OBJECTIVE To determine whether parenthood predicts host resistance to the common cold among healthy volunteers experimentally exposed to a common cold virus. METHODS Participants were 795 healthy volunteers (age range = 18-55 years) enrolled in one of three viral-challenge studies conducted from 1993 to 2004. After reporting parenthood status, participants were quarantined, administered nasal...

We used structural equation modeling and actor-partner interdependence models to test dyadic associations between adult attachment and changes in relationship commitment at the transition to parenthood in a sample of 182 dual-earner couples. Overall, more avoidant individuals experienced significant changes in commitment at the transition to parenthood; specifically, higher avoidance was associ...

In many areas of the globe most HIV infection is transmitted sexually or in association with pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, raising the need for sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS initiatives to be mutually reinforcing. Many people with HIV, who are in good health, will want to have children, and highly active antiretroviral therapy provides women and men living with AIDS the...

The relationship between parenthood and well-being has become a hot topic among scholars, media, and general public alike. The research, however, has been mixed-some studies indicate that parents are happier than nonparents, whereas others suggest the reverse. We suggest that the question of whether parents are more or less happy than their childless peers is not the most meaningful one. To rec...

Rates of teenage pregnancy and parenthood in the United States remain high. Although many consequences of teenage parenthood have been well studied, little prospective research has examined its effect on mental health. This study aims to better understand the impact of teenage parenthood on mental health and to determine whether sex modifies this relation. Using data from the National Longitudi...

In the midst of the many political attacks against Planned Parenthood and abortion rights over the past year (Guttmacher Institute, 2012b), the news that Komen for the Cure was halting future funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening and breast health education still managed to create shock waves among women’s health advocates and the general public. Within hours of the news bre...

OBJECTIVES This study examines the influence of socioeconomic circumstances in childhood (childhood SES) and adulthood (adult SES) on timing of first birth by age 37. METHODS A longitudinal study of a 1972-1973 New Zealand birth cohort collected information on socioeconomic characteristics from age 3-32 and reproductive histories at 21, 26, 32 and 38; information on first birth was available ...

Barriers to procreational intentions among cancer survivors 2 years after diagnosis: a French national cross-sectional survey. Abstract Objectives – To determine the rates of parenthood projects among two-year cancer survivors with a preserved fertility, and to identify factors associated with parenthood project, opposing cancer-related factors to socio-demographic factors usually associated wi...