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Using data from a qualitative longitudinal sample of 31 non-traditional fathers-to-be interviewed in 2011 and then again in 2013, when the child was about 18 months old, we examine the relationship between prenatal anticipation and the development of ‘positive paternal involvement’ (i.e. an engaged, accessible and responsible type of fatherhood). We expect differences with regard to the antenatal development of a non-normative father identity to explain variations in subsequent paternal involvement. While there might be – and there often is – a discrepancy between fathers’ prenatal intentions and actual practices after childbirth, anticipating concrete needs and actively foreseeing particular paid work adaptations favour the development of a positive paternal involvement. Our analysis reveals the importance of anticipation during pregnancy – that is, the development of an identity as a father and of explicit plans for employment adaptations – in facilitating men’s greater implication in care. The empirical findings also show that non-traditional gender attitudes and favourable working conditions facilitate fathers’ involvement, yet are not enough in themselves to guarantee the development of a positive type of fatherhood covering the three noted dimensions of care. Achieving the latter in Spain will likely require the encouragement of shared parenting responsibilities through normative changes in workplaces, the revision of parental leave policies and the integration of fathers-to-be in prenatal education classes. Our research contributes to shedding new light on the elements that favour a positive paternal involvement, which has the potential to enhance both children’s well-being and gender equality.

This study aims to present a novel framework of “communication-led behavioral intention” in an effort to aid in the process of planning and coordinating social marketing campaigns on difficult subjects that go against social conventions, including the proper postnatal nutrition practices.

The study followed a quasi-experimental research design. Health communications (public service announcements) were shown to the women aged 18–65 years and responses were collected using a quantitative questionnaire. Structural equation modeling with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses was used to investigate the linkage between the factors that influence breastfeeding outcomes.

A strong positive impact of contextual communication was confirmed empirically on the behavioral intention to follow and recommend exclusive breastfeeding. Three communication-specific factors – “content quality,” “message clarity” and “belief in message” – were found to play a pivotal role in inducing the “behavioral intention.” These relationships were found to be mediated by “empathy” which is an emotional state experienced out of the respondent’s ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the communication.

This study is one of the few attempts on measuring breastfeeding outcomes using theoretical constructs. The framework suggested in the study has a lot of potential in assisting practitioners and researchers to develop effective interventions on complex topics that challenge social norms. Further, this paper offers important insights on the women with limited decision-making capacity on breastfeeding and child care.

Racial/ethnic minority, low-income teens represent a significantly underserved group in terms of reproductive health care including birth control and prenatal care. This paper provides patients’ perspectives through analysis of in-depth interviews with 51 African American teen mothers about their reproductive health care and focuses on the influence of gender ideologies and behavior expectations on teens’, and their perceptions of their mothers’, decisions around these issues. The findings suggest that attention to cultural influences of gender on teens’ decisions around sexuality and reproduction is critical to our theoretical and practical approaches to expanding health care services to underserved populations.

This paper aims to investigate the role of nature and nurture in students’ entrepreneurial intention (EIs). In doing so, the study examines the relationship between prenatal testosterone exposure (2D:4D), risk-taking propensity, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and EIs. Moreover, the moderating role of entrepreneurial education between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and EI is also investigated.

In line with previous studies on EI, the authors tested hypotheses based on quantitative data obtained from university students.

Data were analyzed with the help of the structural equation modeling technique, and the results revealed that all the hypothesized relationships were supported.

The field of entrepreneurship has become an attractive area of research for practitioners and academics. One tinted area of research in entrepreneurship is the investigation of EI because it is a good predictor of entrepreneurial behavior. Several antecedents of EIs have been recognized in the literature ranging from personality traits to environmental factors. However, less is known about the role of biology in entrepreneurship. Incorporating biological factors in the field of entrepreneurship appears to be theoretically viable and sound. Thus, this study investigates the effect of biological factors in the presence of psychological factors on EIs, which is a unique contribution to the literature on entrepreneurship.

Purpose – This chapter examines the relationship between prenatal testing, Down syndrome identification, and selective termination practices, and it does so by considering whether the selective termination of fetuses with Down syndrome might constitute genocidal practices.

Methodology/approach – Exploratory and speculative in nature, this chapter brings the phenomenon of prenatal testing and selective termination practices together, and explores whether the increasingly widespread termination of fetuses with Down syndrome fits within definitions of genocide.

Findings – Addressing perceptions of Down syndrome and disability, and integrating aspects of crip politics and definitions of genocide, this chapter concludes that the phenomenon of selective termination involving fetuses with Down syndrome can constitute genocide when particular definitions and interpretations are adopted.

Originality/value – This chapter is perhaps the first academic text to critically evaluate the relationship between prenatal testing, selective termination of fetuses with Down syndrome, and criminological genocide scholarship. Importantly, it does not evaluate individual decision-making practices regarding termination, but instead focuses on collective practices and conditions that work to minimize the number of people with Down syndrome in society.

This paper examines the implications of the disability rights critique of prenatal testing on the development of genetic policy and abortion rights. It traces the reappearance of the disabled body in public deliberations over reproductive and genetic politics that use disability to frame arguments about which bodies are worthy of protection, how and why we limit reproductive choices, and what reasons women may use to terminate their pregnancies. The disability critique of prenatal testing and selective abortion finds itself in productive tension with reproductive rights politics, which increasingly features disability in both pro-life and pro-choice messages. The uneasy alliance between disability and pro-life interests has profound implications for both disability legal scholarship and the sociolegal inquiry into the role of rights articulation – and rejection – by social movements.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between chief executive officers' (CEOs') prenatal testosterone exposure, absorptive capacity and e-commerce adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Based on a study of 1,519 SMEs led by a male CEO in China, the impact of entrepreneur's digital ratio on e-commerce adoption is empirically analyzed through a multivariate logistic model.

The results show that the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a reverse measurement of prenatal testosterone exposure, is negatively correlated with the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs. This evidence suggests that CEOs with high prenatal testosterone exposure have a higher probability of adopting e-commerce. In addition, this research indicates a positive correlation between absorptive capacity, which is defined by market innovation, process innovation and marketing innovation, and the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs.

This research can contribute to the discussion by providing new insights into the antecedents of the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs.

This study aims to examine the relationship between medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) among pregnant individuals, referral source, mental health, political affiliation and substance use policies in all 50 states in the USA.

This study describes MOUD receipt among pregnant people with an opioid use disorder (OUD) in 2018. The authors explored sociodemographic differences in MOUD receipt, referrals and co-occurring mental health disorders. The authors included a comparison of MOUD receipt among states that have varying substance use policies and examined the impact of these policies and the political affiliation on MOUD. The authors used multilevel binary logistic regression to examine effects of individual and state-level characteristics on MOUD.

Among 8,790 pregnant admissions with OUD, the majority who received MOUD occurred in the Northeast region (71.52%), and 14.99% were referred by the criminal justice system (n = 1,318). Of those who were self-referred, 66.39% received MOUD, while only 30.8% of referrals from the criminal justice system received MOUD. Those referred from the criminal justice system or who had a co-occurring mental health disorder were least likely to receive MOUD. The multilevel model showed that while policies were not a significant predictor, a state’s political affiliation was a significant predictor of MOUD.

The study has some methodological limitations; a state-level analysis, even when considering the individual factors, may not provide sufficient description of community-level or other social factors that may influence MOUD receipt. This study adds to the growing literature on the ineffectiveness of prenatal substance use policies designed specifically to increase the use of MOUD. If such policies are consistently assessed as not contributing to substantial increase in MOUD among pregnant women over time, it is imperative to investigate potential mechanisms in these policies that may not facilitate MOUD access the way they are intended to.

Findings from this study aid in understanding the impact that a political affiliation may have on treatment access; states that leaned more Democratic were more likely to have higher rates of MOUD, and this finding can lead to research that focuses on how and why this contributes to greater treatment utilization. This study provides estimates of underutilization at a state level and the mechanisms that act as barriers, which is a stronger assessment of how state-specific policies and practices are performing in addressing prenatal substance use and a necessary step in implementing changes that can improve the links between pregnant women and MOUD.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore individual-level factors that include mental health and referral sources to treatment that lead to MOUD use in the context of state-level policy and political environments. Most studies estimate national-level rates of treatment use only, which can be useful, but what is necessary is to understand what mechanisms are at work that vary by state. This study also found that while substance use policies were designed to increase MOUD for pregnant women, this was not as prominent a predictor as other factors, like mental health, being referred from the criminal justice system, and living in a state with more Democratic-leaning affiliations.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors responsible for the utilisation of safe motherhood practices under the Government of India (GOI)-run maternal health programme Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY).

Data for the survey were collected from 435 expectant mothers registered under JSY from seven districts of western Uttar Pradesh, India. Based on the existing theories of behaviour change and the social marketing framework, a model of antecedents of adoption of safe motherhood practices was tested out empirically.

The results suggested that controlling for demographic variables such as age, education, number of children, intention to follow safe motherhood practices, maternal health self-efficacy, attitude towards safe motherhood, life satisfaction and facilitating conditions all contributed towards the adoption of safe motherhood practices. However, facilitating conditions moderated the relationship between intention to follow safe motherhood practices and adoption of safe motherhood practices.

The study focused only on maternal health, excluding child health under JSY.

The study findings suggest that social marketers should focus on the individual (micro)- as well as programme (macro)-level factors to bring about systemic behaviour change.

The adoption of safe motherhood practices will result in a reduction of the maternal mortality rate. This will improve the overall health of mother and child.

The JSY programme is targeted at promoting safe motherhood practices among poor women in the reproductive age group from India. The adoption of safe motherhood practices will result in less maternal mortality and contribute to the well-being of the family.

Research examining the experiences of women in the workplace has, to a large extent, neglected the unique stressors pregnant employees may experience. Stress during pregnancy has been shown consistently to lead to detrimental consequences for the mother and her baby. Using job stress theories, we develop an expanded theoretical model of experienced stress during pregnancy and the potential detrimental health outcomes for the mother and her baby. Our theoretical model includes factors from multiple levels (i.e., individual, interpersonal, sociocultural, and community) and the role they play on the health and well-being of the pregnant employee and her baby. In order to gain a deeper understanding of job stress during pregnancy, we examine three pregnancy-specific organizational stressors (i.e., perceived pregnancy discrimination, pregnancy disclosure, and identity-role conflict) that are unique to pregnant employees. These stressors are argued to be over and above the normal job stressors experienced and they are proposed to result in elevated levels of experienced stress leading to detrimental health outcomes for the mother and baby. The role of resilience resources and learning in reducing some of the negative outcomes from job stressors is also explored.