Paternal alcoholism and toddler noncompliance.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effect of fathers' alcoholism and associated risk factors on toddler compliance with parental directives at 18 and 24 months of age. METHODS: Participants were 215 families with 12-month-old children, recruited through birth records, who completed assessments of parental substance use, family functioning, and parent-child interactions at 12, 18, and 24 months of child age. Of these families, 96 were in the control group, 89 families were in the father-alcoholic-only group, and 30 families were in the group with two alcohol-problem parents. Child compliance with parents during cleanup situations after free play was measured at 18 and 24 months. The focus of this paper is on four measures of compliance: committed compliance, passive noncompliance, overt resistance, and defiance. RESULTS: Sons of alcohol-problem parents exhibited higher rates of noncompliance compared with sons of nonalcoholic parents. Sons in the two-alcohol-problem parent group seemed to be following a trajectory toward increasing rates of noncompliance. Daughters in the two-alcohol-problem parent group followed an opposite pattern. Other risk factors associated with parental alcohol problems also predicted compliance, but in unexpected ways. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that early risk for behavioral undercontrol is present in the toddler period among sons of alcoholic fathers, but not among daughters.

Paternal alcoholism, parental psychopathology, and aggravation with infants.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of paternal alcohol problems, antisocial behavior, and depression in predicting parental attitudes toward their 12-month-old infants. Families were recruited from birth records and the final sample consisted of 216 families, 101 in the control group and 115 families with alcoholic fathers (92 with light drinking partners and 23 with heavy drinking partners). Results indicated that fathers' alcoholism was associated with higher paternal aggravation with the infant. Further, fathers' depression mediated the relationship between fathers' current alcohol problems and aggravation. Fathers' alcoholism was indirectly associated with maternal aggravation and warmth through the relationship with maternal antisocial behavior and depression. Results suggest that at least during early infancy, parental psychopathology associated with fathers' alcohol problems may play a more important role in predicting parental attitudes toward their infants than alcoholism per se. Results are further discussed in terms of their implications for parenting and later development among infants of alcoholics.

Halocarbons produced by natural oxidation processes during degradation of organic matter.

Volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOC) play an important role in atmospheric chemical processes-contributing, for example, to stratospheric ozone depletion. For anthropogenic VHOC whose sources are well known, the global atmospheric input can be estimated from industrial production data. Halogenated compounds of natural origin can also contribute significantly to the levels of VHOC in the atmosphere. The oceans have been implicated as one of the main natural sources, where organisms such as macroalgae and microalgae can release large quantities of VHOC to the atmosphere. Some terrestrial sources have also been identified, such as wood-rotting fungi, biomass burning and volcanic emissions. Here we report the identification of a different terrestrial source of naturally occurring VHOC. We find that, in soils and sediments, halide ions can be alkylated during the oxidation of organic matter by an electron acceptor such as Fe(III): sunlight or microbial mediation are not required for these reactions. When the available halide ion is chloride, the reaction products are CH3Cl, C2H5Cl, C3H7Cl and C4H9Cl. (The corresponding alkyl bromides or alkyl iodides are produced when bromide or iodide are present.) Such abiotic processes could make a significant contribution to the budget of the important atmospheric compounds CH3Cl, CH3Br and CH3I.

Husband's and wife's drinking: unilateral or bilateral influences among newlyweds in a general population sample.

OBJECTIVE: It is often assumed that a husband's drinking influences his wife's drinking, but that the wife's drinking has no impact on her husband's drinking. However, there are little data that examine this. This article explores drinking patterns over the transition to marriage to assess whether changes in drinking patterns are influenced by the spouse's drinking and whether this influence is comparable for husbands and wives. METHOD: Approximately 500 husbands and wives were recruited after applying for their marriage licenses and participated in a longitudinal study of alcohol and marriage. Couples completed questionnaires that assessed alcohol use over the preceding year. These questionnaires were completed at the time of marriage and at the first anniversary. RESULTS: Structural equation models were used to examine the longitudinal relationships between husband and wife drinking. The final model indicated that husbands and wives manifested similar drinking patterns at the time of marriage that could not be attributed to sociodemographic factors. Husbands' drinking at premarriage was significantly associated with wives' drinking after marriage, but the reverse was not true. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that husbands and wives display similar patterns in alcohol use, in part because husbands and wives marry similar individuals and because common life experiences impact the drinking of couples in a comparable manner. The similarity also occurs as the reflection of a husband influence on the wife. However, this process appears to be unilateral in that there was no evidence that the wife's drinking had an impact on the drinking of her husband.

Parent-infant interactions among families with alcoholic fathers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers' alcoholism and the quality of parent-infant interactions during free play. A related goal was to study the potential mediating or moderating role of comorbid parental psychopathology, such as depression and antisocial behavior, difficult infant temperament, and parental aggression. The sample consisted of 204 families with 12-month-old infants (104 alcoholic and 100 control families), recruited from New York State birth records. Results indicated that fathers' alcoholism was associated with a number of other risk factors (depression, antisocial behavior, and family aggression). Fathers' alcoholism was also associated with more negative father-infant interactions as indicated by lower paternal sensitivity, positive affect, verbalizations, higher negative affect, and lower infant responsiveness among alcoholic fathers. As expected, fathers' depression mediated the relationship between fathers' alcoholism and sensitivity, while maternal depression mediated the association between maternal alcohol problems and maternal sensitivity. Parents' psychopathology did not moderate the association between alcoholism and parent-infant interactions. The results from the present study suggest that the origins of risk for later maladjustment among children of alcoholic fathers are apparent as early as infancy and highlight the role of comorbid parental risk factors.

Effects of Brazelton demonstrations on later parenting: a meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis of parenting interventions based on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) was conducted. Only published studies (n = 13) were included in this analysis, with one effect size entered for each study. The studies contained a total of 668 families, an average of about 51 per study. Effect sizes are reported in terms of the correlation coefficient (r) as well as the difference between experimental and control group means divided by the pooled standard deviation (Cohen's d). Analyses were conducted by weighting each study equally (unit weighting) and also by sample size. Similar average effect size were obtained for both weighting procedures (r's of about.2, d's of about.4), indicating that Brazelton-based interventions during the neonatal period have a small-moderate beneficial effect on the quality of later parenting. The probability of obtaining these findings by chance approached zero. The potential factors influencing these results are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

And baby makes four: predictors of attachment security among preschool-age firstborns during the transition to siblinghood.

The present study examined preschool-age firstborns' adjustment to siblinghood, as indexed by security of firstborn-mother attachment, in a sample of 194 2-Parent families. Security of firstborn attachment decreased significantly after a secondborn's birth, but the size of the decrease was smaller among firstborns under 24 months relative to 2-5-year-olds. Mothers' marital harmony and affective involvement with firstborns predicted firstborn security before and after the baby's birth, whereas mothers' psychiatric symptoms predicted firstborn security only after the birth. Post-hoc analyses of select subgroups revealed that mothers of firstborns with high security scores before the newborn's birth, regardless of whether scores remained high or dropped after the birth, showed higher levels of psychosocial and behavioral functioning than did mothers of firstborns with consistently low security scores at both time points. However, substantial drops in firstborn security after a secondborn's birth were associated with higher maternal psychiatric symptom scores both prior to and following the birth. Results suggest that quality of firstborn adjustment to siblinghood can be predicted from both structural and familial aspects of the firstborn environment.

Maternal working models of attachment, marital adjustment, and the parent-child relationship.

This study examined the connection between maternal working models, marital adjustment, and the parent-child relationship. Subjects were 45 mothers who were observed in problem-solving interactions with their 16-62-month-old children (M = 33 months). Mothers also completed the Attachment Q-set, the Adult Attachment Interview, and a marital adjustment scale. As predicted, maternal working models were related to the quality of mother-child interactions and child security, and there was a significant relation between marital adjustment and child security. Maternal working models and marital adjustment were also associated interactively with child behavior and child security. Among children of insecure mothers, child security scores were higher when mothers reported high (vs. low) marital adjustment. No relation between child security scores and mothers' marital adjustment was found among children of secure mothers. These results suggest that maternal working models influence parenting and child adjustment well beyond infancy, to which period the few existing studies of adult attachment have been restricted. The results also suggest that interactions between maternal working models and the marital adjustment on child behavior and attachment security need to be more closely examined.

Direct solar radiation: spectrum and irradiance derived from sun-photometer measurements.

The continuous spectrum of the direct solar radiation from lambda= 330 to 2690 nm, penetrating a cloudless atmosphere and arriving on the earth surface, is determined by measuring the solar irradiance in ten selected discrete spectral ranges defined by interference filters. Heretofore knowledge of the extraterrestrial solar spectrum has been required as well as of the transmittance functions to describe the spectral optical properties of the atmosphere. A set of appropriate and simple functions is given and discussed, which allows calculation of the molecular, aerosol, oxygen, and ozone optical thicknesses. The influence of atmospheric water vapor is considered through line by line calculations. The dominant and most fluctuating extinction parameters are the aerosol optical thickness and the content of precipitable water vapor. These are obtained by measurements with two sun photometers, developed according to the WMO recommendation. To test the derived solar spectrum at ground level the photometers are also run with nine broadband filters. The values observed differ little from those obtained by integration of the deduced spectral irradiance. Furthermore, the integral value of the resulting entire spectrum agrees reasonably well with the total direct irradiance gained from actinometer measurements.

Fourier representation of the energy distribution of an electromagnetic field scattered by spherical particles.

A solution to the scattering problem for spherical particles is presented in terms of a Fourier series expansion for the electromagnetic field as well as for the corresponding energy distribution. The basic assumptions are the same as for the Mie solution. The Fourier coefficients of the energy distribution show a systematic behavior as functions of the size parameter alpha = 2piR/lambda (R = radius of particle, lambda = wavelength of scattered light), and they depend significantly on the complex index of refraction N = n - in k of the particles (n = real index of refraction, k = absorption index). These coefficients are approximately proportional to the volume of the sphere superimposed with an oscillation of Bessel function type with argument (n - 1) alpha. They can be measured directly without any intricate Fourier analysis; and since they depend in a distinct way on the quantities n and k, they can be used to determine these optical properties of particles of an unknown material. The scattering influence of a gaseous carr er medium can be eliminated without any experimental arrangement just by using an appropriate Fourier coefficient of the scattered energy distribution.

Determination of the complex index of refraction of spherical aerosol particles.

This paper discusses the possibility for the determination of the properties of the substance of spherical aerosol particles by optical methods, i.e., the complex index of refraction. Optimal information is obtained concerning the light scattered by the aerosol particles by analyzing the degree of polarization, the ellipticity, and the angle that specifies the orientation of the ellipse of the field vector. The theoretical investigation has been based on narrow log normal size distributions and on complex indices of refraction: n = m (1 - ix) with m = 1.33 (1.41), (1.50), (1.60), and (1.70), and mx = 0.0 (0.02), (0.05), (0.07), and (0.10).

The elliptical polarization of light scattered by a volume of atmospheric air.

The scattering of linearly polarized light by aerosol particles produces partly polarized light whose ellipticity is theoretically and experimentally investigated for the specific case of a continental atmospheric aerosol in a volume of air. With the Mie theory and under the assumption of various aerosol size-distribution models, the ellipticity has been computed as a function of the scattering angle for various wavelengths. The computations have been based upon complex indices of refraction: M = 1.5-0.0i, M = 1.5-0.0li, M = 1.5-0.li, M = 1.44-0.0i, M = 1.4-0.0i, M = 1.33-0.0i. The comparison between computed and measured values for the wavelengths of lambda = 0.45 micro to lambda = 0.65 micro discloses for dry aerosol a real part of the refractive index m = 1.50 and an imaginary part 0.01 0.1. With moist aerosol, the real part of the refractive index as well as the imaginary part decreases.