Persons functioning as natural, adoptive, or substitute parents. The heading includes the concept of parenthood as well as preparation for becoming a parent.

Child with one or more parents afflicted by a physical or mental disorder.

A natural, adoptive, or substitute parent of a dependent child, who lives with only one parent. The single parent may live with or visit the child. The concept includes the never-married, as well as the divorced and widowed.

The interactions between the professional person and the family.

Male parents, human or animal.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Any observable response or action of a child from 24 months through 12 years of age. For neonates or children younger than 24 months, INFANT BEHAVIOR is available.

Informed consent given by a parent on behalf of a minor or otherwise incompetent child.

A social group consisting of parents or parent substitutes and children.

An infant during the first month after birth.

The training or bringing-up of children by parents or parent-substitutes. It is used also for child rearing practices in different societies, at different economic levels, in different ethnic groups, etc. It differs from PARENTING in that in child rearing the emphasis is on the act of training or bringing up the child and the interaction between the parent and child, while parenting emphasizes the responsibility and qualities of exemplary behavior of the parent.

Disturbances considered to be pathological based on age and stage appropriateness, e.g., conduct disturbances and anaclitic depression. This concept does not include psychoneuroses, psychoses, or personality disorders with fixed patterns.

Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system.

The health status of the family as a unit including the impact of the health of one member of the family on the family as a unit and on individual family members; also, the impact of family organization or disorganization on the health status of its members.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Organized efforts by communities or organizations to improve the health and well-being of the child.

Refers to the whole process of grieving and mourning and is associated with a deep sense of loss and sadness.

The study of normal and abnormal behavior of children.

An enduring, learned predisposition to behave in a consistent way toward a given class of objects, or a persistent mental and/or neural state of readiness to react to a certain class of objects, not as they are but as they are conceived to be.

The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups.

Children who have reached maturity or the legal age of majority.

Any observable response or action of an adolescent.

Behavioral, psychological, and social relations among various members of the nuclear family and the extended family.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

The behavior patterns associated with or characteristic of a father.

Children with mental or physical disabilities that interfere with usual activities of daily living and that may require accommodation or intervention.

Voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be as one's own child, usually with legal confirmation.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Care of CHILDREN in the home or in an institution.

The interactions between individuals of different generations. These interactions include communication, caring, accountability, loyalty, and even conflict between related or non-related individuals.

Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

Organized services to provide health care for children.

Stress wherein emotional factors predominate.

Educational institutions.

Procedures and programs that facilitate the development or skill acquisition in infants and young children who have disabilities, who are at risk for developing disabilities, or who are gifted. It includes programs that are designed to prevent handicapping conditions in infants and young children and family-centered programs designed to affect the functioning of infants and children with special needs. (From Journal of Early Intervention, Editorial, 1989, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 3; A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, prepared for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 1976)

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

A behavior disorder originating in childhood in which the essential features are signs of developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although most individuals have symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, one or the other pattern may be predominant. The disorder is more frequent in males than females. Onset is in childhood. Symptoms often attenuate during late adolescence although a minority experience the full complement of symptoms into mid-adulthood. (From DSM-V)

The aggregate of social and cultural institutions, forms, patterns, and processes that influence the life of an individual or community.

The genetic process of crossbreeding between genetically dissimilar parents to produce a hybrid.

Interaction between the father and the child.

The record of descent or ancestry, particularly of a particular condition or trait, indicating individual family members, their relationships, and their status with respect to the trait or condition.

The continuous sequential physiological and psychological maturing of an individual from birth up to but not including ADOLESCENCE.

Struggle or disagreement between parents, parent and child or other members of a family.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Educational attainment or level of education of individuals.

The magnitude of INBREEDING in humans.

Persons who provide care to those who need supervision or assistance in illness or disability. They may provide the care in the home, in a hospital, or in an institution. Although caregivers include trained medical, nursing, and other health personnel, the concept also refers to parents, spouses, or other family members, friends, members of the clergy, teachers, social workers, fellow patients.

Interaction between a mother and child.

Size and composition of the family.

A person authorized to decide or act for another person, for example, a person having durable power of attorney.

The formally authorized guardianship or care of a CHILD.

The authorized absence from work of either parent prior to and after the birth of their child. It includes also absence because of the illness of a child or at the time of the adoption of a child. It does not include leave for care of siblings, parents, or other family members: for this FAMILY LEAVE is available.

Group composed of associates of same species, approximately the same age, and usually of similar rank or social status.

Deliberate breeding of two different individuals that results in offspring that carry part of the genetic material of each parent. The parent organisms must be genetically compatible and may be from different varieties or closely related species.

Support systems that provide assistance and encouragement to individuals with physical or emotional disabilities in order that they may better cope. Informal social support is usually provided by friends, relatives, or peers, while formal assistance is provided by churches, groups, etc.

The training or molding of an individual through various relationships, educational agencies, and social controls, which enables him to become a member of a particular society.

Acquisition of knowledge as a result of instruction in a formal course of study.

Interactions and relationships between sisters and/or brothers. The concept also applies to animal studies.

Persons or animals having at least one parent in common. (American College Dictionary, 3d ed)

The process by which the nature and meaning of sensory stimuli are recognized and interpreted.

A form of group psychotherapy. It involves treatment of more than one member of the family simultaneously in the same session.

Any type of research that employs nonnumeric information to explore individual or group characteristics, producing findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other quantitative means. (Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997)

Personality construct referring to an individual's perception of the locus of events as determined internally by his or her own behavior versus fate, luck, or external forces. (ERIC Thesaurus, 1996).

A method of data collection and a QUALITATIVE RESEARCH tool in which a small group of individuals are brought together and allowed to interact in a discussion of their opinions about topics, issues, or questions.

The outward appearance of the individual. It is the product of interactions between genes, and between the GENOTYPE and the environment.

The reciprocal interaction of two or more persons.

A family composed of spouses and their children.

Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances.

Emotional attachment to someone or something in the environment.

Normal, appropriate sorrowful response to an immediate cause. It is self-limiting and gradually subsides within a reasonable time.

The determination and evaluation of personality attributes by interviews, observations, tests, or scales. Articles concerning personality measurement are considered to be within scope of this term.

Includes two similar disorders: oppositional defiant disorder and CONDUCT DISORDERS. Symptoms occurring in children with these disorders include: defiance of authority figures, angry outbursts, and other antisocial behaviors.

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.

Care of infants in the home or institution.

Assessment of psychological variables by the application of mathematical procedures.

The transmission and reproduction of transient images of fixed or moving objects. An electronic system of transmitting such images together with sound over a wire or through space by apparatus that converts light and sound into electrical waves and reconverts them into visible light rays and audible sound. (From Webster, 3rd ed)

Truthful revelation of information, specifically when the information disclosed is likely to be psychologically painful ("bad news") to the recipient (e.g., revelation to a patient or a patient's family of the patient's DIAGNOSIS or PROGNOSIS) or embarrassing to the teller (e.g., revelation of medical errors).

Customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a benefit or service received.

Adaptation of the person to the social environment. Adjustment may take place by adapting the self to the environment or by changing the environment. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996)

Promotion and protection of the rights of children; frequently through a legal process.

A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral and social environment; the overall condition of a human life.

Disorders in which there is a delay in development based on that expected for a given age level or stage of development. These impairments or disabilities originate before age 18, may be expected to continue indefinitely, and constitute a substantial impairment. Biological and nonbiological factors are involved in these disorders. (From American Psychiatric Glossary, 6th ed)

The behavior patterns associated with or characteristic of a mother.

The teaching staff and members of the administrative staff having academic rank in an educational institution.

Preventive health services provided for students. It excludes college or university students.

Spontaneous or voluntary recreational activities pursued for enjoyment and accessories or equipment used in the activities; includes games, toys, etc.

The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.

Predisposition to react to one's environment in a certain way; usually refers to mood changes.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.

Behavioral responses or sequences associated with eating including modes of feeding, rhythmic patterns of eating, and time intervals.

The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.

Special hospitals which provide care for ill children.

Freedom from exposure to danger and protection from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. It suggests optimal precautions in the workplace, on the street, in the home, etc., and includes personal safety as well as the safety of property.

Research carried out by nurses concerning techniques and methods to implement projects and to document information, including methods of interviewing patients, collecting data, and forming inferences. The concept includes exploration of methodological issues such as human subjectivity and human experience.

Legal dissolution of an officially recognized marriage relationship.

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated. These behaviors include aggressive conduct that causes or threatens physical harm to other people or animals, nonaggressive conduct that causes property loss or damage, deceitfulness or theft, and serious violations of rules. The onset is before age 18. (From DSM-IV, 1994)

To utter an inarticulate, characteristic sound in order to communicate or express a feeling, or desire for attention.

Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.

The different ways GENES and their ALLELES interact during the transmission of genetic traits that effect the outcome of GENE EXPRESSION.

A disorder beginning in childhood. It is marked by the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interest. Manifestations of the disorder vary greatly depending on the developmental level and chronological age of the individual. (DSM-V)

Facilities which provide care for pre-school and school-age children.

The personality pattern or syndrome consisting of behavioral and attitudinal characteristics reflecting a preoccupation with the factors of power and authority in interpersonal relationships.

Feeling or emotion of dread, apprehension, and impending disaster but not disabling as with ANXIETY DISORDERS.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

Human artificial insemination in which the semen used is that of a man other than the woman's husband.

A household that includes children and is headed by one adult.

The social institution involving legal and/or religious sanction whereby individuals are joined together.

A form of bronchial disorder with three distinct components: airway hyper-responsiveness (RESPIRATORY HYPERSENSITIVITY), airway INFLAMMATION, and intermittent AIRWAY OBSTRUCTION. It is characterized by spasmodic contraction of airway smooth muscle, WHEEZING, and dyspnea (DYSPNEA, PAROXYSMAL).

The identification of selected parameters in newborn infants by various tests, examinations, or other procedures. Screening may be performed by clinical or laboratory measures. A screening test is designed to sort out healthy neonates (INFANT, NEWBORN) from those not well, but the screening test is not intended as a diagnostic device, rather instead as epidemiologic.

Persons whom one knows, likes, and trusts.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

The genetic constitution of the individual, comprising the ALLELES present at each GENETIC LOCUS.

Individuals enrolled in a school or formal educational program.

Any method used for determining the location of and relative distances between genes on a chromosome.

The expected and characteristic pattern of behavior exhibited by an individual as a member of a particular social group.

Anxiety experienced by an individual upon separation from a person or object of particular significance to the individual.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

The seeking and acceptance by patients of health service.

Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual, usually of the same species.

Severe distortions in the development of many basic psychological functions that are not normal for any stage in development. These distortions are manifested in sustained social impairment, speech abnormalities, and peculiar motor movements.

Contamination of the air by tobacco smoke.

A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.

Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties.

Variant forms of the same gene, occupying the same locus on homologous CHROMOSOMES, and governing the variants in production of the same gene product.

A phenotypically recognizable genetic trait which can be used to identify a genetic locus, a linkage group, or a recombination event.

Hospital units providing continuous surveillance and care to acutely ill infants and children. Neonates are excluded since INTENSIVE CARE UNITS, NEONATAL is available.

Subnormal intellectual functioning which originates during the developmental period. This has multiple potential etiologies, including genetic defects and perinatal insults. Intelligence quotient (IQ) scores are commonly used to determine whether an individual has an intellectual disability. IQ scores between 70 and 79 are in the borderline range. Scores below 67 are in the disabled range. (from Joynt, Clinical Neurology, 1992, Ch55, p28)

The application of modern theories of learning and conditioning in the treatment of behavior disorders.

Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.

Abuse of children in a family, institutional, or other setting. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)

BODY MASS INDEX in children (ages 2-12) and in adolescents (ages 13-18) that is grossly above the recommended cut-off for a specific age and sex. For infants less than 2 years of age, obesity is determined based on standard weight-for-length percentile measures.

Behaviors expressed by individuals to protect, maintain or promote their health status. For example, proper diet, and appropriate exercise are activities perceived to influence health status. Life style is closely associated with health behavior and factors influencing life style are socioeconomic, educational, and cultural.

A status with BODY WEIGHT that is above certain standard of acceptable or desirable weight. In the scale of BODY MASS INDEX, overweight is defined as having a BMI of 25.0-29.9 kg/m2. Overweight may or may not be due to increases in body fat (ADIPOSE TISSUE), hence overweight does not equal "over fat".

A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the acceptable or desirable weight, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.