Research Notes

Study looks at impact of 2nd child on parents

A new study at the University has found that the birth of a second child to dual-career, middle-class couples may have an even greater impact than the first child.

The results, presented yesterday at the annual meeting in Ann Arbor of the American Anthropological Association, found that women were more likely to quit work after the second child, gender roles became more apparent in the couple's relationship and a stronger feeling of fatherhood developed in the male parents.

Rebecca Upton, an anthropologist at the University's Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life, conducted in-depth fieldwork among middle-class Midwestern families.

She conducted preliminary interviews with about 40 couples who either recently had a second child or were planning on having one and then followed up by accompanying the couples in their daily lives, taking into account the pressures and pleasures that they had with having a second child.

She also found that some of the families were ambivalent about having a second child but felt pressed to have another child when the first child reached the age of two. Upton presented her paper "The Next One Changes Everything: Having A Second Child in the American Middle-Class Family" at the meeting yesterday.

Research shows changes occurring in auto material

As more automotive makers move toward using lightweight aluminum, plastics and structural composites in vehicles, the cost will still weigh significantly in the selection of materials, according to a study at the University.

The research, presented last week at the 10th biennial University Delphi Forecast and Analysis of the North American Automotive Industry, also found that weight, formability, design and styling requirements, safety considerations, warranty costs and field experiences also will be important selection factors.

Brett Smith of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation conducted a survey of more than 200 auto industry experts.

The results show that total vehicle weight is supposed to decrease by 10 percent by 2009 but steel will continue to be the dominant material in frame construction, body panels and chassis components. Aluminum use is expected to increase 15 percent in frame material, 20 percent in space frame material, 22.5 percent in car hoods, 17.5 percent in decklids and 17.5 percent in rear hatches.

Smoking poses risks to women

Women are more susceptible to cervical cancer, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, mouth diseases and infertility than women nonsmokers, according to the study. They are also more susceptible to some of these diseases than male smokers.Women smokers also have increased risk of facial wrinkles, gum inflammation and cancer of the lips and mouth.

The study also found that women smokers were 50 percent to 500 percent more likely to pass on harmful health conditions to their children, such as attention deficit disorder, fetal and prenatal deaths and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Tobacco use was also found to be present in 25 percent of pregnancies despite the publicity of the negative effects of smoking while pregnant.

- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Lindsey Alpert.