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Child malnutrition is a grave concern for Pakistan, as the country has one of the highest incidences of child stunting in the developing world. The present study examines the relative significance of parents' education on a child's nutritional status in Pakistan.

For analysis, the study has used data from Phase 7 of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) (2017–2018). Since the dependent variable ranges from 0 to 1 (1 indicates not a stunted child, while 0 represents a stunted child), binary logistic regressions are used for the analysis.

The results show that mothers' and fathers' education positively contributes to a child's nutrition. However, mothers' education is considered more significant, especially in the long run. The mother's education categories are positive and significant in the long run, while only their higher education is positive and significant for the father's. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect also shows that the probability of stunting is less if the mothers are educated. The long-run coefficient for mothers' higher education is 0.752, while that of fathers' higher education is only 0.232.

The present study compares the importance of mothers' and fathers' education in child nutrition and concludes that the role of the mother is more crucial for child upbringing. There are rarely any studies that focus on the role of fathers' education in child nutrition and compare whose role, mothers' or fathers,' is more important for child well-being.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0483

The protective aspects of relationships for health have been extensively studied. Here, we assess whether different dimensions of partnership status at the time of a child’s birth are associated with better self-assessed health later in mid-life. Data are from three countries with different social welfare policies relating to union status and parenting: the US, the UK, and Norway. Results indicate that women who were partnered at first birth had better health at midlife in all three countries than women who were unpartnered. The analysis indicates no differences in the mid-life health of Norwegian women who were married or cohabiting at birth, whereas for US and UK women, being married at the birth of a first child is more beneficial for mid-life health than bearing the child in a cohabiting union. In the US, women who are least likely to marry do not demonstrate better mid-life health if they had wed relative to cohabiting. In the UK, in contrast, the women least likely to be married at the birth experience better returns if they marry. These findings highlight the importance of paying closer attention to heterogeneous treatment effects as they relate to childbearing, relationship status, and mid-life health.

This study aims to examine the association between minimum dietary diversity (MDD) and the concurrence of stunting and overweight (CSO) among children aged 6–23 months.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Sedayu Subdistrict, Bantul District, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The authors assessed the concurrence of stunting (height-for-age Z-score below −2 standard deviations SD) and overweight/obesity (Body mass index BMI-for-age Z-score above +2 SD) among a total of 189 children aged 6–23 months as the primary outcome. The authors defined MDD as consuming at least four out of seven food groups using a single 24-h recall. The authors also included other covariates, including sociodemographic characteristics, exclusive breastfeeding history and complementary feeding practices. To identify the factors associated with CSO, this study conducted multiple logistic regression across the study variables using STATA 16.1.

In the adjusted model, children who met the MDD criterion were associated with a reduced risk of CSO (adjusted odds ratios [OR]: 0.14; 95%confidence interval CI: 0.03–2.43). Compared to boys, girls were more likely to experience CSO (adjusted OR: 5.23; 95%CI: 1.02–26.9). Middle economic status was a protective factor for CSO (adjusted OR: 0.10; 95%CI: 0.01–0.98). This study did not find a significant relationship between CSO and the child’s age, low birth weight, exclusive breastfeeding, energy intake, protein intake, parental education and parental occupation.

This study suggests future programs and policies that promote dietary diversity to reduce the risk of CSO.

This study reveals the association between MDD and the coexistence of stunting and overweight.

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.

This study examines the relationships between parents' and children's occupations to determine the existence of intergenerational transmission of occupations.

To achieve the purpose of the study, four predominant occupational types based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO): agriculture and forestry; services and sales; managerial/administrative; and professional/technical are examined using data from the latest (7th) round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS). Two complementary methods involving the correlational analysis and regression-based techniques are used.

The findings indicate the presence of parental influences on children's occupational choices (same-sex and cross-sex) in the Ghanaian labour market, with maternals and same-sector effects having a more substantial influence on children's occupational choices, especially in agriculture and forestry, and services and sales sectors.

The lack of panel data in observing children's occupational choices over time makes it challenging to assume direct causation.

The study is the first to highlight the relative strengths of paternal influence (father's effect) and maternal impact (mother's effect) on sons' and daughters' occupational choices in Africa. The findings have several implications for intergenerational (im)mobility of occupations including how policymakers can make career guidance more effective.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2022-0705

Parental job loss has been shown to have a negative impact on a large number of children's outcomes, in particular for low-income children. Given the amount of time freed up by loss of employment and the fact that active time with one's children appears to be a productive input in their human capital production function, increases in the time parents spend with their children have the potential to positively impact a child or to counteract other negative consequences of parental job loss. This chapter studies how low- and higher-income parents change their time investment in their children when faced with job loss. Using national time-diary data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) linked to longitudinal labor market data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), I find that parents spend almost 15% of the time freed up by job loss – roughly 3.5 additional hours per week – actively with their children. Low-income parents invest their freed-up time no differently from higher-income parents. While mothers who lose their job respond by spending more time actively with their children, this adjustment is much smaller for fathers. This suggests that differential adjustments in time investment may play a role in the impact maternal versus paternal job loss has on children's outcomes.

Adolescent mental health is a global concern. There is an urgent need for creative, multimedia interventions reflecting adolescent culture to promote mental health literacy and well-being. This study aims to assess the impact of a film-based intervention on adolescent mental health literacy, well-being and resilience.

A pretest-posttest intervention with a multi-methods evaluation was used. A convenience sample of ten schools facilitated students aged 15–17 years to engage in an online intervention (film, post-film discussion, well-being Webinar). Participants completed surveys on well-being, resilience, stigma, mental health knowledge and help-seeking. Five teachers who facilitated the intervention participated in post-implementation interviews or provided a written submission. Analysis included paired-t-test and effect size calculation and thematic analysis.

Matched pretest-posttest data were available on 101 participants. There were significant increases in well-being, personal resilience and help-seeking attitudes for personal/emotional problems, and suicidal ideation. Participants’ free-text comments suggested the intervention was well-received, encouraging them to speak more openly about mental health. Teachers similarly endorsed the intervention, especially the focus on resilience.

Intinn shows promise in improving adolescents’ mental health literacy and well-being. Film-based interventions may encourage adolescents to seek professional help for their mental health, thus facilitating early intervention.

Globally millions of children have a parent who is imprisoned. Research suggests that this has an adverse impact on the child and imprisonment of a parent is considered to be an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Parental incarceration will not only affect the child but the entire household and may result in further ACEs such as household dysfunction and parental separation making this group of children particularly vulnerable. This scoping review aims to adopt an international perspective to comprehensively examine the extent range and nature of literature both published and grey relating to parental incarceration and the potential impact on children’s emotional and mental health.

In this scoping review, the five stages identified by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) were used including identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting data, collating, summarising and reporting results. In addition, the included studies were appraised for quality using methodology-specific tools. A critical narrative synthesis was adopted to present findings and discussion.

Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Of the included studies, eight were retrieved from peer-reviewed journals and one from grey literature searching. Five categories with subcategories were identified affecting children’s mental health: 1) Relationships: parent and incarcerated child relationship; facilitators and barriers to maintaining contact; 2) Family structure; maternal or paternal incarceration; living arrangements during parental incarceration; 3) Children’s emotions: emotional recognition and regulation; resilience; 4) Prison stigma: social stigma; shame and secrecy; 5) Structural disadvantages: poverty; race/ethnicity.

This scoping review has highlighted how the imprisonment of a parent negatively affects their children’s emotional and mental health. Factors negatively impacting children’s emotional and mental health are interrelated and complex. Further research is required, including differences between paternal and maternal incarceration; impact of gender and age of child; poverty as an ACE and prison exacerbating this; and effects of ethnicity and race. An important policy direction is in developing an effective way of capturing the parental status of a prisoner to ensure that the child and family receive needed support.