New Hope for the Working Poor: Effects After Eight Years for Families and Children

Implemented in 1994 in Milwaukee, New Hope provided full-time, low-wage workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. A random assignment study shows positive effects for both adults and children, some of which persisted five years after the program ended

Work-Based Antipoverty Programs for Parents Can Enhance the School Performance and Social Behavior of Children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65246/1/1467-8624.00281.pd

Gender-Role Cognition in Three-Year-Old Boys and Girls

Although the multidimensionality of gender roles has been well established, few researchers have investigated male and female roles separately. Because of the substantial differences in the ways male and female roles are portrayed in our culture, boys and girls may think and learn about these roles differently. The male role is more clearly defined, more highly valued, and more salient than the female role; thus, children's cognitions about these two roles may be expected to differ. The present study addressed the question of whether there is sex-typical variation in gender labeling, gender-role knowledge, and schematicity. Participants were 120 families; 15% were from minority ethnic groups, and 17% were single-parent families; 25% of the parents had a high school education or less. Results indicated that at 36 months of age, boys were less able to label gender and less knowledgeable about gender roles than were girls. Boys' knew more about male stereotypes than female stereotypes, whereas girls knew considerably more than boys about the female role and as much as boys about the male role. Boys and girls were found to be similar in gender schematicity. Traditionality of parental attitudes regarding child-rearing and maternal employment were not strongly related to children's gender cognition.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45617/1/11199_2004_Article_226122.pd

Understanding Positive Father-Child Interaction: Children’s, Fathers’, and Mothers’ Contributions

Kierując się systemowo-ekologicznym modelem zaangażowania ojcowskiego, analizowano wkład dzieci, matek i ojców w obserwowane interakcje ojciec – dziecko. W badaniu, w którym uczestniczyło 586 ojców (pozostających w związku małżeńskim z matką i mieszkających z rodziną), ich żony oraz dzieci – uczniowie pierwszej klasy szkoły podstawowej (uczestnicy badania dotyczącego opieki w okresie wczesnego dzieciństwa, przeprowadzonego przez amerykański Narodowy Instytut Zdrowia Dziecka i Rozwoju Człowieka – NICHD) wykazano, że addytywny model zaangażowania ojców wyjaśnia jakość interakcji ojciec – dziecko lepiej niż model skupiający się tylko na jednym elemencie systemu. Przekonania ojca na temat wychowania, kompetencje językowe dziecka, praca zawodowa matki oraz jakość interakcji matka – dziecko wspólnie oddziałują na jakość interakcji ojciec – dziecko. Średnie dochody i poziom wykształcenia ojca są powiązane z relacją ojciec – dziecko, ale efekty tych zmiennych wyjaśniają czynniki indywidualne i charakterystyka rodziny. W analizie moderacyjnej ujawniono istotną interakcję między przekonaniami ojca na temat wychowania a umiejętnościami społecznymi dziecka, wstępnie potwierdzając słuszność założenia systemowo-ekologicznego, że interakcję ojciec – dziecko można najlepiej wyjaśnić w ramach modelu, który jest nie tylko addytywny, ale także interakcyjny.Guided by a systemic ecological framework for father involvement, we investigate children’s, mothers’, and fathers’ contributions to observed father-child interaction. Analyses of 586 married resident fathers, their wives, and a target first-grade child (participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care) demonstrate that an additive model of father involvement accounts for the quality of father-child interaction better than a model which focuses on only one component of the system. Father parenting beliefs, child language skills, child social skills, maternal employment, and dyadic mother-child interaction quality each additively and significantly contribute to positive father-child interaction. Father average income and education levels relate to dyadic interaction, but individual and family characteristics account for their effects. Moderational analyses resulted in a significant interaction between father parenting beliefs and child social skills, providing preliminary support for the systemic ecological assumption that father-child interaction is better understood in a model that is not only additive but also interactive