Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that maternal genitourinary infection (GU) infection is associated with increased risk of ADHD. Method: The authors obtained linked Medicaid billing data for pregnant women and their children in South Carolina, with births from 1996 through 2002 and follow-up data through 2008. Maternal GU infections and…

Difficulties in social communication are not necessarily observed only in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and there are many subclinical cases in the general populations. Although advanced parental age at childbirth has often been considered a possible risk factor of ASD, it might contribute to poor social functioning in…

We study how advances in scientific knowledge affect the evolution of disparities in health. Our focus is the 1964 Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health--the first widely publicized report of the negative effects of smoking on health. Using an historical dataset that includes the smoking habits of pregnant women 1959-1966, we find that…

This study sought to determine the perspective taken toward understanding adolescent sexual risk behaviors and related biological outcomes (i.e. pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases) since 1990. We content analyzed 324 abstracts representing observational research published between January 1990 and December 2007 for inclusion of ecological…

The aim of this three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal study was to examine the prospective relationships between women's goal-related spousal support and their relationship satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. Two-hundred and forty-six Finnish women who were either married or cohabited (45% primiparous; 55% multiparous) filled in…

Fetal neurobehavioral development was modeled longitudinally using data collected at weekly intervals from 24 to 38 weeks gestation in a sample of 112 healthy pregnancies. Predictive associations between 3 measures of fetal neurobehavioral functioning and their developmental trajectories to neurological maturation in the first weeks after birth…

Worldwide, approximately 2 billion people are chronically infected with "Toxoplasma gondii" with largely yet unknown consequences. Patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) similarly as mice with chronic toxoplasmosis have persistent neuroinflammation, hypercytokinemia with hypermetabolism associated with enhanced lipid peroxidation, and…

The process of courtship and marriage in sub-Saharan Africa has changed remarkably. These changes, however, have received scant attention because recent research has focused on adolescent relationships' links to HIV/AIDS rather than to marriage. Drawing on detailed reports of 1,365 romantic and sexual partnerships from youths in Kisumu, Kenya, we…

Fetal magnetoencephalography (fMEG) is the only non-invasive method for investigating evoked brain responses and spontaneous brain activity generated by the fetus "in utero". Fetal auditory as well as visual-evoked fields have been successfully recorded in basic stimulus-response studies. Moreover, paradigms investigating precursors for cognitive…

Theory suggests that relationship inequity will be associated with less marital and personal distress among the more religious, and that this interaction effect will be stronger for women than men. Data are from 178 married couples experiencing the third trimester of pregnancy of their first biological child. Five outcome variables were assessed…

The challenging context of social work interventions require that most intervention studies will be derived from nonexperimental research designs. Two evaluation studies in this special issue employed nonrandomized designs to examine the efficacy of two programs--a police crisis intervention team designed to enhance officers' responses to mental…

Although a negative relationship between fertility and education has been described consistently in most countries of the world, less is known about the relationship between intelligence and reproductive outcomes. Also the paths through which intelligence influences reproductive outcomes are uncertain. The present study uses the NLSY79 to analyze…

Relationships are important in helping youth, including vulnerable youth, achieve their goals and a transition into adulthood. Having the skills to manage healthy intimate partner relationships can make a difference as youth make decisions related to school, employment, pregnancy prevention, and establishing strong relationships. These skills may…

The current study examined the association between prenatal pregnancy complications (PPC) and childhood psychiatric symptoms in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and non-ASD children who were referred to a psychiatric clinic (Controls). Parents completed a "DSM-IV"-referenced rating scale and developmental history questionnaire.…

In Indonesia, the notion of "study first" ("kuliah dulu") pressures young adults to refrain from sex and delay marriage until they finish tertiary education. Recent scholarship has viewed choices to abstain from sex as evidence of the potency of values of modernisation, Islamic culture and the contemporary importance of moral…