Recruitment and Foster Family Service

Using data from the National Survey of Current and Former Foster Parents this study examined how foster parents first found out about the need for foster parents (mass media, other foster parents, religious organization, or civic organization) affected foster family service (number of children fostered, years of fostering service, fostering of children with special needs, and families\u27 intent to continue fostering). Respondents who became aware of the need for foster parents through religious organizations fosteredfor more years; respondents who became aware through mass media fostered for fewer years. How foster families first found out about the need for foster parents did not differentially affect other foster family service measures. Implications for foster parent recruitment and future research are discussed

Maternal Employment and Parenting Through Middle Childhood: Contextualizing Factors

The authors used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N?=?1,364) to examine maternal work hour status and parenting (sensitivity and learning opportunities) from infancy through middle childhood. Work hour status was conceptualized as nonemployment, part time, and full time. Adjusting for covariates, mothers employed part time had higher sensitivity scores and higher provision of child learning opportunity scores than did mothers who were not employed, and these differences characterized families during early childhood rather than middle childhood. Mothers' provision of child learning opportunities was greater when she was employed full time (vs. part time) during early childhood. In addition to child age, mothers' ethnic minority status and partner status moderated the association between maternal work hour status and mothers' parenting. In general, the findings supported ideas forwarded by role expansionist theory

Where are Family Theories in Family-based Obesity Treatment?: Conceptualizing the Study of Families in Pediatric Weight Management

Family-based approaches to pediatric obesity treatment are considered the ‘gold-standard,’ and are recommended for facilitating behavior change to improve child weight status and health. If family-based approaches are to be truly rooted in the family, clinicians and researchers must consider family process and function in designing effective interventions. To bring a better understanding of family complexities to family-based treatment, two relevant reviews were conducted and are presented: (1) a review of prominent and established theories of the family that may provide a more comprehensive and in-depth approach for addressing pediatric obesity; and (2) a systematic review of the literature to identify the use of prominent family theories in pediatric obesity research, which found little use of theories in intervention studies. Overlapping concepts across theories include: families are a system, with interdependence of units; the idea that families are goal-directed and seek balance; and the physical and social environment imposes demands on families. Family-focused theories provide valuable insight into the complexities of families. Increased use of these theories in both research and practice may identify key leverage points in family process and function to prevent the development of or more effectively treat obesity. The field of family studies provides an innovative approach to the difficult problem of pediatric obesity, building on the long-established approach of family-based treatment

Mothers' Part-Time Employment: Child, Parent, and Family Outcomes

This article examines mothers' part-time employment, comparing working part-time with full-time employment and not working at all. Our analysis is organized around 2 paradigmatic views of maternal employment, 1 centered on the adaptive nature of mothers' part-time employment and the other on the detrimental nature of mothers' part-time employment. In each perspective, a variety of theories have been used to shape the literature, influencing the choice of research questions and interpretation of findings. These theories include stress and coping, life course, role, family systems, ecological, and feminist theory. In general, findings support part-time employment as an adaptive strategy. As an exception, mothers employed full-time had better marital quality and performed less household and child-care work than did mothers employed part-time. We also document limitations regarding attention to diverse familial outcomes in subgroups of mothers or families and to potentially important selection factor

Mothers' Part-time Employment: Associations with Mother and Family Well-being

The associations between mothers' part-time employment and mother well-being, parenting, and family functioning were examined using seven waves of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development data (N = 1,364), infancy through middle childhood. Concurrent comparisons were made between families in which mothers were employed part time and both those in which mothers were not employed and those in which mothers were employed full time. Using multivariate analysis of covariance with extensive controls, results indicated that mothers employed part time had fewer depressive symptoms during the infancy and preschool years and better self-reported health at most time points than did nonemployed mothers. Across the time span studied, mothers working part time tended to report less conflict between work and family than those working full time. During their children's preschool years, mothers employed part time exhibited more sensitive parenting than did other mothers, and at school age were more involved in school and provided more learning opportunities than mothers employed full time. Mothers employed part time reported doing a higher proportion of child care and housework than mothers employed full time. Part-time employment appears to have some benefits for mothers and families throughout the child rearing years

Cumulative Family Risk Predicts Increases in Adjustment Difficulties across Early Adolescence

Family is an important socialization context for youth as they move through early adolescence. A significant feature of this complex socialization context is the accumulation of potential family risk factors that may compromise youth adjustment. This study examined cumulative family risk and adolescents’ adjustment difficulties in 416 two-parent families using four waves of annual longitudinal data (51 % female youth). Risk factors in four family domains were examined: socioeconomic, parents’ psychological realm, marital, and parenting. Cumulative family risk experienced while in 6th grade was associated concurrently with daughters’ higher internalizing problems and with increased internalizing problems during early adolescence. Cumulative family risk was associated concurrently with sons’ higher externalizing problems and with daughters’ increased externalizing problems over time. Cumulative family risk was associated concurrently with lower grades and with declining grades over time for both daughters and sons. The number of risk domains also was associated with youths’ adjustment difficulties during early adolescence, providing evidence that risk in two-parent families involves more than ineffective parenting. These findings suggest a critical need to provide strong support for families in reducing a variety of stressors across multiple family domains as their children traverse early adolescence

Interparental Conflict and Academic Achievement: An Examination of Mediating and Moderating Factors

Using a risk and resiliency theoretical framework, the association between interparental conflict and academic achievement was examined. The sample consisted of 2,297 6th grade youth with a mean age of 11.92. Participants were mostly European American (81.8%) and 52% were girls. Results demonstrated that interparental conflict is a risk factor for lower academic achievement, suggesting that family interactions play a significant role in how youth perform in the academic setting. Youth self-blame acted as a significant mediator, providing some explanation for how interparental conflict affects academic achievement. Maternal acceptance and monitoring knowledge partially buffered the association between interparental conflict and youth self-blame. Additionally, the positive association between interparental conflict and perceived threat was stronger for youth who perceived relationships with mothers as more supportive, connected, and involved. Results from this study underscore the need for continued focus on the link between family and school environments with respect to youth developmental outcomes

Family Process and Peer Deviance Influences on Adolescent Aggression: Longitudinal Effects Across Early and Middle Adolescence

Beginning in sixth grade at an average age of 11.9 years, 416 adolescents and their parents participated in 4 waves of data collection involving family observations and multiple-reporter assessments. Ecological theory and the process-person-context-time (PPCT) model guided the hypotheses and analyses. Lagged, growth curve models revealed that family hostility and peer deviance affiliation predicted adolescent aggression in the subsequent year. Family warmth played only a minor role in protecting against adolescent aggression. In hostile or low-warmth families, peer deviance affiliation linked to a declining aggression trajectory consistent with the arena of comfort hypothesis. The longitudinal findings suggest a nonadditive, synergistic interplay between family and peer contexts across time in adding nuance to understanding the adolescent aggression

Parents’ Divorce Proneness: The Influence of Adolescent Problem Behaviors and Parental Efficacy

Early adolescents’ problem behaviors were examined as predictors of parents’ divorce proneness in a community-based sample of 416 families across a 4-year time span. Using family systems theory, it was hypothesized that adolescents’ problems are linked to parents’ divorce proneness through parents’ lower perceived parenting efficacy. Results indicated that adolescents’ externalizing problems were associated with wives’ increased divorce proneness, but not directly with husbands’ increased divorce proneness. Adolescents’ problem behaviors were linked with husbands’ increased divorce proneness through lower paternal efficacy. In terms of crossover effects, adolescents’ problem behaviors were linked with spouses’ increased divorce proneness through their spouses’ lower parenting efficacy. These results specified the family systems precept of interdependence by explicating transmission patterns across family members and subsystems

Adolescents' Triangulation in Marital Conflict and Peer Relations

This study examined the association between youths' triangulation in marital conflict and three aspects of their peer relations in 416 families during early adolescence. A 4-wave, longitudinal research design was used. As hypothesized, triangulation was associated negatively with perceived support from friends and positively with perceived peer rejection. Triangulation was a risk factor for both sons and daughters. Adolescent problem behavior did not mediate the significant association between triangulation and perceived friendship support. Adolescent problem behavior, particularly internalizing problems, completely me diated the association between triangulation and adolescents' perceptions of peer rejection, suggesting the important developmental role of adolescents' anxiety, depressive affect, and withdrawal. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of Bowen's multigenerational family systems theory and social learning principles