Children of Ameriturk mothers and traditional Turkish fathers: perceived remote acculturation gaps between divorced coparents, and child well-being in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to explore effects of parental remote acculturation and parental remote acculturation gaps in behavior and identity domains on child well-being in divorced families in Turkey. Altogether, 177 divorced mothers from three cities in Turkey completed questionnaires reporting their remote acculturation to U.S. and Turkish cultures, and perceptions of their ex-spouse’s remote acculturation using the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Behavioral Acculturation) and the Language, Identity Behavior Scale (Identity Acculturation). Mothers also reported their child’s internalizing (social withdrawal, anxiety) and externalizing (aggression) behaviors using the Turkish CBCL. Remote acculturation gaps were operationalized with both match:mismatch and interaction methods. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for parental conflict resolution revealed that fathers’ American identity positively predicted children’s social withdrawal. In addition, parental remote acculturation gaps predicted less internalizing problems, when mothers were high in American identity (Ameriturk), and fathers were high in Turkish identity. For AmeriTurk mothers, fathers’ Turkish identity and for strongly Turkish-identified fathers, mothers’ American identity were both negatively associated with children’s internalizing behavior problems. There were no significant findings for the behavior domain of acculturation. Taken together, parental remote acculturation and remote acculturation gaps in identity (but not behavior) predict the social and emotional (but not behavioral) well-being of children in Eurasia above and beyond parental discord and may help to explain the repercussions of globalization in Turkish families. Although fathers’ American identity may be detrimental for children in divorced families in Turkey, AmeriTurk mothers may balance traditional Turkish fathers in a way that is protective of their children, indicating the benefit of an integration acculturation strategy at the family leve

Intergenerational food-focused media literacy in Jamaica

Media use has been linked to unhealthy eating, but there is evidence that parent discussion about media and media literacy can inoculate against negative media effects. Therefore, we examined the relationships between mothers’ food-focused media literacy and their discussions about media and their adolescents’ food-focused media literacy in a survey of 82 mother-adolescent dyads in Jamaica, a middle-income country where obesity is rising. As expected, mothers’ food-focused media literacy was both greater than and positively related to their adolescents’ food-focused media literacy. The nature of the discussion (i.e., emotional intensity) about the time adolescents spent using media (TV, computer/electronics) positively related to adolescents’ media literacy. This study contributes to understanding how mothers may shape their adolescent’s media literacy and underscores the importance of considering parent-adolescent discussions for food-focused media literacy

Lawmakers\u27 Use of Scientific Evidence Can Be Improved

Core to the goal of scientific exploration is the opportunity to guide future decision-making. Yet, elected officials often miss opportunities to use science in their policymaking. This work reports on an experiment with the US Congress-evaluating the effects of a randomized, dual-population (i.e., researchers and congressional offices) outreach model for supporting legislative use of research evidence regarding child and family policy issues. In this experiment, we found that congressional offices randomized to the intervention reported greater value of research for understanding issues than the control group following implementation. More research use was also observed in legislation introduced by the intervention group. Further, we found that researchers randomized to the intervention advanced their own policy knowledge and engagement as well as reported benefits for their research following implementation

Lawmakers' use of scientific evidence can be improved.

Core to the goal of scientific exploration is the opportunity to guide future decision-making. Yet, elected officials often miss opportunities to use science in their policymaking. This work reports on an experiment with the US Congress-evaluating the effects of a randomized, dual-population (i.e., researchers and congressional offices) outreach model for supporting legislative use of research evidence regarding child and family policy issues. In this experiment, we found that congressional offices randomized to the intervention reported greater value of research for understanding issues than the control group following implementation. More research use was also observed in legislation introduced by the intervention group. Further, we found that researchers randomized to the intervention advanced their own policy knowledge and engagement as well as reported benefits for their research following implementation

The negotiation processes between remotely acculturating divorced coparents in relation to children's adjustment in urban Turkey: The moderating role of coparenting quality

Modern globalization and rising divorce rates in urban Turkey have brought visible reconfigurations in family and coparenting dynamics. Bridging remote acculturation, coparenting, and divorce literatures, perceived differences in parents’ cultural orientations to the remote U.S. culture and home culture (i.e., perceived parental remote acculturation gaps) could be an asset for children whose parents have a high-quality coparenting relationship; but these cultural gaps could also be a liability for children whose divorced coparents have a low-quality coparenting relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to elucidate the moderating role of coparenting quality in the association between perceived parental remote acculturation gaps in two acculturation domains (behavior, identity) and children’s internalizing behaviors (anxiety, social withdrawal) as perceived by divorced mothers in urban Turkey. Altogether, 177 divorced mothers from three cities in urban Turkey reported their own and their ex-partners’ remote acculturation to U.S. and Turkish cultures using the Turkish Vancouver Index of Acculturation (for Behavioral Acculturation) and an adapted version of Language, Identity, Behavior Scale (for Identity and Language Acculturation). Mothers also reported their perceptions of the coparenting quality with their ex-partners (Triangulation and Coparental Cooperation) and their joint child’s internalizing behaviors (Anxiety and Social Withdrawal) using the adapted version of Coparenting Questionnaire (CQ) and the Turkish Child Behavior Checklist (the corollary of the CBCL). Remote acculturation gaps were operationalized statistically using the interaction method in regression analyses. Preliminary descriptive cluster analysis revealed two clusters of mothers based on their remote acculturation patterns. Relative to a “Traditional Turkish” cluster (n = 86, 48.6%), “AmeriTurk” mothers (n = 91, 51.4%) reported a stronger orientation to U.S. behaviors and identity, a weaker orientation to Turkish behaviors and identity, and higher English language competency. In the main analyses, a series of stepwise regression analyses revealed that only triangulation significantly moderated the link between the perceived gaps in parents’ American orientation (behavior: β = .240, p<.001; β = .267, p<.001 and identity: β = .210, p< .001) and children’s anxiety and social withdrawal, correspondingly. Results were near identical across behavior and identity domains of remote acculturation, except the link between perceived parental remote acculturation gaps and social withdrawal was only true for the behavior domain. Further exploration of three-way interactions revealed that the association between mothers’ Americanization and their children’s internalizing behaviors significantly differed as a function of fathers’ Americanization. First, under the conditions of high triangulation, children whose mothers had low American orientation paired with fathers who were perceived to have high Americanization had fewer internalizing behaviors. On the other hand, under the conditions of low triangulation, children whose mothers had low American orientation paired with fathers who were perceived to have high Americanization had more internalizing behaviors. Results of the current study expanded our understanding of AmeriTurk mothers by examining three remote acculturation domains (behavior, identity, language) and highlighted the importance of triangulation in the association between parental remote acculturation gaps and children’s internalizing behaviors after divorce. Findings revealed that perceived parental remote acculturation gaps whereby mothers are not very Americanized but perceived fathers to be more Americanized may be protective for children with triangulating parents. In these globalizing divorced families in Turkey, children may realize that their divorced parents have different cultural worldviews and may expect an interparental clash; thus, when they are being pulled (i.e., triangulated) into the arguments, they may attribute the reason of the argument to the gap in their divorced parents’ degrees of cultural orientation. Hence, children’s positive appraisals (not blaming themselves and not feeling threatened) might protect them from the negative emotional consequences of triangulation. On the other hand, findings also showed that the same perceived parental remote acculturation gap may be bad for children of non-triangulating families. In these families, children may experience higher internalizing behaviors as they do not have the triangulation to deflect the blame off themselves. However, having coparents with similar cultural views who are able to communicate without including their children in interparental dialogues might alleviate children’s internalizing behaviors. Two Americanized non-triangulating parents might be using a different type of cultural brokering whereby they may navigate and blend their internalization of American culture. Taken together, study results underscored the idea that “one size doesn’t fit all” for all divorced families and took us one step closer to elucidating under what conditions parental remote acculturation gaps might be associated with coparenting and children’s adjustment. In conclusion, results, especially if they are replicated in other globalizing settings across the urban Majority World, suggest promising avenues to better understand divorced family dynamics and children’s adjustment in the context of remote acculturation. Future directions and implications were discussed

The negotiation processes between remotely acculturating divorced coparents in relation to children's adjustment in urban Turkey: The moderating role of coparenting quality

Modern globalization and rising divorce rates in urban Turkey have brought visible reconfigurations in family and coparenting dynamics. Bridging remote acculturation, coparenting, and divorce literatures, perceived differences in parents’ cultural orientations to the remote U.S. culture and home culture (i.e., perceived parental remote acculturation gaps) could be an asset for children whose parents have a high-quality coparenting relationship; but these cultural gaps could also be a liability for children whose divorced coparents have a low-quality coparenting relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to elucidate the moderating role of coparenting quality in the association between perceived parental remote acculturation gaps in two acculturation domains (behavior, identity) and children’s internalizing behaviors (anxiety, social withdrawal) as perceived by divorced mothers in urban Turkey. Altogether, 177 divorced mothers from three cities in urban Turkey reported their own and their ex-partners’ remote acculturation to U.S. and Turkish cultures using the Turkish Vancouver Index of Acculturation (for Behavioral Acculturation) and an adapted version of Language, Identity, Behavior Scale (for Identity and Language Acculturation). Mothers also reported their perceptions of the coparenting quality with their ex-partners (Triangulation and Coparental Cooperation) and their joint child’s internalizing behaviors (Anxiety and Social Withdrawal) using the adapted version of Coparenting Questionnaire (CQ) and the Turkish Child Behavior Checklist (the corollary of the CBCL). Remote acculturation gaps were operationalized statistically using the interaction method in regression analyses. Preliminary descriptive cluster analysis revealed two clusters of mothers based on their remote acculturation patterns. Relative to a “Traditional Turkish” cluster (n = 86, 48.6%), “AmeriTurk” mothers (n = 91, 51.4%) reported a stronger orientation to U.S. behaviors and identity, a weaker orientation to Turkish behaviors and identity, and higher English language competency. In the main analyses, a series of stepwise regression analyses revealed that only triangulation significantly moderated the link between the perceived gaps in parents’ American orientation (behavior: β = .240, p<.001; β = .267, p<.001 and identity: β = .210, p< .001) and children’s anxiety and social withdrawal, correspondingly. Results were near identical across behavior and identity domains of remote acculturation, except the link between perceived parental remote acculturation gaps and social withdrawal was only true for the behavior domain. Further exploration of three-way interactions revealed that the association between mothers’ Americanization and their children’s internalizing behaviors significantly differed as a function of fathers’ Americanization. First, under the conditions of high triangulation, children whose mothers had low American orientation paired with fathers who were perceived to have high Americanization had fewer internalizing behaviors. On the other hand, under the conditions of low triangulation, children whose mothers had low American orientation paired with fathers who were perceived to have high Americanization had more internalizing behaviors. Results of the current study expanded our understanding of AmeriTurk mothers by examining three remote acculturation domains (behavior, identity, language) and highlighted the importance of triangulation in the association between parental remote acculturation gaps and children’s internalizing behaviors after divorce. Findings revealed that perceived parental remote acculturation gaps whereby mothers are not very Americanized but perceived fathers to be more Americanized may be protective for children with triangulating parents. In these globalizing divorced families in Turkey, children may realize that their divorced parents have different cultural worldviews and may expect an interparental clash; thus, when they are being pulled (i.e., triangulated) into the arguments, they may attribute the reason of the argument to the gap in their divorced parents’ degrees of cultural orientation. Hence, children’s positive appraisals (not blaming themselves and not feeling threatened) might protect them from the negative emotional consequences of triangulation. On the other hand, findings also showed that the same perceived parental remote acculturation gap may be bad for children of non-triangulating families. In these families, children may experience higher internalizing behaviors as they do not have the triangulation to deflect the blame off themselves. However, having coparents with similar cultural views who are able to communicate without including their children in interparental dialogues might alleviate children’s internalizing behaviors. Two Americanized non-triangulating parents might be using a different type of cultural brokering whereby they may navigate and blend their internalization of American culture. Taken together, study results underscored the idea that “one size doesn’t fit all” for all divorced families and took us one step closer to elucidating under what conditions parental remote acculturation gaps might be associated with coparenting and children’s adjustment. In conclusion, results, especially if they are replicated in other globalizing settings across the urban Majority World, suggest promising avenues to better understand divorced family dynamics and children’s adjustment in the context of remote acculturation. Future directions and implications were discussed.U of I OnlyAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste

SciComm Optimizer for Policy Engagement: a randomized controlled trial of the SCOPE model on state legislators’ research use in public discourse

Abstract Background While prior work has revealed conditions that foster policymakers’ use of research evidence, few studies have rigorously investigated the effectiveness of theory-based practices. Specifically, policymakers are most apt to use research evidence when it is timely, relevant, brief, and messaged appropriately, as well as when it facilitates interactive engagement. This study sought to experimentally evaluate an enhanced research dissemination intervention, known as the SciComm Optimizer for Policy Engagement (SCOPE), implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic among US state legislators. Methods State legislators assigned to health committees and their staff were randomized to receive the SCOPE intervention. This involved providing academic researchers with a pathway for translating and disseminating research relevant to current legislative priorities via fact sheets emailed directly to officials. The intervention occurred April 2020–March 2021. Research language was measured in state legislators’ social media posts. Results Legislators randomized to receive the intervention, relative to the control group, produced 24% more social media posts containing research language related to COVID-19. Secondary analyses revealed that these findings were driven by two different types of research language. Intervention officials produced 67% more COVID-related social media posts referencing technical language (e.g., statistical methods), as well as 28% more posts that referenced research-based concepts. However, they produced 31% fewer posts that referenced creating or disseminating new knowledge. Conclusions This study suggests that strategic, targeted science communication efforts may have the potential to change state legislators’ public discourse and use of evidence. Strategic science communication efforts are particularly needed in light of the role government officials have played in communicating about the pandemic to the general public