College of Education
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Item PARENTAL ETHNIC-RACIAL SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES AMONG CHINESE AMERICAN FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN(2023) Zhang, Xinyi; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite literature suggesting that socializing children of color regarding race and ethnicity is key to protect them against racism in America, little is known about how Asian American young children are ethnically and racially socialized by their parents. In the event of increased anti-Asian racism during COVID-19, it becomes urgent that we address this knowledge gap. The goal of the present study is to understand the parental ethnic-racial socialization processes with Asian American young children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Fifty-seven low-income (n=36) and middle-and-upper-income (n=21) Chinese American mothers (Mage = 37.14, SD =4.99) of four-to-seven-year-old children (Mage =5.63, SD =0.82, female n=33, 58%) from Maryland and New York were interviewed. The participants shared the frequency and strategies of their ethnic-racial socialization processes and their perception of the effectiveness of these strategies. Using qualitative content analyses, results indicated that: (a) The two income groups shared the same frequency of using each ethnic-racial socialization dimension (cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and egalitarianism and silence about race); (b) Different patterns emerged in the content of how they used preparation for bias and promotion of mistrust; (c) Mothers from the low-income group were more likely to experience discrimination and to share the discrimination experiences with their children to prepare them for bias; (d) Mothers from both of the income groups recognized that their children face model minority stereotypes in the society, but they held different attitudes towards the stereotypes; (e) The two income groups found cultural socialization helpful and promotion of mistrust harmful. More diversity and less consensus were found in their perception of the effectiveness of preparation for bias and egalitarianism and silence about race. The current study is the first study to reveal diversity of ethnic-racial socialization processes among the Chinese American families with young children. It provides empirical support that socioeconomic context is an indispensable variable in understanding ethnic-racial socialization processes in families of color.Item Maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems: Attachment security as a protective factor(Cambridge University Press, 2022-01-31) Whittenburg, Paige N.; Stern, Jessica A.; Brett, Bonnie E.; Straske, M. Davis; Cassidy, JudeMaternal depressive symptoms (MDS) have been linked to both child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Theory suggests that child attachment security may be a protective factor against the negative effects of MDS. This study examined child attachment security as a buffer of the link between MDS and child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems at two time points in a predominantly African American sample. Participants included mothers (N = 164; M age = 29.68 years; 76% African American) and their preschool-aged children (60% girls; M age = 44.67 months) recruited from four Head Start centers in low-income neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland. MDS were concurrently associated with child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems at both time points. No significant main effects of child attachment security on behavior problems emerged; however, child attachment moderated the association between MDS and child internalizing behavior problems at Time 2, such that MDS predicted greater child internalizing problems when attachment security was low, and the effect was attenuated when attachment security was high. No interaction emerged for child externalizing problems. Findings suggest that secure attachment in early childhood can serve as a protective factor in the context of parental risk. We discuss implications for intervention and the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.Item THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT ON PARENTING BEHAVIORS AMONG LOW-INCOME FAMILIES: MEDIATIONAL PATHWAYS TO CHILDREN’S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT(2019) Kuhns, Catherine Emily; Cabrera, Natasha; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Economic stress been shown to compromise children’s social development and undermine parenting behaviors in mothers of young children. A separate literature suggests that social support may attenuate the negative effects of maternal stress on parenting behaviors. Guided by the Family Stress Model and the Stress Buffering Model, this study examined the indirect pathways from maternal experiences of stress (economic and parenting) to children’s social competencies and behavior problems longitudinally in a sample of children from the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES). It also tested the moderating effects of two types of social support (instrumental and emotional) on the negative association between stressors (economic and parenting) and children’s social skills. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) results demonstrated support for the Family Stress Model, such that economic stress (at age 1) was longitudinally and indirectly related to children’s social competencies and problem behaviors (at age 3) via observed maternal sensitivity (at age 2). That is, higher levels of economic stress were related to elevated levels of behavior problems and lower levels of social competencies because it increased parenting stress and decreased maternal sensitivity. However, there was no evidence that social support moderated the association between either type of stress and parenting. Findings are discussed in light of policy and programmatic efforts to broaden support of families and children by incorporating services that promote sensitive parent-child interactions and reduce maternal parenting stress.Item Children’s Adjustment to Parents’ Break Up: The Family System Mechanisms(2015) Karberg, Elizabeth; Cabrera, Natasha J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research has shown that many aspects of family functioning are directly and indirectly linked to children’s social development. One important aspect of how families function is family structure. In this regard, families have undergone tremendous change over the last decades resulting in increased cohabitation and divorce. These types of families are believed to be more unstable than married families. Instability creates more stress that can be difficult for children to cope with resulting in increased behavioral problems. Although past studies have shown an association between union instability and children’s externalizing problem behaviors (EPB), the mechanism by which this occurs is less understood. Using Family Systems Theory and data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (n = 3,387), I examined whether family processes – father and mother involvement, co-parenting support, and maternal responsiveness – explained the association between union instability and children’s EPB at 9 years. I also examined whether marital status and children’s temperament moderated this association. Using measured variable path analysis, I found that only co-parenting support mediated the association between union instability and child EPB, and only for children whose mothers experienced a divorce (not a nonmarital separation), controlling for known covariates of children’s EPB. The association between union instability and children’s EPB through co-parenting and parenting was not moderated by child temperament. These findings suggest that co-parenting rather than parenting explains children’s social adjustment when families undergo a divorce.Item Family Processes and Leisure Activity Involvement Across the High School Transition: The Mediating Roles of Adolescent Internalizing Problems and Self-Esteem(2010) Dashiell-Aje, Ebony N.; Rubin, Kenneth H; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Parents are among the most important socializing agents in adolescents' lives. The purpose of the current study was to examine the prospective relations between family processes and leisure activity involvement across the high school transition. Specifically, I explored the meditational role of adolescent psychological well-being (internalizing problems and self-esteem) in these relations. The first aim of the present study included two dimensions: 1) to examine whether there were prospective relations between family processes (maternal and paternal parenting) and adolescent leisure involvement across the high school transition; and 2) to investigate the extent to which psychological well-being mediated the relations between family processes and adolescent leisure activity choices, based on Eccles and Harold's (1991) research linking parenting dimensions to leisure outcomes. The second aim of this study was to explore whether boys and girls differed in the extent to which their psychological well-being mediated the relations between family processes and leisure activity involvement from the 8th to the 9th grade. It was hypothesized that perceptions of maternal and paternal parenting would differentially relate to adolescent leisure activity intensity and enjoyment. Likewise, I hypothesized that internalizing problems and self-esteem would act as mediators in these relations. Finally, I hypothesized that gender would moderate some of the meditational relations. OLS regression and bootstrapping techniques were used to test simple mediation and moderated mediation for all variables. Significant mediation effects emerged for relations between perceptions of paternal involvement and sports intensity and enjoyment through internalizing problems. Additionally, internalizing problems mediated the relation between perceptions of paternal support and sports enjoyment. An indirect effect emerged for the relation between adolescent's perceptions of maternal negativity and arts enjoyment through self-esteem. Subsequent hierarchical regressions revealed significant gender by family process interactions when predicting leisure involvement and one significant gender by internalizing problems interaction effect emerged when predicting social activity enjoyment. These findings suggest that maternal and paternal parenting play significant and differential roles in adolescent leisure activity involvement across the high school transition. These results also suggest that adolescent psychological well-being effects the relations between adolescent perceptions of parenting and their leisure activity involvement.Item Maternal Adolescent Parenting Behavior and Child Aggressive and Inattentive Behavior: Findings from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project(2008-11-17) Guner, Bella Mironovna; Klein, Elisa L; Jones Harden, Brenda; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Adolescent parenting is associated with a wide variety of risk factors for both the mother (Berlin, Brady-Smith, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002) and child (Moore & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). Understanding the pathways leading toward poor parenting practices, and the subsequent influences on child aggressive and inattentive behavior may yield important information for intervention efforts on the part of adolescent families. The current study examines which maternal characteristics influence parenting behavior in a high risk sample of adolescent mothers and their toddlers, using Belsky's (1984) parenting process model. The purpose of the study was to: 1) examine whether maternal age, depression, or stress influenced positive and negative parenting behavior, 2) examine the influence of positive and negative parenting behavior on child aggressive and inattentive behavior, and 3) examine whether positive parenting would mediate the association between maternal characteristics and child aggressive and inattentive behavior. Data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation dataset was used to examine the aforementioned questions. The sample consisted of 319 mothers ages 15-19 and their toddlers ages 2-3 years. Heirarchical regression analyses revealed that maternal depression predicted higher levels of negative parenting behavior, younger adolescent mothers are more likely to engage in punitive parenting behavior than older adolescents, and maternal stress predicted lower levels of positive and higher levels of negative parenting behavior. Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescent mothers who engaged in positive parenting behavior were less likely to have children who engaged in aggressive and inattentive behavior, and parents who engaged in negative parenting behavior were more likely to have children who engaged in aggressive and inattentive behavior. Mediational analyses revealed that positive parenting behavior mediated the association between maternal stress and child aggressive and inattentive behavior. These findings suggest that maternal characteristics are an important factor to consider in parenting behavior, and that despite the difficulties faced by adolescent mothers, there is room for positive parenting, which may mitigate the influence of maternal stress. The findings from this study indicate that intervention efforts may benefit from focusing on teaching adolescent mothers how to engage in positive parenting behaviors with their toddlers, thereby reducing the risk for future child aggressive and inattentive behaviors.Item Low-Income African American Fathers' Contributions to Toddlers' Social and Emotional Development(2007-11-26) Mitchell, Stephanie Jolley; Cabrera, Natasha; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Growing interest in low-income, minority fathers' involvement and concern over their children's social and emotional development highlights the need for empirical investigation into the predictors of low-income fathers' involvement and its influence on young children's social and emotional development. Using data from a study of low-income, African American fathers of toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start, the present research examined associations among fathers' family contexts, the quality of father-child interactions, and children's social competence and problem behavior. Guided by the Dynamics Model of paternal influences on children (Cabrera et al., in press a), the present research addressed the following questions: (a) how are fathers' family contexts associated with children's social and emotional development, (b) how are fathers' family contexts associated with the quality of father-child interactions, (c) how is the quality of father-child interactions uniquely associated with children's social and emotional development, and (d) to what extent does the quality of father-child interactions mediate associations between fathers' family contexts and children's social and emotional development? Results of multiple regressions suggest that low-income, African American fathers who parent in the context of more harmonious partner and extended family relationships have children with greater social competence and less problem behavior than fathers who have less amicable partner and extended family relationships. Furthermore, fathers who act negatively and are over-controlling toward their toddlers have children who exhibit less social competence than fathers who display fewer negative behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of supporting fathers' relationships with their partners and extended family members and of encouraging fathers to be less negative and over-controlling when interacting with their toddlers in order to promote impoverished children's healthy social and emotional development.Item Pathways between exposure to violence, maternal depression, family structury [i.e. structure] and child outcomes through parenting: A multi-group analysis(2007-07-27) Westbrook, T'Pring R.; Jones-Harden, Brenda`; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Arguably one of the greatest influences on a child's development is the parenting he or she experiences. With that perspective, family stress theory posits that children in low-income families are affected by poverty-related stressors through their effect on their parents. The present study used family stress theory as a framework to study the impact of proximal (i.e., family structure, maternal depression) and distal (i.e., community violence) risk factors, or stressors, on parenting characteristics which were in turn hypothesized to impact child social-emotional functioning. Data from the FACES 2000 study of children enrolled in Head Start and their families were used to conduct the analyses. The sample consisted of 1417 African American, Latino, and White mothers of preschool children. The present study hypothesized that exposure to violence, family structure, maternal depression, and parenting styles measured at time 1 would affect child social-emotional functioning at time 2. Moreover, it was hypothesized that a SEM model wherein violence exposure, family structure, and maternal depression's influenced parenting characteristics, which then impacted the child outcome, would fit the data. Finally, it was hypothesized that these findings would be consistent across African American, Latino, and White subgroups. The data revealed that the study variables were significant predictors of the child outcome. Although few of the key variables significantly contributed to the regression models or had significant pathways in the SEM models, the cumulative effect of the variables resulted in significant models that accounted for 21-37% of the outcome. The multi-group analysis revealed that despite differences in the amount of variance explained, the causal pathways were consistent for the groups analyzed. Findings support theories such as the family stress model that suggest that poverty related stressors negatively impact children's development by first negatively impacting parenting behaviors. This pattern of influence was consistent across race/ethnicities. It may not be practical to expect practitioners to address the myriad of potential risks factors encountered by low-income families, but parents can be equipped with mental health services, parent education, and other such assistance to help them maintain positive parenting practices in the face of life's challenges.Item An Evaluation of Best Families, a Parenting Education Intervention Program for Head Start Families: The Effects on Child-rearing Style, Affirming Communication, and Children's Behavior(2005-12-16) Sang-Blodgett, Janet; Robertson-Tchabo, Elizabeth A.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: AN EVALUATION OF BEST FAMILIES, A PARENTING EDUCATION INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR HEAD START FAMILIES: THE EFFECTS ON CHILD-REARING STYLE, AFFIRMING COMMUNICATION, AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOR. Janet Sang-Blodgett, Ph.D., 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Chair: E.A. Robertson-Tchabo, Ph.D.EDHD The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of parents' participation in the Best Families program on the parents' child rearing style, parent-child communication, and parents' and teachers' ratings of the children's behavior. The Best Families program was a four-week, parenting education program designed specifically for economically disadvantaged parents of 4 - 5 year old children enrolled in early childhood assistance programs in a mid-Atlantic state. Thirty parent volunteers whose children attended a Head Start summer session at one of three Head Start centers participated in the study. Two of the parent participants were fathers, and 28 were mothers. Nineteen of the parents were African American, eight were Hispanic Americans, and three were Caucasian. Nineteen of the participants were parents of boys, and eleven of the participants were parents of girls. The Best Families program included four components: social problem solving, verbalizing emotions, parent-child communication, and utilization of social support. The program was delivered once a week for four consecutive weeks. Participants were directed to apply the skills that had been addressed during the following week and to discuss with the group the relative success of the strategies. Personal interviews were conducted prior to the intervention program and immediately after participation in the parenting education program. A participant's child-rearing style and social problem solving was measured by the Child Rearing Style Interview (Shure, 1998). All but one of the 30 participants moved up the child rearing style continuum in the direction of a social problem solving style. Parent-child communication was measured by the Problem Solving Communication Index (McCubbin, McCubbin, and Thompson, 1988). There was a statistically significant increase in the frequency of affirming communication. Children's behavior was measured by parent and teacher ratings using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). There was a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of externalizing behaviors of both boys and girls as rated both by parents' and by teachers' ratings. The children exhibited fewer aggressive and impulsive behaviors and generally were more compliant.Item Maternal and Paternal Parenting and Girls' and Boys' Attachment Security in Middle Childhood(2005-10-05) Dwyer, Kathleen; Rubin, Kenneth H; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Current attachment security is presumed to reflect both early experiences and current relationships with attachment figures. However, few researchers have examined the parenting behaviors that are linked with attachment during middle childhood. The overall purpose of the present study was to investigate the relations among maternal and paternal parenting behaviors (sensitivity, encouragement of autonomy) and girls' and boys' attachment security with respect to their mothers and fathers. It has been suggested that fathering becomes more important as children grow older and form relationships outside the family. In addition, the type of sensitivity that promotes attachment security with mother may differ from the type of sensitivity that promotes attachment security with father. A perspective on attachment that encompasses security in both attachment and exploration suggests that parents must both respond sensitively to child distress and support autonomy. It was hypothesized that mothers are more likely to act as a safe haven and respond to child distress, whereas fathers are more likely to act as a secure base for exploration. Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD) were analyzed. Participants were restricted to "traditional nuclear" families. Data relevant to the current study were collected at laboratory and home visits when children were in Grades 3, 4, and 5. Parental sensitivity and respect for autonomy were observed in child-parent interactions in Grades 3 and 5. Parent-reported encouragement of autonomy was assessed at Grades 3 and 4. Child-reported felt security with respect to each parent, observed dyadic felt security, and parent-reported child attachment behaviors were assessed in Grades 3 and 5. Structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses. The model that emerged contained significant correlations between maternal and paternal sensitivity and between child-mother and child-father attachment at both Grades 3 and 5, stability of both sensitivity and attachment, and predictive relations only within Grade 5. Taken as a whole, the results point to the need to take a developmental pathways perspective and to examine the reciprocal relations between children and parents in middle childhood.