Application of Belsky’s Parenting Stress Model to Hispanic Mothers: A Racial and Ethnic Comparative Analysis

Maternal parenting stress is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and marital satisfaction, poor parent-child communication and disruptive child behavior. Belsky’s process model of parenting suggests that stress is influenced by three domains: maternal, child and contextual factors. While this conceptual framework is often used to study stress, this model has not been tested with Hispanic mothers. The current study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study to explore patterns in parenting stress among Hispanic mothers in comparison to non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black mothers. Findings from our study reveal that the predictors of stress among Hispanic mothers differ from those observed for non- Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black mothers. Maternal characteristics, including health and mental health, and education play a less significant role for Hispanics, which is not consistent with Belsky’s model. Albeit exploratory, this study suggests we should to take a closer look at the unique mechanisms affecting Hispanic mental health.Parenting, stress, Hispanic mothers, mental health, Fragile Families

The effect of geographic mobility on the socioeconomic achievement of young Hispanic men.

This study examines Hispanic geographic mobility in the context of the socioeconomic life cycle. It incorporates rich information on family background and examines its effects on geographic mobility and social mobility as well as on socioeconomic achievement. The objective of the analysis is to expand micro level research on the role of internal migration in improving the economic status of Hispanics. This is done by focusing on how family background conditions the propensity to migrate during young adulthood, and in turn, how migration decisions affect economic achievement net of the effects of social origins. Specifically, using the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience-Youth Cohort it observes the inter-labor market migration of Hispanic men in the transition to adulthood. The migration interval under study extends between 1979, when the youth are between 14 and 17 years old, to 1988, when they have reached young adulthood and range in age from 23 to 27 years. The analysis is approached by setting up a multiequation model of socioeconomic achievement with three main outcomes: educational attainment, migration behavior, and earnings. The principal findings indicate that (1) the probability of migration increases with level of education; (2) controlling for education, the family background factors that positively influence the likelihood of geographic mobility are Puerto Rican origin, third plus generation status, childhood poverty, growing up in a nonmetropolitan area, a history of family migration, and professional occupational aspirations; and (3) net of education and family background, internal migration does not significantly improve the earning of Hispanics, but it does decrease the probability of falling below poverty. Other important findings include (1) generational status, parental family income, parental socialization, cognitive ability, and achievement orientation play key roles in determining both education and earnings, and (2) current economic conditions in the local labor market strongly influence adults' economic status.Ph.D.Social Work and SociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103464/1/9319602.pdfDescription of 9319602.pdf : Restricted to UM users only