This short-term longitudinal study investigates whether maternal educational attainment, maternal employment status, and family income affect African American children's behavioral and cognitive functioning over time through their impacts on mothers' psychological functioning and parenting efficacy in a sample of 100 poor and near-poor single…

The present study examined children's coping strategies as mediators and moderators of the association between parenting factors and outcomes in 235 African American children (mean age = 10.37 years). Information about parenting and child coping strategies was obtained by child self-report. School adjustment was assessed by standardized…

Trajectories of children's externalizing behavior were examined using multilevel growth curve modeling of data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. According to ratings by both mothers and caregivers/teachers when children were 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 years old, externalizing behavior declined with age. However, mothers rated…

The transition to middle school is often marked by decreased academic achievement and increased emotional stress, and African American children exposed to social risk may be especially vulnerable during this transition. To identify mediators and protective factors, the authors related severity and timing of risk exposure to academic achievement…

This study examined the relative roles of parents and peers in the psychosocial adjustment of African American youth (7-15 years old) from single mother homes (N = 242). Main effects of both positive parenting and peer relationship quality were found for youth depressive symptoms. In addition, a main effect of peer relationship quality and an…

Adopting an ecological framework, this study examines the role of community violence exposure, interpartner conflict, positive parenting, and informal social support in predicting the social skills and behavior problems of low-income African American preschoolers. Participants were 184 African American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start…

Objective: Although social maladjustment appears to be common among abused children, negative outcomes are not inevitable. This investigation was designed to determine whether ethnicity and features of the parenting context predicted children's social adjustment, and whether the strength and direction of these relations differed for abused and…

This study examined the associations of exposure to early childhood education (ECE) services upon 2.5-year-old children's task persistence and enthusiasm and their mothers' authoritative and authoritarian behavior and support stimulation. Families participated in the Infant Health and Development Program, an eight-site randomized comprehensive ECE…

This article uses hierarchical linear modeling with a sample of African American children and their primary caregivers to examine the association between various community factors and child conduct problems. The analysis revealed a rather strong inverse association between level of collective socialization and conduct problems. This relationship…

In accordance with McLoyd's model of African American children's development, we examined the linkages among family income, maternal psychological distress, marital conflict, parenting, and children's outcomes in early and middle childhood, using a sample of 591 African American children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Income…

The influence of disabilities on placement outcomes was examined for 277 children who were removed from their biological parents due to substantiated maltreatment. Results indicated that children with a disability were less likely to reunify and more likely to reside in non-kin foster care two years later than typical children. Children with…

Longitudinal links between perceived racial discrimination and later conduct problems and depressive symptoms were examined among 714 African American adolescents who were 10-12 years old at recruitment. Data were gathered 3 times over a 5-year period. Hypotheses were tested via latent curve modeling and multiple-group latent growth modeling.…

A 4-wave longitudinal design was used to examine protective links from child competence to behavioral problems in first- (M=10.97 years) and second- (M=8.27 years) born rural African American children. At 1-year intervals, teachers assessed child behavioral problems, mothers reported their psychological functioning, and both mothers and children…

Increasing numbers of grandparents are becoming full-time surrogate parents to their grandchildren. Grandparents who raise their grandchildren reportedly endure high levels of stress, and grandchildren purportedly experience childhood trauma that can lead to poor psychological adjustment. While anecdotal reports have suggested that grandchildren…

The Parents Matter! Program (PMP) has developed three interventions for parents of 4th and 5th grade African-American children (9-12 years old). The overarching goal of all three interventions is to provide parents with knowledge, skills, and support for enhancing their efforts to raise healthy children. The interventions are: (1) Enhanced…