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Attachment theory holds that parental relationships have lifelong effects on offspring social lives. The tend‐and‐befriend hypothesis posits that female friendships among humans evolved as part of a primate‐wide coping mechanism to mediate stress by relying on social support. Here we bridge developmental and evolutionary frameworks to examine adolescent girls' perception of their reliance on female friendship for social support, how perceptions of parental relationships affect peer relationships, and the extent to which parent and peer relationships buffer depressive symptoms. We predict perceived maternal relationship quality will be positively associated with close female friendships, and maternal relationships, paternal relationships, and female friendship will buffer depressive symptoms. Participants were adolescent girls from a summer science camp (N = 95). Participants filled out demographic information, social network surveys, the Parent‐Adolescent Communication Scale, and the Center for Epidemiology Depression Scale. Data was analyzed with Pearson's correlations, t tests, and path analysis. Adolescent girls with few female friends, compared with girls who had more than two very close female friends, experienced more depressive symptoms (t = 3.382, p =.001, D = 0.784). Adolescent girls with few female friends experienced more depressive symptoms compared to girls with two or more very close female friends (t = 3.382, p =.001, D = 0.784). Stronger maternal and paternal relationships were associated with having more female friends (maternal: t = −3.213, p =.003, D = 0.837; paternal: t = −2.432; p =.017). In the path analysis model, only maternal relationship quality significantly predicted female friendship category (β =.33, CR = 2.770, p <.006). Furthermore, participants with two or more very close female friends and higher paternal relationship quality had significantly fewer depressive symptoms (friends; β = −.19, CR = −2.112, p =.035; paternal: β = −.33, CR = −3.220, p <.001), and older participants had more depressive symptoms (β =.17, CR = −1.931, p =.036). These results provide additional support for the tend‐and‐befriend hypothesis, suggesting that maternal tending sets the stage for close female friendships. HIGHLIGHTS: Maternal relationship quality is related to female friendship in adolescent girls.Female friendships and parental relationships, particularly fathers, may buffer depressive symptoms.The transfer of tend‐and‐befriend strategies from mothers to daughters may be part of a primate‐wide pattern with lifelong consequences for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study tests whether normal, premenopausal women's luteal endometrial thickness (ET) is associated with their red blood count (RBC) and hemoglobin concentrations (Hg), in order to assess whether a high ET results in anemia in the women. It is proposed that a thicker endometrium suggests greater iron reserves, rather than greater risk of anemia in healthy women.

A national need exists to effectively engage women and people categorized as minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and career paths. Given the minimal existence of standards and accreditation boards for engineering design and holistic engineering practice in K–12 contexts, we must better understand how said engineering design and holistic engineering practice affects the learning and identity formation of K–12 students. Here, 50 rising 9th–12th grade girls are exposed to either a socio-ethics enhanced engineering curriculum or a standard engineering curriculum through a week-long STEM summer camp. Qualitative methods are used to conduct a thematic analysis on the engineering language used by students in each curriculum group. Significant differences in language and attitudes towards engineering and the practice of STEM subjects is observed through the incorporation of ethics and humanities into a standard model engineering curriculum. The study presented in this paper demonstrates that students have a tendency towards describing scientific ideas through abstract terms, while a group who participated in the social science integrated camp tended to describe scientific ideas using social-emotional terms. Lastly, students who participated in the camp with integrated social sciences displayed an expanded view and sense of responsibility for the society for which their science is developed to serve. These results could have implications on how STEM subjects are communicated to attract and sustain student interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]