Parenting

Research published in the Journal of Marriage and Family finds that single mothers who re-partner experience a rise in life satisfaction, especially when household income improves.

Who’s the favorite child? A large-scale study explores how traits like gender and personality shape parental favoritism.

Sad baby faces grab women’s attention even when presented subliminally, according to new research, revealing a hidden layer of sensitivity to infant emotions.

Childhood experiences with neglectful or controlling parents may shape adult personality traits that interfere with daily life, a new study shows.

A new study finds links between parents’ romantic attachment styles and their use of harsh discipline, shaped by how they view their parenting role and their child’s needs.

Scientific studies increasingly highlight the essential role of physical touch in promoting infant health, neurodevelopment, and parent-infant attachment.

Childhood experiences with fathers can shape romantic beliefs for life. A study reveals that men raised with low-quality paternal investment are more likely to develop reduced expectations for male commitment and invest less in their own relationships.

The transition to parenthood is associated with a reshaping of gender ideologies in couples, with spousal beliefs and economic power appearing to be influential factors.

Experiencing harsh parenting, like yelling or physical harm, in childhood is linked to developing undesirable "Dark Tetrad" personality traits in adulthood, a new study reveals.

Parents and childfree adults showed similar midlife well-being, except when childfree adults had prioritized parenthood earlier in life but did not have children; these individuals experienced lower well-being. Goal adjustment improved satisfaction.

Fathers with higher alexithymia and greater testosterone increases during a stressful parenting task showed lower coparenting quality, which predicted fewer prosocial behaviors in their children at age two. This effect was only observed in fathers with at least moderate testosterone...

Higher attachment avoidance in parents correlated with lower sexual satisfaction for themselves. Notably, fathers' attachment avoidance also reduced mothers' sexual satisfaction. However, increased parenting stress in fathers weakened this negative impact, suggesting stress might overshadow attachment issues in high-stress parenting.

Middle children tend to be slightly more cooperative and honest, while only children are more creative. Larger families foster higher levels of humility and agreeableness, but these personality differences are small.

A recent study found that harsh parenting, both moderate and severe, is linked to worse emotion regulation, lower self-esteem, fewer prosocial behaviors, and more peer relationship problems in children by age 18.

Men’s emotional support networks shrink by 50% from ages 30 to 90, with early parental warmth predicting larger networks. Marriage consolidates support to spouses, while retirement has no effect, highlighting aging's impact on socioemotional connections.