Family Support to Women During Pregnancy and Its Impact on Maternal and Fetal Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Family support is one of the determinants of lifestyle habits and relevant health behavior for pregnancy outcomes. In India, the joint family system is still practiced. Due to education, urbanization, and industrialization, the family institution continues to play a central role in people's lives. Pregnancy is a crucial period in women's lives. Good care during pregnancy is important for the health of the mother and the newborn baby. During this period, hormonal changes are complex and involve multiple hormones working together to support the developing fetus and prepare the mother's body for labor, delivery, and breastfeeding. To avoid maternal and fetal complications, she needs support from her family throughout pregnancy and the postnatal period. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the influence of the level and quality of family support during pregnancy on maternal and fetal outcomes and to identify any association between the sociodemographic variables and the impact of the level and quality of family support during the first trimester. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study used a quantitative approach with a survey research design. Data were collected from four Primary Health Centers at Karad, Maharashtra, India, i.e., Rethare, Vadgaon, Kale, and Supane. A consecutive sampling technique was used to select the 344 subjects from the Rethare, Vadgaon, Kale, and Supane areas of Karad Taluka. Data were collected before the completion of the first three months of pregnancy, then during the second trimester and after delivery. Upon evaluation, the tool was validated by experts representing a range of specialties, including community health nursing, mental health nursing, obstetric gynecology, and pediatric care. A pilot study was conducted on 30 samples. The data collected were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULT: The findings of the study show a significant association between the psychosocial support received in the first trimester and the total gestational weeks completed at the time of delivery (p < 0.05). The study suggests the need for psychosocial support during the first trimester for better maternal and fetal outcomes. CONCLUSION: Psychosocial family support is needed by pregnant women during the first trimester to achieve maternal and fetal outcomes.

Exploring the effects of family and life events on genetic and environmental architecture of schizotypal and hypomanic dimensions: Insights from a twin study.

BACKGROUND: Strategies of prevention for psychiatric disorders need a deep understanding of the aetiological factors involved in the psychopathological processes. Our twin study aims at disentangling the contributions of genes and environment to schizotypal and hypomanic dimensions, considering the role of stressful life events (LEs) and the quality of family relationships. METHODS: The Magical Ideation Scale (MIS) and Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS) were used to assess positive schizotypy, while Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) and its sub-scales were used to investigate proneness to affective disorders. 268 twins (54.5 % female; aged 18.0 ±â€¯6.68) were included. Participants filled out a questionnaire on LEs and their parents provided an evaluation of intra-family relationship (Relationship Quality Index, RQI). Classic univariate twin models for quantitative traits were fitted for scales, and the effects of covariates (LEs and RQI) were assessed. RESULTS: For MIS, HPS and its sub-scales, significant common and unique environmental effects were detected, with genetic factors affecting only HPS Social Vitality sub-scale. Unique environment was the only source of variance of PAS score. The number of recent LEs influenced MIS and PAS models, while RQI score affected MIS model. LIMITATIONS: The main limitation of the study is the small sample size, which reduces statistical power and may potentially lead to an underestimation of heritability. Additionally, the cross-sectional design limits the possibility to draw causal considerations. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide preliminary evidence for a significant environmental role in modulating states of vulnerability. Moreover, the expression of positive schizotypy resulted influenced by recent stressors and intra-family relationships.

Male Partner Involvement in Birth Preparedness, Complication Readiness and Obstetric Emergencies in Central Rural India: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Childbirth is mainly thought to be a woman's concern, and mortality can be prevented by making a birth plan constituting birth preparedness and complication readiness with the entire family as one unit. Indian National Plans aim to increase male involvement, but the policies lack directions and monitoring systems; hence, it becomes important to address this issue. METHODOLOGY:  A cross-sectional study conducted in a rural hospital and a community-based setup included 350 male participants, consisting of new fathers or expecting fathers, who were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire. RESULTS: Only 28.29% of male participants were well involved in the process of birth preparedness and complication readiness. 83% of the husbands accompanied their respective wives during ANC visits (mean number of visits: 5.76). 33% of males were aware of various danger signs and complications related to pregnancy. The males with better education (p-value < 0.005) and economic status (p-value < 0.0001) had better birth preparedness. Several variables in the study were positively correlated with the amount of money saved.  Interpretation and conclusion: Male involvement during pregnancy significantly impacts maternal and child health outcomes. However, this study highlights a lack of awareness and involvement among males. We strongly recommend enhancing existing maternal and child health (MCH) programs to include components focused on male partner engagement in birth preparedness, complication readiness, and obstetric emergencies.

Qualities of Older Adults' Family and Friendship Relationships and Their Association with Life Satisfaction.

While family and friendship relationship qualities are associated with life satisfaction, evidence on how these types of relationships interact to contribute to older adults' life satisfaction is sparse. This study examined how family and friendship relationship qualities may be supportive of (compensatory) or conflict with (competing) older adults' life satisfaction. We adopted a cross-sectional design to analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 1178, females = 54.8%, mean age = 67.9 years, SD = 9.3 years) to examine compensatory (as in social support) and competing (as in social strain) qualities of family and friendship social relationships and their association with life satisfaction in older adults. For greater explanatory power, we also controlled for life satisfaction by sociodemographic variables of age, gender, education, self-reported general health, physical health and activity, depression, and personality traits. Our findings indicate that the spouse/partner support relationship contributes to older adults' life satisfaction overall and is associated with greater social support and less social strain. Friendship support is associated with improved life satisfaction for older adults reporting spouse/partner strain. Relationship support for the life satisfaction of older adults should consider their need for social support from their social network while minimizing the risk of social strain from adversarial relationships in life situations.

Associations between the number of siblings, parent-child relationship and positive youth development of adolescents in mainland China: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Positive development plays an important role in youth when dealing with stressful circumstances. According to the resource dilution theory, adolescents with or without siblings may receive different levels of emotional and material resources from their parents. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between the positive development of adolescents in China today with their family characteristics such as the number of siblings. METHODS: A total of 2072 junior high and senior high school students (13 to 18 years old) in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, were investigated by cluster sampling. The Chinese Positive Youth Development scales (CPYDs) were used to measure positive youth development. The generalized linear model was used to explore the relationships among the number of siblings, parent-child relationships and positive youth development. RESULTS: Adolescents from only-child families had better performance on positive development (H = 21.87, P < 0.001) and better relationships with parents (H = 15.1, P < 0.05). The positive development of male and female adolescents does not significantly differ in families with different numbers of siblings. The generalized linear model showed that a positive parent-child relationship is positively correlated with adolescent positive development (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Positive youth development is not only associated with the number of siblings but also other modifiable familial factors. The positive relationship between parents and adolescents is of great practical value in daily life to improve youth development, and this might be the real lesson the resource dilution theory tells.

Caregiver burden in families of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis in India.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) causes caregiver burden on families with children affected with it. Our study aimed to explore this multifaceted burden in the Indian context. In this cross-sectional study, we administered the Hindi translated CAREGIVER questionnaire to adult caregivers in the families of JIA patients ≤ 18 years. The responses to the 28 items were used to calculate the burden scores in various dimensions. The relationship of the global burden scores with demographic and socioeconomic factors were analysed. Non parametric tests were used. Two hundred twenty-one caregivers participated with a median age of 39 years (IQR 32-45). This included 116 fathers, 50 mothers, 32 brothers, 18 uncles, three grandfathers, one sister, and one grandmother. The JIA patients had a median age of 15 (12-17) years, and the male-to-female ratio was 3.2:1. Enthesitis-related arthritis was the predominant subtype (72.4%). Most caregivers (70.6%) expressed sadness at diagnosis, and 29.9% continued to express sadness. Nearly two-thirds (65.6%) had to borrow money from others. More than half (59.3%) of the caregivers neglected their health, and 9.0% became sick. Male gender of the child, systemic JIA subtype, low socioeconomic status, high disease activity, extra-articular damage, high parent-reported disease activity and poor quality of life were associated with higher global caregiver burden. JIA has a significant emotional, social, economic, and labour impact on caregivers. Economic and psychosocial support needs to be given to family caregivers caring for children with JIA.

Overcoming Patient Pain Together: Breast Cancer Patients and Caregivers' Pretreatment Psychosocial Distress Linked to Patients' Pain Interference During the First Year of Treatment.

Breast cancer patients experience treatment-related pain from surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and long-term hormonal treatment, which can lead to poorer outcomes. Patient and family caregivers' psychosocial distress exacerbates patient pain interference, but this has not been directly examined among breast cancer patients in dyadic models longitudinally. Guided by a biopsychosocial framework, the Biobehavioral Family Model, we explore how multiple reports of patient pain interference across the first year of treatment are linked to the patient (N = 55) and caregiver (N = 55) pretreatment psychosocial distress (eg, depression, anxiety, marital satisfaction, family relationship quality). Specifically, we find that breast cancer patients' pain interference increases and then decreases over the first year of treatment. Additionally, caregivers' pretreatment anxiety was associated with increased patient pain interference over time (B = .19, SE = .07, P = .008), while patients' pretreatment psychosocial distress was not associated with a change in their pain interference. Yet, looking at clinically specific times during the first year of treatment, we find that caregiver-reported higher marital satisfaction is associated with lower patient-reported pain interference later in treatment (6 months: B = -.58, SE = .24, P = .017; 12 months: B = -.82, SE = .23, P < .001). We conclude that, per the Biobehavioral Family Model, pretreatment patient and caregiver psychosocial distress is linked to patient pain interference during the first year of breast cancer treatment. Thus, caregivers' psychosocial distress (ie, anxiety and marital satisfaction) may be a particularly important target in future dyadic behavioral intervention strategies to reduce breast cancer patient pain. PERSPECTIVE: This article presents the link between breast cancer patients and family caregiver pretreatment psychosocial distress (anxiety, depression, marital satisfaction, and family quality) on patient pain interference during 1 year of breast cancer treatment. Findings suggest that caregiver anxiety and marital satisfaction may be important targets for future dyadic behavioral pain interventions.

Familial Resilience in Crisis: Navigating the Mediating Landscape of Depressive Symptoms Between Uncertainty Stress and Suicide Behavior Among Chinese University Students.

Background: Previous findings indicate that stress has a profound influence on suicide behavior, but the potential mediating and moderating mechanisms are unknown between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior. The present study, therefore, examined the relationship between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior, the mediating effect of depressive symptoms, and the moderating effect of family relationship in a sample of university students in China. Methods: 1828 university students were assessed anonymously by using the Uncertainty Stress Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Brief Suicidal Scale, and Family Relationship Scale between May to June in 2021. SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis. PROCESS 3.5 was used to calculate the significance of the mediating and moderating effects of the variables. Results: Moderated mediation model analyses showed that: (a) depressive symptoms partially mediated the link between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior (indirect effect = 0.14, 95%bootstrap CI = 0.10, 0.19). The indirect effect of the depressive symptoms accounted for 67.12% of the total variance in suicide behavior. (b) The indirect association between uncertainty stress and suicide behavior was moderated by family relationship. Specifically, the paths from uncertainty stress to depressive symptoms (interact effect = -0.06, P<0.001) and depressive symptoms to suicide behavior (interact effect = -0.08, P<0.01) were weakened in the context of higher family relationship. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms play a crucial role in bridging uncertainty stress and suicide behavior, while the family relationship can buffer the mediation impact of depressive symptoms. These findings significantly contribute to the prevention and intervention of suicide in Chinese university students.

Meta-synthesis of qualitative studies to explore fathers' perspectives of their influence on children's obesity-related health behaviors.

BACKGROUND: In nursing research and practice, there is a paucity of information about how fathers perceive their role in shaping their children's health behaviors. Most studies on the parental factors affecting children's health behaviors have focused on the role of mothers. However, recent studies showed that fathers' health behaviors can influence those of their children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to synthesize existing qualitative studies to explore fathers' perspectives regarding how they influence children's obesity-related health behaviors. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive meta-synthesis. To retrieve relevant articles, we used databases including PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science. Only qualitative studies published in English-language peer-reviewed journals, targeting fathers of children aged 2-18 years, and focusing on fathers' perspectives were included. All the quotes collected from the studies were reviewed and coded, and thematic analysis was used to derive themes. RESULTS: Article screening and review yielded a total of 13 qualitative studies, from which the following themes emerged: (1) fathers' parenting practices and role-modeling behaviors, (2) fathers' roles in their relationships with their family members, and (3) fathers' resource-seeking behaviors and contributions to their home food environment. Fathers were aware that their parenting practices and role-modeling behaviors could influence their children's health behaviors. Furthermore, fathers recognized the importance of their relationships with family members, which was reflected in their family roles; that is, whether they took responsibility for childcare and household work, whether their parenting practices were similar to those of their spouses, and whether they involved their children in their activities. Fathers also reported their resource-seeking behaviors as well as their contribution to the home food environment, which affected their children's health behaviors. CONCLUSION: Fathers' perspectives on their influence on children's health behaviors reveal their unique paternal role in influencing children's health behaviors. Fathers' perspectives could be incorporated into future nursing research to examine the relationship between fathers' roles and children's health behaviors to develop better health intervention programs.

Staff Support for Family Relationship and Life Story Work for Children at Residential Care Facilities for Children with Disabilities in Japan.

This study aimed to identify the social care support provided by life story work and children's family relationships for children with disabilities in medical-type residential care facilities for children in Japan and the challenges thereof. The participants were 12 staff from residential care facilities for children with disabilities experienced in providing ongoing support to children admitted for social care purposes. Semi-constructive interviews on the life story work and support for family relationships practiced with children admitted to a residential care facility for children with disabilities for social care were conducted with the participants. The interviews were recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in 32 codes, 10 sub-themes, and four main themes. The main themes were family form, children's thoughts on their family, support for family relationships, and readiness for life story work. In some cases, children were not informed about their negative situation, that is, the reason for admission or their family situation. This was due to the lack of a unified view on life story work among staff and insufficient organizational readiness. The results suggest the need for a unified understanding throughout the organization, as well as the need to disseminate the methodology of life story work for children with disabilities.

The Associations between Cognitive Function, Depressive Symptoms, and Contact with Adult Children in Older Couples.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between cognitive function and depressive symptoms in older couples while also examining the relationship between cognitive performance and the frequency of contact with adult children. A total of 96 couples volunteered for this study and provided their informed consent at enrollment. Participants completed a neuropsychological test battery consisting of five cognitive domains: attention, language and related functions, visuospatial functions, memory, and frontal/executive functions. Symptoms of depression were assessed using the short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale. The number of contacts with children was categorized into ≥1 per month and <1 per month. We found that the cognitive functions of husbands with depressed wives were significantly lower in the frontal/executive functions. In contrast, the wives' cognitive performance was not associated with the husbands' depressive symptoms. For couples who had contact with their adult children less than once a month, the odds of the husbands with lower cognitive performance were significantly higher, which was reflected in their scores in visuospatial and executive functions. Among older married couples, the cognitive functions of husbands may be influenced more by their wives' mental health and degree of contact with their adult children. This infers that wives and offspring may act as a buffer against the cognitive impairment of older married men.

Smuggled Doughnuts and Forbidden Fried Chicken: Addressing Tensions around Family and Food Restrictions in Hospitals.

It is a common practice for family members to bring food to hospitalized loved ones. However, in some cases, this food contravenes a patient's dietary plan. Such situations can create significant tension and distrust between health care professionals and families and may lead the former to doubt a family's willingness or ability to support patient recovery. This case-study essay offers an ethical analysis of these situations. We draw on Hilde Lindemann's work to argue that providing food to family members is an important way that families discharge their moral functions of caring for their members and holding them in their identities. When family members are hospitalized, other means of performing these functions are limited. Acknowledging the ethical importance of feeding family members alongside the medical need for dietary restrictions, we offer strategies for creative problem-solving that center diet as a subject for shared decision-making and regular, ongoing communication among health care professionals, patients, and families.

The Moral Value of Telemedicine to the Physician-Patient Relationship.

Covid-19 heralded a natural experiment with telemedicine. My experience as a clinician was very positive, and learning how to use telemedicine has made me a better doctor. Telemedicine has flipped the medical service paradigm; families do not need to conform their busy lives to the medical office workflow. An appointment can be a virtual house call that takes less time for my patient's family and allows me to learn even more about their home. While there are limitations of telemedicine, there are good ethical reasons for clinicians to support the broader use of telehealth, including equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and respecting preferences. Empirical health-services research that assesses satisfaction, quality, and health outcomes will be necessary to determine the impact of telehealth on a population level to ensure that is used in a way that promotes equity in care.

Engagement and Retention of Families in Universal Australian Nurse-Home-Visiting Services: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Family support is offered to Australian parents of young children using a mix of targeted and universal child and family health services including nurse-home-visiting programmes. These rely on the voluntary engagement of families. In this study, the capacity to engage and retain families, including those at risk of becoming involved with child protection services, was examined. The broad objective was to identify nursing practices used at the interface of health and child protection services and to articulate those practices. Child and Family Health Nurses (CFHN) (n = 129) participated in a pragmatic, multilevel mixed-methods study. A questionnaire was used to identify nursing practices in the first phase of this study followed by focus groups in the second phase to describe these practices in more detail. Three practice themes were identified and described: enrolment, retention and conclusion of the nurse-family relationship. Universal child and family health services feature flexible, advanced, and multidimensional family support services including child protection practices. This paper focuses on practices employed by nurses to engage and retain families where child protection concerns are identified.

Association of family function and suicide risk in teenagers with a history of self-harm behaviors: mediating role of subjective wellbeing and depression.

Background: A history of self-harm behaviors is closely associated with subsequent suicide death. Although many factors associated with suicide have been identified, it remains unclear how these factors interact to influence suicide risk, especially among teenagers with a history of self-harm behaviors. Methods: Data were collected from 913 teenagers with a history of self-harm behaviors through a cross-sectional study. The Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve index was used to assess teenagers' family function. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 were used to evaluate depression and anxiety in teenagers and their parents, respectively. The Delighted Terrible Faces Scale was used to assess teenagers' perception of subjective wellbeing. The Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised was used to evaluate teenagers' suicide risk. Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA, multivariate linear regression, Pearson's correlation, and a structural equation model (SEM) were applied to data analysis. Results: Overall, 78.6% of teenagers with a history of self-harm behaviors were at risk for possible suicide. Female gender, severity of teenagers' depression, family function, and subjective wellbeing were significantly associated with suicide risk. The results of SEM suggested that there was a significant chain mediation effect of subjective wellbeing and depression between family function and suicide risk. Conclusion: Family function was closely associated with suicide risk in teenagers with a history of self-harm behaviors, and depression and subjective wellbeing were sequential mediators in the association between family function and suicide risk.

Violencia intrafamiliar en Colombia en los últimos doce años

La presente investigación consiste en evaluar y comparar estadísticamente el número de casos de violencia intrafamiliar en Colombia entre los años 2010-2021, con base en los reportes de la Policía Nacional. La base de datos está compuesta por 896.017 casos de violencia denunciados. Se empleó distribución de frecuencias, análisis comparativo por el método GLM y proyección Biplot. Cundinamarca diverge estadísticamente respecto a las demás regiones evaluadas, donde las mujeres presentan el mayor porcentaje de violencia intrafamiliar. Factores como las restricciones de movilidad, la incertidumbre, el estrés entre otros componentes, son la raíz de situaciones complejas familiares.

The present research consists of evaluating and statistically comparing the number of cases of intrafamily violence in Colombia between the years 2010-2021, based on the reports of the National Police. The database is made up of 896,017 reported cases of violence. Frequency distribution, comparative analysis by the GLM method and Biplot projection were used. Cundinamarca differs statically with respect to the other regions evaluated, where women present the highest percentage of domestic violence. Factors, such as mobility restrictions, uncertainty, stress, among other components, are at the root of complex family situations.

Factors Associated with Increased or Decreased Stress Level in French Children during the First COVID-19 Lockdown.

In spring 2020, governments of many countries implemented lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide, the pandemic forced about 1.5 billion children to stay at home for several weeks and to experience homeschooling. The objective of this study was to assess the variation in stress levels and associated factors in school-aged children in France during the first COVID-19 lockdown. A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was designed by an interdisciplinary team involving hospital child psychiatrists and school doctors. Between 15 June and 15 July 2020, Educational Academy of Lyon (France) invited the parents of school-aged children to participate in this survey. The first part of the questionnaire concerned the children with data on lockdown conditions, socio-demographic data, daily rhythms (eating and sleeping), perceived stress variations, and feelings. The second part assessed parental perspectives on their child's psychological state and use of the mental health care system. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with stress variation (increased or decreased). A total of 7218 questionnaires were fully completed by children from elementary school to high school with a balanced sex ratio. In summary, 29% of children reported a higher stress level during the lockdown, 34% reported a lower stress level, and 37% reported no stress variation in the usual situation prior to COVID-19. Parents were most often able to identify signs of increased stress levels in their children. The most influential factors in the variation of stress for children were academic pressure, family relationships, and fear of being infected or infecting a family member with SARS-CoV-2. Our study underlines the high impact of school attendance stressors on children in usual conditions and encourages vigilance for children whose stress levels have decreased during the lockdown but who may have increased difficulty re-exposing themselves upon deconfinement.

Interdisciplinary simulation for nursing and medical students about final conversations: Catalyzing relationships at the end of life (CAREol).

OBJECTIVES: Final conversations (FCs) go beyond how patients want to be cared for at the end of life (EOL) and focus on messages of love, identity specific, and unique to an individual and relationship that requires self-examination, everyday talk that normalizes a difficult situation, religious/spiritual messages, and if needed, difficult relationship talk to heal broken relationships. The purpose of the Catalyzing Relationships at the End of Life (CAREol) program was to provide interdisciplinary education to nursing and medical students and clinical faculty about facilitating FCs among patients and families. METHOD: This two-part, quasi-experimental program consisted of a cognitive (online) and experiential (live simulation) curriculum experience. Program curriculum, including video vignettes, readings, and live simulation (utilizing actors), was developed by the study team. Reflective journaling and researcher designed pre- and post-tests were used to assess comfort, confidence, importance, and distress regarding FCs and collaboration with other disciplines. RESULTS: The pre-/post-test questions demonstrate statistical significance based on a paired t-test with effect sizes supporting the practical importance of the findings for effect size. Preliminary content and thematic analysis of qualitative responses describe categories of the mock team meeting experience and interaction with the actors to change patient and family outcomes. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Early intervention with the CAREol program provides a framework to help students and clinical faculty facilitate FCs that may result in peace and comfort for patients and families during a difficult time.

Disturbed sleep and patterns of psychiatric symptoms and function in a school-based sample of adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems are common in adolescence and often related to psychopathology and impaired functioning. However, most studies have used summative scores, and little is known about how adolescents with disrupted sleep perceive their specific symptoms and dysfunctions. This study explored differences in levels of psychiatric symptoms and functional ability between Swedish adolescents with and without self-reported disturbed sleep in a school-based sample. METHODS: Swedish adolescents (n = 618, mean age 15.7+/-1.9yrs) answered the PROMIS pediatric measures for fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain interference, anger, physical activity and peer and family relationships. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess differences between respondents with and without disturbed sleep. RESULTS: Disturbed sleep was associated with higher levels of symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, depression, anger and pain interference, as well as lower functional abilities in terms of physical activity and peer- and family relationships. Adolescents reporting disturbed sleep generally displayed a pattern of impaired executive functioning, internal emotional distress and school- and sleep related worry and dysfunction, as compared to physical disability, aggressive behavior, stress and generalized worry. CONCLUSIONS: The present study adds to the understanding of how disturbed sleep and specific psychiatric symptoms and functional ability are interrelated, which may also have clinical implications.

Associations between Pet Care Responsibility, Companion Animal Interactions, and Family Relationships during COVID-19.

For families with children during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to explore how both youth and parents view their roles with regard to the shared caretaking of pets. While most human-animal interaction studies examine adult or early childhood samples, our focus was on adolescent development. We present findings from a U.S. based mixed-method study of adolescent surveys and parent interviews regarding pet care responsibility. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we analyzed survey data from 567 pet-owning adolescents and a subset of 356 dog owning adolescents aged 10-17 as well as 31 in-depth interviews with parents of adolescents from the same study. Higher reported pet caretaking responsibilities was significantly associated with a preference for spending time with pets when stressed and improved family relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic for both pet owners and dog owners. For dog owners only, increased levels of responsibility for the pet was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of identifying as a pet owner. Qualitative findings showcase the range of parental expectations and adolescent initiative around pet caretaking. Our study highlights the continued importance of pet companionship during the adolescent years as they develop their identities as responsible pet owners.