A Literature Review of Family Engagement with African Immigrant and Refugee Families

In recent years, the ethnic and cultural diversity of the U.S. has increased as large numbers of immigrants and refugees have resettled here. Many of the recent immigrants and refugees have arrived from African countries, and human scientists and Extension professionals must be prepared to engage with the families. To inform the work of professionals, a comprehensive search of the literature on family engagement in K-12 education and out-of-school time with African families was conducted using multiple keywords in several database searches. Two books and three peer-reviewed journal articles were identified that focused on family engagement with African families. After reviewing the publications, three relevant themes for professionals seeking engagement with African families were identified: (a) culture, (b) potential challenges, and (c) program components. These themes and their subthemes are explored, and recommendations are made for Extension professionals to increase their engagement with African families in family life programs

Parents Forever: Evaluation of a Divorce Education Curriculum

Parents Forever is an educational program developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Service for families experiencing divorce. It was designed to help parents: a) eliminate parent conflict in front of the children; b) keep the children out of the middle of parent issues; c) provide access to both parents; and d) put the best interests of the children first. Eighty-nine parents were interviewed via telephone after completing the course about the impact of Parents Forever on parental behaviors. Analyses revealed that Parents Forever is effective in meeting its four objectives. Implications for divorce education programming are outlined

Parent Internet Use During a Child\u27s Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Extension

Parents frequently use the Internet to connect with professionals and other parents for information and support, but parents of emerging adults have fewer resources to rely on than parents of younger children. This article explores how parents of 18 to 25 year olds used the Internet to connect with others, including differences by parent age, education, and income. Findings reveal that parents of emerging adults used a variety of activities for parenting and used specific activities for different purposes. Findings directly benefit Extension professionals who aim to address the needs of parents of emerging adults via the Internet

Adolescents’ Negative Experiences in Organized Youth Activities

Research indicates that organized youth activities are most often a context of positive development. However, there is a smaller body of evidence suggesting that these activities are sometimes a context of negative experiences that may impede learning or lead to dropping out. To better understand negative experiences in youth activities, we conducted ten focus groups with adolescents. Youths’ descriptions provide an overview of the range of types of negative experiences they encountered, as well as how they responded to them. The most frequent types of negative experiences involved peers and peer group dynamics and aversive behavior attributed to the adult leaders of the activities. The youth described two types of responses to their negative experiences - a passive response of feeling negative emotions, and active coping, which sometimes led to learning

Where do US mothers go on the internet to get information?

Parents are increasingly looking to the internet for information, help and advice. Juyoung Jang, Jodi Dworkin and Heather Hessel explore the varying online spaces mothers, in particular, visit, and how they can be effectively supported in their parenting roles. Juyoung is a Visiting Scholar in the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University, where she was a postdoctoral fellow, Jodi is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, and Heather is a doctoral student in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota

Individuation Revisited: Implications for Parent Education

Researchers have suggested that adolescents\u27 increase in autonomy is accompanied by maintaining close relations with parents. In this article, we explore this process of individuation from the perspective of mothers. Nearly 900 (n=878) white mothers of children aged 2 to 14 were interviewed via the telephone about their child\u27s independence and their perception of parent-child connectedness. Analyses revealed that from the perspective of mothers, while independence increased across childhood, parent-child connectedness decreased. These data suggest the need to support parents in remaining connected to their children as they enter adolescence. Implications of these findings for parent education are considered

Adolescents Accounts of Growth Experiences in Youth Activities

Little theory and research exists on the developmental processes that occur during adolescents\u27 participation in extracurricular and community based-activities. As a step in that direction, we conducted 10 focus groups aimed at getting high school students\u27 descriptions of their growth experiences in these activities. The youth reported both personal and interpersonal processes of development. The personal experiences included experimentation and identity work, development of initiative skills such as learning to set goals and manage time, and learning strategies for emotional regulation. The interpersonal experiences included acquiring new peer relationships and knowledge, developing group social skills such as taking responsibility and how to work together as a team, and developing valuable connections to adults. Across domains, adolescents described themselves as the agents of their own development and change. Youth activities appear to be a context in which adolescents arc active producers of development

MTurk 101: An Introduction to Amazon Mechanical Turk for Extension Professionals

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an online marketplace for labor recruitment that has become a popular platform for data collection. In particular, MTurk can be a valuable tool for Extension professionals. As an example, MTurk workers can provide feedback, write reviews, or give input on a website design. In this article we discuss the many uses of MTurk for Extension professionals and provide best practices for its use

Mothers’ Satisfaction with Youth Out-of-School-Time Programs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related to mothers’ satisfaction with youth out-of-school-time (OST) programs. The relationship to demographic characteristics and the effects of mother’s perception of youth OST program opportunities on mothers’ satisfaction with OST programs are discussed in this paper. Ordered logistic regression revealed the positive effects of partner’s working hours, mother’s education, and mother’s perception on mother satisfaction. Generalized ordered logit models further revealed that the effects of the variables and the effects of child sex, income, and race differed by the level of mother satisfaction. These findings have important implications for youth workers and policy makers

Youth Online Media Use: Associations with Youth Demographics, Parental Monitoring, and Parent-Child Relationships

As online media has become an increasingly important part of youths’ daily lives, it is critical for the field to explore questions related to youth online media use in order to support youth workers, youth development practice and programming. Using a national sample of youth age 13-22 (N = 585), the current study explored demographic differences in youth online media use, and examined associations between youth demographics, parental monitoring, parent-child relationship quality, and likelihood of being a frequent user of online activities. Although youth reported being frequent users of online media, Internet use was not the same for all youth. Online media use differed significantly by youth age, gender, race, and family relationship quality. The findings remind the field to consider the young people we are working with and how they use online media in their daily lives