Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Contextual Risk And The Association Between Sensitive Parenting And Social Competence During Early Childhood, Moira R. Riley

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Both contextual risk and sensitive parenting have been associated with children’s social skills in early childhood (Brody, Stoneman, Smith & Gibson, 1999; Connell & Prinz, 2002; Oravecz, Koblinsky & Randolph, 2008, Trentacosta, 2008). However, it is not clear how sensitive parenting might impact children’s social skill development in the context of accumulation of risk. The current study tests two possible models. The first model, based on Rutters’ (1979) tests the theory that cumulative risk may moderate the relationship between sensitive parenting and social skills. The second model based on The Family Stress model (Conger, Conger, Elder, Lorenz, Simons & Whitbeck, …

Positive Functioning Among Chinese Adolescents: Conceptualizing A Framework And Testing Effects Of Parenting, Mingzhu Xia

Doctoral Dissertations

Chinese adolescents’ development has received increasing attention over recent decades. However, following a traditional deficit model, most of the attention has been on problematic functioning of adolescents (e.g. depression). This emphasis is not consistent with evidence that the large majority of Chinese adolescents do not manifest such problem behaviors. Little is known about positive functioning among Chinese adolescents and how it is related to key socialization practices such as parenting. The purpose of the present study was to begin to fill these gaps.

Using theory, past empirical practice, and characteristics of Chinese culture, the study posited a second-order structure for …

If Not Welfare, Then What?: How Single Mothers Finance College Post-Welfare Reform, Kristin Wilson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The article follows previous work on TANF and AFDC by asking if not welfare, then what social programs and financial aid programs are low-income women using to support their college attendance, and what is the impact of these programs on the college-going decisions of low-income women? The study is based on case studies of 10 low-income women attending a community college. Results indicated that EITC, food stamps, and subsidized housing are stable sources of funding. However, each of these programs requires diferent application processes and compliance regulations. Only the Pell Grant was viewed as a dependable source of funding for …

The Relation Between Children's Perceived Containment And Parental Antisocial Behavior, Joye L. Henrie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have invoked a variety of theories when discussing the relation between children's orientation to authority and the development of antiSocial behavior (ASB). Here, the focus is children's sense of containment. Previous studies revealed an association between perceived containment and child externalizing behaviors. In this study, the degree to which a child's sense of containment is related to parents' level of ASB was examined. One hundred sixty aggressive children and their parents participated. I hypothesized that ineffective discipline would moderate the relation between parent ASB and child perceived containment. I expected to find an inverse relation between parents' level of …

Challenges In Researching The Relationship Between Delinquency And Family Dynamics In Juvenile Sex Offenders, Dio Kevin Turner Ii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recently developed treatment approaches on juvenile sex offenders include the offenders and their families. These approaches have some empirical support; however, little research attempts to link family dynamics and child abuse with juvenile re-offending. This study attempted to examine the family dynamics from the juveniles’ perspective. The Family Assessment Measure (FAM-III), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Self Reported Delinquency measure (SRD), and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire - Short Form (CTQ-SF) were used to assess family dynamics, parenting style, delinquency and childhood maltreatment, respectively. Problems with recruitment resulted in too few participants (N=6) to conduct meaningful statistical analyses. Participant responses suggested elevated impression …

The Steroid/Peptide Theory Of Social Bonds: Integrating Testosterone And Peptide Responses For Classifying Social Behavioral Contexts, Sari M. Van Anders, Katherine L. Goldey, Patty X. Kuo

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Hormones, and hormone responses to social contexts, are the proximate mechanisms of evolutionary pathways to pair bonds and other social bonds. Testosterone (T) is implicated in trade-offs relevant to pair bonding, and oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are positively tied to social bonding in a variety of species. Here, we present the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (S/P Theory), which integrates T and peptides to provide a model, set of predictions, and classification system for social behavioral contexts related to social bonds. The S/P Theory also resolves several paradoxes apparent in the literature on social bonds and hormones: the …

Resisting Schools, Reproducing Families: Gender And The Politics Of Homeschooling, Brian Paul Kapitulik

Open Access Dissertations

The contemporary homeschooling movement sits at the intersection of several important social trends: widespread concern about the effectiveness and safety of public schools, feminist challenges to the patriarchal family structure, anxiety about the state of the family as an institution, and challenging economic conditions. The central concern of this dissertation is to make sense of homeschooling within this broader context. Data were gathered through interviews with forty-five homeschooling parents, approximately half of whom are religious and half of whom are secular. The interviews were organized around three central questions: 1) What are the frames that parents use to justify homeschooling? …

The Experiences And Views Of Lesbian Parents And Adult Children Of Lesbian Parents In Ireland: An Exploratory Study, Aoife Quille

Dissertations

This research focused on the experiences and views of lesbian parents and adult children of lesbian parents. The experiences of the members of lesbian-parented families determined the main areas that were explored. The lack of international and Irish research on the lived experiences of lesbian parents and their children prompted this investigation. The study was conducted using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of three lesbian parents and two adult children of lesbian parents from two parent lesbian families. The findings highlighted the experiences of the parents and adult children from lesbian-parented families in reference to: the Irish legal context; …

Figuring Out The Birds And The Bees : Parents' Experiences Navigating Issues Of Sex And Sexuality With Their Teenage And Young Adult Children With Intellectual Disabilities, Jessica Welson Markowitz

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This interpretative phenomenological analysis explores parents' experiences navigating issues of sex and sexuality with their teenage and young adult children with intellectual disabilities. The purpose of the study was to examine parents' perceptions of the sexual knowledge and sexual identity development of their children, as well as provide a glimpse into their experiences as parents navigating these issues. Six parents of individuals ages 16-25 with an intellectual disability diagnosis were interviewed via semi-structured interviews. Parents were asked to speak about their children's sexual development as well as the role they have played as parents in fostering that development. Parents shared …

No Purer Joy : The Developmental, Social And Motivational Aspects Of Elite College Squash, Matthew Aaron Munich

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This is a study of the experience of elite level college squash players from three angles: development, social context and motivation. Primary aims included describing an intense human experience in terms of developmental gains, identifying social cues the participants received from their social context, understanding motivations for participation, and exploring cultural differences most pertinent to squash participation. The sample was comprised of 15 American and international players from the Yale University men's and women's squash teams who completed semi-structured interviews. The players represented all academic classes and 7 countries. Findings revealed a number of important developmental gains that were fostered …

Relationships Between Fathers' Attachment, Their Parenting Behaviors And Child Adjustment, Cristy Salome Ricaurte

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study explored how fathers' attachment in close relationships (as measured by three dimensions--(a) comfort with dependency, (b) comfort with closeness, and (c) relationship anxiety) relates to their observed parenting behaviors, and how the fathers' attachment dimensions are related to their children's adjustment outcomes. Differences in attachment dimensions between Mexican American and Caucasian fathers were also explored. The sample included in the analysis was a subset from the Supporting Father Involvement study based in California. Participants were ninety fathers, predominantly low-income, with two thirds Mexican American and approximately one fourth European American. The findings indicated that fathers' attachment was related …

White Anti-Racism In The Context Of Parenting, Sarah Amanda Matlock

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores how White parents who identify as anti-racist raise their children from an anti-racist perspective. Twenty White parents were interviewed and asked about what anti-racism means to them, their childhood experiences involving race and racism, and how they attempt to incorporate anti-racism values into their parenting. They were also asked about their perspective on their White children's racial awareness and on the impact of race and racism on their White children. The participants' neighborhood and school choices, and the racial make-up of their child's friendship circles were discussed. The findings revealed that many of these White parents …

Cumulative Risk As A Moderator Of The Association Between Intimate Partner Violence And Maternal Parenting Behaviors With Infants, Erin Gallagher

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The primary objective of this study was to broaden psychological and scientific understanding of the lasting effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on maternal parenting behaviors in families with infants. This study used longitudinal data to examine these associations. Much is to be gained from exploring the association between IPV and maternal parenting behaviors in families with infants because IPV is known to negatively impact a wide range of parenting capacities, as well as the social-emotional adjustment of young children. This study also examined an accumulation of social-contextual risk factors as a moderator between the chronicity and severity of IPV …

The Impact Of Marital Conflict On Parenting And Adolescent Prosocial Behavior, Adam M. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between marital conflict, parenting, and adolescent prosocial behavior. Parents and one target child from two-parent families (n = 330) responded to questionnaires regarding levels of marital conflict, parenting behaviors, and child prosocial behavior. Using structural equation modeling, results indicated that one dimension of parenting, warmth and connection, mediated the relationship between marital conflict and child prosocial behavior. Group comparisons did not find significant gender differences. The significance on parent-child connection is discussed along with clinical implications.

Maternal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Parenting, Family Functioning, And Child Outcome, Desiree Alana Sutherland

Dissertations

Although a good deal of research has been conducted examining the effects of parental psychopathology of various types (i.e. maternal and paternal depression and schizophrenia, paternal PTSD), very few studies have investigated the influence of maternal PTSD on mothers’ parenting and their children’s behavioral and psychological functioning. This paucity of research is in spite of the fact that women exhibit higher lifetime PTSD prevalence rates than men. The current study examined the influence of maternal PTSD and trauma on mothers’ parenting, family functioning, and children’s psychological well-being in a sample of 125 mothers and 34 mother-child dyads. Mothers provided self-report …

The Role Of Parenting And Personal Characteristics On Deviant Peer Association Among European American And Latino Adolescents, Laura M. Padilla-Walker

Faculty Publications

This study examined both mothers’ and fathers’ parenting (positive and negative) and adolescents’ personal characteristics (religiosity, social initiative, aggression, depression) in relation to perceived deviant peer association for European American and Latino adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, adolescents’ reports of positive or negative mothering and fathering were found to be related to adolescents’ personal characteristics, and these characteristics were, in turn, related to perceived deviant peer association. Ethnic differences in means were found in both parenting and outcome variables, with European American adolescents reporting higher levels of positive parenting and social initiative, and lower levels of perceived deviant peer association …

The Returns To Skill And Racial Difference In Parenting: Evidence From The Civil Rights Movement, Owen Thompson

Economics Department Working Paper Series

On average, the parental practices adopted by African American parents of young children are much less cognitively stimulating than those of their white counterparts. This paper argues that these differences stem from the low rates of return to human capital historically experienced by African Americans. To study the relationship between the race-specific returns to skill and parenting, I use intergenerational data containing direct measures of parental behaviors, and examine the child rearing practices of mothers who came of age in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, during a period of rapidly increasing returns to skill for African Americans in …

Examining Child Sexual Abuse And Future Parenting: An Application Of Latent Class Modeling, Kimberly W. D'Zatko

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was designed to empirically derive latent classes of mothers who were sexually abused during childhood and to assess the association between depression, alcohol/drug use, supportive intimate partner, and specific classes.

One hundred six women between the ages of 20 and 44 years (M = 27) who reported having been sexually abused during childhood (CSA) and 158 non-CSA mothers between the ages of 20 and 43 years (M = 23) were interviewed and assessed along six parenting dimensions. Logistic regression models evaluated the association between psychoemotional variables and specific classes.

The final model consisted of three classes—53.2%, …

Antecedents Of Parental Psychological Control: A Test Of Bowen's Theory, Spencer D. Bradshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externalized problems for youth and adolescents. Research contributing to an understanding of the possible antecedents of parental psychological control is both limited and of need; specifically regarding parents' psychological attributes. This study sample included 323 two-parent families and an identified target child from each family. Bowen's theory of family systems, [chronic] stress, and differentiation of self and its relation to parental psychological control was examined. Differentiation of self was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between chronic stress and parental psychological control. Differentiation was conceptualized and measured using …

Metabolic Control, Marital Conflict, Caregiver Burden And Psychological Control In Parents Of Children With Type 1 Diabetes, Ann P. Jubber

Theses and Dissertations

Using data from a purposive sample of 78 parents of children with type 1 diabetes, relationships were examined between the level of metabolic control of the child with diabetes (as measured by the HbA1c percentage), parents' marital conflict, caregiver burden, and use of psychological control. Also explored were family income and the education levels of mothers and fathers. Differences between mothers and fathers were also considered. Better metabolic control (lower HbA1c) was related to lower levels of fathers' caregiver burden. Marital conflict was also associated with mothers' and fathers' caregiver burden. Finally, mothers' caregiver burden predicted mothers' use of psychological …

Annotated Bibliography, Changes In The Concept Of “Good” Parenting From 1950-2008, Megan Stohner

Undergraduate Research Award

No abstract provided.

Surviving The Early Years Of The Personal Responsibility And Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Joyce Bialik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A system that increasingly stigmatized its recipients only became more stigmatizing with the enactment in 1996 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) program. This program has been so successful in deterring cashneedy people from applying for assistance that the decline in participation from the start of the program continues-even in times of economic downturn. The study reported here follows 150 impoverished families during the first three years of PRWORA, when the economy was booming. The data were derived from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project of 1996-2001. Through this secondary analysis a construct was …

Just Doing What They Gotta Do: Single Black Custodial Fathers Coping With The Stresses And Reaping The Rewards Of Parenting, Roberta Coles

Roberta Coles

For single African American custodial fathers, parenting stress is exacerbated by the cultural expectation that Black fathers are "normally" absent and by the clustering of stresses that Black men are more likely to encounter. This sample of African American fathers have used a repertoire of problem-focused and cognitive coping strategies, including some that are frequently considered "culturally specific." Twenty Black single custodial fathers are interviewed and their narratives are analyzed for concepts and thematic categories related to stress and coping. Their narratives indicate that certain strategies are avoided because (a) these strategies are not available to them and (b) they …

Relational And Social-Cognitive Correlates Of Early Adolescents’ Forgiveness Of Parents, Katherine J. Christensen, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Dean M. Busby, Sam A. Hardy, Randal D. Day

Faculty Publications

This study examined how mother and father–child relationship quality and marital forgiveness were related to early adolescents’ forgiveness of mothers and fathers. Adolescents’ social-cognitive skills (empathy and emotional regulation) and parents’ forgiveness of child were examined as mediators. Mother, father, and child self-reported questionnaires and observational data were taken from Time 1 and Time 3 (two years later) of the Flourishing Families Project, and included 334 two-parent families with an early adolescent (M age at Time 1 = 11.24; 51% male; 76% Caucasian). Using path analyses via structure equation modeling, mother–child relationship quality and adolescents’ own social-cognitive skills were …

Does Parenting Predict Child Relational Aggression?, Nastassja A. Marshall

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Relational aggression is associated with significant psychosocial consequences for children including anxiety, depression, and delinquency. Few research studies have examined the relationship between parenting and childhood relational aggression. Furthermore, only one previous published investigation has examined the relationship between observed parenting and child relational aggression. The current study examined the relationship between six observed parenting factors (laxness, overreactivity, negative affect, disparagement, problem-solving, and positive emotional support) and teacher-reported relational aggression. Forty-six children, mainly of European-American and Puerto-Rican descent, between 7 and 10 years old (M = 8.29, SD = .75), participated in the study. Observational data from a discipline …

Effectiveness Of Parent Call-In Versus E-Counseling Services Intreating Pediatric Behavior Problems Uncovered In A Primary Care Medical Encounter, Tabitha Becker

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Parenting, Self-Esteem, And Academic Performance: Theory And A Test, Rajeev Darolia, Bruce Wydick

Economics

This paper develops a theory about how signals sent to a child by an altruistic parent affect a child's self-esteem, effort and long-term performance when a parent has better information about child ability than children do themselves. We carry out OLS, 2SLS, and 3SLS estimations of our model on a sample of 651 college students. Our results show some complementary actions before college, such as parental praise, foster academic achievement above what natural ability would predict. Conversely, we find some substitutionary actions before college, such as providing them cars as gifts, are associated with lower effort in college and underachievement. …

Protocol - The Effectiveness Of Interventions/Training Programmes For The Parents Of Adolescents: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Susan M. Kerr, Kerri Mcpherson, Lisa Kidd, Elizabeth Mcgee

Dr. Susan Kerr

No abstract provided.

Labor Pains In The Academy, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This piece offers autoethnographic reflections on crossroads to which many academics come: whether to seek (or postpone or avoid) parenthood and when. The author deeply explores the personal (her own trajectories from daughter and sister to potential mother and from graduate student to full professor) in order to reflect on structural constraints associated with graduate education, the academic job market, and institutional policies and politics.

The Role Of Acculturation In Adolescent Mental Health And Academic Achievement: Mediational Pathways, Ariz Rojas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the different pathways by which acculturation may influence Hispanic adolescents' psychological functioning and academic achievement. Proposed mediational pathways included adolescent perceptions of mothers' and fathers' parenting practices, acculturative stress, self-esteem, academic support, and academic motivation. Participants included 116 9^th and 10^th grade students recruited from high schools and a parent for each student. Parents completed a measure of acculturation and rated their adolescents' psychological symptomology. Adolescents completed measures of perceived parenting (mother and father), a self-report of psychological symptoms, a measure of acculturation and acculturative stress, as well as ratings of academic support and motivation. …