Nonstandard maternal work schedules: Implications for African American children's early language outcomes

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children’s expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24 months of age and children’s expressive language development was assessed during a picture book task at 24 months and with a standardized assessment at 36 months. After controlling for family demographics, child, and maternal characteristics, maternal employment in nonstandard schedules at the 24 month timepoint was associated with lower expressive language ability among African American children concurrently and at 36 months of age. Importantly, the negative association between nonstandard schedules and children’s expressive language ability at 24 months of age was mediated by maternal positive engagement and negative work-family spillover, while at 36 months of age, the association was mediated only by negative work-family spillover. These findings suggest complex links between mothers’ work environments and African American children’s developmental outcomes

The development and correlates of academic interests from childhood through adolescence.

Study goals were to assess: (1) the development of academic interests from middle childhood through late adolescence, (2) the degree to which junior high and high school transitions, parents’ educational expectations, interests, and education, were related to changes in academic interests, and (3) the longitudinal links between youth’s academic interests and school grades. Participants were mothers, fathers, and two siblings from 201, White, working and middle class families who were interviewed in their homes on up to 9 annual occasions. Multi-level model analyses revealed overall declines in youth’s interests over time, with boys showing more rapid decline than girls. Mothers’ educational expectations were positively related to youth’s interests, and youth’s interests declined less when fathers had more education. The transition to junior high, but not high school, was linked to decline in interests, but this was buffered by mothers’ academic interests. Declines in youth’s academic interests were linked to declines in school grades

Paternal Work Characteristics and Father-Infant Interactions in Low-Income, Rural Families

To examine the implications of paternal occupational conditions for the quality of father-infant interactions, home visits, including interviews and videotaped observations of father-infant interactions, were conducted with 446 fathers living in six low-income, nonmetropolitan counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. When a variety of individual and demographic characteristics were controlled for, a less supportive work environment was associated with lower levels of fathers’ engaged and sensitive parenting. Significant interactions pointed to the importance of understanding combinations of risk factors. Experiencing high levels of workplace stressors, including low levels of self-direction and high levels of care work, in the presence of other individual or demographic risk factors was associated with lower levels of father parenting quality

The Development of Gendered Interests and Personality Qualities from Middle Childhood through Adolescence: A Bio-Social Analysis

This study charted the development of gendered personality qualities and activity interests from age 7 to age 19 in 364 first- and second-born siblings from 185 White, middle/working class families; assessed links between time in gendered social contexts (with mother, father, female peers and male peers) and gender development; and tested whether changes in testosterone moderated links between time use and gender development. Multi-level models documented that patterns of change varied across dimensions of gender and by sex and birth order and that time in gendered social contexts was generally linked to development of more stereotypical qualities. Associations between time with mother and expressivity and time with father and instrumentality were stronger for youth with slower increases in testosterone

Paternal Work Stress and Latent Profiles of Father-Infant Parenting Quality

The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine the implications of fathers’ experiences of work stress for paternal behaviors with infants across multiple dimensions of parenting in a sample of fathers living in nonmetropolitan communities (N = 492). LPA revealed five classes of fathers based on levels of social-affective behaviors and linguistic stimulation measured during two father-infant interactions. Multinomial logistic regression analyses suggested that a less-supportive work environment was associated with fathers’ membership in multiple lower-quality parenting classes. Greater work pressure and a nonstandard work schedule also predicted fathers’ membership in the latent parenting classes, although these associations differed depending on the number of hours fathers spent in the workplace

A Longitudinal Examination of the Bidirectional Links Between Academic Achievement and Parent-Adolescent Conflict

We examined reciprocal associations between parent-adolescent conflict and academic achievement over a 2-year period. Participants were mothers, fathers, and adolescents from predominantly White, working and middle class families (N = 168). After accounting for previous academic achievement, parent-adolescent conflict predicted relative declines in academic achievement 2 years later. After controlling for relationship quality at Time 1, lower math grades predicted relative increases in parent-adolescent conflict 2 years later among families with less education

Pathways Through Adolescence: An Overview

Given the connection between adolescent behavior and future well-being, it is important to understand the choices that adolescents make and how patterns of behavior evolve and are maintained during this period. The premise of this volume is that we can describe the behavior patterns young people develop in adolescence, and piece together the decisions that shape their paths through adolescence and into adulthood. Moreover, we can begin to identify the dynamic processes that affect adolescents7 life choices, the emergence of behavior patterns, and the development of lifestyles. This volume seeks to address three questions. How can developmental pathways in adolescence be most usefully conceptualized? What sets of influences combine to shape adolescents\u27 pathways? What implications do our answers to these two questions have for research and policy? In this introductory chapter, we provide a brief overview of adolescence as a formative phase in the life course. We then offer an initial conceptualization of developmental paths in adolescence, and describe the contributions of person and context in shaping them. These observations set the stage for the chapters that follow

Preface to \u3ci\u3ePathways Through Adolescence: Individual Development in Relation to Social Contexts\u3c/i\u3e

The choices that adolescents make about peer relations, risky behavior, investment in school, and income-producing activities set the stage for subsequent development in later adolescence and into adulthood. Moreover, at the aggregate level, these choices have tremendous implications for the quality of life in such key social contexts as families, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Thus, the pathways that young people follow through adolescence and beyond affect us all. Adolescents\u27 choices, however, are not made in a vacuum; these social contexts provide opportunities--or obstacles--that influence the probability that adolescents will choose certain pathways and not others. Therefore, understanding these critical choices, and the ways in which they affect and are affected by social contexts, is of great importance both for developmental research and scholarship and for the creation of effective programs and policies focused on youth

Family context and gender role socialization in middle childhood: Comparing girls to boys and sisters to brothers

We studied the extent of sex-typing across different areas of child functioning (personality, interests, activities) in middle childhood as a function of the traditionality of parents\u27 gender role attitudes and the sex composition of the sibling dyad. Participants included 200 firstborn children (mean = 10.4 years old), their secondborn siblings (mean = 7.7 years old) and their mothers and fathers. Family members were interviewed in their homes about their attitudes and personal characteristics and completed a series of seven evening telephone interviews about their daily activities. We measured children\u27s attitudes, personality characteristics, and interests in sex-typed leisure activities (e.g., sports, handicrafts) as well as time spent in sex-typed leisure activities and household tasks (e.g., washing dishes, home repairs) and with same and opposite sex companions (i.e., parents, peers). Analyses revealed that sex-typing was most evident in children\u27s interests and activities. Further, comparisons of girls versus boys and sisters versus brothers revealed that differences in children\u27s sex-typing as a function of fathers\u27 attitudes and sibling sex constellation were most apparent for children\u27s activities. A notable exception was sex-typed peer involvement; time spent with same versus opposite sex peers was impervious to context effects. Analyses focused on children\u27s sex-typing as a function of mothers\u27 attitudes generally were nonsignificant