Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

How Parental Leave Policy Contributes to the Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor

May 9, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
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The United States is unusual among developed countries in guaranteeing exactly zero weeks of paid time-off from work upon the birth or adoption of a child. Japan offers 14 weeks of paid job-protected leave, the U.K. offers 18, Denmark 28, Norway 52, and Sweden offers 68 (yes, that’s over a year of paid time-off to take care of a new child). The U.S. does guarantee that new parents receive 12 weeks of non-paid leave, but only for parents who work in companies that employ 50 workers or more and who have worked there at least 12 months and accrued 1,250 hours or more in that time. These ... Read More

More like this: Business & Economics
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Yet Another Reason Not to Have Famous Parents

October 18, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
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Assuming it is not a joke at the expense of celebrity media, actress Uma Thurman's announcement yesterday that she has named her daughter Rosalind Arusha Arkadina "Luna" Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson (the "Luna" is for short) brings to mind a recent European study on baby names. The German investigation found your name influences whether you get a date. Or a job. Or, really, anything nice. Which is no shock. What's less clear is whether Thurman's daughter's mouthful of a moniker is appealing, unappealing, or just long. The EU-based research isn't encouraging. Psychologist Jochen ... Read More

More like this: The 101
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How to Raise a Little Liberal (or Conservative)

October 15, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
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Parents: Do you find yourselves arguing with your adult children over who deserves to win the upcoming election? Does it confuse and frustrate you to realize your political viewpoints are so different? Newly published research suggests you may only have yourself to blame. Providing the best evidence yet to back up a decades-old theory, researchers writing in the journal Psychological Science report a link between a mother’s attitude toward parenting and the political ideology her child eventually adopts. In short, authoritarian parents are more prone to produce conservatives, while ... Read More

More like this: Findings, Politics
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Lactation Breeds Lack: The High Cost of Breastfeeding

March 22, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

The percentage of American mothers who breastfeed their babies has risen over the past decade, but it remains far below the rate public health officials would like to see. Newly published research provides one possible reason why. It turns out all that healthy, nutritious milk comes at a surprisingly high cost. A study of 1,313 American women who gave birth between 1980 and 1993 finds those who breastfed for six months or more suffered “more severe and more prolonged earnings losses” than mothers who breastfed for a shorter amount of time, or not at all. “Our results suggest ... Read More

More like this: Business & Economics, Findings
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Don’t Mess With Breastfeeding Women

August 30, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Earlier this year, we reported that breast-feeding women are widely viewed as less competent. Newly published research suggests it would be unwise to share that unflattering opinion with them. According to a team led by UCLA health psychologist Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, lactating women display higher levels of aggression than both non-mothers and their bottle-feeding counterparts. What’s more, their blood pressure stays low even as their combativeness increases, which may be nature’s way of allowing new mothers to calmly but effectively deal with potential threats. Writing in the ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Findings
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Text Messages No Substitute for Mother’s Voice

August 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

For young people, text messaging is rapidly replacing talking on the phone. Parents could easily assume that typed text is the best way to stay in touch with their tech-savvy kids. But newly published research suggests that, in times of stress, there’s no substitute for the soothing sound of mom’s voice. That’s the conclusion of a research team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison cultural anthropologist Leslie Seltzer. In a study released last year, Seltzer and her colleagues found comforting words from mom decreased levels of cortisol (a biomarker of stress) and increased ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Findings, NEWS
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Fatherhood Scholars Know Best

June 16, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
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The post-World War II era was the age of Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best, when a benign patriarch's authority over his household was complete and unquestioned. Or was it? Writing in the Journal of Family History in 2004, Georgia State University sociologist Ralph LaRossa concluded the culture of fatherhood between 1945 and 1960 "was a lot more complex than the standard narratives allow." His survey of popular magazines, top-rated television series and child-rearing manuals of the day suggest the role of the father was in flux, with rigid gender roles in society becoming increasingly ... Read More

More like this: Culture, May-June 2011, Research in Summary
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Family Planning Subsidies Save Taxpayer Money

April 22, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

After Congress finally settled on a budget at the 11th hour two weeks ago, it turned out much of the drama had come down to a fine point absurd even by Washington standards: The fate of the entire government, apparently, turned on a dispute over Planned Parenthood. This odd quid pro quo pairing — of national budgets and family planning policy — seems destined to infect much of Congress’ squabbles to come. But what, it seems worth asking, does the one have anything to do with the other? Much, in fact — but not quite in the way Planned Parenthood foes have been ... Read More

More like this: Politics, The Idea Lobby
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Parenting’s Asian-Jewish Connection

April 8, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Asian-Jewish couples share remarkably similar values — but they're not rearing their children like Tiger Mother Amy Chua, a new study reports. Noah Leavitt and Helen Kim — a married couple and both sociologists at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. — interviewed 37 Asian-Jewish couples over two years. The families lived in Northern and Southern California, Philadelphia and New York City. They included Asian-American men married to Jewish women and Jewish men married to Asian-American women, as well as straight and gay couples. Their ages ranged from 20s to 70s; some were parents ... Read More

More like this: Culture
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Is It Ever OK to Spank My Child?

March 28, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

When psychology professor Marjorie Lindner Gunnoe announced some of her research findings about spanking a little over a year ago, The Center for Effective Discipline, an anti-spanking group, attacked both the research and how the media portrayed it. In her study, Gunnoe used survey data on youth from ages 12 to 18 about whether they had been spanked, and from the responses, she determined that spanking of children from ages 2 to 6 doesn’t put the children at risk for depression, antisocial behavior, violence or sexual activity. The center’s website said that “parents who believe ... Read More

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