UNASSIGNED: The living situation of single parents is often characterised by sole responsibility for family and household, problems in reconciling work and family life, and a high risk of poverty. In a comparative perspective with parents in partner households, the health of single mothers and fathers was analysed, considering differences in their social status.
UNASSIGNED: The analyses are based on data from the GEDA studies 2019 - 2023 (7,999 women, 6,402 men). Prevalences for single mothers and fathers and mothers and fathers living in partner households were calculated for self-rated health, chronic diseases, depressive symptoms, smoking and utilisation of professional help for mental health problems. In multivariate models, adjustments were made for income, education, employment status and social support, and interactions with family type were included.
UNASSIGNED: Single mothers and fathers show higher prevalences for all health indicators in comparison to parents living in partner households. Also after adjustment, the differences between family types remain significant. The health of single mothers also varies partially with income, employment status and social support.
UNASSIGNED: Health promotion measures have to consider that single parents are a heterogeneous group. In addition to strengthening personal skills, policy and setting-based interventions aim to reduce health inequalities.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, single parents and their children were particularly exposed to stress due to the containment measures and to limited resources. We analyzed differences in the social and health situation of children and adolescents in one-parent households and two-parent households at the end of the pandemic.
METHODS: The analysis is based on data from the KIDA study, in which parents of 3‑ to 15-year-old children as well as 16- to 17-year-old adolescents were surveyed in 2022/2023 (telephone: n = 6992; online: n = 2896). Prevalences stratified by family type were calculated for the indicators psychosocial stress, social support, health, and health behavior. Poisson regressions were adjusted for gender, age, level of education, and household income.
RESULTS: Children and adolescents from one-parent households are more likely to be burdened by financial restrictions, family conflicts, and poor living conditions and receive less school support than peers from two-parent households. They are more likely to have impairments in health as well as increased healthcare needs, and they use psychosocial services more frequently. Furthermore, they are less likely to be active in sports clubs, but they take part in sporting activities at schools as often as minors from two-parent households. The differences are also evident when controlling for income and education.
CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents from one-parent households can be reached well through exercise programs in a school setting. Low-threshold offers in daycare centers, schools, and the community should therefore be further expanded. Furthermore, interventions are needed to improve the socioeconomic situation of single parents and their children.
UNASSIGNED: EINLEITUNG: In der COVID-19-Pandemie waren Alleinerziehende und ihre Kinder durch die Eindämmungsmaßnahmen und aufgrund oftmals geringer Ressourcen in besonderem Maße Belastungen ausgesetzt. Es wird analysiert, inwieweit sich zum Ende der Pandemie Unterschiede in der sozialen und gesundheitlichen Lage von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Ein-Eltern- und Zwei‑Eltern-Haushalten zeigen.
METHODS: Die Analyse basiert auf Daten der KIDA-Studie, in der 2022/2023 Eltern von 3‑ bis 15-Jährigen und 16- bis 17-Jährige befragt wurden (telefonisch: n = 6992; online: n = 2896). Für die Indikatoren psychosoziale Belastungen, soziale Unterstützung, Gesundheit und Gesundheitsverhalten wurden nach Familienform stratifizierte Prävalenzen berechnet. In Poisson-Regressionen wurde für Geschlecht, Alter, Bildung und Haushaltseinkommen adjustiert.
UNASSIGNED: Heranwachsende aus Ein-Eltern-Haushalten sind häufiger durch finanzielle Einschränkungen, familiäre Konflikte und beengte Wohnverhältnisse belastet und erfahren weniger schulische Unterstützung als Gleichaltrige aus Zwei‑Eltern-Haushalten. Sie haben häufiger gesundheitliche Beeinträchtigungen sowie einen erhöhten Versorgungsbedarf und nehmen häufiger psychosoziale Angebote in Anspruch. Sie sind zwar seltener in Sportvereinen aktiv, nehmen jedoch gleich häufig an Sport-AGs in Schulen teil wie Gleichaltrige aus Zwei-Eltern-Haushalten. Die Unterschiede zeigen sich auch bei Kontrolle für Einkommen und Bildung.
CONCLUSIONS: Kinder und Jugendliche aus Ein-Eltern-Haushalten können über Bewegungsangebote im schulischen Setting gut erreicht werden. Niedrigschwellige Angebote in Kita, Schule und Kommune sollten daher weiter ausgebaut werden. Weiterhin bedarf es Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der sozioökonomischen Lage von Alleinerziehenden und ihren Kindern.

This study examined the impact of family size and type on maternal rejection and its relationship with emotional-behavioral difficulties in children with ADHD compared to those typically developing.
The participants were mothers of 7- to 12-year-old children with ADHD (n = 102) and mothers of typically developing children (n = 102) in Kazakhstan. In this cross-sectional study, multiple linear regression analysis was performed to explore the relationship between variables.
Family size affected maternal rejection after accounting for children\'s emotional-behavioral difficulties only in mothers of children with ADHD. The effect of family type on maternal rejection was statistically significant in both groups. Family size exacerbated the relationship between children\'s emotional-behavioral difficulties and maternal rejection only in children with ADHD. The moderating effect of family type was not found in either group.
Our findings suggest that family size and type contribute to maternal rejection of children with ADHD.

Beginning in March 2020, the lockdown precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many challenges, especially for families with young children. Many children had little or no access to institutional education. Therefore, they were even more dependent on their parents providing them with home learning activities (HLA) to support their development. We examined the adaptability of families with regard to changes in parents\' provision of HLA in traditional two-parent families, single parent families, and large families compared to before the lockdown. We focused on family resources, such as a supportive distribution of roles within the partnership, or social support, as predicting factors of adaptability in N = 8,513 families with children aged 18-69 months. In addition, we considered parental stress as a further influencing factor. The cross-sectional data depicts families from a nationwide online survey, which we conducted during spring 2020 in Germany. We found that (a) all three family types offered their children more learning activities at home, albeit with slight differences between the families. However, (b) we identified differences in the factors influencing families\' adaptability: Across all family types, we found slight to medium negative relations between adaptability and parental stress. The relations were most evident in large families. Furthermore, social support exhibits somewhat positive relations to the adaptability of large families. For adaptability in single-parent families, gender differences were initially evident. Among single fathers, the change in parental HLA was stronger than among single mothers. However, this relation disappeared when we took parental stress and social support into account. For traditional two-parent families and single parents, our analyses revealed (c) barely significant relations between the investigated predictors and changes in HLA during lockdown. Overall, our study confirms that high stress limits the adaptability of providing HLA in families and that social support mitigates negative relations between stress and the provision of HLA, especially in large families. In order to develop effective and needs-based family support programs, it is therefore important to help parents cope with stress and provide them with low-threshold social support. The extent to which these services need to be adapted to different family types must be surveyed in more depth.

Previous research focused on the individual risk factors of mortality, while little is known about how family environment could influence mortality in later life. This study aims to examine mortality risks in different family types and what family type may increase mortality risk for older adults with medical comorbidities or functional impairment.
Data were derived from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE) in Chicago. The baseline interview was conducted from 2011 to 2013. The outcome was 6-year all-cause mortality. Family typology included tight-knit, unobligated-ambivalent, commanding-conflicted, and detached types. Cox proportional hazards models were used.
The study sample consisted of 3,019 older adults and 372 participants passed away during 6 years follow-up. Older adults in the detached type had higher risks of mortality than those in the tight-knit type (hazard ratio: 1.45 [95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.07]). Regarding the interaction effect between family typology and functional impairment, older adults with higher levels of physical impairment (1.29 [1.07-1.56]) and cognitive impairment (1.07 [1.01-1.14]) nested in the commanding-conflicted type had higher mortality risks than their counterparts nested in the tight-knit type.
In this longitudinal cohort study with a 6-year follow-up, older adults nested in the detached family type had higher 6-year mortality risks than those nested in the tight-knit family type. Living in the commanding-conflicted family increased the 6-year mortality risks for older adults with physical impairment or cognitive impairment compared with their counterparts residing in the tight-knit family type.

OBJECTIVE: Nowadays many early adolescents are living in non-intact families (parents divorced/separated, reconstructed families or single parents) and have many school difficulties (learning difficulty, skipping school, school absence due to family problems, grade repetition, low school performance, and school dropout ideation). This study assessed the associations between school difficulties and family type which remain little addressed and the confounding role of socioeconomic adversities and behavior, social support and health-related difficulties (BSSHDs).
METHODS: The study population included 1559 middle-school adolescents from north-eastern France (mean age 13.5 ± 1.3). They completed at the end of school-year a questionnaire gathering socioeconomic adversities, school difficulties and BSSHDs (being obese, substances use, sustained physical/verbal violence, sexual abuse, perpetrated violence, poor social support, depressive symptoms, and suicide attempt; cumulated number noted BSSHDCM). Data was analyzed using logistic regression models.
RESULTS: The adolescents with parents divorced/separated, reconstructed families or single parents had a much higher risk for various school difficulties than those in intact families (sex-age-adjusted odds ratios 1.60-4.70, mostly with p < 0.001). These risks were robust and remained significant (often with p < 0.01/0.001) after adjustment for socioeconomic adversities and BSSHDCM. The contributions of socioeconomic adversities plus BSSHDCM to the risks were mostly elevated (>40%, reaching 65%) while those of socioeconomic adversities alone were mostly moderate (<30%, but reaching 52%).
CONCLUSIONS: Family type plays a strong role in school difficulties among early adolescents, mainly due to socioeconomic adversities and BSSHDCM. Our results may help primary care providers identify at-risk adolescents and their problems and establish timely prevention and care.HighlightsLearning difficulty, school absence, grade repetition, low academic performance, and school dropout ideation are common in early adolescents.The adolescents with parents divorced/separated, reconstructed families or single parents have up to 4.7-time higher risk for these school difficulties than those in intact families.These risks are robust after adjustment for socioeconomic, behavior and health-related difficulties which explain up to 65% of the risks.School-difficulty prevention should consider family features and include early monitoring behavior and health-related difficulties in adolescents.

This study investigated the factors associated with early sexual debut, consensual sexual debut and multiple sexual partners in tertiary institutions in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design with a proportional sampling method. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents. Four hundred and thirty-three questionnaires were deemed eligible for data analysis. Chi-square, t-test and binary logistic regression were utilised to analyse the data. It was found that respondents who attended private secondary schools were more likely to have early sexual debut (X2= 3.076; p <0.05). There was no significant difference in the age at sexual debut for respondents from nuclear and extended families (M.D = - 0.377). Females were less likely to experience consensual sexual debut than their male counterparts (OR=0.469; p <0.01). Also, early sexual debut influenced exposure to multiple sexual partners- those who delayed sex till age 22 were the least likely to be exposed (OR= 0.056; p <0.001). Adequate sex education of young people-beginning at early years- before their sexual debut is important for improved sexual health.

BACKGROUND: Young mothers tend to be more prone to high maternal and perinatal risks and are thus deemed vulnerable to adverse sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in terms of their right to choose contraceptives of their choice to enhance their maternal well-being and childbirth spacing should be well discussed. Achieving sufficient SRHR may be averted if the use of family planning by disadvantaged groups is not given required attention.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and analyse the factors associated with the low use of contraceptives amongst vulnerable women in the South West region in Nigeria.
METHODS: The study area was purposively chosen to capture contraceptive use amongst vulnerable women in Osun State, Nigeria.
METHODS: A primary data collection was done in three senatorial districts of Osun State, Nigeria, with 140 respondents each to give a total of 420 respondents. Collected data were analysed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate measures.
RESULTS: The result showed a magnitude of association and relationship at both levels of analyses. Living arrangements and family types were 89% and 88.3%, respectively, associated with family planning use. In the same vein, living arrangement and family types were also statistically significant at p 0.05with an odds ratio of 0.23 (95% CI: 0.1184-0.4583) and an odds ratio of 0.35 (95% CI: 0.1756-0.6970) with family planning use, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that policies and interventions to accelerate and encourage contraceptives use amongst vulnerable mothers in South West, Nigeria should be targeted at those whose husbands lived elsewhere and those whose husbands have more than one wife.

Objective: The positive effect of high socioeconomic position (SEP) on health is well established. According Minorities\' Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory, however, the SEP-health link is smaller for Blacks compared to Whites. Using a 25-year follow up data of a national sample, this study tested racial differences in the effects of marital status on life expectancy among American adults. Materials and methods: The data of Americans\' Changing Lives (ACL, 1986 - 2011) were used. The ACL is a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study followed 3,361 White or Blacks adults from 1986 to 2011. The predictor of interest was marital status in 1986. Confounders included demographic factors (age and gender), SEP (education and employment), health behaviors (drinking, smoking, and physical activity), and health status (depressive symptoms, chronic disease, and self-rated health) all measured at baseline. Race was the moderator variable. All-cause mortality was the main dependent variable (outcome). Cox proportional hazard modeling was applied for data analysis. Results: In the overall sample, individuals who were married at baseline had a lower risk of mortality during the 25 years of follow up. Race altered the effect of marital status on life expectancy, indicating smaller protective effect for Blacks relative to Whites. Race -specific Cox regression models showed an association between marital status and life expectancy for White but not Black Americans. Conclusion: In line with the MDRs theory, the health gain that follows marital status is diminished for Black Americans compared to White Americans. Only equalizing SEP across racial groups may not be adequate for eliminating racial/ethnic health inequalities. Policies should go beyond SEP and reduce societal and structural barriers that disproportionately hinder Blacks from translating their SEP indicators to desirable health outcomes.

To study how sociodemographic factors and family structure associate with baseline BMI z-scores (BMIz) and BMIz change in 767 Norwegian children aged 6-15 years.
Baseline BMIz and 1-year BMIz increments in children from the Bergen Growth Study were analysed with linear and logistic regression, according to sociodemographic factors and family structure. A blended family was defined as including a step-parent and/or half-sibling.
In a fully adjusted regression model, baseline BMIz were only significantly associated with maternal BMI (b = 0.087, 95%CI 0.067, 0.107). Body Mass Index z-scores increments were larger in children living in a blended family (b = 0.060, 95%CI 0.006, 0.115), with a lower parental education (b = 0.127, 95%CI 0.029, 0.226) and with a higher maternal BMI (b = 0.008, 95%CI 0.001, 0.014). The odds for a large BMIz increment (>1 SD) were higher in children living in blended families (OR 1.82, 95%CI 1.16, 2.88) and with higher maternal BMI (OR 1.07, 95%CI 1.01, 1.13) and lower in 9-11-year-old children (OR 0.44, 95%CI 0.26, 0.77) compared with 12-15-year-olds.
Body Mass Index z-scores increments were more strongly associated with sociodemographic factors and living in a blended family than baseline BMIz values. BMI z-scores increments could be useful for identifying children at risk of becoming overweight or obese.