Refine
Year of publication
Language
- English (11) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (11)
Keywords
- Adolescence (2)
- childhood (2)
- family relations (2)
- pubertal timing (2)
- puberty (2)
- reproductive strategies (2)
Institute
Antiepileptic drugs are suspected of being weakly teratogenic in humans. In a prospective longitudinal study, we assessed growth parameters of children from birth to adolescence who had been prenatally exposed to various antiepileptic drugs and compared them to non-exposed control children matched for parental body length, social status, and maternal nicotine consumption during pregnancy as well as for parity. While no differences in mean head circumferences could be ascertained in the group of exposed children at 1, 6, and 14 years, differences were measured in body length at I year. The differences were more pronounced for both measurements when therapy forms and types of drugs were considered: polytherapy and phenobarbitone therapy (which was usually part of polytherapy) of the mother appeared to have an influence on the children's growth. Children exposed to polytherapy and phenobarbitone (as single drug or as part of polytherapy) had smaller head circumferences and were shorter. We assume an influence of polytherapy and phenobarbitone therapy taken by the epileptic woman during pregnancy on the growth of the child into adolescence
The evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper was investigated on the empirical basis of a longitudinal sample of 26 adolescent girls and boys who were born in Berlin during German reunification, as well as their mothers. Consistent with the theory, pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was predicted by the quality of parental relations in childhood, and pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was a significant predictor of the age at first intercourse. The results suggest that there are different developmental pathways for girls and boys with respect to the predictions of the evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky et al. The findings also support the hypothesis that early onset of reproduction and frequent reproduction may be two different aspects of a quantitative reproductive strategy.
The evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper was investigated on the empirical basis of a longitudinal sample of 26 adolescent girls and boys who were born in Berlin during German reunification, as well as their mothers. Consistent with the theory, pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was predicted by the quality of parental relations in childhood, and pubertal timing of the girls (but not of the boys) was a significant predictor of the age at first intercourse. The results suggest that there are different developmental pathways for girls and boys with respect to the predictions of the evolutionary theory of socialization of Belsky et al. The findings also support the hypothesis that early onset of reproduction and frequent reproduction may be two different aspects of a quantitative reproductive strategy.
"At-risk" concept
(2005)