In the current age of border talk, border enforcement, and of draconian policies that further separate and break up families, children who remain in the country of origin are rarely asked what they understand the border and the United States to be like. Media vehicles and academic papers have reported the brutal effects of family separation at the…

Drawing from an ethnography with mixed-status families residing in Mexico, we examine what we term transborder literacies of (in)visibility, or diasporic people's innovative interactions around texts that prepare them to move across incompatible mononational institutions divided by borders. Through close attention to the literacy practices…

In the summer months of 2018, the world watched as thousands of young children were separated from their families and detained by immigration officials at the border between the United States and Mexico. On television screens and smartphone updates, it seemed the world collectively gasped at this cruel familial trauma and asked, "what can we…

The demographic composition in the United States has undergone shifts due to increasing immigration. This may change the way we think about families and children in the United States, and it is important to include immigrant families in parenting research. This study examined the relations between parent-child relationships and preschool-aged…

This study tested whether maternal sensitivity and child security are related during early childhood and whether such an association is found in different cultural and social contexts. Mother-child dyads (N = 237) from four different countries (Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States) were observed in naturalistic settings when children were…

Drastic immigration policies and economic conditions have resulted in unparalleled return rates to Mexico. Deported parents are faced with the difficult choice of leaving US-born children behind or taking them to their country of origin, where many face significant educational, cultural, and linguistic barriers. This study focuses on six families…

Over the past century, technological development and better access to services has resulted in significant improvements to quality of life. Despite this, however, levels of stress, anxiety and depression are rising. Education can play a role in supporting well-being during and beyond schooling. Schools are increasingly concerned not only with…

This paper considers the intrafamily allocation of elderly care in the context of international migration where migrant children may be able to provide financial assistance to their parents but are unable to offer physical care. To investigate sibling interaction, I estimate best response functions for individual physical and financial…

Measured children's anxiety and restrictiveness in parent-child relations in samples from three countries. Found that within nations, relationships between anxiety and restrictiveness varied greatly. Also, in Mexico, anxiety was associated with low restrictiveness, while in Norway it was associated with high restrictiveness. Few significant…

As the number of Mexican American elders increases, their care becomes pressing. We sampled filial responsibility expectations of Mexican American college students to expand culture specific knowledge and found physical proximity to elders an important expectation. However, although some respondents adhere closely to the traditional Mexican value…

Observed and analyzed the play of 60 U.S. and Mexican toddlers and their mothers. Found cultural differences in children's pretend play, the mutual involvement of mothers and children in pretend play, the behaviors mothers used to structure play, and mothers' value of children's play. (MM)

Examines maternal and paternal behaviors in 78 parent-child dyads in Mexican families. Observed patterns were found to run counter to traditionally held views of Mexican parental roles. Findings proved to be similar to those obtained in observational studies in the United States. (Author/CB)

One study compared maternal-infant interactions in two samples: Gusii mothers in Kenya and suburban Boston mothers. A second study examined the relationship between mother-infant interaction and maternal educational attainment in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Found that maternal responsiveness was influenced by the mother's cultural background and school…

Compared the cross-cultural effectiveness of a 10-hour psychoeducational program with 82 Mexican and 63 American mothers of very young children. Found that both groups significantly increased their expectations and use of nurturing strategies and reduced their use of verbal and corporal punishment following the program. Reported child behavior…

A study to obtain data concerning values for child behavior from a sample of Mexican adults from Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico), and to compare and contrast these data with those obtained in previous research with subjects from the United States, used a sample consisting of 40 males (mean age 31.1 years) and 40 females (mean age 20.1). The subjects…