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Parental Factors As A Moderator Of The Co-Occurrence Of Substance Use And Depression In Hispanic Adolescents, Rebecca Shoff

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between parenting factors and Hispanic adolescent substance use and depression. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between parental support, parental knowledge, and parental psychological control among Hispanic adolescents' use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, hard drugs and depressive symptoms. The sample included 839 Hispanic (primarily Mexican) 9th – 12th graders from west Texas area school districts who were given a self-reported survey to assess parental behaviors, substance use, and adolescent depression. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), findings indicated that higher levels of maternal support were related to lower levels of depressive …

Placing Children In Need With Gay & Lesbian Couples: Influences On Placement Decisions, Gayle Mallinger

Social Work Faculty Publications

Thousands of children throughout the United States are currently awaiting placement with adoptive families. The literature indicates that gay- and lesbian-headed households can well meet the needs of these children. Research suggests that sexual prejudice, religious fundamentalism and attitudes about gay and lesbian adoption may influence practice decisions regarding placement. This dissertation study examined the influences of religious fundamentalism, sexual prejudice, contact with sexually diverse individuals, and attitudes towards gay men and lesbians as adoptive parents on intent to place children in need with gay and lesbian couples. A random sample of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) members was …

Rural Families With A Child Abuse Report Are More Likely Headed By A Single Parent And Endure Economic And Family Stress, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Wendy A. Walsh

Carsey Publications

This brief, which is based on data from the Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, finds that rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services are more likely than urban families to have financial difficulties and high family stress, as well as grow up in single-parent households. To effectively address these issues, the brief urges policy makers to look at the lack of accessible and adequate services for struggling rural families.

Family Members' Influence On Family Meal Vegetable Choices, Tionni R. Wenrich, J. Lynne Brown, Michelle Miller-Day, Kevin J. Kelley, Eugene J. Lengerich

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Objective—Characterize the process of family vegetable selection (especially cruciferous, deep orange, and dark green leafy vegetables); demonstrate the usefulness of Exchange Theory (how family norms and past experiences interact with rewards and costs) for interpreting the data.

Design—Eight focus groups, two with each segment (men/women vegetable-likers/dislikers based on a screening form). Participants completed a vegetable intake form.

Setting—Rural Appalachian Pennsylvania.

Participants—61 low-income, married/cohabiting men (n=28) and women (n=33).

Analysis—Thematic analysis within Exchange Theory framework for qualitative data. Descriptive analysis, t-tests and chi-square tests for quantitative data.

Results—Exchange Theory proved useful for understanding that regardless …

“All The Men Here Have The Peter Pan Syndrome— They Don’T Want To Grow Up”: Navajo Adolescent Mothers’ Intimate Partner Relationships—A 15-Year Perspective, Rochelle L. Dalla, Alexandria M. Marchetti, Elizabeth (Beth) A. Sechrest, Jennifer L. White

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

In 1992 and 1995, data were collected from 29 Navajo Native American adolescent mothers. In 2007 and 2008, data were collected from 21 of the original 29 (72%). Guided by feminist family theory, this investigation sought to (a) examine Navajo adolescent mothers’ intimate partner relationships during the transition to parenthood, (b) identify themes in the young mothers’ intimate partnerships across time, and (c) assess participants’ psychosocial well-being in adulthood. Four themes emerged in the women’s long-term intimate relationships: limited support, substance abuse, infidelity, and intimate partner violence. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Out-Of-School Time Matters: Activity Involvement And Positive Development Among Coos County Youth, Erin H. Sharp

Carsey Publications

This brief looks at the connections between how youth spend their free time and positive or negative attitudes about themselves and their future plans. Family studies assistant professor and Carsey faculty fellow Erin Hiley Sharp used data from the Carsey Institute's Coos County Youth Survey to show differences by activity level and students' expectations for positive outcomes in their future.

Life Domain Research Report Series: Youth And Parent Health And Well Being (2010 Update), Michele Preyde, Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Children and youth who have participated in children’s mental health services often continue to live with a variety of emotional and behavioural challenges after service involvement has ended (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003). A key consideration in understanding the long term community adaptation of these children and youth is the ongoing management of emotional and behavioural challenges and the impact these challenges have in the daily lives of youth and their families. Several standardized measures of mental health, physical health, stress, and quality of life were used to assess parental and youth functioning in the life domain of …

Life Domain Research Report Series: Family (2010 Update), Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

A key consideration in understanding the long term community adaptation of children and youth involved with residential treatment or intensive family services is the role that family plays in sustaining or eroding gains made by children and youth in treatment (Frensch & Cameron, 2002). This report includes a summary of family descriptive information, the nature of family relationships, and indicators of family functioning for children and youth who have participated in children’s mental health services.

Data were collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family service programs (IFS), designed as an …

Life Domain Research Report Series: Social Connections And Community Conduct (2010 Update), Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Understanding how youth participate in social networks with peers and friends, engage in social or leisure activities, and more generally forge healthy relationships with others are key considerations in assessing overall well being of youth. Among a variety of emotional and behavioural challenges faced by children and youth involved with residential treatment or intensive family services may be their ability to negotiate relationships within social contexts (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003).

Data were collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family service programs (IFS), designed as an alternative to …

Life Domain Research Report Series: School And Employment (2010 Update), Karen Frensch, Lirondel Hazineh, Gary Cameron, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Earlier research by the Partnerships for Children and Families Project on the daily living realities of youth and children involved with mental health services, particularly residential treatment, revealed the ongoing and pervasive nature of difficulties youth and children experienced in their academic functioning (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003). As the education experience is such a large part of youth and children’s lives, we sought to better document how children and youth were performing in school in the current study.

Data were collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family …

Parental Divorce: A Protection From Later Delinquency For Maltreated Children, Christopher A. Mallett, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare

Social Work Faculty Publications

Family structure and maltreatment (abuse and neglect) have been identified as predictors of youth delinquency, although the relationship is not clear. This article furthers this research by studying a sample of maltreated children (n = 250) in one Midwest county, and through a multiple regression analysis of many risk factors, the study identified only one significant delinquency variable that made delinquency less likely—children who experience parental divorce. Some established risk factors were surprisingly found not to be predictive of later delinquency: minority race, one-parent families, youth substance abuse, recurrent maltreatment, and youth behind in academic grade level. Implications for the …

Child Cognitive Development As Examined Using The Family Stress Model, Aimee Hanvey

All Theses

This study used the Family Stress Model to investigate the relationship between economic distress and child cognitive development. A number of family and community processes have been theorized to mediate the relationship between income and child cognitive functioning. Warm parenting, parental stress, and punitive parenting practices were examined as possible mediators in a sample of 12,440 kindergarten children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten (ECLS-K). Cognitive development was evaluated by reading and mathematical standardized tests, and economic distress was measured using the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Insecurity Scale. The results of this study found support …

Stay Or Leave Coos County? Parents' Messages Matter, Corinna J. Tucker

Carsey Publications

When it comes to deciding whether to stay in New Hampshire's rural Coos County or leave for other opportunities, young people are listening to their parents. Surveying 78 percent of all seventh and eleventh graders in public schools in Coos County, researchers found that young peoples' future intentions to migrate from Coos in search of economic or educational opportunities or to remain in Coos to pursue a future close to home are closely aligned with the messages their parents deliver to them.

The New, Longer Road To Adulthood: Schooling, Work, And Idleness Among Rural Youth, Anastasia Snyder, Diane Mclaughlin, Alisha Coleman-Jensen

Carsey Publications

This report focuses on the education and work experiences of rural youth during the emerging adult years (age 20 to 24), as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It documents how rural emerging adults combine work and school and experience idleness, closely examines their educational attainment, and compares their experiences with those in central city and suburban areas.

Australian Families, Cultures, And Environments: An Annotated Bibliography, Judi Geggie, John Defrain, Nikki Defrain, Greg Blyton, Leanne Holt

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

This annotated bibliography of books and other cultural resources is offered to readers interested in developing a broad and inclusive understanding of Australian families and the cultural, social, political, economic, historical, and geographic environment in which they live. The contributions of Indigenous Australians, which date back 40,000 to 60,000 years are especially emphasized here.

Engaging Latinos In Culturally Specific Educational Programming: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Paul R. Springer, Cody S. Hollist, Karen Buchfink

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

Results from the 2000 United States census highlighted that the Latino population had exceeded the African American population as the largest U.S. minority group. Furthermore, during the past 20 years, migration patterns for Latino families have spread throughout the West, Midwest, and South and not merely in the border states. To meet the rising educational and human service needs, professionals have sought to develop programs that are effective at helping the Latino populations. This article presents a theoretical model for engaging Latinos in family and consumer science education and outreach programs. The model was designed for family and consumer science …

Child Neglect And Trauma: The Additive Traumatic Effects Of Neglect On Maltreated Adolescents, Adrianna Rachel Wechsler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Child maltreatment affects thousands of youths in the United States and poses numerous detrimental effects to individuals, families, and the community. Neglect is the most commonly reported and least studied form of child maltreatment. All types of child maltreatment may result in negative outcomes, but the chronic and pervasive nature of child neglect poses a significant threat to child development. No studies have been published evaluating the role of child neglect in the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and PTSD-related symptoms. This study examined whether neglect has an additive traumatic effect on maltreated youth. The first hypothesis was that …

Ethnic Fertility Differentials In Vietnam And Their Proximate Determinants, Sajeda Amin, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Southeast Asia’s rapid economic growth and demographic change have brought divergent fertility behaviors, particularly those of socially excluded groups, into sharper focus. This paper explores proximate determinants of fertility across ethnic groups using a new classification system for ethnicity in Vietnam based on poverty indicators, location, and degree of assimilation of ethnic groups. For the ethnic groups that have high fertility, two major contributors are earlier childbearing and lower rates of abortion due to strong ideological opposition. Our evidence suggests that population policies will need to extend beyond provision of contraception and abortion services to address the question of early …

Fixing Foster Care: How Can We Best Support Foster Parents?, Erica S. Pistorino

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

The foster care system aims to provide a temporary home to children who are unable to be cared for by their parents. The reasons for this vary, but can be due to ”abuse, neglect, or abandonment” (Marzick 507). According to the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, there are more than half a million children in our country who are currently in foster care. These children remain in the system for at least two years and are often moved around from family to family (Krinsky, “A Case” 541-542). This paper involves examining the foster care system, as well as …

A Longitudinal Examination Of The Influences Of Family Processes And Demographic Variables On Adolescent Weight, Jessica Lee Price

Theses and Dissertations

Nationally representative studies estimate that almost one in five adolescents in the United States is overweight. This is a major concern for individuals' physical and psychological health and the overall economy in terms of health care costs and loss of productivity. The approach of this study was to understand adolescent overweight as influenced by family processes including: parent-adolescent relationship, monitoring or parental knowledge, control, family meals, and parenting styles. Race, sex, family structure, income, and mother Body Mass Index (BMI) were also included. A sub-sample of 4,688 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 was used to address …

Life Domain Research Report Series: Youth And Parent Health And Well Being, Michele Preyde, Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The Life Domain Series describes the community adaptation of children and youth graduating from residential and intensive family service children’s mental health programs in multiple life domains (education and work, social involvements, family and health). This full length report presents evidence from the first and second phases of longitudinal research about how children who were involved with residential and intensive family service mental health programs are doing in school and at work.

Life Domain Research Report Series: School And Employment, Karen Frensch, Lirondel Hazineh, Gary Cameron, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The Life Domain Series describes the community adaptation of children and youth graduating from residential and intensive family service children’s mental health programs in multiple life domains (education and work, social involvements, family and health). This full length report presents evidence from the first and second phases of longitudinal research about how children who were involved with residential and intensive family service mental health programs are doing in school and at work.

Life Domain Research Report Series: Social Connections And Community Conduct, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Integral to formulating a picture of youth overall well being is to understand how youth participate in social networks with peers and friends, engage in social or leisure activities, and more generally forge healthy relationships with others. Among a variety of emotional and behavioural challenges faced by children and youth involved with residential treatment or intensive family services may be their ability to negotiate relationships within social contexts (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003).

Data was collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family service programs (IFS), designed as an …

Life Domain Research Report Series: Family, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The Life Domain Series describes the community adaptation of children and youth graduating from residential and intensive family service children’s mental health programs in multiple life domains (education and work, social involvements, family and health). This full length report presents evidence from the first and second phases of longitudinal research about how children who were involved with residential and intensive family service mental health programs are doing in school and at work.

Marital Satisfaction And Depression: A Replication Of The Marital Discord Model In A Latino Sample, Cody S. Hollist, Richard Miller, Olga G. Falceto, Carmen Luiza C. Fernandes

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

The Marital Discord Model of Depression maintains that marital discord is an important antecedent in the development of depression. Although empirical evidence supports this premise, none of this research has been done with Latinos. The purpose of this study was to test the longitudinal relationship between marital satisfaction and depression among 99 Brazilian women. Using structural equation modeling, results indicated that marital satisfaction was a strong predictor of depression 2 years later. Marital satisfaction was also related to co-occurring depression. These results provide evidence that the Marital Discord Model of Depression is an appropriate theoretical model for the conceptualization of …

Nurturing Care For China’S Orphaned Children, Janice N. Cotton, Carolyn P. Edwards, Wen Zhao, Jerònia Muntaner Gelabert

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

As the number of children orphaned or abandoned worldwide rises, we worry about their rights and welfare. Children without parents or loving guardians are vulnerable to neglect, poor health care, and diminished education. Many come to live in institutions where they may experience a host of long-term problems, including malnutrition, growth retardation, sensory processing difficulties, behavioral and attachment disorders, and cognitive and language delays (e.g., Rutter, Quinton, & Hill 1990; Judge 1999; Zeanah 2000; Beckett et al. 2002). Yet, people are finding helpful solutions. Half the Sky Foundation (HTS) conducts infant nurture and preschool enrichment programs that dramatically enhance the …

Students Learn About Documentation Throughout Their Teacher Education Program, Carolyn P. Edwards, Susan Churchill, Mary Gabriel, Ruth Heaton, Julie Jones-Branch, Christine Marvin, Michelle Rupiper

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

Study groups and learning circles can offer a systematic way for early childhood teachers to interact about their work and create a culture of professional development. This paper describes how faculty systematically followed a collaborative co-inquiry process in order to improve a new early childhood interdisciplinary teacher preparation program. The team met on a regular basis throughout one academic year, with the stated objective of infusing observation/documentation knowledge and skills in a coherent and systematic way throughout the students’ program of studies. The group created a template of the cycle of inquiry, which could apply to all courses, and analyzed …

Walking The Maternal Tightrope: Work And Family In America, Roxanne A. Donovan, Andrew L. Pieper, Allison N. Ponce

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the last few decades, an unprecedented number of women with children have entered the U.S. workforce. The ability to negotiate the roles of parent and employee is important to the health and financial well-being of these women and their families, but institutional and social barriers impede the process. Using the empirical and theoretical literature on women and work, this article examines these barriers. The authors address the impact of cultural ideals, psychological processes, and public policy on the maternal work-family balance. Several changes that would help create an atmosphere supportive of balance are explored, including increased support for shared …

Providers’ Perspectives On Troublesome Overusers Of Medical Services, Richard Bischoff, Cody S. Hollist, Joellen Patterson, Lee Williams, Layne Prest, Matthew D. Barkdull

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

The purpose of this study was to better understand providers’ perspectives of and experiences with frequent users of medical services. Focus group interviews were con¬ducted with physicians in San Diego, California, and Omaha, Nebraska. Indicators of problematic patient overuse of medical services were identified as well as the common physician experience of overuse that is troublesome and problematic. Qualitative data analysis revealed that physicians did not consider patient overuse, by itself, to be problematic. Overuse became problematic and troublesome when patient behavior violated the physician-patient relationship of trust. All participants described a distinct negative physiological reaction to these patients.

Development And Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Community Norms Of Child Neglect Scale, Rebecca Goodvin, David R. Johnson, Sam A. Hardy, Michelle Graef, Jeff M. Chambers

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

This article describes the development of the Community Norms of Child Neglect Scale (CNCNS), a new measure of perceptions of child neglect, for use in community samples. The CNCNS differentiates among four subtypes of neglect (failure to provide for basic needs, lack of supervision, emotional neglect, and educational neglect). Scenarios ranging in seriousness for each subtype were presented to a large community sample (N = 3,809). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a four-factor model provided a better fit to the data than did a model specifying only one overall neglect factor, suggesting this sample distinguished among the four subtypes of …