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Parental leave in Sweden can be taken both as paid and unpaid leave and often parents mix these forms in a very flexible way. Therefore, multiple methodological issues arise regarding how to most accurately measure leave length. The purpose of this paper is to review the somewhat complex legislation and the possible ways of using parental leave before presenting a successful attempt of a more precise way of measuring leave lengths, including paid and unpaid days, for mothers and fathers.

The study makes use of administrative data for a complete cohort of parents of first born children in 2009 in Sweden. The authors examine what characteristics are associated with the use of paid and unpaid leave for mothers and fathers during the first two years of the child’s life, focusing particularly on how individual and household income is associated with leave patterns.

Among mothers, low income is associated with many paid leave days whereas middle income is associated with most unpaid days. High income mothers use a shorter leave. Among fathers it is the both ends with high and low household income that uses most paid and unpaid leave.

A measure that includes unpaid parental leave will be important to not underestimate the parental leave and to prevent faulty comparisons between groups by gender and by socioeconomic status.

A measure of parental leave including both paid and unpaid leave will also facilitate international comparisons of leave length.

It is unclear whether information obtained from a one parent can be used to infer the other parent's history of psychopathology. Two hundred and one parental dyads were asked to complete psychiatric interviews. Based on maternal report, non-participating husbands/ fathers had higher rates than participating fathers of psychiatric illness. For fathers who did participate, maternal report did not match direct interview of paternal psychopathology with sensitivities less than 0.40 and positive predictive values of 0.33 to 0.74. Psychopa -thology may be over-represented among fathers who do not participate in research. Mother report of paternal symptoms is not an effective proxy. Alternative methods need to be developed to: i) improve father participation or ii) identify psychiatric status in fathers who do not participate in research projects.

Understanding parental psychopathology interaction is important in preventing negative family outcomes. This study investigated the effect of paternal psychiatric history on maternal depressive symptom trajectory from birth to 12 months postpartum. Maternal Edinburgh Postpartum Depression screens were collected at 1, 6 and 12 months and fathers' psychiatric diagnoses were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV from 64 families. There was not a significant difference in the trajectory of maternal depressive symptoms between mothers with partners with history of or a current psychiatric condition or those without a condition. However, mothers with partners with substance abuse history had higher levels of depressive symptoms relative to those affected by mood/anxiety disorders or those without a disorder. Our results call for a closer look at paternal history of substance abuse when treating postpartum maternal depression.

This paper aims to analyze the lived experience of seeking justice and reparations related to conceiving a peacekeeper-fathered child.

Based on 18 semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted across Haiti in 2017, the authors mapped the experiences of Haitian mothers of peacekeeper-fathered children onto the ecological framework, proposing prevention/response strategies at the micro, meso and macro levels.

The findings mainly focus on reporting and access to support. Reporting was sometimes discouraged by the peacekeeper fathers due to the fear of being reprimanded. Among women who did report, some were told that nothing could be done, as the peacekeeper returned to his home country. Disclosure fatigue was common among participants who formally reported their pregnancies/peacekeeper-fathered children, particularly when promises of employment or child support failed to materialize. Overall, there was widespread distrust and disillusionment with the UN’s reporting and support system.

To improve the UN’s sexual abuse and exploitation prevention/response system at the micro level, the authors propose addressing personal knowledge/attitudes/beliefs through scenario-based and contextually relevant peacekeeper training and addressing the sexual/reproductive health needs of women and girls in proximity to peacekeeping bases. At the meso level, the UN should improve trust in reporting. Efforts to do so should include mandatory third-party deoxyribonucleic acid testing and banking, streamlined reporting mechanisms and removing the practice of automatically repatriating implicated peacekeepers. At the macro level, the authors recommend investments to improve educational and economic opportunities for women and girls, as well as revamping policies that contribute to impunity and absolve peacekeepers and troop-contributing countries of their responsibilities to provide child support.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of having minor children on parents' life satisfaction. Given the demands on working parents in terms of their time and financial resources, the authors suspect a complex interaction between employment and parenthood and explore the effect of parenthood on life satisfaction of mothers and fathers, working parents and those with children of various ages.

Data from three rounds of the European Social Survey (R3 2006/07, R5 2010/11 and R8 2016/17) are used to account for Ireland's changing economic landscape. Three ordered probit models are estimated examining parents, and mothers and fathers separately.

The findings indicate that any life satisfaction benefits derived from having children appear to be eroded for working parents. There is a negative association between life satisfaction for working mothers with child(ren) aged between 5 and 12 years. Furthermore, when both parents are working, mothers' life satisfaction is also significantly reduced.

Family policies and supports can shape the effects of parenthood on individual wellbeing and decisions regarding parenthood. Such policies need to be purposeful for working parents of school going children and consistent with economic strategy and labour market goals.

Much of the existing economic research on individual wellbeing and parenthood are focused on the fertility decision rather than examining the factors affecting the life satisfaction of different cohorts of parents thus leading to more targeted and informed policies. Contemporary weighting methodology is employed.

Introduction: The birth of a preterm child requires hospitalization in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which is a very stressful experience for parents. Aim: To determine the stress level of parents of preterm babies admitted to intensive and sub-intensive units in two hospitals in Northern Italy and its association with their sociodemographic variables and the clinical conditions of their newborns.

The sampling was non-probabilistic and included parents of preterm babies admitted to intensive and/or sub-intensive care for at least 10 days. Instruments: (1) information deduced from the clinical record of preterm newborns; (2) sociodemographic determinants of parents' well-being deduced from a questionnaire; (3) parental stress scale: neonatal intensive care unit (PSS:NICU), which measures the perception of parents about stressors from the physical and psychological environment of the NICU.

Results: A total of 104 parents of 59 hospitalized preterm babies participated in the study. The average parental stress level was 1.87 ± 0.837. The subscale score that got higher was parent-infant relationship subscale. Concerning the infant characteristics, the birth weight of the babies and the length of their hospitalization affected the parents' stress level. Looking at parents' sociodemographic characteristics instead, the greater predictors were gender, age and occupational social class.

The parental role alteration caused by infant premature birth and consequent hospitalization is a major stressor for parents and in particular for mothers. The variables that resulted positively associated with higher stress in parents of preterm infants hospitalized are specific parental characteristics, including not adequately or previously studied ones, and infant characteristics.

The practice of consanguinity has been culturally preferred in most Arab countries, including Morocco. This behavior leads to an increase in genetic abnormalities, such as hypertension and diabetes. This paper examines the prevalence and determinants of first-cousin marriages and their impact on diabetes among offspring.

Data on 882 couples were collected through face-to-face interview via a pre-established questionnaire based on the variables selected within the objectives of this study. The authors used the multiple logistic regression modeling procedure in this study.

The results of the study indicate that the prevalence of first-cousin marriages were 15% among students’ parents. From the multiple logistic regression modeling, the authors found a significant effect of paternal and maternal grandparents’ first-cousins marriage on that of parents (aOR = 3.27 and aOR = 3.36, respectively). However, an 11-fold higher risk of first relative marriages among parents once the paternal and maternal grandparents were first-cousins and the father was illiterate (aOR = 11.01). Moreover, the authors reported a diabetes risk of more than 14 times when the effects of first-cousin maternal grandparents and parents and the hypertension among mother or her sibling were combined (aOR = 14.48) or when the effects of first-cousins maternal grandparents, first-cousin parents and mother’s age at marriage between 21 and 29 years were combined (aOR = 14.56).

First-cousin marriage depends on the father’s illiteracy and the consanguinity of grandparents’ factors. The cumulative effect of first-cousin marriage among grandparents, parents and a family history of hypertension among mother or her sibling increase the risk of diabetes among these mothers.

Nowadays, quality of life is receiving an increasing attention in all scientific areas. Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare neurological development, affecting mainly females. The congenital disease affects the central nervous system, and is one of the most common causes of severe intellectual disability. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of RTT on the quality of life of people who are affected. Both parents of 18 subjects, all female, diagnosed with RTT, took part in the research. Quality of life was assessed using the Italian version of the Impact of Childhood Illness Scale. This scale consists of 30 questions that investigate the effect of illness on children, parents and families. For each question, the parent was asked to rate two variables: frequency and importance. Another questionnaire was administered to obtain medical history, diagnostic and therapeutic data of the persons with RTT. Our data show that RTT has a considerable impact on both the child's development and the entire family. Parents' answers demonstrated that their child's illness had consequences for the child and how the family coped with it. For this reason, attention should be directed at psychological and social aspects, as well as attitudes, manners, reactions and effects such disturbances can have on the entire family.

This research aims to examine and compare differences in waṣiyyah wājibah (obligatory bequest) (WW) practices in Malaysia and Indonesia.

This is an exploratory qualitative research, employing a thematic analysis approach. Six Muslim Wills (State) Enactments [Enakmen Wasiat Orang Islam (Negeri)] in Malaysia, Islamic Law Compilation (Kompilasi Hukum Islam) in Indonesia, two fatwas (ruling in religious matters) and one court case from each country are analysed. Data is collected from official government websites and other reliable search engines.

First, the findings show that the WW practice in both countries is similar regarding the quantum of the beneficiaries' entitlement. However, the practice varies between both countries in terms of the types of beneficiaries and how the bequest is distributed. Second, this study shows the potential of WW as an estate planning instrument to complement the existing instruments in each country, especially when addressing family members who are not entitled to succeed by farāʾiḍ (Islamic inheritance law).

The provision of relevant laws and regulations regarding WW needs to be formulated to guarantee the well-being of dependants. The differences in practice between the two countries can be a guideline to expand the WW scope and context to other Muslim countries.

This study is the first attempt to compare WW between two Muslim-majority countries focusing on relevant laws, court cases and regulations.

This paper aims to present an analysis of the various dimensions of naturalness that shape the consumption practices of parents with young children.

The study builds on semi-structured interviews with 17 mothers and fathers focusing on parental decision-making in everyday consumption from pregnancy to the first years of the child’s life.

Naturalness is a tool allowing parents to navigate in a world of risks and part of an everyday consumption practice that constructs and maintains children as vulnerable and parents as responsible. Parents perceive naturalness as something with three dimensions: familiarity, purity and culture. These three dimensions lead to different parental practices around consumption.

The analysis contributes to the authors’ understanding of parenting, childhood, risk, safety and consumption by showing how and why parents of young children construct naturalness as a three-dimensional ideal in their consumption practices.