Neighborhood Influences on Perceived Social Support Among Parents: Findings from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Background: Social support is frequently linked to positive parenting behavior. Similarly, studies increasingly show a link between neighborhood residential environment and positive parenting behavior. However, less is known about how the residential environment influences parental social support. To address this gap, we examine the relationship between neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and collective efficacy and the level and change in parental caregiver perceptions of non-familial social support. Methodology/Principal Findings: The data for this study came from three data sources, the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) Study's Longitudinal Cohort Survey of caregivers and their offspring, a Community Survey of adult residents in these same neighborhoods and the 1990 Census. Social support is measured at Wave 1 and Wave 3 and neighborhood characteristics are measured at Wave 1. Multilevel linear regression models are fit. The results show that neighborhood collective efficacy is a significant ($\beta$ = .04; SE = .02; p = .03), predictor of the positive change in perceived social support over a 7 year period, however, not of the level of social support, adjusting for key compositional variables and neighborhood concentrated disadvantage. In contrast concentrated neighborhood disadvantage is not a significant predictor of either the level or change in social support. Conclusion: Our finding suggests that neighborhood collective efficacy may be important for inducing the perception of support from friends in parental caregivers over time

Who Cares About Being Gentle? The Impact of Social Identity and the Gender of One’s Friends on Children’s Display of Same-Gender Favoritism

This research assessed children’s same-gender favoritism by examining whether children value traits descriptive of their own gender more than traits descriptive of the other gender. We also investigated whether children’s proportion of same-gender friends relates to their same-gender favoritism. Eighty-one third and fourth grade children from the Midwest and West Coast of the U.S. rated how well 19 personality traits describe boys and girls, and how important each trait is for their gender to possess. Results replicate and extend past trait assignment research by demonstrating that both genders valued same-gender traits significantly more than other-gender traits. Results also indicated that boys with many same-gender friends derogated feminine-stereotyped traits, which has implications for research on masculinity norms within male-dominated peer groups

Child care subsidies post TANF: Child care subsidy use by African American, White and Hispanic TANF-leavers

With welfare reform, appropriations for child care subsidies have increased with the goal of increasing the employability of welfare leavers while promoting children's access to quality, affordable child care. Yet, not all low-income eligible families use child care subsidies. Understanding which low-income families use child care subsidies and which do not will provide initial insights into the nature and effectiveness of the child care subsidy system. Does the child care subsidy program equally serve families from diverse cultural backgrounds? What family and demographic factors are associated with child care subsidy use? We compared child care subsidy experiences of equal numbers of African American, White, and Hispanic TANF-leavers in five counties in and around Philadelphia. Fifty-five percent of African American TANF-leavers, 43% of White TANF users, and 45% of Hispanic TANF users were not eligible for subsidies because they were not employed upon leaving welfare. Of those families eligible for child care subsidies, 78% of the eligible African American TANF-leavers, but only 49% of the White, and 45% of the Hispanic TANF users used subsidies. Similarly, 85% of the subsidy-eligible African American families used child care, but only 70% of the white and 67% of the Hispanic subsidy-eligible families used child care. Thus, African American families were more likely than other families to be eligible for subsidies, to use them when eligible, and to use child care when eligible. While race/ethnicity was the primary predictor of subsidy usage, an additional predictor for all families of not using subsidies was having economic support from relatives and friends. For African Americans, prior use of public subsidies and for Whites, the absence of mental health problems also predicted subsidy usage.Child care Child care subsides Welfare reform TANF