without economic security. Of the 10.2 million U.S. children ages birth through 5 years, 42 percent lived in low-income families (with income below the federal poverty level—FPL) and 20 percent lived in poor families (income below 100 percent of FPL) in 2005. (See Figure 1.) Minority young children also are overrepresented among the 2.2 million U.S. children ages birth through 5 who live in extremely poor families (income below 50 percent of FPL). The younger the child, the more harmful poverty is to developmental outcomes. 5 Below we highlight patterns of disparities in both risks and outcomes, and access and treatment.
...

2007 Child Well-Being Index (CWI) Special Focus Report on International

The Foundation for Child Development
* The percent of households without an employed adult is lower in the United States than in all comparison countries. However, poverty rates are higher in the United States than in all comparison countries.

* Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have better outcomes than the United States in the Health domain. Relatively high rates of infant mortality and children who are overweight and obese disadvantage the United States in this domain.

* Teen birth rates in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand are lower than in the United States. This indicator is a key figure in the Safety/Behavioral Concerns domain.
...

The future of a preventive policy towards juveniles

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research

Polarization-vilification, Frame Saving, and Frame Debunking

Sociological Quarterly
This article investigates how frame alignment processes are employed by a social movement organization in competitive response to a countermovement. Though the battles between feminist organizations such as NOW and conservative opposition are waged in many arenas, we focus exclusively on the ideological clash around abortion. After briefly describing the context of encounters, we examine the challenges launched against perceived threats to reproductive rights using New York State NOW chapter newsletters spanning 1970–1988. We identify three rhetorical strategies used by NOW to counterframe the debate for its members. polarization-vilification, frame debunking, and frame saving. Our findings suggest that in the face of opposition, framing strategies are modified with the goal of mobilization.

Much of Achievement Gap Traced to 'Summer Slide'

Education Week
quote:
It’s been a truism for decades that students’ learning slips during the summer, and that low-income children fall farther behind than their classmates, but no one had connected the longitudinal data dots to show just what the cumulative consequences of the summer slide might be. Until now.

A recent study by sociology professor Karl L. Alexander and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore concludes that two-thirds of the reading achievement gap between 9th graders of low and high socioeconomic standing in Baltimore public schools can be traced to what they learned—or failed to learn—over their childhood summers.

The study, which tracked data from about 325 Baltimore students from 1st grade to age 22, points out that various characteristics that depend heavily on reading ability—such as students’ curriculum track in high school, their risk of dropping out, and their probability of pursuing higher education and landing higher-paying jobs—all diverge widely according to socioeconomic levels.
...

Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice

brookings
The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) is the first nationally representative study of children who have been reported to authorities as suspected victims of abuse or neglect and the public programs that aim to protect them. Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice is the first book to report the results of NSCAW, interpret the findings, and place them in a broader policy context.

The authors, all experts in child welfare issues, explain the survey's implications. They also suggest new alternatives for designing and implementing future programs that not only protect at-risk children from further harm but also provide them with security and support. The book addresses a range of issues associated with the child protection system, including the types of problems experienced by children and families involved with the system, the range of services and interventions it provides, and an assessment of its programs. By offering specific ways that those working in the system can improve their practice, the authors hope to improve the odds that abused and neglected children will grow up to lead happy and productive lives.
...

The Effects of Investing in Early Education on Economic Growth

brookings
Many in Congress and the administration have called for new investments in education in order to make the United States more competitive, with President Bush stressing the importance of education in preparing young Americans to "fill the jobs of the 21st century." Yet advocates of early childhood education have only recently stressed the economic benefits of preschool programs, and it has been difficult to win support for these short-term investments given the long-term nature of the benefits to the economy.

This policy brief analyzes the impact of a high-quality universal preschool policy on economic growth, concluding that such a policy could add $2 trillion to annual U.S. GDP by 2080. By 2080, a national program would cost the federal government approximately $59 billion, but generate enough additional growth in federal revenue to cover the costs of the program several times over.
...

The Interlocking Trajectories between Negative Parenting Practices and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Current Sociology
quoting
...This study traces the links between negative parenting practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms in a dynamic manner. In general, the findings of this study support the hypothesis that there is an interlocking relationship between mothers' negative parenting practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms.

Developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms from early childhood to late adolescence: gender differences and adult outcome

Journal Child Psychology & Psychiatry
""Conclusions: This study shows the value of estimating growth-mixture models separately for boys and girls. Girls with early childhood or adolescence-onset depressive problems and boys with depressive problems during childhood or starting in adolescence are especially at risk for poor outcome as young adults and should be considered candidates for intervention.

Class divide hits learning by age of three

The Guardian
""By the age of three, children from disadvantaged families are already lagging a full year behind their middle-class contemporaries in social and educational development, pioneering research by a London university reveals today.

Association Between Adolescent Pregnancy And a Family History of Teenage Births

Perspectives Sexual Reproductive Health
""Compared with young women with no family history of teenage births, young women whose sister had had a teenage birth and those whose sister and mother both had had teenage births were significantly more likely to experience a teenage pregnancy (odds ratios, 4.8 and 5.1, respectively). Young women who had only a sister who had had a teenage birth had greater odds of pregnancy than young women who had only a mother who had had a teenage birth (4.5). Having both a mother and a sister who had had teenage births was independently associated with an elevated risk of pregnancy (3.7), even after controlling for socioeconomic and mothers’ parenting characteristics. Frequent companionship with an older sister was associated with increased odds of teenage pregnancy (4.5); frequent conflict with an older sister who had had a teenage birth was marginally associated with decreased odds of the outcome (0.3).

Parental Divorce and Children's Socio-economic Success: Conditional Effects of Parental Resources Prior to Divorce, and Gender of the Child

Sociology
""Both the level and allocation of pre-divorce parental and family resources may be impor tant predictors for the effects of divorce on child outcomes. This study estimates specific divorce effects on socio-economic outcomes of children in families having a different amount and allocation of both cultural and economic resources. In addition, this study tests whether general divorce effects differ between boys and girls. Data are used from the Family Survey Dutch Population 1998 and the Family Survey Dutch Population 2000 . The first conclusion was that a high level of paternal resources increases divorce effects on children's educational level and their occupational status. Moreover, a high level of maternal resources decreases the divorce effect. These findings suppor t the loss of resources theory.

An Increase in the Sex Ratio of Births to India-born Mothers in England and Wales: Evidence for Sex-Selective Abortion

Population & Development Review
Male preference in many Asian cultures results in discriminatory practices against females, including neglect and infanticide. This preference, together with the availability of prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortion, has led to an increase in sex ratios at birth in China, India, and South Korea. The resulting expected gender imbalances raise ethical, demographic, and social concerns. We analyzed birth statistics to see whether similar trends are apparent among births to foreign-born mothers in England and Wales. Before 1990, sex ratios at birth were consistently nearly one point lower (104) for the three major Asian groups in Britain compared with mothers born in Western countries. This is inconsistent with previous suggestions that Asian populations have a higher "natural" sex ratio at birth. In the birth statistics since 1990, we find a four-point increase in the sex ratio at birth for mothers born in India, attributable particularly to an increase at higher birth orders, mirroring findings reported for India. This suggests that sex-selective abortion is occurring among mothers born in India and living in Britain. By contrast, no significant increase was observed for Pakistan-born and Bangladesh-born mothers, among whom male preference also exists. It seems that male preference in different cultures does not necessarily lead to sex-selective abortion.

Abortion 'risk to mental health'

Channel 4 News [UK]
Abortion can be a serious risk to women's long-term mental health, a doctor has warned MPs.

Corporal Punishment and the Growth Trajectory of Children's Antisocial Behavior

Child Maltreatment
"Despite considerable research, the relationship between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior is unclear. This analysis examined (a) the functional form of this relationship, (b) the correlation of initial antisocial behavior and changes in antisocial behavior, (c) differences in the relationship of corporal punishment and antisocial behavior by race, and (d) whether this relationship could be accounted for by unmeasured characteristics of children and their families. Data from 6,912 children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were analyzed using hierarchical linear models. Findings suggested that corporal punishment has a relationship with children’s initial antisocial behavior and with changes in antisocial behavior. No evidence was found for differences in the effect of corporal punishment across racial groups. The relationship between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior persists even when accounting for unmeasured time invariant characteristics of children and families. The findings suggest that corporal punishment is not a preferable technique for disciplining children.

Understanding the Risks of Child Neglect: An Exploration of Poverty and Parenting Characteristics

Child Maltreatment
A strong association between poverty and child neglect has been established, but the mechanisms that explain this relationship have not been clearly articulated. This research takes advantage of survey and child maltreatment administrative data about families with young children and assesses the influence of poverty and parenting characteristics on subsequent child neglect. The authors find that indicators of poverty, such as perceived material hardship and infrequent employment, and parenting characteristics, such as low parental warmth, use of physical discipline, and allowing a child to engage in frequent television viewing, are predictive of child neglect. Parenting characteristics do not appear to mediate the link between perceived hardship and neglect, although they suppress the link between employment and neglect. Results from this study provide information that is highly relevant to the approach and design of child maltreatment prevention and intervention strategies.

Family Connections: A Program for Preventing Child Neglect

Child Maltreatment
"Family Connections was a demonstration program specifically designed to prevent child neglect. This article describes the development of prevention strategies and the assessment of outcomes for families who received two versions of the intervention. The sample included 154 families (473 children) in a poor, urban neighborhood who met risk criteria for child neglect and who were randomly assigned to receive either a 3- or 9-month intervention. Self-report and observational data were analyzed using analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures. Results for the entire sample indicated positive changes in protective factors (parenting attitudes, parenting competence, social support); diminished risk factors (parental depressive symptoms, parenting stress, life stress); and improved child safety (physical and psychological care of children) and behavior (decreased externalizing and internalizing behavior). Results further reflected no advantage of the 9-month intervention for improving parenting adequacy.

Child Well-Being Index 2007 Report

The Foundation for Child Development
Following an upward swing that peaked in the early part of this decade, the progress being made improving American children's quality of life has come to a standstill, according to the Foundation for Child Development's 2007 Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI), an annual comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States.

This stall can be found across the majority of the CWI's seven domains, with the exception of children's health, which continues its dramatic decline, and in the area of children's safety. The safety domain continues its encouraging upward trend, buoyed by a general decline in teen pregnancy, violent crime, and drug and alcohol use among youth. Viewed over the last six years, the Index CWI as a whole has dipped and risen by only fractional amounts with the exception of an upsurge in 2002, attributed to community and family response to the 9/11 tragedies.
...

State Early Childhood Policies

NCCP

History of Early Neglect and Middle Childhood Social Competence: An Adoption Study

Adoption Quarterly
"This comparative study examined whether history of neglect in infancy was associated with middle childhood competence in (1) participation and performance in Extracurricular Activities, (2) quality of Social Relations, and (3) Academic Achievement. The sample included 115 girls aged 6-8 years who were adopted from China before their second birthday by American families. Based on evidence of preadoption neglect, the sample was divided into a neglected group (n = 31) and a comparison group (n = 84). Data on the girls' competence were collected with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/6-18). Data analysis showed that the percentage of childrenwhoseOverall Competence fell below normal range was significantly higher for the neglect group (41.9%) than for the comparison group (14.3%). The neglected group had significantly lower scores on participation and performance in Extracurricular Activities, Academic Achievement, and Overall Competence. Multiple regression results similarly concluded that history of neglect, controlling for age at adoption, age at assessment, and reported rejecting behavior toward the adoptive mothers, significantly predicted lower scores on Extracurricular Activity, Academic Achievement, and Overall Competence.

The Role of the Family Context in the Development of Emotion Regulation

Social Development
"This article reviews current literature examining associations between components of the family context and children and adolescents' emotion regulation (ER). The review is organized around a tripartite model of familial influence. Firstly, it is posited that children learn about ER through observational learning, modeling and social referencing. Secondly, parenting practices specifically related to emotion and emotion management affect ER. Thirdly, ER is affected by the emotional climate of the family via parenting style, the attachment relationship, family expressiveness and the marital relationship. The review ends with discussions regarding the ways in which child characteristics such as negative emotionality and gender affect ER, how socialization practices change as children develop into adolescents, and how parent characteristics such as mental health affect the socialization of ER.

British Policy on Antisocial Behavior Can Take Cues from Studies Near and Far

RAND Review
By Jennifer Rubin and Lila Rabinovich
Jennifer Rubin and Lila Rabinovich are analysts at RAND Europe. Rubin is a social and political scientist. Rabinovich is a social anthropologist.

Antisocial behavior is a costly and growing concern in the United Kingdom, with Britain’s Home Office logging around 66,000 reports of antisocial behavior each day. Vandalism alone is estimated to cost victims and the criminal justice system around £1.3 billion ($2.5 billion) annually. Other commonly reported forms of antisocial behavior include intimidation, drunkenness, begging, drug dealing, prostitution, rowdiness, graffiti, littering, and dumping rubbish in public places.

The British government has responded by introducing new laws and policy initiatives. They range from Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (court orders that forbid offenders from continuing the behavior, spending time with particular people, or visiting certain areas, with each breach punishable by a fine or jail time) to cognitive behavioral programs and parent training programs. Research shows that punitive interventions, such as detention and imprisonment, tend to produce nil or even negative effects in reducing recidivism among young offenders. However, several studies from around the world have found that certain alternative interventions can significantly reduce the rate of recidivism.

Despite growing interest in nonpunitive measures, there is a paucity of data on their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in Europe. For this reason, the United Kingdom’s National Audit Office commissioned RAND Europe to conduct an international review of the literature as part of a wider evaluation of policies designed to counteract antisocial behavior.

Based on the data available, the best value in reducing antisocial behavior appears to come from parent training and early childhood interventions, including prenatal support. Also showing positive results are many developmental or rehabilitative programs, such as cognitive behavioral programs, interpersonal skills training and counseling, and family-based interventions. Restorative justice programs, which bring offenders into direct contact with the consequences of their actions, merit further evaluation. Even keeping neighborhoods clean and free of litter or improving street lighting can reduce the incidence of crime and antisocial behavior.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.
AP IMAGES/CATHAL MCNAUGHTON
Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled plans in November 2006 for nearly 80 “supernannies” to help parents tame unruly children. In addition, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have become the British government’s main weapon against loutish behavior, such as petty crime, vandalism, and hooliganism. The orders have been used to ban thousands of people, some as young as ten, from shouting, swearing, spray painting, playing loud music, associating with certain individuals, and walking down certain streets.
...

Why do women have abortions?

Family Planning Perspect
"Most respondents to a survey of abortion patients in 1987 said that more than one factor had contributed to their decision to have an abortion; the mean number of reasons was nearly four. Three-quarters said that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities, about two-thirds said they could not afford to have a child and half said they did not want to be a single parent or had relationship problems. A multivariate analysis showed young teenagers to be 32 percent more likely than women 18 or over to say they were not mature enough to raise a child and 19 percent more likely to say their parents wanted them to have an abortion. Unmarried women were 17 percent more likely than currently married women to choose abortion to prevent others from knowing they had had sex or became pregnant."

Characteristics of women undergoing repeat induced abortion -- Fisher et al.

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Results: Of the 1221 women approached, 1145 (93.8%) consented to participate. Data regarding first versus repeat abortion were available for 1127 women. A total of 68.2%, 23.1% and 8.7% of the women were seeking a first, second, or third or subsequent abortion respectively. Adjusted odds ratios for undergoing repeat versus a first abortion increased significantly with increased age (second abortion: 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.09; third or subsequent abortion: 1.11, 95% CI 1.07–1.15), oral contraceptive use at the time of conception (second abortion: 2.17, 95% CI 1.52–3.09; third or subsequent abortion: 2.60, 95% CI 1.51–4.46), history of physical abuse by a male partner (second abortion: 2.04, 95% CI 1.39–3.01; third or subsequent abortion: 2.78, 95% CI 1.62–4.79), history of sexual abuse or violence (second abortion: 1.58, 95% CI 1.11–2.25; third or subsequent abortion: 2.53, 95% CI 1.50–4.28), history of sexually transmitted disease (second abortion: 1.50, 95% CI 0.98–2.29; third or subsequent abortion: 2.26, 95% CI 1.28–4.02) and being born outside Canada (second abortion: 1.83, 95% CI 1.19–2.79; third or subsequent abortion: 1.75, 95% CI 0.90–3.41).

Interpretation: Among other factors, a history of physical or sexual abuse was associated with repeat induced abortion. Presentation for repeat abortion may be an important indication to screen for a current or past history of relationship violence and sexual abuse.

J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care

The prevalence rates of domestic abuse in women attending a family planning clinic
CONTEXT: Domestic abuse has a detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of a woman. The abusive partner may use physical and sexual violence and 'control' the choice of contraception. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence rates of domestic abuse. DESIGN: Data collection using anonymous questionnaire. SETTING: A family planning clinic. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and ninety-two women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence rate of past and present history of domestic abuse and the nature of the abuse. RESULTS: One in three women experienced domestic abuse at some time in their life. A significant relationship existed between the age of the woman and experiencing abuse within the last year. Women in full-time employment experienced the highest rates of abuse. DISCUSSION: The anonymity of the research and the method of implementation encouraged an excellent response rate. CONCLUSION: During a woman's childbearing years, one-third of women may experience domestic abuse from their partner.

Pregnancy counselling clinic: a questionnaire survey of intimate partner abuse.

J Family Planning Reproductive Health Care
CONTEXT: Intimate partner abuse has a significant and detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of a woman. Physical abuse is often associated with sexual abuse. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and nature of physical and sexual partner abuse experienced by women who request a termination of pregnancy (TOP). DESIGN: Quantitative data collection using an anonymous, self-completed questionnaire. SETTING: A pregnancy counselling clinic located within a large district general hospital in the north west of England. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 312 women attending the clinic. RESULTS: Three hundred and twelve questionnaires were returned (96.7% response rate). The prevalence rate of intimate partner abuse at some stage in the woman's life was 35.1%; 19.5% had experienced actual physical abuse in the past year; and 3.7% had experienced forced sexual intercourse in the past year. Of the latter, in over half of the cases, this may have resulted in the current pregnancy. A total of 6.6% of women in this study are currently living in fear. DISCUSSION: The anonymity of the survey and the method of implementation encouraged an excellent response rate. The prevalence of physical abuse was higher than that reported in previous studies, however the prevalence of sexual abuse was lower. Up to 2% of requests for TOP could have been due to recent forced sexual intercourse. CONCLUSIONS: Many women requesting a TOP have been, or still are, in violent relationships. Some women may attend with an unwanted conception following sexual assault by their current or previous intimate partner.

The prevalence of domestic violence among women seeking abortion -- Glander et al.

Obstetrics & Gynecology
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of self-reported abuse in a population of women aged 18 years or older seeking elective pregnancy termination, and to compare abused and nonabused women with respect to the primary reasons for pregnancy termination. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was returned by 486 women seeking outpatient abortion. The survey included demographic information, abuse screening, and items regarding partner involvement/awareness of the pregnancy, and abuse as a determinant of the abortion decision. One open-ended item asking the primary reason for pregnancy termination was included. RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported abuse in this population was 39.5%. White women were significantly more likely to report any history of abuse than nonwhite women. Relationship issues were the only reason for pregnancy termination given more often by women with an abuse history than by nonabused women. Women with abuse histories were significantly less likely than nonabused women to inform the partner of the pregnancy or to have partner support for or involvement in the abortion decision. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of abuse reported by women in this population suggests that many women seeking abortion services may have abuse histories. Abused women may have different reasons for pregnancy termination than nonabused women and may be more likely to make the abortion decision without partner involvement. When routine screening for abuse is included in abortion counseling, health providers have the opportunity for developing a safety plan and initiating appropriate referral.

Characteristics of women undergoing repeat induced abortion -- Fisher et al.

Canadian Medical Association Journal
Methods: We surveyed a consecutive series of women presenting for initial or repeat pregnancy termination to a regional provider of abortion services for a wide geographic area in southwestern Ontario between August 1998 and May 1999. Self-reported demographic characteristics, attitudes and practices regarding contraception, history of relationship violence, history of sexual abuse or coercion, and related variables were assessed as potential correlates of repeat induced abortion. We used {chi}2 tests for linear trend to examine characteristics of women undergoing a first, second, or third or subsequent abortion. We analyzed significant correlates of repeat abortion using stepwise multivariate multinomial logistic regression to identify factors uniquely associated with repeat abortion.

Results: Of the 1221 women approached, 1145 (93.8%) consented to participate. Data regarding first versus repeat abortion were available for 1127 women. A total of 68.2%, 23.1% and 8.7% of the women were seeking a first, second, or third or subsequent abortion respectively. Adjusted odds ratios for undergoing repeat versus a first abortion increased significantly with increased age (second abortion: 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.09; third or subsequent abortion: 1.11, 95% CI 1.07–1.15), oral contraceptive use at the time of conception (second abortion: 2.17, 95% CI 1.52–3.09; third or subsequent abortion: 2.60, 95% CI 1.51–4.46), history of physical abuse by a male partner (second abortion: 2.04, 95% CI 1.39–3.01; third or subsequent abortion: 2.78, 95% CI 1.62–4.79), history of sexual abuse or violence (second abortion: 1.58, 95% CI 1.11–2.25; third or subsequent abortion: 2.53, 95% CI 1.50–4.28), history of sexually transmitted disease (second abortion: 1.50, 95% CI 0.98–2.29; third or subsequent abortion: 2.26, 95% CI 1.28–4.02) and being born outside Canada (second abortion: 1.83, 95% CI 1.19–2.79; third or subsequent abortion: 1.75, 95% CI 0.90–3.41).

Abortion linked with partner violence

ScienceAlert - Australia & NZ
"Partner violence is the strongest predictive factor of whether young women with unwanted pregnancies will choose to terminate, a study by La Trobe University has found.

The study of 9,683 young Australian women aged 22 to 27 found that those reporting either teenage abortions or abortions later in their 20s, were more than three times as likely to have been abused by a partner as those who didn't terminate.

The study also found that young Australian women who terminated pregnancies were more likely to be disadvantaged - from low-income families, less-educated and not privately insured.

The secondary analysis of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health, by Angela Taft and Lyndsey Watson, of Mother and Child Health Research, La Trobe University, was published today in the
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. It seeks to fill a national gap in abortion statistics, by describing the characteristics of young Australian women who terminate pregnancies.
...

Understanding Interventions and Outcomes in Mothers of Infants - Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing

Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing
The first two years after an infant's birth is a time of transition for mothers as changes in roles, responsibilities, expectations, and behaviors occur in response to the demands of caring for newborn infants and young children. Mothers play pivotal roles in overall child development and health and may benefit from nursing intervention that assists in the transition to motherhood. A review of the intervention literature related to the promotion of effective mothering was performed in order to examine the range of interventions and evidence of their usefulness for maternal-child and pediatric nursing practice. Five broad categories of interventions appropriate for nursing practice were identified through the literature review. Home visiting, skin-to-skin contact, individual, infant-focused education/counseling, and theory-based group intervention have a specific applicability for the promotion of mothering in particular populations of mothers. Based on the evidence, nurses can incorporate selected strategies into nursing care to promote effective mothering during the first years of a child's life.

Socioeconomic Status And Child Development

Annual Review of Psychology
Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. Several ways of measuring SES have been proposed, but most include some quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. Research shows that SES is associated with a wide array of health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes in children, with effects beginning prior to birth and continuing into adulthood. A variety of mechanisms linking SES to child well-being have been proposed, with most involving differences in access to material and social resources or reactions to stress-inducing conditions by both the children themselves and their parents. For children, SES impacts well-being at multiple levels, including both family and neighborhood. Its effects are moderated by children's own characteristics, family characteristics, and external support systems.

Pathways from family economic conditions to adolescents' distress: Supportive parenting, stressors outside the family, and deviant peers

Journal of Community Psychology
Economic hardship is a stressor that affects large numbers of children and their families. This study estimated a model that included pathways linking economic conditions to the internalizing and externalizing symptoms of a multiethnic sample of urban adolescents. Similar to other prominent models, this model included parental distress and parenting as key constructs, but the expanded ecological model also included stressors outside the family and adolescents' associations with deviant peers as possible explanatory factors. Data from 300 adolescents and their parents were consistent with a model that showed linkages between economic conditions, parental depressive symptoms, supportive parenting, and internalizing symptoms. Stressors outside the family were associated with deviant peer affiliations which, in turn, predicted internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The implications of these findings for understanding economic conditions' influence on adolescents' mental health are discussed.

The Family Context of Preadolescents' Orientations Toward Education: Effects of Maternal Orientations and Behavior

Journal of Educational Psychology
This study examines different pathways of maternal influence on the value that preadolescents attribute to mathematics and German language as domains of education. On the basis of data from 355 students and their mothers, the author tested effects of mothers' education, general parenting practices, leisure pursuits, joint activities with their children, school involvement, and their own evaluation of mathematics and German language. Results of structural equation modeling point to students' perceptions of maternal values as a central factor affecting students' values. Perceived maternal values vary depending on mothers' behavior rather than on values actually reported by mothers.

Family processes as pathways from income to young children's development

Developmental Psychology
A variety of family processes have been hypothesized to mediate associations between income and young children's development. Maternal emotional distress, parental authoritative and authoritarian behavior (videotaped mother-child interactions), and provision of cognitively stimulating activities (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [HOME] scales) were examined as possible mediators in a sample of 493 White and African American low-birth-weight premature infants who were followed from birth through age 5. Cognitive ability was assessed by standardized test, and child behavior problems by maternal report, when the children were 3 and 5 years of age. As expected, family income was associated with child outcomes. The provision of stimulating experiences in the home mediated the relation between family income and both children's outcomes; maternal emotional distress and parenting practices mediated the relation between income and children's behavior problems.

Depressive Symptoms as a Longitudinal Predictor of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among US Middle and High School Students

Pediatrics
"RESULTS.
In adjusted models, boys and girls with high depressive symptom levels at baseline were significantly more likely than those with low symptom levels to report ≥1 of the examined sexual risk behaviors over the course of the 1-year follow-up period. For boys, high depressive symptom levels were specifically predictive of condom nonuse at last sex, birth control nonuse at last sex, and substance use at last sex; these results were similar to those of parallel analyses with a continuous depression measure. For girls, moderate depressive symptoms were associated with substance use at last sex, and no significant associations were found between high depressive symptom levels and individual sexual risk behaviors. Parallel analyses with the continuous depression measure found significant associations for condom nonuse at last sex, birth control nonuse at last sex, ≥3 sexual partners, and any sexual risk behavior.

CONCLUSION. In this study, depressive symptoms predicted sexual risk behavior in a national sample of male and female middle and high school students over a 1-year period."

Child Maltreatment in the United States: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Adolescent Health Consequences

Pediatrics
"RESULTS. Having been left home alone as a child, indicating possible supervision neglect, was most prevalent (reported by 41.5% of respondents), followed by physical assault (28.4%), physical neglect (11.8%), and contact sexual abuse (4.5%). Each sociodemographic characteristic was associated with ≥1 type of maltreatment, and race/ethnicity was associated with all 4. Each type of maltreatment was associated with no fewer than 8 of the 10 adolescent health risks examined.

CONCLUSIONS. Self-reported childhood maltreatment was common. The likelihood of maltreatment varied across many sociodemographic characteristics. Each type of maltreatment was associated with multiple adolescent health risks."

Family Characteristics Have More Influence On Child Development Than Does Experience In Child Care

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
"Family Characteristics Have More Influence On Child Development Than Does Experience In Child Care

A compendium of findings from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health reveals that a child’s family life has more influence on a child’s development through age four and a half than does a child’s experience in child care.

“This study shows only a slight link between child care and child development,” said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the NIH component which funded the study. “Child care clearly matters to children’s development, but family characteristics — and children’s experiences within their families — appear to matter more.”"
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UN bid to condemn sex-selection abortion

Catholic World News
"Despite a groundswell of support at the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) this week, a US-sponsored resolution calling on states to eliminate prenatal sex selection and female infanticide has been withdrawn due to pressure from China, India, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico and others, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reports.

China lobbied against the resolution at the highest levels of UN delegations, reports Samantha Singson in C-Fam's Friday Fax. The Indian delegation likewise lobbied forcefully against it. It is likely that India and China objected because, even though the resolution focused on the global nature of the problem, they believed it would draw attention to the fact that theirs are the worst cases of female infanticide and sex-selection abortion. Demographers estimate that about 100 million girls are already “missing.”

Other delegations also worked to derail the resolution by maneuver, thus avoiding discussion about the rising trend of killing baby girls and the substance of the resolution. Canada worked against the resolution by loading up the draft document with language that the US could not support. Costa Rica did the same, although it is unclear why the pro-life country worked so hard to oppose the initiative, or why Mexico chose to oppose it.
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A Review of the Relationship Among Parenting Practices, Parenting Styles, and Adolescent School Achievement

Educational Psychology Review
This article reviews the literature on the relationship among parenting practices, parenting styles, and adolescent school achievement. The review of the empirical research indicates that parental involvement and monitoring are robust predictors of adolescent achievement. Several studies, however, indicate that parental involvement declines in adolescence, prompting the call for future research on the reasons for and associated consequences of this decline. Furthermore, the review indicates that authoritative parenting styles are often associated with higher levels of student achievement, although these findings are not consistent across culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Darling and Steinbergrsquos contextual model of parenting provides a promising model to help resolve these discrepancies, however, further research is needed to examine the major linkages of the model. It is also argued that the contextual model should expand its notion of context towards the larger cultural and economic context in which families reside. ...

Neighborhood and Family Influences on Educational Attainment: Results from the Ontario Child Health Study Follow-Up 2001

Child Development
This study uses multilevel models to examine longitudinal associations between contextual influences (neighborhood and family) assessed in 1983 in a cohort of 2,355 children, 4–16 years of age, and educational attainment in 2001. Variation in educational attainment in 2001 attributable to between-neighborhood and between-family differences was 8.17% and 36.88%, respectively. The final model explained 33.64% of the variance in educational attainment, with unique variances of 14.53% for neighborhood and family-level variables combined versus 10.94% for child-level variables. Among the neighborhood and family-level variables, indicators of status (5.29%) versus parental capacity/family process (4.03%) made comparable predictions to attainment while children from economically disadvantaged families did not benefit educationally from living in more affluent areas.

Placing Emotional Self-Regulation in Sociocultural and Socioeconomic Contexts

Child Development
C. CybeleRaver
In their review, Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue) relied on a valuable set of empirical examples of emotion regulation in infancy, toddlerhood, and the preschool period to make their case. These examples can be extended to include an emergent body of published research examining normative emotional regulatory processes among low-income and ethnic minority children using similar experimental methods. The following article considers emotion regulation across differing income, risk, and sociocultural contexts. Review of this literature points to ways these broader contexts are likely to influence children's development of emotional self-regulation. This review also points to innovative analytic approaches that might be useful in inferring causal mechanisms in emotion regulation research.

Income Is Not Enough: Incorporating Material Hardship Into Models of Income Associations With Parenting and Child Development

Child Development
Although research has clearly established that low family income has negative impacts on children's cognitive skills and social–emotional competence, less often is a family's experience of material hardship considered. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (N=21,255), this study examined dual components of family income and material hardship along with parent mediators of stress, positive parenting, and investment as predictors of 6-year-old children's cognitive skills and social–emotional competence. Support was found for a model that identified unique parent-mediated paths from income to cognitive skills and from income and material hardship to social–emotional competence. The findings have implications for future study of family income and child development and for identification of promising targets for policy intervention.

Economic Pressure and Children's Psychological Functioning

Journal of Child and Family Studies
We examined the mediating role of family dynamics (marital quality, parental depression) in the link between economic pressure and child psychological functioning using the data from the National Survey of Family and Households (NSFH). From the initial multiethnic probability sample, we used a subsample of 2998 parents with a focal child 5 to 17 years of age. We used structural equation modeling using AMOS 4.0 to test the model. The results indicated support for associations among economic pressure, marital quality, parental depression, parenting strategies and children outcomes. Economic pressure was associated with lower marital quality and higher depression. Higher conflict and psychological distress was associated with frequent use of harsh discipline techniques and lower psychological functioning in children.

New Directions in Analyses of Parenting Contributions to Children's Acquisition of Values

Child Development
Grusec, Goodnow & Kuczynski

Traditional theories of how children acquire values or standards of behavior have emphasized the importance of specific parenting techniques or styles and have acknowledged the importance of a responsive parent–child relationship, but they have failed to differentiate among forms of responsiveness, have stressed internalization of values as the desired outcome, and have limited their scope to a small set of parenting strategies or methods. This paper outlines new directions for research. It acknowledges the central importance of parents and argues for research that (1) demonstrates that parental understanding of a particular child's characteristics and situation rather than use of specific strategies or styles is the mark of effective parenting; (2) traces the differential impact of varieties of parent responsiveness; (3) assesses the conditions surrounding the fact that parents have goals other than internalization when socializing their children, and evaluates the impact of that fact; and (4) considers a wider range of parenting strategies.

Abortion Policies: A Global Review - Gabon to Norway

UN Publications
"Although abortion is commonly practiced throughout most of the world and has been practiced since long before the beginning of recorded history, it is a subject that arouses passion and controversy. This study aims at providing objective information about the nature of laws and policies in all countries from Afghanistan to France, relating to abortion at the end of the twentieth century. It consists of an analysis of abortion laws and policies, which includes information on the social and political settings of these developments, the ways in which these laws and policies have been formulated, and how they have evolved over time. Although information on the incidence of abortion and the setting within which abortion takes place are not the focus of the study, the data is provided to enrich the policy picture."

The contribution of adult personality and recalled parent-child relations to friendships in middle and old age

International Journal of Behavioral Development
Vera Heyl
Marina Schmitt
In this study we examined personality traits, in particular openness to experience and agreeableness, and–in an exploratory step – recalled parent–child relations as antecedents of friendship involvement in adulthood. Data from 392 middle-aged (43–46 years) and 345 older participants (61–64 years) in the first wave of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE) support the hypothesis that openness contributes to friendship involvement in middle age, while agreeableness contributes to friendship involvement in old age. Further, structural equation models showed that the relation between recalled mother–child relationship and friendship involvement in older adults was mediated by agreeableness. Recalled father–child relationship was directly associated with friendships in both age groups, independent of personality traits."

Vulnerable Adolescent Girls: Opposite-sex Relationships

J Child Psychol & Psychiat
This interview-based study compares the opposite-sex relationships of 50 girls, aged 15–16, identified as being at risk for difficulties in early adult partnerships, with 50 girls of the same age from an inner-city school. The high-risk girls had begun solo-dating earlier than the school girls, were more likely to have had a sexual relationship, to have had more sexual partners, to have been pregnant, and to have had a child. A third of the girls in both groups were solo-dating at the time of the interview. In contrast to the school girls, the high-risk girls attached a prominence and permanence to their current dating relationships, which already bore the hallmarks of later unsupportive partnerships."

Family and School Influences on Behavioural Development

J Child Psychol & Psychiat
Michael Rutter
Abstract—Research findings are reviewed with respect to possible family and school influences on behavioural development, but with special reference to socially disapproved conduct. The hypothesis that statistical associations between environmental variables and children's disorders represent causal connections is considered in terms of the three main alternatives—hereditary influences, the effect of children on their parents, and the operation of some third variable. It is concluded that each has some validity but that nevertheless there are true environmental effects. The mechanisms underlying their operation are discussed with respect to parental criminality, family discord, weak family relationships, ineffective discipline, and peer group influences. Individual differences in response to adversity are discussed in terms of age, sex, temperament, genetic factors, coping processes, patterning of stressors, compensatory good experiences and catalytic factors. The various ways in which environmental effects may persist over time are considered in terms of linkages within the environment as well as within the child. It is concluded that long-term effects are far from independent from intervening circumstances."

Opinion: Common ground on abortion

The Seattle Times: Opinion
E.J. Dionne
"If both parties combine wisdom with shrewdness, the election of a new congressional majority should open the way for a better approach to the abortion question.

The bitter political brawling of the past three decades has created an unproductive stalemate that leaves abortion opponents frustrated, abortion-rights supporters in a constant state of worry, and the many Americans who hold middle-ground positions on abortion feeling there is no one who speaks for them.

But the politics of abortion began to change even before this month's elections. In September, a group of 23 pro-choice and pro-life Democratic House members introduced what they called the 'Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.'

OK, it's not the catchiest title, but you get the point. The bill — its sponsor is Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, an abortion opponent, with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., an abortion-rights supporter, as a leading co-sponsor — took a lot of negotiation. Supporters of abortion rights tend to favor programs that encourage effective contraception, which some in the right-to-life movement oppose. Opponents of abortion emphasize helping women who want to carry their children to term.

The Ryan bill, one of several congressional initiatives to reduce the abortion rate, does both. It includes a remarkably broad set of programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, promoting contraception and encouraging parental responsibility. But it also includes strong measures to offer new mothers full access to health coverage, child care and nutrition assistance.

The public debate usually ignores the fact that abortion rates are closely tied to income. As the Guttmacher Institute has reported, "the abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ... is more than four times that of women above 300 percent of the poverty level." The numbers are stark: 44 abortions per 1,000 women in the lower-income group, 10 abortions per 1,000 women in the higher-income group.

In other words: If you truly care about reducing the number of abortions, you have to care about the well-being of poor women.

There are moral and practical reasons for members of both parties, and combatants on both sides of the abortion question, to embrace this approach.

Liberal supporters of abortion rights should be eager to promote a measure that does not make abortion illegal, but does embrace goals, including help for the poor, that liberals have long advocated.

In the meantime, the victories opponents of abortion rights have won in fact do little to reduce the number of abortions. As Rachel Laser, director of the Third Way Culture Project, points out, even those who would ban late-term or partial-birth abortions need to acknowledge that very few are performed, meaning that these laws do little to reduce the overall abortion rate. According to one study cited by Laser, only 0.08 percent of abortions are performed in the third trimester.
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Class and family [Family Contribution to Class Reproduction]

Sociological Review
Rosemary Crompton
This paper seeks to make a contribution to debates on 'class analysis', as well as exploring the role of the family in class reproduction. A broad distinction is drawn between primarily 'economic' and primarily 'culturalist' accounts of class reproduction. It is argued that despite their differences, these accounts also share many similarities. In particular, both approaches identify the role of the family as central to the reproduction of class. However, economic and cultural accounts cannot be integrated into a single 'theory', one reason being that the mechanisms whereby economic and cultural capital are transmitted are different. Nevertheless, economic and cultural approaches may be (and should be) used in combination with each other in order to develop a full account of the reproduction of class inequalities. In developing these arguments, a critique is offered of current theories of 'individualisation' in relation to class and the family. The argument is illustrated by two 'worked examples'; teenage motherhood, and the patterning of mothers' employment."

Preschool Pays Off

RAND | News &
Early childhood education produces better students, more productive adults

Sixty-two percent of children under the age of 6 in Pennsylvania need care while their parents or guardians work. Meeting this need presents an opportunity to enrich the lives of children and set them on a path toward productive adulthood. Research shows that investments in quality child care pay off.

In the near term, quality preschool can boost children's ability to learn and succeed in school. In the longer term, the benefits can translate into substantial savings for government, taxpayers and businesses.

Studies have shown what effective early childhood programs look like. They resemble schools more than day care. They have well-trained and educated providers, small group sizes and a developmentally appropriate curriculum.

Pennsylvania has begun to recognize the need for such early childhood care programs. State efforts like the $6 million investment in Keystone Stars are designed to improve child care quality. Pennsylvania legislators also are poised to pass standards for preschool programs that would require all teachers to have a bachelor's degree and a certificate in early childhood education.

These requirements have a solid basis in research. Studies have found that students with quality preschool experience are more likely to enter school prepared to learn and to possess basic skills. These students consistently outperform their peers who lack similar preparation. This divergence is especially sharp for students in the lowest income groups.

There are further benefits. Students who enter kindergarten from quality preschool programs are less likely to repeat grades, less likely to require remedial or special education and less likely to pose disciplinary problems. And the benefits persist. The same students are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to pursue advanced education.
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Finding common ground on abortion

Community Press
by Rick Smith
"The Guttmacher Institute' s data indicates at least 25 percent of all abortions are due to male irresponsibility. Currently the woman bears nearly all the burden of an unintended pregnancy. The man' s responsibility doesn't begin until the baby is born. There need to be more immediate consequences for the man, no matter what the woman's choice. My plan would make the man immediately responsible for a woman's health care, through the birth or an abortion, if she did not intend to become pregnant. Further, the man would be charged with a minor misdemeanor, equivalent to a minor traffic violation, for 'causing an unintended pregnancy.' If he is adult, this offense would become public record (the woman's name would remain confidential)."

A little less confrontation, a little more action

U.S. Catholic Magazine
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Beyond politics
A handful of Democrats are trying to do just that, advancing legislation that they say could reduce the abortion rate by 95 percent in 10 years.

The bill, developed and promoted by Democrats for Life (DFL) as the “95-10 Initiative,” has the support of prolife Democrats in Congress, and DFL leaders soon hope to have the support of more members from both sides of the aisle and of the abortion debate.

The initiative was born in the wake of the 2004 election, when everyone was talking about moral values.

“The election sent a really big message,” says Kristen Day, DFL executive director. “A majority of people think the abortion rate should be declining. But no one is doing anything to make abortion rare. They’ve only been working to keep it legal. So we looked at the reasons women have abortions.”

Their initiative, introduced last November, includes prohibiting the transport of a minor across a state line to obtain an abortion; fully funding the federal government’s Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children program; requiring insurance to cover contraception; providing grants to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations for ultrasound equipment to provide free examinations to pregnant women; making adoption tax credits permanent; and initiating a five-year study by the National Institutes of Health on why women choose abortions.

Day acknowledges that reducing the number of abortions by 95 percent is ambitious, but she notes that in Michigan, where one point of the 95-10 initiative was put in place—a public awareness campaign informing women of abortion alternatives—abortion rates have already dropped. Though many factors affect abortion rates, including the economy, Day and other prolifers credit the public awareness campaign and use the Michigan statistic to justify a nationwide public awareness campaign.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, a group dedicated to spreading the prolife message among Catholic priests and parishes, gave some parts of the Democrats’ plan cautious approval.

“There are many proposals in this package, like women’s right-to-know provisions, funding for promotion of alternatives to abortion, strengthening of adoption practices, and more,” he wrote in a column last May. “These are key goals for all of us to pursue. The precise way in which these and other proposals in 95-10 should be written into law will, of course, need to be carefully debated and refined.

“And in the end, we cannot be content to reduce the numbers of abortions,” he wrote. “We have to acknowledge that laws permitting even a single abortion undermine the very fabric of our freedom and our republic.”
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Exposure to Degrading Versus Nondegrading Music Lyrics and Sexual Behavior Among Youth

RAND
The more time adolescents spend listening to music with sexually degrading lyrics, the more likely they are to initiate intercourse and other sexual activities. This holds true for boys and girls as well as for whites and nonwhites. Only sexually degrading lyrics are related to changes in adolescents' sexual behavior.
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China vow on sex-based abortion

BBC NEWS
"China will punish health workers who help to abort female foetuses, despite a recent decision not to criminalise the practice, an official said.

China's legislature scrapped a bill in June that would have introduced fines and prison terms for aborting girls.

But an official said that did not mean there was any relaxation in the policy against selective abortion.

The practice stems from a preference for sons, especially in rural areas, and China's one-child policy.

As a result, official figures suggest there are 119 boys born for every 100 girls in China, Xinhua news agency said, a figure much higher than the global ratio of 103 to 107 boys for 100 girls."
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"Planned Parenthood partnership [in adoption] a good match"

IndyStar.com
"That's why the decision by an abortion clinic to partner with an adoption agency in Indianapolis is potentially a good move.
Independent Adoption Centers will have a presence at a Planned Parenthood of Indiana clinic two or three times a week, starting in July.
The idea, said Planned Parenthood President and CEO Betty Cockrum, is 'to explore with every patient the full continuum of choices, (including) adoption services.'
All those services are included in the agency's referral manual for clients. Indiana, she adds, has 37 Planned Parenthood locations with 106,000 patients. 'Only 4.5 percent get abortions,' she said.
The local partnership is not part of a national Planned Parenthood agenda, but it apparently plays well in the Heartland. In fact, it was a Planned Parenthood in Muncie that initially promoted adoption at its offices 'decades ago,' said David Nova, CEO of the Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge in Virginia."
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Poverty and the Daily Lives of Infants - Consistent disadvantage

Journal of Children and Poverty
"It has been amply demonstrated that poor children suffer disadvantages as compared to their more advantaged peers. This paper examines important aspects of infants’ daily experiences in a southeastern city in the United States in order to illustrate differences between poor and non-poor infants. “Poor” infants were compared to their “non-poor” counterparts on the quality of parenting they received; quality of their home environments; relative health and safety; stability, structure, and predictability of their daily lives; and exposure to diverse experiences in the community. Findings reveal that poor infants are at a consistent disadvantage across all domains when compared to their more affluent counterparts. These daily deficiencies might be conceptualized as the mechanisms through which poverty exerts its negative effects. This paper shifts the focus from macro-level variables such as larger economic and social factors to the cumulative effect of deficiencies at the micro-level. Intervening to ameliorate the micro-level deficits that are most modifiable may lessen the cumulative risk and provide some small avenues toward resilience for the most disadvantaged and at-risk infants."

The Labor Market Consequences of Childhood Maladjustment

Social Science Q
The Labor Market Consequences of Childhood Maladjustment
Paul Fronstin, David H. Greenberg, and Philip K. Robins
Objective. This article uses data from the National Child Development Survey on a cohort of individuals born in Great Britain during the first week of March 1958 to investigate whether educational attainment and labor force behavior 33 years later are affected by childhood behavioral problems that are exhibited at both age 7 and age 16.

Method. Regression methods are used to test hypotheses concerning these effects.

Results. Our results indicate that maladjusted children suffer economically when they reach adulthood. Maladjusted children perform worse on aptitude tests and have lower educational attainment. Maladjusted children also are less likely to be employed at age 33 and to have lower wages when employed. Part of the reduced employment and wages is the result of lower education, but part is also due to other factors.

Conclusion. Future research should investigate whether adult labor market outcomes vary with the type of behavioral problems exhibited at younger ages.

Proven Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions

RAND
"There is increasing recognition that the first few years of a child’s life are a particularly sensitive period in the process of development, laying a foundation in childhood and beyond for cognitive functioning; behavioral, social, and self-regulatory capacities; and physical health. Yet many children face various stressors during these years that can impair their healthy development. Early childhood intervention programs are designed to mitigate the factors that place children at risk of poor outcomes. Such programs provide supports for the parents, the children, or the family as a whole. These supports may be in the form of learning activities or other structured experiences that affect a child directly or that have indirect effects through training parents or otherwise enhancing the caregiving environment"
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New software to keep an eye on foeticide [India]

The Times of India
"Conducting sex selection abortions in India will soon become a lot more difficult. The Union health ministry has developed a special data entry and report-generating software, which when installed in the computers of all the 28,565 registered ultrasound clinics in the country, will make it mandatory for them to fill up their Form F online. ...

Most Bad Habits Begin Early

JoinTogether.org
From alcohol abuse to smoking, overeating to lack of exercise, most behaviors that lead to preventable deaths are well-established by adolescence or early adulthood, according to research from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

"Smoking, obesity, and alcohol abuse are leading contributors to preventable death in the United States," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NICHD. "By early adulthood, a large proportion of Americans smoke, are overweight, and drink alcohol to excess."

Researcher Kathleen Mullan Harris, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Carolina Population Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and found that diet, activity level, obesity, healthcare access, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, and the likelihood of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease all got worse as subjects reached adulthood.

For example, just 5 percent of young white women reported getting no weekly exercise as adolescents. But that rate skyrocketed to 46 percent in early adulthood. White people, in general, were more likely to be healthy as adolescents but experience the biggest decline in healthy behaviors as adults, including high rates of smoking and binge drinking.

Black and Asian female adults were the least likely to exercise, as were white and black male adults.

"When they were young teenagers, most of the participants had fairly healthy behaviors," said Christine Bachrach, Ph.D., chief of NICHD's Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch. "What's really alarming is how rapidly healthy practices declined by the time the participants reached young adulthood."

"These trends are quite stunning," Harris added. "Whether or not the trends will continue as they age, we don't know. But it doesn't bode well for their future health, especially if these habits become established."

The research appears in the January 2006 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Harris, K. M., Gordon-Larsen, P., Chantala, K., Udry, J. R. (2006) Longitudinal Trends in Race/Ethnic Disparities in Leading Health Indicators From Adolescence to Young Adulthood. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 160: 74-81.

RAND Study Says Early Childhood Intervention Programs Save Money and Benefit Children, Families and Society

RAND | News Release :
A RAND Corporation study issued today says well-designed programs for disadvantaged children age 4 and younger can produce economic benefits ranging from $1.26 to $17 for each $1 spent on the programs.

The report by RAND Labor and Population says effective early childhood programs return more to society in benefits than they cost, by enabling youngsters to lead more successful lives and be less dependent on future government assistance. Researchers say this is because such programs help children improve their thinking skills, do better in school and develop socially.

The large differences in the dollar returns for different programs reflect variations in the populations of children served by the programs and the range of benefits that researchers could express in dollar terms. As a result, not all programs could be easily compared to other programs on a dollar basis or expressed in dollar values.

The report says high-quality early childhood programs can keep children out of expensive special education programs; reduce the number of students who fail and must repeat a grade in school; increase high school graduation rates; reduce juvenile crime; reduce the number of youngsters who wind up on welfare as adults; increase the number of students who go to college; and help adults who participated in the programs as children get better jobs and earn higher incomes.

Some of the largest benefits came from the most expensive and comprehensive programs that provide services to children throughout their first five years of life. The researchers found, however, that even some small-scale, less expensive programs also provided benefits. In addition, more disadvantaged children tend to receive greater benefits from programs. The research team believes that its estimates of benefits are likely to be conservative.

The RAND study focused on three types of early childhood programs that are typically called intervention programs and target children who need help because of several factors – such as living in poverty or in a single-parent household. Examples of intervention programs ...
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Family-centered preventive intervention science: toward benefits to larger populations of children, youth, and families.

Entrez PubMed
The field of family-centered preventive intervention science is well poised to seize an opportunity for larger-scale intervention implementation and greater public health impact. This opportunity has been created by earlier research in the areas of epidemiology, developmental etiology, and intervention outcome research. Both earlier and current research define a number of key tasks required to meet the many challenges involved in scaling-up for greater impact. Illustrations of how these tasks can be addressed are provided in articles on programs of family-centered research with infants, children, and adolescents. Each article in this special issue treats one or more tasks that concern (a) expansion of the set of rigorously evaluated, theory-driven interventions that have potential to reach large numbers of children, youth, and families; (b) effective strategies for family recruitment and retention; (c) cultural sensitivity of interventions; (d) application of a developmental life course perspective; (e) strategies for linking higher-risk population subgroups with potentially beneficial services; (f) improved diffusion mechanisms for sustained, quality delivery; and (g) policy making informed by research, including economic analysis. A summary of how articles address these tasks concludes with a discussion of the importance of futher strengthening a public service orientation in prevention science.

Canada’s "missing daughters"

Today's Family News
"Abortion clinics in Canada are accommodating women seeking to terminate a pregnancies for no apparent reason other than gender preference.

Documents obtained by Calgary’s Western Standard magazine reportedly confirm anecdotal evidence that communities around Toronto and in B.C.’s Lower Mainland with a high proportion of immigrants from China and India have significantly more baby boys than girls. Sons are said to be favoured because they continue the family name and are presumably better able to support their parents."
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China closes 201 clinics in sex selection crackdown; offers subsidies to sonless couples

casper star tribune
A Chinese province has closed 201 clinics that helped detect and abort female fetuses and is offering stipends to elderly couples without sons in an attempt to counter China's widening gender imbalance, the government said Wednesday.

Investigators in Hebei province, next to Beijing, uncovered 848 cases over the past two years where medical staff had violated rules banning gender checks that can lead to abortions, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Of 745 hospitals and clinics involved, 374 facilities were fined, and 104 medical workers had their licenses revoked for arranging the illegal practices, Xinhua said. Criminal cases were opened against three others, it said, without saying what the charges were.
...

Religion News Service/Washington Post Examines Prevalence of Sex-Selective Abortion in India

Religion News Service/Washington Post / Kaisernetwork.org
The Religion News Service/Washington Post on Saturday examined the prevalence of sex-selective abortion in India despite laws forbidding the practice (Samson Katz, Religion News Service/Washington Post, 5/20). India in 1994 approved the Prenatal Determination Act, which bans the use of technologies such as ultrasounds and sonograms for the purpose of sex-selective abortion. The law also bans advertisements for prenatal sex determination, as well as the practice of preconception sex selection law (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/15). Despite the law, some advocates say the desire for male heirs has produced a need for ultrasound clinics that can determine the sex of a fetus and has created medical practices that profit mostly from performing sex-selective abortions. According to the Religion News Service/Post, some experts have estimated that some physicians charge between $80 and $230 for an ultrasound and an abortion and "still act with impunity" in relation to sex-selective abortion. "But attitudes are changing" in some Indian communities, including the village of Kajampur, where equal numbers of girls and boys have been born "for several years," the Religion News Service/Post reports (Religion News Service/Washington Post, 5/20).

The Religion News Service/Washington Post on Saturday examined the prevalence of sex-selective abortion in India despite laws forbidding the practice (Samson Katz, Religion News Service/Washington Post, 5/20). India in 1994 approved the Prenatal Determination Act, which bans the use of technologies such as ultrasounds and sonograms for the purpose of sex-selective abortion. The law also bans advertisements for prenatal sex determination, as well as the practice of preconception sex selection law (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/15). Despite the law, some advocates say the desire for male heirs has produced a need for ultrasound clinics that can determine the sex of a fetus and has created medical practices that profit mostly from performing sex-selective abortions. According to the Religion News Service/Post, some experts have estimated that some physicians charge between $80 and $230 for an ultrasound and an abortion and 'still act with impunity' in relation to sex-selective abortion. 'But attitudes are changing' in some Indian communities, including the village of Kajampur, where equal numbers of girls and boys have been born 'for several years,' the Religion News Service/Post reports (Religion News Service/Washington Post, 5/20)."

Early Conduct Problems and Later Life Opportunities

J Child Psychol & Psychiat
"Associations between the extent of conduct problems at age 8 years and later life opportunity outcomes at age 18 years were examined in a birth cohort of New Zealand children studied prospectively to age 18 years. Conduct problems at age 8 were assessed using a combination of parent and teacher reports of conduct disordered and oppositional behaviours. Two measures of life opportunities were assessed at age 18: (a) whether the young person had left school by age 18 without educational qualifications; (b) whether the young person had experienced a period of unemployment of 3 months or longer following school leaving.

The analysis suggested the following conclusions: (1) There were clear and significant (p< .0001) tendencies for increasing levels of conduct problems at age 8 to be associated with increasing risks of leaving school without qualifications and of unemployment by age 18. (2) A substantial component of these associations was explained by a series of confounding social, family, and individual factors (notably child intelligence, early attentional problems, and family sociodemographic disadvantage) that were associated with both early conduct problems and later life opportunities. (3) Further analysis suggested that linkages between early conduct problems and later educational underattainment and unemployment (after adjustment for confounders) were mediated by a series of adolescent behavioural processes including patterns of peer affiliations, substance use, truancy, and problems with school authority."

Internal Hospital Memo Provides Evidence of Sex-Selective Abortion in Canada

www.lifesite.net
Western Standard magazine, one of the few conservative publications in Canada, has acquired an internal document from Women's Hospital in Vancouver which shows that abortions are carried out at taxpayer expense when the reason is merely that the parents are not satisfied with the sex of the child. The cover story of the June issue of the magazine, which is arriving in mailboxes this week and is set to hit newsstands next week, reports moreover that similar to countries where sex-selective abortions are rampant, the birth ratio in certain communities in Canada with large Indian and Chinese populations is becoming increasingly skewed against girls.
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Can the Seamless Garment be Sewn? The Future of Pro-Life Progressivism

www.stthomas.edu
Pro-Life Progressivism and the Fourth Option in American Public Life
Thomas C. Berg.

Prophetic Politics: A New Option
Reverand Jim Wallis

Panel: Prospectives on Pro-Life Progressivism

The Consistent Life Ethic: A Look Around, A Look Ahead
John L. Carr

The Consistent Life Ethic
Sidney Callahan

Unraveling the "Seamless Garment"
Susan Frelich Appleton

Another Social Justice Tradition: Catholic Conservatives
Kevin E. Schmiesing

The Consistent Ethic of Life: A Proposal for Improving its Legislative Grasp
Helen M. Alvare'

Sacred Monkeys and Seamless Garments: Catholics and Political Engagement
John P. O'Callaghan

Can the Seamless Garment be Sewn? The Future of Pro-Life Progressivism
Kevin Doyle

The Coherence and Importance of Pro-Life Progressivism
Mark A. Sargent

American Catholics and the Structure of Life Attitudes
Ted G. Jelen

Faith and Values in the Public Arena: An American Catholic in Public Life
James L. Oberstar, M.C.

In India, Gender Is a Life-and-Death Issue

Newhouse A1
``All girls' parents must pay dowries," Radhika says. "We will take loans and pay it back bit by bit. It might take up to a year's time."

Though dowries are illegal in India, the law is widely ignored and the Devis fear a third daughter will send them over the edge financially. Instead, they hope for a son to one day provide for the family. He would fetch his own dowry upon marriage, take care of his parents as they grow old (India has no social security program) and carry on the family name.

In India's male-dominated society, especially the northwest, this logic is one reason parents abort an estimated half-million female fetuses each year. The practice, called female feticide, has been responsible for at least 10 million female abortions since 1985, according to a controversial study published in January in the Lancet, the British medical journal.

``All kinds of famines, epidemics and wars are nothing compared to this," said Punit Bedi, a New Delhi gynecologist. "In some parts of India, one in every five girls is being eliminated at the fetal stage.

``It is a genocidal situation."
...

Asociación de Víctimas del Aborto [Association of Victims of Abortion]

Asociación de Víctimas del Aborto [Association of Victims of Abortion]
Translated version of http://www.vozvictimas.org/
Medical consequences of the abortion caused in women

Abortion Victims Group Established

Abortion Victims Group Established
zenit
"The Association of Victims of Abortion has been established in Spain to protect and assist anyone who have suffered directly or indirectly from the consequences of abortion.

AVA intends to 'compensate the families victims of abortion induced or caused by medical imprudence, making their voices heard in administrative proceedings and pertinent judicial endeavors,' the group said in a statement. "

Risk Determinants of Suicide Attempts Among Adolescents (Abstract)

Am J Economics & Sociology
"Abstract. In this article we present evidence about the factors that determine four gradual decisions on the part of adolescents to attempt suicide. To that end, we estimate a series of binary choice models by using data drawn from the U.S. National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys corresponding to 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1997. Our results show that the decisions to attempt suicide are motivated by both demographic and psychosocial variables, such as gender, age, ethnicity, education failure, possession of a gun, habitual participation in sporting activities, individual weight perception, and taking pills or provoking vomiting to lose weight. Moreover, we also find that a significant degree of influence is exerted by another group of factors, such as the consumption of drugs, sexual relationships, and, finally, pregnancy."

Abortion Politics in North America – Melissa Haussman

J Politics

Clinton and Reid co-author "common ground" abortion piece

SiLive.com: NewsFlash
"ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have co-authored an op-ed piece about finding 'common ground' on the abortion issue.

The Democrats from New York and Nevada, respectively, are on opposite sides of the abortion issue. Clinton, the former first lady and potential 2008 presidential candidate, favors abortion rights while Reid is anti-abortion.

'As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs,' the two Democrats wrote in the piece that ran in Tuesday's Albany Times Union newspaper. 'And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground"

Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool children:

J Child Psychol & Psychiat
We review recent research on the presentation, nosology and epidemiology of behavioral and emotional psychiatric disorders in preschool children (children ages 2 through 5 years old), focusing on the five most common groups of childhood psychiatric disorders: attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. We review the various approaches to classifying behavioral and emotional dysregulation in preschoolers and determining the boundaries between normative variation and clinically significant presentations. While highlighting the limitations of the current DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for identifying preschool psychopathology and reviewing alternative diagnostic approaches, we also present evidence supporting the reliability and validity of developmentally appropriate criteria for diagnosing psychiatric disorders in children as young as two years old. Despite the relative lack of research on preschool psychopathology compared with studies of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in older children, the current evidence now shows quite convincingly that the rates of the common child psychiatric disorders and the patterns of comorbidity among them in preschoolers are similar to those seen in later childhood. We review the implications of these conclusions for research on the etiology, nosology, and development of early onset of psychiatric disorders, and for targeted treatment, early intervention and prevention with young children.

Early Environmental Experiences and School Achievement in the Second Grade: An Israeli Study

International Journal of Behavioral Development
"This study was an attempt to replicate, in an Israeli sample, findings from American studies regarding the relationship of demographic variables, the quality of the early environment, and sociocognitive growth in children. In the first part of the study, the environment of 178 2-year-old Israeli children was assessed. Families with higher social status (SES) and fewer children were significantly more likely to provide enriching environmental experiences to their 2-year-old. In the second phase of the study, 149 of the sample were located and their school achievement assessed at the end of Grade 2. Path analysis revealed that the family's SES and number of children had both a direct and an environmentally mediated effect on children's achievement in school, and that differences in the quality of the environment at 2 years accounted for a large part of the variability in achievement both between and within social classes. As in the American studies, free exploration of developmentally challenging objects, and in particular fine-coordination toys and picture-books, was an important feature of a good rearing environment. In addition, contact with peers and extrafamilial care in the 3rd year were found also to have some unique predictive power of sociocognitive performance. The results are congruent with a model that SES and family configuration have a decisive effect on child-rearing practices and the latter, in turn, determine the course of children's cognitive and social development. The possibility was entertained that class-related differences in parental concepts of age-appropriateness contribute to the SES differences in the type of environmental experiences accorded to young children. "

The Delhi state government has launched a campaign to fight the alarming rate of female foeticide

AsiaNews
"The Delhi state government has launched a campaign to fight the alarming rate of female foeticide among its people, who prefer sons to daughters, as do many other Indian states. Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, told a function marking International Women's Day that female foeticide has 'become alarming': only 814 girls are born for every 1,000 boys in Delhi.

The 2001 census showed Delhi's sex ratio was 865 for the 0-6 year age group, against the national average of 927. If this decline continues, the number of girls born is likely to go well below 800 in Delhi by the next census, say experts. The UN Population Fund sets the normal sex ratio at birth as 950 girls for 1,000 boys."
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China Gender Imbalance Problem Growing as Sex-Selection Abortions Continue

lifenews
The gender imbalance problem in China is growing as laws meant to crack down on sex-selection abortions are minimally enforced. As a result men outnumber women in great numbers, infanticide continues, and some girls luck enough to be born are sold into marriage.

The latest Chinese census shows 120 men for every 100 women in the Asian nation, up from 117 per 100 in the 2000 census.

The gender imbalance has grown since the country introduced the population control policies after a post World War II baby boom. The program forced Chinese couples to have only one child and women getting pregnant a second time are often forced to have abortions, fined, imprisoned and they and their husbands and families face significant persecution.

Dealing with children's misbehavior

www.news-medical.net

When children's misbehavior or delinquency creates problems, it's not enough to deal with the children alone. Mental health professionals recommend behavioral parent training as well, reports the April issue of Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Behavioral parent training teaches parents to substitute systematic for arbitrary discipline. Parents learn how to set rules and define the consequences for disobeying them. They also learn how to negotiate with older children, how to follow through on warnings, and how to identify early signs of trouble and talk to children about these problems.

It is particularly important that parents also respond to good behavior with praise and encouragement, says the Harvard Mental Health Letter. Parents are taught to reward a child's behavior one action at a time. They learn to point out what the child is doing right before discussing what needs improvement.

Developmental Outcomes for Children of Young Mothers

J Marriage and Family
"Boys born to mothers who began childbearing before age 19 had elevated risks of drug use, gang membership, unemployment, and early parenthood. Girls born to young mothers only had elevated risks of early parenthood. Of the mediators tested, low maternal education had the largest mediating effects. The findings suggest that the risks associated with being born to a young mother are substantial but perhaps disproportionately so for boys."

Welcome to Mother's Choice

A Mother's Choice
"A Mother’s Choice strives to inform and raise awareness of the socio-economic issues surrounding abortion, as well as, provide understanding of the challenges faced by women as mothers."

Prematurity 'affects personality'

BBC NEWS
"Being born very premature can affect a child's personality into adulthood, a study has suggested."

What predicts traditional attitudes to marriage? (Abstract)

Children & Society
"This study, using data from 5,689 cohort members of the National Child Development Study, explores the impact of both structure of parenting family and contextual factors on attitudes towards marriage at age 33. Traditional attitudes to marriage were positively related to religiosity and negatively related to high non-verbal skills in childhood and smoking or drinking in adulthood but were unrelated to the structure or background of parental family. The results also yielded some very interesting gender differences. For example, the presence of partner at age 33 significantly predicted traditional attitudes to marriage in women but not in men. In men, by contrast, it was the presence of children at age 33, the absence of qualifications and current low socio-economic status that were associated with traditional attitudes to marriage. The implications of these findings on future family change are discussed. "

Risk Factors and Life Processes Associated with Teenage Pregnancy: Results of a Prospective Study From Birth to 20 Years

Journal of Marriage and Family
Lianne Woodward, David M. Fergusson, and L. John Horwood
Data gathered over the course of a 20-year longitudinal study of 533 New Zealand women were used to (a) describe the extent and timing of pregnancies within the cohort up to age 20, and (b) examine the extent to which the risk of an early pregnancy was related to a range of social background, family, individual, and peer relationship factors measured over the course of childhood and adolescence. Results showed that by age 20, nearly a quarter of the sample had been pregnant at least once, with the majority of first pregnancies occurring between the ages of 17 and 20 years. The profile of those at greatest risk of a teenage pregnancy (<20 years) was that of an early-maturing girl with conduct problems who had been reared in a family environment characterized by parental instability and maternal role models of young single motherhood. As young adolescents, these girls were characterized by high rates of sexual risk-taking and deviant peer involvement. Exposure to social and individual adversity during both childhood and adolescence made independent contributions to an individual's risk of an early pregnancy. These findings were most consistent with a life course developmental model of the etiology of teenage pregnancy. Implications for teenage pregnancy prevention are discussed."

Maternal Age and Educational and Psychosocial Outcomes in Early Adulthood

J Child Psychol & Psychiat
"The relationships between maternal age (at birth) and educational and psychosocial outcomes at age 18 were examined in a birth cohort of 1025 New Zealand children. This analysis indicated the presence of consistent tendencies for increasing maternal age to be associated with declining risks of educational underachievement, juvenile crime, substance misuse, and mental health problems. Children with teenage mothers had risks of later adverse outcomes that were 1.5 to 8.9 times higher than the risks for offspring of mothers aged over 30. Subsequent analyses revealed that the associations between maternal age and later educational and psychosocial outcomes were largely, but not wholly, explained by associations between maternal age and the child-rearing practices and home environments experienced by children. In general, increasing maternal age tended to be associated with more nurturant, supportive, and stable home environments. In turn, these linkages between maternal and childhood environment explained most of the association between maternal age and later outcomes. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are considered."

future of children

Articles
"As Nobel laureate James Heckman notes, evaluations of social programs targeted at children from disadvantaged families suggest that it is easier to change cognition and behavior in early childhood than in adolescence.4"

Deaths associated with abortion compared to childbirth: a review of new and old data and the medical and legal implications

The Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy 2004
Reardon DC, Strahan TW, Thorp JM, Shuping MW

Methods for identifying pregnancy-associated deaths: population-based data from Finland 1987–2000

Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol

To find maternal and pregnancy-related deaths, it is important that all pregnancy-associated deaths are identified. This article examines the effect of data linkages between national health care registers and complete death certificate data on pregnancy-associated deaths. All deaths among women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in Finland during the period 1987–2000 (n = 15 823) were identified from the Cause-of-Death Register and linked to the Medical Birth Register (n = 865 988 births), the Register on Induced Abortions (n = 156 789 induced abortions), and the Hospital Discharge Register (n = 118 490 spontaneous abortions) to determine whether women had been pregnant within 1 year before death. The death certificates of the 419 women thus identified were reviewed to find whether the pregnancy or its termination was coded or mentioned. In total, 405 deaths (96.7%) were identified in registers other than the Cause-of-Death Register. Without data linkages, 73% of all pregnancy-associated deaths would have been missed; the percentage after induced and spontaneous abortions was even higher. Data linkages to national health care registers provide better information on maternal deaths and pregnancy-associated deaths than death certificates alone. If possible, pregnancies not ending in a live birth should be included in the data linkages.

Scant Drop Seen in Abortion Rate if Parents Are Told

New York Times
For all the passions they generate, laws that require minors to notify their parents or get permission to have an abortion do not appear to have produced the sharp drop in teenage abortion rates that some advocates hoped for, an analysis by The New York Times shows.
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Abortion foes split on tactics

csmonitor.com: "WASHINGTON - South Dakota has reignited the battle over abortion - and not just the usual one between opposing camps. A long-simmering debate has also heated up within the antiabortion movement.

Here's the question: Is it smarter to try to undo the nationwide legal right to abortion with one sweeping law - a 'full-frontal attack' - or via a series of smaller laws that chip away at abortion rights and severely restrict access?

The easy passage last week by the South Dakota legislature of a bill banning nearly all abortions in the state has moved the question to center stage. The bill contains no exceptions for rape or incest; it allows abortion only when it is deemed necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. Backers of the bill across the country are urging the governor to sign it, thus sending it on a legal journey they hope will eventually reach the US Supreme Court.

But that gambit could backfire, setting back efforts to overturn the 1973 ruling, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all 50 states. Currently, the majority of sitting justices are on the record favoring Roe. And there is no guarantee that the two new justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, would look favorably upon a petition to reconsider Roe so soon after joining the court, or even in a few years.

'The only thing that asking for too much, too soon, produces is a further reaffirmation of Casey and Roe,' says legal historian David Garrow, referring to a 1992 high-court case that reinforced the core holding of Roe. 'As we heard countless times from Alito and Roberts at their [confirmation] hearings, every time a precedent is reendorsed, it is further strengthened.'
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A scorecard on curtailing unwanted pregnancy

csmonitor.com
WASHINGTON - Behind the ever-boiling battle over abortion in America sits a quieter but still central issue: access to contraception. And the news there may be surprising.

In a report released Tuesday, the New York-based Guttmacher Institute ranked all 50 states in their efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy and found a diverse collection of states at the top. California ranked first and New York ranked fifth, a result that may seem predictable, given both states' liberal orientations toward social issues. But between them in the highest rankings sit three conservative states - Alaska, South Carolina, and Alabama.

The reason, says the report's author, is that these states are acutely aware of the relationship between unintended pregnancy and dependence on welfare, and they see the economic and social benefit in helping women avoid unintended pregnancy. In turn, that helps women avoid the abortion question altogether.

"What you see in these results is that helping women avoid unintended pregnancy is not just a blue-state issue," says author Cynthia Dailard, a policy analyst at Guttmacher. The institute was at one time affiliated with Planned Parenthood, but is no longer.

"Alaska, Alabama, and South Carolina scored very high, even though we think of them as having an anti-abortion environment," says Ms. Dailard. "But they've really stepped up to the plate in terms of making family-planning services available, particularly to low-income women."

All 50 states and the District of Columbia were rated on three criteria: service availability, laws and policies, and public funding.
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South Dakota Senate OKs Bill to Outlaw Abortion

Los Angeles Times
"PIERRE, S.D. — Legislation meant to prompt a national legal battle targeting Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, was approved Wednesday by the South Dakota Senate, moving the bill a step closer to final passage.

The measure, which would ban nearly all abortions in the state, now returns to the House, which passed a different version earlier. The House must decide whether to accept changes made by the Senate, which passed its version 23-12. "
...

American Psychological Association Criticized for Pro-Abortion Position

LifeNews.com
by Steven Ertelt
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The American Psychological Association is coming under fire for continuing its long-standing position in favor of abortion despite new studies showing abortion causes a host of psychological and emotional problems for women.

The APA adopted a pro-abortion position in 1969, but it was not based on any research showing abortion to be psychologically beneficial for women.

Dr. David Reardon of the Illinois-based Elliot Institute, which examines the effects abortion has on women, says the organization should re-evaluate its position in light of a new study linking abortion to mental illness.

New Zealand researchers tracked 25 years of worth of data on women drawn from one of the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal studies in the world. Led by Prof. David M. Fergusson, who backs legal abortion, the team expected their study to refute others linking abortion to higher rates of mental health problems.

Instead, the team found abortion was clearly linked to elevated rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicidal behavior.

Reardon says the findings so surprised Fergusson's team that they began reviewing studies cited by the APA in its claims that abortion is beneficial, or at least non-harmful, to women's mental health.

They found that the APA's claims were based on a small number of studies that had severe shortcomings and that the organization is ignoring a number of newer studies showing abortion adversely affects women.

The criticism of the APA has led psychologist and newspaper columnist Warren Throckmorton, in a Washington Times column, to call on the APA to address Fergusson's criticisms. According to Reardon, he was referred to Nancy Felipe Russo, a researcher who speaks for the APA on women's issues.



However, Russo, professor in psychology at Arizona State University, is an abortion advocate who tries to use her position in APA to refute pro-life assertions that abortions hurt women.

Russo participated with an APA group in February 2003 in putting together a web site designed to "correct inaccurate information about" abortion put out by pro-life groups.

Russo and two psychology professors co-chaired the panel charged with creating the web site.

In an interview with the APA's news publication, Russo discounted assertions by pro-life researchers that women who have abortions can suffer from post-abortion syndrome.

"Anti-abortion advocates allege that post-abortion syndrome is a type of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], though no scientific basis exists for applying a PTSD framework to understanding women's emotional responses to a voluntarily obtained legal abortion," Russo claimed.

When Throckmorton asked Russo to comment on the New Zealand study and the APA criticisms, she indicated the group developed its position on abortion based on ideological and not scientific reasons.

She told Throckmorton the study would not alter APA's pro-abortion position because "to pro-choice advocates, mental health effects are not relevant to the legal context of arguments to restrict access to abortion."

Throckmorton sent a rough draft of his article to Dr. Reardon for comment and Russo was quoted more bluntly saying "it doesn't matter what the evidence says." Reardon says that comment was stricken before the Times article was published.

According to Reardon, an author of several of the studies on abortion that have been ignored by the APA, Russo's statements "confirm the complaint of critics that the APA's briefs to the Supreme Court and state legislatures are really about promoting a view about civil rights, not science."

"Toward this end, the APA has set up task forces and divisions that include only psychologists who share the same bias in favor of abortion," he explained.

Reardon believes the APA's task forces on abortion have actually served to stifle rather than encourage research.

"When researchers like Fergusson or myself publish data showing abortion is linked to mental health problems, members of the APA's abortion policy police rush forward to tell the public to ignore our findings because they are completely out of line with their own 'consensus' statements which are positioned as the APA's official interpretation of the meaningful research on abortion," he said.

Appeals courts: Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional

Newsday.com
"The appeals courts said the measure lacks an exception for cases that threaten a woman's health. "
...

Democratic '95-10 Initiative' seeks to reduce U.S. abortion rate

National Catholic Reporter
"The message delivered by the estimated 100,000-plus antiabortion protesters who gathered here Jan. 23 for the 33rd annual “March for Life” was clear: Overturn Roe v. Wade.

“By changing laws we can change our culture,” President Bush, speaking by telephone hookup from Kansas, told the marchers. “This is a cause that appeals to the conscience of our citizens, and is rooted in America’s deepest principles – and history tells us that with such a cause, we will prevail,” said Bush.

The marchers gathered the day before the full Senate took up the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. And though the replacement of swing-vote justice Sandra Day O’Connor with Bush-nominee Alito would leave the court with a 5-4 pro-Roe majority, even if the new justice was inclined to overturn the 1973 decision (a pledge he refused to make at his Senate confirmation hearings), his accession to the high court presents the pro-life forces with an opportunity.

Kristen Day, a former Congressional chief of staff who now heads Democrats for Life, was among the antiabortion marchers. She, too, would like to see Roe reversed, but her short-term goals are focused on another opportunity. Working with pro-life Democrats in both the House and Senate, Democrats for Life is spearheading an ambitious initiative that avoids discussion of Roe as it seeks a 95 percent reduction in the abortion rate over the next decade."
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Bipartisan answers

The Phoenix Online
"This past week in The New York Times science section, I found an interesting confirmation of a partially-formed idea in the back of my mind: “Liberals and conservatives can become equally bug-eyed and irrational when talking politics, especially when they are on the defensive…. The process [of digesting criticisms about one’s candidate] is almost entirely emotional and unconscious, the researchers report, and there are flares of activity in the brain’s pleasure centers when unwelcome information is being rejected.” It appears that try as we might to remain purely reasonable in politics and debate, we are working against a natural inclination to which we succumb more often than we notice. Our passions sway us and can blind us to the other side of the argument.

I first experienced this phenomenon with the ever-touchy issue of abortion. I remember my mother describing what happens to a fetus during an abortion, and the image infuriates me to this day. I was then and remain staunchly against abortion. For many years, I could not understand how sane, ethical human beings could think otherwise. In high school, though, I encountered a girl who had just finished some reading for a class she had that was discussing abortion. She had seen a picture of the victim of a botched back-alley abortion, and the image she saw angered her as much as the one I had heard from my mother angered me. Since then, I have come to realize that that though I still oppose it strongly, abortion is not as black and white as I once thought it to be."
...

Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives

guttmacher
PDF

Bio Frederica Mathewes-Green

ambassadoragency.com
Frederica Mathewes-Green's
Biography:
"Few people are welcome in as many different settings as Frederica Mathewes-Green. You might find her giving a speech at Harvard, then appearing at a pregnancy center banquet. She may speak about prayer at the Smithsonian Institution, keynote a national conference, and then lead a women's retreat. Colleges have made Frederica a regular at 'Art and Writing' conferences.

She's at home in many media. You've probably heard her commentaries on National Public Radio, talking about the pro-life issue, talking about her faith. She's been interviewed on TV from 'PrimeTime Live' to PBS, CNN, Fox, and most major news shows; by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and most major newspapers; and by Diane Rehm, Janet Parshall, and many national radio shows.

Her work as a writer is just as diverse. Frederica reviews several films each month, and also replies to readers' questions in a 'theological advice column' for the Christian Reader. A regular contributor to Christianity Today, First Things and other magazines, she has been repeatedly selected for the annual 'Best Christian Writing.' The multi-faith web magazine Beliefnet.com regularly invites her to present the classic Christian perspective, and her opinion pieces are featured at National Review Online.

And we haven't even started on her books yet. "
...

Encyclical Letter - God is love

vatican

Griego: Ritter's abortion stance may signal future

Rocky Mountain News: Columnists
"Access to health care. More education. Greater availability of contraceptives. More money for family planning. Equals fewer abortions. It's common sense. Which means it'll never happen, says a pro-choice Republican friend of mine who's fed up with the Christian fundamentalist hijacking of his party. Each side refuses to give ground when both, ostensibly, want the same thing: fewer abortions.

I don't know if Ritter could lead the Democratic Party toward common ground. I think he is still wrestling with his own conflicts. But, clearly, common ground is one of his goals. At the very least, I hope he borrows one of Saletan's best lines: 'My opponent and I are both pro-life. We want to avoid as many abortions as we can. The difference is, I trust women to work with me toward that objective and he doesn't.'

One final thought about dodging moral issues: What minds religion cannot sway, science will. Technology has already given us the ability to peer into the womb at earlier stages of pregnancy and with greater clarity.

In 1998, when I was pregnant with my daughter, an ultrasound technician rubbed jelly on my belly and ran the probe over it and I turned to the screen to see - a satellite weather photo. In 2001, when I was pregnant with my son and after a suspicious blood screening, I had an ultrasound a few weeks earlier than what is typical. I turned to look. This time I saw a hand, a foot, the flutter of a heart, beating."

States Step Up Fight on Abortion

Los Angeles Times
"Anticipating a more conservative Supreme Court, lawmakers are proposing bans in hope of forcing the justices to revisit Roe vs. Wade.
By P.J. Huffstutter and Stephanie Simon
INDIANAPOLIS — Taking direct aim at Roe vs. Wade, lawmakers from several states are proposing broad restrictions on abortion, with the goal of forcing the U.S. Supreme Court — once it has a second new justice — to revisit the landmark ruling issued 33 years ago today.

The bill under consideration in Indiana would ban all abortions, except when continuing the pregnancy would threaten the woman's life or put her physical health in danger of 'substantial permanent impairment.' Similar legislation is pending in Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee."
..

Prescription for Health: Changing Primary Care Practice to Foster Healthy Behaviors -- Cifuentes et al.

Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
"These projects confirm the feasibility of health behavior counseling in primary care practice. They also highlight the need for substantive practice redesign, and the value of models and frameworks to guide redesign and collaborative efforts."

ProLife Feminism- Yesterday and Today

Xlibris.Com Bookstore
"Is abortion on 'demand' a woman's right, or a wrong inflicted on women? Is it a mark of liberation, or a sign that women are not yet free? From Anglo-Irish writer Mary Wollstonecraft to Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, many eighteenth- through twenty-first-century feminists have opposed it as violence against fetal lives arising from violence against female lives. This more inclusive, surprisingly old-but-new vision of reproductive choice is called prolife feminism.

This book's original edition in 1995 offered brilliant essays on abortion and related social justice issues by the likes of suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. A decade of activism and research since has made this second, greatly expanded second edition necessary. It not only documents the continuing evolution of prolife feminism worldwide, but more accurately represents the rich diversity of past and present women--and men--who have stood up for both mother and child. It thus is a vital, unique resource for peacemaking in the increasingly globalized abortion war."

Family Functioning of Children with Hyperactivity

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Lianne Woodward, Eric Taylor & Linda Dowdney
This study examined the parenting and family life correlates of childhood hyperactivity in a community sample of London school children. Twenty-eight boys with pervasive hyperactivity were compared to 30 classroom control children on a range of parenting and family functioning measures. Results showed that poor parent coping and the use of aggressive discipline methods were significantly associated with hyperactivity after adjusting for the effects of conduct disorder and parent mental health. The best parenting predictor of hyperactivity was disciplinary aggression. Findings suggest that the quality of parenting provided for hyperactive children may contribute to their behavioural difficulties, and highlights the need to examine more closely the role of parenting attitudes and behaviour in shaping the course, prognosis, and treatment outcomes for children with hyperactivity."

On abortion, court finds middle ground

csmonitor.com
"In a surprising compromise move supported by all nine justices, the high court on Wednesday avoided ruling on the merits of upholding or striking down a New Hampshire law that requires a teen to inform a parent before obtaining an abortion.

Instead, the justices sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider whether it was appropriate for it to strike down as unconstitutional the entire parental notification law, or whether only part of the law should be enjoined.

The 10-page decision was announced by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the high-court architect of the constitutional provisions at the center of the case."
...

Methods for identifying pregnancy-associated deaths: population-based data from Finland 1987–2000

Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol

To find maternal and pregnancy-related deaths, it is important that all pregnancy-associated deaths are identified. This article examines the effect of data linkages between national health care registers and complete death certificate data on pregnancy-associated deaths. All deaths among women of reproductive age (15–49 years) in Finland during the period 1987–2000 (n = 15 823) were identified from the Cause-of-Death Register and linked to the Medical Birth Register (n = 865 988 births), the Register on Induced Abortions (n = 156 789 induced abortions), and the Hospital Discharge Register (n = 118 490 spontaneous abortions) to determine whether women had been pregnant within 1 year before death. The death certificates of the 419 women thus identified were reviewed to find whether the pregnancy or its termination was coded or mentioned. In total, 405 deaths (96.7%) were identified in registers other than the Cause-of-Death Register. Without data linkages, 73% of all pregnancy-associated deaths would have been missed; the percentage after induced and spontaneous abortions was even higher. Data linkages to national health care registers provide better information on maternal deaths and pregnancy-associated deaths than death certificates alone. If possible, pregnancies not ending in a live birth should be included in the data linkages.

India's 'girl deficit' deepest among educated

csmonitor.com
By Scott Baldauf
Study: Selective-sex abortion claims 500,000 girls a year.
NEW DELHI - Banned by Indian law for more than a decade, the practice of prenatal selection and selective abortion remains a common practice in India, claiming up to half a million female children each year, according to a recent study by the British medical journal, The Lancet.

The use of ultrasound equipment to determine the sex of an unborn child - introduced to India in 1979 - has now spread to every district in the country. The study found it played a crucial role in thetermination of an estimated 10 million female fetuses in the two decades leading up to 1998, and 5 million since 1994, the year the practice was banned. Few doctors in regular clinics offer the service openly, but activists estimate that sex-selection is a $100 million business in India, largely through mobile sex-selection clinics that can drive into almost any village or neighborhood.

The practice is common among all religious groups - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Christians - but appears to be most common among educated women, a fact that befuddles public health officials and women's rights activists alike.

"More educated women have more access to technology, they are more privileged, and most educated families have the least number of children," says Sabu George, a researcher with the Center for Women's Development Studies in New Delhi, who did not participate in the study. "This is not just India. Everywhere in the world, smaller families come at the expense of girls."

Like China, India has encouraged smaller families through a mixture of financial incentives and campaigns calling for two children at most. Faced with such pressure, many families, rich and poor alike, are turning to prenatal selection to ensure that they receive a son. It's a problem with many potential causes - from social traditions to the economic burden of dowries - but one that could have strong social repercussions for generations to come.

The Lancet survey, conducted by Prabhat Jha of St. Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto and Rajesh Kumar of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research in Chandigarh, India, looked at government data collected from a 1998 sample of Indian families in all the districts of the country. From this data, they concluded that 1 out of every 25 female fetuses is aborted, roughly 500,000 per year.

Many doctors, including the Indian Medical Association, dispute the findings of the report, saying that the number of female feticides is closer to 250,000 per year. They note that the data sample used by The Lancet study precedes a 2001 Supreme Court decision outlawing the use of ultrasounds to check for girls. But activists note that the law is largely unenforced.

"If there were half a million feticides a year," S.C. Gulati of the Delhi Institute of Economic Growth told the Indian news channel IBN, "the sex ratio would have been very skewed indeed."

Yet the sex ratio is skewed. According to the official Indian Census of 2001, there were 927 girl babies for every 1,000 boy babies, nationwide. The problem is worst in the northwestern states of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, and Gujarat, where the ratio is less than 900 girls for every 1,000 boys.
...

Divided we stand: The polarizing of American politics

National Civic Review
Steven Hill
New America Foundation

Federal survey shows unwanted births up, but reason unclear

KATU 2 - Portland, Oregon
ATLANTA - More American women are having babies they didn't want, a survey indicates, but federal researchers say they don't know if that means attitudes about abortion are changing.

U.S. women of childbearing age who were surveyed in 2002 revealed that 14 percent of their recent births were unwanted at the time of conception, federal researchers said Monday. In a similar 1995 survey, only 9 percent were unwanted at the time of conception.

At least one anti-abortion group said the numbers reflect a national "pro-life shift," while others who research reproductive health issues suggested it might mean less access to abortion.

The latest findings are consistent with the falling rate of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group that researches reproductive health issues.

In 1995, for every 100 births that ended in abortion or a birth, almost 26 ended in abortion. In 2002, 24 ended in abortion, according to Guttmacher data. That information seems to be in sync with the federal data released Monday, said Lawrence Finer, Guttmacher's associate director for domestic research.

"The two statistics together suggest - but don't confirm - that a greater percentage of unintended pregnancies resulted in births rather than abortions," Finer said.

The Guttmacher Institute is nearly finished with a study of that question, but Finer declined to discuss the results before they've been published.

Others feel the link is clear-cut.

"I don't think there's any mystery here," said Susan Wills, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The new data underscores that more women are turning away from abortions, even when it's a pregnancy they don't initially want, said Wills, associate director for education in the Conference's Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

"It shows a real pro-life shift," she said.

More women may be carrying pregnancies to term because of increasing availability of ultrasounds and other information that show "it's a baby from an early time," Wills said.
...

Abortion in young women and subsequent mental health

J Child Psychol & Psychiat, Vol 47, 2006
Results: Forty-one percent of women had become pregnant on at least one occasion prior to age 25, with 14.6% having an abortion. Those having an abortion had elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders. This association persisted after adjustment for confounding factors.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that abortion in young women may be associated with increased risks of mental health problems.

Why Abortion Rates Vary: A Geographical Examination of the Supply of and Demand for Abortion Services in the United States in 1988

Ann Assoc Am Geog, Vol 84
The role of states as arbiters of abortion has waxed and waned throughout American history. This paper examines the relative roles of state-imposed regulations on supply conditions and demographic demand factors in the explanation of geographic variation in state abortion rates. Path analysis reveals that supply conditions affect state abortion rates, even after the effects of demand conditions are considered. Moreover, the model shows that supply factors serve as mediators for several key demand variables. A state's population composition influences the level of public funding of abortions for poor women and the political culture's tolerance of abortion. These, in conjunction with the metropolitan nature of a state's population, directly influence the rate of abortion. Results of this analysis imply that the trend toward highly variable state restrictions on abortion in the form of parental consent, mandatory counseling, and waiting periods will lead to larger differences in state abortion rates.

Efficacy of a group crisis-counseling program for men who accompany women seeking abortions

American Journal of Community Psychology

Young women's experiences of arranging and having abortions

Sociol Health & Illness
Angela Harden & Jane Ogden
Women (n = 54) aged between 16 and 24 were interviewed between one and three hours after their abortion about their experiences. Overall, having an unwanted pregnancy was experienced as a rare event which was accompanied by feelings of lack of control and loss of status. Further, the process of arranging and having an abortion led to a reinstatement of status, control and normality. However, this process was sometimes hindered by inaccessible information, judgmental health professionals and the wider social context of abortion in which abortion is seen as a generally negative experience. In the main though, most of these negative experiences were associated with accessing the abortion service and the professionals who act as gatekeepers to the service rather than those who work within the service itself. Therefore, although young women's experiences were wide-ranging and varied, most were positive, and at times even negative expectations were compensated by supportive staff, indicating that abortion services may not be as judgmental in the late 20th century as suggested in previous decades.

PREDICTING STATE ABORTION LEGISLATION FROM U.S. SENATE VOTES: THE EFFECTS OF APPARENT IDEOLOGICAL SHIRKING

Rev Policy Res, Vol 9
The recent Supreme Court decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services giving more discretion to states to regulate abortion has led to speculation concerning which states might move to limit abortions. Medoff (1989) attempts to predict how state legislatures might vote on state-level abortion legislation by examining the 1983 Senate vote on the Hatch/Eagleton Amendment. We expand upon Medoff's analysis by incor- porating recent developments in agency theory as it applies to the political agents (i.e., Senators) in the empirical model. The results demonstrate that accounting for Senatorial "shirking" and state ideology substantially im- proves the predictive ability of the model for the Senate abortion vote. The predicted votes of the state's Senators, after eliminating the effects of apparent Senatorial shirking, are used to infer the likelihood of state-level legislation substantially restricting abortion. We compare these results to a base model that ignores the issue of shirking and find increased predict- ability and several differing results.

Family-centered preventive intervention science: toward benefits to larger populations of children, youth, and families

Entrez PubMed
The field of family-centered preventive intervention science is well poised to seize an opportunity for larger-scale intervention implementation and greater public health impact. This opportunity has been created by earlier research in the areas of epidemiology, developmental etiology, and intervention outcome research. Both earlier and current research define a number of key tasks required to meet the many challenges involved in scaling-up for greater impact. Illustrations of how these tasks can be addressed are provided in articles on programs of family-centered research with infants, children, and adolescents. Each article in this special issue treats one or more tasks that concern (a) expansion of the set of rigorously evaluated, theory-driven interventions that have potential to reach large numbers of children, youth, and families; (b) effective strategies for family recruitment and retention; (c) cultural sensitivity of interventions; (d) application of a developmental life course perspective; (e) strategies for linking higher-risk population subgroups with potentially beneficial services; (f) improved diffusion mechanisms for sustained, quality delivery; and (g) policy making informed by research, including economic analysis. A summary of how articles address these tasks concludes with a discussion of the importance of futher strengthening a public service orientation in prevention science.

Hillary Clinton says GOP deficit bill will increase abortions

wcax
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wades back into the highly charged abortion debate. She charged yesterday that a G-O-P cost-cutting measure will boost the number of abortions in the United States.
Clinton said a piece of a pending deficit-reduction measure would indirectly raise the number of abortions by leaving poor women with less Medicaid coverage for contraception.

Abortion Battles Without Much Effect On Abortions

theatlantic.com
You might think that something huge was at stake from the sound and fury accompanying the November 30 Supreme Court argument about New Hampshire's restrictions on minors' access to abortion, and the pending challenge to the 2003 act of Congress banning "partial-birth" abortion.

Abortion-rights advocates warn that any decision upholding restrictions on abortion in either case would jeopardize women's health and set the stage for evisceration of Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion advocates portray the lower-court decisions striking down these laws before they took effect as steps toward the destruction of the American family and the legalization of infanticide.
...
Stuart Taylor Jr. is a senior writer and columnist for National Journal and a contributing editor at Newsweek. This column appears every week in National Journal, a weekly magazine covering politics and government published in Washington, D.C.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues in the States: Major Trends in 2005

www.guttmacher.org
State legislatures paid particular attention to sexual and reproductive health policy issues in 2005. A total of 98 new laws were enacted, just over half of which are aimed at restricting access to abortion while a quarter seek to expand access to contraception. Moreover, of the 195 abortion restrictions adopted in the six legislative years beginning in 2000, fully one-quarter were enacted in 2005 alone. Similarly, of the 83 measures enacted since 2000 to promote contraceptive access, one-quarter were adopted last year.
...

New Hampshire's never-enforced abortion law to go before justices

Winston-Salem Journal
To some, a never-enforced New Hampshire law requiring parental notification before a minor has an abortion is a backward step for women's rights. To others, it protects parents' rights to know whether their child is having an abortion.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider those arguments Wed-nesday as it begins to weigh whe-ther to reinstate a law that requires parental notification 48 hours before an abortion can be performed on a person younger than 18.
...
Nearly all states have laws requiring some kind of parental involvement when minors have abortions. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonpro-fit group that researches reproductive-health issues, 21 states require parental consent and 13 require parental notification. Nine other states, including New Hampshire, have laws that aren't in effect because they have been blocked by court orders.

Culture war puts crack in EU

Kansas City Star
BRUSSELS, Belgium — When Polish members of the European Parliament placed an anti-abortion display in a parliamentary corridor in Strasbourg, France, Ana Gomes, a Socialist legislator from Portugal, felt compelled to act. The display showed children in a concentration camp, linking abortion and Nazi crimes. A loud scuffle ensued as she and the Poles traded insults before guards bundled the display away.
...

Court weighs girls' access to abortion

csmonitor.com
WASHINGTON - Wednesday the US Supreme Court takes up a case that could change the abortion battle in a fundamental way, potentially allowing state lawmakers across the nation to enact more-restrictive regulations on a woman's right to choose abortion.
...

The American Culture Wars: Current Contests and Future Prospects

Amazon.com

by James L., Jr. Nolan (Editor)

Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers!: Demonization and the End of Civil Debate in American Politics: Books

Amazon.co.uk

The Power of Religious Publics: Staking Claims in American Society

Amazon.co.uk

Class Wide Peer Tutoring Program

Promising Practices Network
Class Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) was developed during the early 1980s at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas, a community-based program devoted to improving the developmental outcomes of children, with or without disabilities, who live in low-income areas. The program addresses both the school and home environments of the children in the program. It is an instructional model based on reciprocal peer tutoring that could be used at any grade level, but has been evaluated primarily for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, with current work being done at the middle school level.
...

On common ground: Blue Moon Group members, representing opposite sides of abortion debate, agree to goals

CITIZEN-TIMES.com (north carolina)
By Joy Franklin, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
With Judge Samuel Alito’s position on abortion a central question in his confirmation as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, the debate over one of the most polarizing and divisive issues in American politics continues more than 30 years after the procedure was made legal by the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

Polls show that people believe no single issue before the court has greater importance.

It’s hard to imagine activists on opposite sides of the issue having a civil conversation about the subject, much less finding common ground.

But that’s just what a group about evenly divided among strongly pro-choice and strongly pro-life advocates, which has been quietly gathering in Asheville since November 2002, has accomplished.

The Blue Moon Group began meeting in an effort to reduce the chance of violence in our community around the issue of abortion. They took their name from the fact that they first met at the Blue Moon Café on Biltmore Avenue, which is now out of business. When one member of the group observed that the opportunity for the kind of discussion taking place within the group only comes around “once in a blue moon,” the name seemed an obvious choice. It reflects the uniqueness of the group’s accomplishment.

Three years later, their respect and affection for each other has grown into friendship despite their deeply held opposing views of abortion. That relationship of trust has helped them establish a list of jointly held principles, which describe the “common ground” they hold in approaching the issue of abortion. They regard the recently completed Common Ground Statement as a working document that may be modified as their discussions continue.

The concepts the statement advocates — talking together and forming relationships, decreasing abortions, relieving socioeconomic conditions that lead women to consider abortion, promoting adoption, providing accurate information and disavowing physical and verbal violence — are not revolutionary. But the fact that a group of people with such strongly divergent views could join together to advance them is.

It wasn’t that difficult to arrive at the seven areas of agreement that resulted from their discussions, but the group found it difficult to hone the concepts and to find the right words for expressing them.

“The process has taken us years,” Dr. Lorraine Cummings, M.D., owner of Femcare, said. “I think it’s remarkable how much discussion was necessary to get the wording exactly right.”

The Rev. Jeff Hutchinson, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church made the first attempt at putting their areas of agreement in writing. It failed The Karen Test.

“One of the participants here, Chuck (Andrews), took the initial draft to his wife, Karen, who looked at what we had written and said ‘You’re going to be misunderstood by one side or the other side or both,’” explained Monroe Gilmour, a community organizer on racial discrimination and bigotry and a volunteer escort at Femcare. “So, the conclusion we came to was that maybe we had not honed the statement down to the nitty-gritty essence of what we agree on.”

Nonetheless, Gilmour joked, that draft had “the eloquence of Thomas Jefferson.”

“I was just cribbing big chunks from the Declaration of Independence,” Hutchinson responded, getting a laugh from other group members.

“The crux of this was in the semantics because we had to be sure that how each thing was worded didn’t imply something that we couldn’t all live with,” said Lynn von Unwerth, a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood. “…I think that we spent the most time on not the actual concept itself. I think we didn’t have a problem with the concept when we got it down to what we wanted to put in it. It was how we wanted to word it so that it didn’t say something we didn’t want it to say.”

For example, there was a lot of discussion around the use of the word “lead” in the statement, “We agree that relieving the socio-economic and other conditions that lead women to consider abortion is a common goal.”

“Initially we considered using ‘force’ women to do it or ‘tempt’ or ‘drive,’ but we felt each of those words had more judgmental tones than we wanted to make,” Gilmour said. “We settled on ‘lead’ because, whatever we feel about the value of women’s reasons for considering an abortion, we did want to acknowledge the reality that socio-economic conditions do in fact often lead women to choose to have an abortion.”

“Exactly,” Hutchinson said, “I knew I needed to acknowledge that certain circumstances make abortion much harder to resist, while at the same time making sure we didn’t adopt a view of human nature as if we are just machines being acted upon by outside forces and thus ‘forced’ into making choices, like Pavlov’s dog. And so just that simple word ‘lead’ was a word that was in the middle.”’

Being able to work through such potential impediments to agreement was possible because of the relationships that exist within the group. Getting to know one another as individuals helped demolish stereotypes, but a willingness to listen and a sense of humility were important factors in the ability to find common ground, group members say.

At the beginning of each meeting, group members “check-in,” noting significant events in their lives over the past month. It’s an opportunity to learn about such milestones as the upcoming appearance of Hutchinson’s daughter and Cummings’ son in a dance recital and an Asheville Community Theater production, respectively, and Trinity Associate Pastor Donnie Williams’ trip to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play, and about retired minister Bob Rhymer’s sad duty of attending the funeral of a friend who died of cancer.

Such connections build friendship, but Femcare nurse midwife Bonnie Frontino said it was the willingness of the members of the group who oppose abortion to truly listen that made the relationships work.

“I think that’s the issue here, that Jeff and Donnie and Ann and Chuck, they were willing to actually listen to what we had to say, rather than just dismiss us,” Frontino said.

Rhymer, who joined the group after it had already been meeting for some time and who is also a volunteer escort at Femcare, has another view of what makes it work.

“What enables any group or any two individuals to do what you’re doing is a sense of humility. … In this group, I’ve never sensed anything but a sense of humility in terms of your point of view. And I’m not saying that I don’t sense that you believe what you believe and you know what you believe… All of you, from the moment I walked in here, it felt like I had come home, from my point of view in terms of what Christianity is all about.”

Members on both sides of the abortion issue say they have had an opportunity to learn and grow thanks to their relationships within the group.

“I found that the theology that you all shared with us affected the wording (of the Common Ground Statement) in ways I wouldn’t have expected,” Gilmour said. “We learned a lot about theology and that was interesting and useful. I think this understanding ensured a more in-depth examination of our common ground.”

For Hutchinson, learning about women in crisis pregnancies was an eye-opener.

“…I have grown, thanks to you all and the actual experience with women in crisis pregnancies that you have had, in understanding better the weight of socioeconomic conditions that would lead a woman to consider abortion as a genuine option. On the front end, two or three years ago, coming from where I have come from as a suburban upper-middle class kid, I think I was too moralistic and even self-righteous, thinking, ‘more women just need to do what’s right,’ and I was not sensitive enough to know just how hard that can be… Because again, in my own experience, when I was at Duke or wherever, the women I have known who have had abortions were not being economically stressed. So I needed to be told about the real lives of other real women, so that I could better understand the stress that is so often present.

“The other thing that jumps out at me is the damage that verbal violence does in this whole debate. I have never been in favor of real violence to stop abortion, but I at least was ambivalent about the use of verbal violence… But all of our discussions together have forced me to center in on what the Bible actually says about such things, instead of what different sophists might say. For instance, I began to think more and more about how Christ Himself actually spoke, and whether he ever lied or was argumentative, and His purity convicted me. Or I began to think about how the Apostle Paul instructed a young pastor like me, Timothy, telling him ‘the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.’ And so all of this has been an area of growth for me too.”

Several members of the group reflected on how being part of the Blue Moon Group has affected their view of their own and others’ attitudes toward those with whom they have strong disagreements. For example, Gilmour said he’s become keenly aware of the difference between the atmosphere in the Blue Moon Group and other groups and situations he’s involved with.

“So it’s been a great mirror to see myself and to challenge myself,” he said. “Though I definitely have not lived up to it in other situations to the degree I feel comfortable in this group.”

Andrews said that even though he believes abortion is wrong, and even evil, being part of the group has made him more aware of the usefulness to a political agenda of demonizing the opposition.

“Being part of these discussions has helped me to recognize it when I see it happening,” he said. “And it’s grievous to me to see it when some of my brothers and sisters in Christ are convinced of a position which dehumanizes others and don’t recognize that their attitude toward ‘pro-aborts’ is really more of a useful political tool than representative of biblical truth.”

The problems associated with adoption came as a surprise to some members of the group and led to a major area of common ground – that adoption should be more encouraged and more accessible.

“The young women we see and do options counseling with, are from an era when abortion has always been legal,” said von Unwerth. “And I think adoption was more thought of say, in the early to mid-70s, because adoption was the only legal option. And I think that now they don’t have any reference to it at all or any experience with it. …And maybe some of the problem is that education and awareness aren’t happening. ….’”

Group member Ann Wingfield, a nurse and a member of Trinity, said she’d had a similar experience.

“I remember a young mom I had at the hospital that was giving her baby up for adoption and I told her…I knew people who themselves had been adopted or their kids had and the young woman was just floored, because she, I guess, had no exposure to adoption. She had chosen this route but still was wondering what she was sending her baby to, so I was glad I could encourage her, but still was taken aback that she was so unfamiliar with the concept herself.’’

In his circle of friends and acquaintances, Hutchinson said, adoption is seen as a genuine blessing, but Frontino said her experience has made her wonder whether there’s come to be more of a social stigma around placing a baby up for adoption than there is around having an abortion.

It’s one of the things Frontino said she would like the Blue Moon Group to pursue.

“I would … like to find some way to decrease the stigma around adoption,” she said. “I think that’s going to be an important thing to do. Somehow or other it’s been stigmatized and maybe there’s something that we can do….”

Von Unwerth agreed. “…International adoption is OK, it’s adoption of American children that’s not OK, especially when you’re talking about adoption of bi-racial children. That’s got to change.”

As the group continues to meet, its members will continue to work on ways to advance the goals they’ve agreed they have in common. “In a way, we went through the process and wrote it for ourselves so we would have a benchmark: this is what we as a group believe and agree on,” Gilmour said. “At the same time, I think it is our hope that others will pursue their own common ground actions on this issue.”

And on other subjects as well.
...

County-Level Estimates of the Effects of a Universal Preschool Program in California

RAND
Growing interest in universal preschool education has prompted researchers to examine the potential costs and benefits of making high-quality preschool available for all children. This study presents estimates, at a disaggregated geographic level, of the potential benefits from a high-quality, one-year, universal preschool program in California. Building on the methodology employed by the author in an earlier RAND study, estimates are generated for the 13 largest California counties and for five county groups, which together represent 96 percent of the projected California population of 4-year-olds over the next decade. The analysis focuses on a series of nine outcomes specific to educational processes and attainment, child maltreatment, and juvenile crime. The effect of a universal preschool program for each annual cohort of 4-year-olds served by such a program is estimated for each outcome and geographic unit. Where possible, the baseline level of the outcome in the absence of a universal preschool program is also estimated, enabling the absolute changes to be measured in percentage terms. Because there are a number of uncertainties associated with the estimates, they are not intended to capture the exact effects of a particular program. Rather, they provide a gauge for the size of the effects and how they might differ across different geographic units in the state. These effects are of interest in their own right, and they are also associated with significant dollar benefits for a variety of stakeholders — benefits estimated to exceed the cost of providing a high-quality, universal preschool program.

Panel focused on pregnancy care (common ground)

The Observer (Notre Dame and Saint Mary's)
""While pro-life and pro-choice advocates are polarized on many issues concerning abortion, they agreed on one point Monday in LaFortune Ballroom at the Notre Dame Common Ground Project - society does not do enough to protect and provide for pregnant women.

This was the focus of the forum where professors and students came together to discuss, understand and find common concerns in the abortion debate, particularly how to help pregnant women socially, financially and medically.

The project was organized by Notre Dame senior Kaitlyn Redfield and sponsored by the Feminist Voice, the Department of Sociology, the Program in Gender Studies, the Hesburgh Program in Public Service and the Gender Relations Center in an attempt to foster respectful dialogue between pro-life and pro-choice advocates.

"At this institution, we grapple with many important questions," Redfield said. "Our goal is to honor the humanity on both sides of the debate, to understand each other, to understand the scope of this issue."

The event featured a faculty panel of Kathleen Cummings, associate director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism; Teresa Phelps, professor at the Notre Dame Law School and fellow of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; and Todd Whitmore, associate professor of Theology and director of the Program in Catholic Social Teaching.

"This is one of the very, very few times I have heard anything like this at Notre Dame … Both the pro-life and pro-choice positions define both life and choice in narrow ways," said Phelps. "Instead of trying to preserve or overturn Roe vs. Wade, we should all work to reduce the number of abortions. Many times in the debate, either the fetus or the woman has the rights, and this either/or dichotomy is ill-described."

All three panelists focused on what society should do in order to better care for pregnant women.

Cummings told a story from her early years of teaching when one of her students had an abortion because she had too little support and resources. Cummings said her student may not have felt so helpless if the institution had been like the "Dream Campus," a vision by Feminists for Life, a group containing both pro-life and pro-choice advocates.

"The goal of the Dream Campus is to reduce the number of abortions by providing parents with resources," said Cummings. "On the Dream Campus, there would be pregnancy and parenting resource centers, family housing, scholarship funds for parents, cry rooms in the library, and an accommodating class schedule."

Whitmore spoke of the Nurturing Network, a nonprofit program started in 1986 that also helps pregnant women and new mothers with medical costs. In addition to financial support, pregnant women need to be socially accepted, Whitmore said.

"Catholic women who have abortions are seven percent more likely than other women to say they are having the abortion because they are afraid of retribution from others finding out they had sex," said Whitmore. "This raises questions about whether a punitive attitude toward sex raises the number of abortions. Fear of retribution from having sex outside marriage drives women to commit an even greater sin."

Phelps said that besides financial and health issues, at the heart of the abortion debate is morality.

"We say we value babies, but as a society, we don't demonstrate that," Phelps said. "We make it so difficult for women who are pregnant. We should not tolerate society's not taking care of women."

"Is 'common ground' possible? Frankly, it's all we've got," said Phelps.

Abortion and Market Failure Theory by John Cobin, Ph.D.
A February 1998 Liberty poll found that 43% of respondents agreed with the proposition: "abortion is wrong." Thus, we might conclude that pro-life sentiment exists within a substantial minority of classical liberals. Being one scholar within that minority, I would like to offer an explanation for this seemingly anomalous tendency, showing why it is consistent with classically liberal principles. Then I propose to embellish the notion by an economic analysis that might well be agreeable to people on both sides of the abortion issue. Indeed, I argue that the lion's share of abortions are the result of distortions caused by government failures, myopic intervention, and policies that facilitate deleterious rent seeking.
...

Democrats For Life of America - "package of federal legislation and policy proposals"

Democrats For Life of America
The 95-10 Initiative is a comprehensive package of federal legislation and policy proposals that will reduce the number of abortions by 95% in the next 10 years. While both Democrats and Republicans talk about reducing the number of abortions, Democrats for Life of America offers real solutions to make this goal a reality. With bold new ideas, sound research and policy arguments, the 95-10 Initiative contains proven policy suggestions to dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America.
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Carter Condemns Abortion

Family.org - FNIF News
by Kim Trobee
Former president calls on his party to change its anti-life positions.

Even at 81, Jimmy Carter is one of the most influential Democrats in America. His politics are decidedly liberal but the self avowed “born again” Christian recently espoused a position on abortion that is far different than that of most people in his party. In 1976 Carter took a moderate stance on abortion during his presidential campaign. In recent statements he says he’s “never been convinced that Jesus Christ would approve abortion.” Kristen Day of Democrats for Life.

“Why he’s coming out now, I don’t know, but I think maybe it’s because the tide is turning. This last election really sent a strong message that the Democratic Party was out of touch.”

Focus on the Family Action’s Carrie Gordon Earll agrees.

“There was a lot of lip service after the ‘04 election of Democrats, people on the left of social issues, saying that they needed to get religion, they needed to get back in the mainstream. Whether they will move on that is yet to be seen.”

She says many people are attracted to other parts of the Democrat’s platform, but break ranks over moral issues. She’s encouraged by Carter’s words but wonders if they’ll do any good.

“There have been voices through the years that have tried to call Democrats back to a pro-life position so far they’ve put their fingers in their ears and I don’t think they’re listening.”

Day hopes today’s Democrats will take Carter’s words to heart and return to the pro-life beliefs many of them held in the 80’s.

“If we’re going to make our party strong again, we have to be united.” Carter condemned all abortions and chastised his party for its intolerance of candidates and nominees who oppose abortion.

Working for Peace: A Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other Tools

Healing differences on common ground

Healing differences on common ground
...
What are the broader messages today from the example of the 9/11 Commission?

The first is that common ground is possible even in difficult circumstances, and circumstances now are quite difficult. We live in an increasingly polarized world. Consider the often angry debates over Social Security, the war in Iraq, abortion, gun control and Supreme Court nominations. ... ...

The first answer lies in understanding we are not as different as you might think; there is a surprisingly large overlap well suited to constructive compromise. We tend to overestimate our differences because of systemic factors that promote polarization. Our system of primaries, for instance, minimizes the chances the general election will offer a choice between moderates. Gerrymandered districts create safe seats where the only real race is in the primary. This significantly favors ideologues over moderates. The effect is quantifiable; social scientists have noted a dramatic decline in "near-centrist" members of both houses of Congress over the past 50 years based on their voting records. Partisan news media and special interests have their own stakes in exaggerating our differences. Pressures of fund-raising and traveling to home districts in a near continuous campaign cycle keep politicians from engaging in social interactions that previously fostered respect and friendship across party lines.

Understanding that we have more in common than we are told we have, or than our elected officials may have, is a key precondition to moving toward solutions. Common ground begins at home. We have to recognize that "Why can't everyone think like I do?" is not a sound philosophy for elevating the quality of public discourse. A key step forward is realizing polarization is not just the other guy's fault. Find someone who disagrees with you on a key issue and find out why. You may uncover a common interest you can collaborate to solve. Progress comes in many steps on many fronts.

The 9/11 Commission and more recently the "Gang of 14" senators have demonstrated how uniting around a higher goal can lift people above partisan differences. Together, America can do better.
...

Hillary Clinton in New Abortion Warning

www.newsmax.com
2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is warning that if President Bush's Supreme Court appointees succeed in overturning the federal right to an abortion, state governments would likely implement a reverse of China's one child policy that would instead force women to have five children.

"There would be many places in the country that would criminalize [abortion]," Clinton says in a new videotaped message posted to her Senate campaign web site. "They might even send women and doctors to prison."
...

Harvard Gazette: Reclaiming religion from the right
Divinity School lecturer and evangelical Christian leader Jim Wallis said the time has come to end the religious right's monologue on national moral values and begin a new, broader-based dialogue that goes beyond a fixation on gay marriage and abortion.

Wallis, a self-described progressive, said the nation's liberals long ago ceded national religious discussion to a small, conservative minority that has successfully defined the debate around a narrow agenda.

Liberals forget, he said, that the major reform movements in our nation's history, from abolition to civil rights, were begun by spiritual leaders.

"Lyndon Johnson didn't become a civil rights leader until Martin Luther King made him one," Wallis said. "Where would we be if they [religious leaders like King] kept their faith to themselves?"
....

The Determinants and Impact of State Abortion Restrictions

Am J Economics & Sociology
The Determinants and Impact of State Abortion Restrictions
Marshall H. Medoff
This paper shows that a state's abortion policy is determined by the strength of interest advocacy groups and political forces. The greater the membership in the National Abortion Rights Action League, the percentage of female state legislators and the percentage of Democratic female legislators, the less restrictive a state's abortion policy. The greater a state's population that are Roman Catholics, the more restrictive a state's abortion policy. The paper also estimates the impact abortion restrictions have on a state's abortion rate. The empirical results show that abortion restrictions have no statistically significant impact on a state's abortion rate. A state's abortion restrictions do not significantly increase out-of-state abortions.

Estimating Induced Abortion Rates: A Review

Studies in Family Planning
Clementine Rossier
Legal abortions are authorized medical procedures, and as such, they are or can be recorded at the health facility where they are performed. The incidence of illegal, often unsafe, induced abortion has to be estimated, however. In the literature, no fewer than eight methods have been used to estimate the frequency of induced abortion: the "illegal abortion provider survey," the "complications statistics" approach, the "mortality statistics" approach, self-reporting techniques, prospective studies, the "residual" method, anonymous third party reports, and experts' estimates. This article describes the methodological requirements of each of these methods and discusses their biases. Empirical records for each method are reviewed, with particular attention paid to the contexts in which the method has been employed successfully. Finally, the choice of an appropriate method of estimation is discussed, depending on the context in which it is to be applied and on the goal of the estimation effort.

Anti-Abortion Activities and the Market for Abortion Services: Protest as a Disincentive

The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, July 2000
Cross-section data for the US are used to estimate the effects of anti-abortion activity on the demand and supply of abortion services in 1992. Empirical results show that anti-abortion activity had a signi~cant negative impact on both the demand and supply of abortion services. Using estimates from a two-stage least-squares estimation of demand and supply, anti-abortion activities (measured as picketing with physical contact or blocking of patients) have decreased the market equilibrium abortion rate by an estimated 19 percent and raised the price of an abortion by approximately 4.3 percent.

Citizens' Ambivalence About Abortion

Political Psychology, Vol 23
Stephen C. Craig, James G. Kane & Michael D. Martinez
Recent research has recognized that many people simultaneously hold positive and negative attitudes about important political issues. This paper reviews the concept of attitudinal ambivalence and introduces a survey measure of ambivalence adapted from the experimental literature. An analysis of two statewide telephone surveys of Florida voters reveals that (1) a number of voters have ambivalent attitudes about abortion rights; (2) the amount of ambivalence varies according to the circumstances (elective versus traumatic) under which an abortion is obtained; (3) ambivalence about elective abortions is essentially unrelated to ambivalence about traumatic abortions; (4) voters who support abortion rights are more ambivalent about elective abortions than about traumatic abortions, whereas the pattern is reversed for abortion rights opponents; and (5) extreme views in support of or opposition to abortion rights can sometimes mitigate the amount of ambivalence felt by voters.

Maternal and Child Health Journal
Description
Maternal and Child Health Journal is the first exclusive forum to advance the scientific and professional knowledge base of the maternal and child health (MCH) field. This bimonthly provides peer-reviewed papers addressing the following areas of MCH practice, policy, and research:

Exploring the full spectrum of the MCH field, Maternal and Child Health Journal is an important tool for practitioners as well as academics in public health, obstetrics, gynecology, prenatal medicine, pediatrics, and neonatology.

Journal of Family and Economic Issues
Journal of Family and Economic Issues is an interdisciplinary publication that explores the intricate relationship between the family and its economic environment. Peer-reviewed contributions address important issues in family management, household division of labor and productivity, relationships between economic and non-economic decisions, and interrelations between work and family life, among others. The journal features: original and applied research; critical reviews; integrative theoretical articles; and reviews of significant books on the field.

Family-centered preventive intervention science: toward benefits to larger populations of children, youth, and familie

Entrez PubMed
The field of family-centered preventive intervention science is well poised to seize an opportunity for larger-scale intervention implementation and greater public health impact. This opportunity has been created by earlier research in the areas of epidemiology, developmental etiology, and intervention outcome research. Both earlier and current research define a number of key tasks required to meet the many challenges involved in scaling-up for greater impact. Illustrations of how these tasks can be addressed are provided in articles on programs of family-centered research with infants, children, and adolescents. Each article in this special issue treats one or more tasks that concern (a) expansion of the set of rigorously evaluated, theory-driven interventions that have potential to reach large numbers of children, youth, and families; (b) effective strategies for family recruitment and retention; (c) cultural sensitivity of interventions; (d) application of a developmental life course perspective; (e) strategies for linking higher-risk population subgroups with potentially beneficial services; (f) improved diffusion mechanisms for sustained, quality delivery; and (g) policy making informed by research, including economic analysis. A summary of how articles address these tasks concludes with a discussion of the importance of futher strengthening a public service orientation in prevention science.

The Labor Market Consequences of Childhood Maladjustment

Social Science Q
The Labor Market Consequences of Childhood Maladjustment
Paul Fronstin, David H. Greenberg, and Philip K. Robins
Objective. This article uses data from the National Child Development Survey on a cohort of individuals born in Great Britain during the first week of March 1958 to investigate whether educational attainment and labor force behavior 33 years later are affected by childhood behavioral problems that are exhibited at both age 7 and age 16.

Method. Regression methods are used to test hypotheses concerning these effects.

Results. Our results indicate that maladjusted children suffer economically when they reach adulthood. Maladjusted children perform worse on aptitude tests and have lower educational attainment. Maladjusted children also are less likely to be employed at age 33 and to have lower wages when employed. Part of the reduced employment and wages is the result of lower education, but part is also due to other factors.

Conclusion. Future research should investigate whether adult labor market outcomes vary with the type of behavioral problems exhibited at younger ages.

Illustrative Bibliography - Common Ground on Abortion

Bankole, Akinrinola, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas. 1998. Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries. International Family Planning Perspectives, 24(3):117-127 & 152.

Brown, Sarah, and Leon Eisenberg, eds. 1995. The best of intentions: Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-Being of Children and Families. Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Dworkin, Rosalind J. and Alfred N. Poindexter. 1980. Pregnant low-income teenagers: A social structural model of the determinants of abortion-seeking behavior. Youth and Society v11 n3 p295-309.

General Accounting Office. 1990. Home visiting: A promising intervention strategy for at-risk families. Washington D.C.: author.

Glendon, Mary Ann. 2001. The Ever-Changing Interplay Between Democracy and Civil Society. Proceedings of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences: Vatican City.

Goode, Erich. 1997. Deviant behavior. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Halle, Tamara, Jonathan Zaff, Julia Calkins, and Nancy Geyelin Margie. 2000. Background for community-level work on school readiness: A review of definitions, assessments, and investment strategies. Washington D.C.: Child Trends.

Hirschi, Travis. 1994. Family. In The generality of deviance, eds. Travis Hirschi and Michael R. Gottfredson, 47-69. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Hirschi, Travis, and Michael R. Gottfredson. eds. 1994. The generality of deviance. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Hunter, James Davison. 1997. Partisanship and the abortion controversy. Society, Vol. 34, Issue 5.

Jones, Rachel K., Jacqueline E. Darroch and Stanley K. Henshaw. 2002. Patterns in the Socioeconomic Characteristics of Women Obtaining Abortions in 2000-2001. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 34, Number 5.

Lanctot, Nadine and Carolyn A Smith. 2001. S