Background: In contrast to the extensive research on socioeconomic gaps in reading and math achievement, little attention has been given to socioeconomic disparities in science skills, particularly during the early years of schooling. This emphasis on later years may be problematic because large socioeconomic disparities emerge in the early years,…

In this sexcerpt from their book, "Love, Money, and Parenting: How Economics Explains the Way We Raise Our Kids," Matthias Doepke and Fabrizio Zilibotti discuss the phenomenon of helicopter parenting, in which parents spend more time monitoring their kids' activities. They present empirical evidence for a rise in parental involvement and…

Given that maternal support promotes healthy social and emotional development in early childhood, it is important to understand the predictors of such support, especially during emotional challenges. In this study, mothers' dispositional distress reactivity (i.e., the tendency toward experiencing distress in response to children's negative…

This longitudinal study examined the influence of parents' educational attitudes on adolescents' educational attitudes and identified antecedents (i.e., parent education, family income, and parent acculturation), consequences (i.e., academic achievement and engagement), and a potential moderator (i.e., adolescent acculturation) of the transmission…

The purpose of the current study was to develop a multi-indicator construct of economic hardship among adolescents with disabilities (N = 9,230) participating in the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, the largest, most comprehensive investigation of adolescents with disabilities ever conducted. Five theoretically relevant indicators (i.e.,…

As physical inactivity may track from adolescence to adulthood, it is important to identify social determinants of physical inactivity in early life. However, most studies have measured socioeconomic position as one dimension. We examine whether multiple dimensions of socioeconomic position, in addition to other dimensions of inequality (i.e.,…

Introduction: Blacks, Hispanics, and women of lower socioeconomic status tend to have a higher risk of obesity. Numerous studies over the past decade examined the role of the neighborhood food environment in body weight. However, few were longitudinal. Purpose: This longitudinal study examined whether multiple measures of neighborhood food…

We examined individual differences and predictions of children's patterns in behavioral, emotional and attentional efforts toward challenging puzzle tasks at 24 and 35 months using data from a large longitudinal rural representative sample. Using latent transition analysis, we found four distinct task-oriented patterns in problem-solving tasks…

Background: A growing number of scholars argue that Hispanic-White disparities in college pathways are at least partly attributable to the fact that Hispanic students experience the college preparation and enrollment process differently from their White peers. Recent research suggests that one way in which the process differs between the two…

Data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) were used to examine the impact of three personal factors--race/ethnicity, gender, and family income--on self-determination (i.e., autonomy, psychological empowerment, self-realization) and early adulthood outcome constructs. Findings suggest for those with high incidence disabilities,…

The quality of the home environment, as a predictor, is related to health, education, and emotion outcomes. However, factors influencing the quality of the home environment, as an outcome, have been understudied--particularly how children construct their own environments. Further, most previous research on family processes and outcomes has…

Background: Despite an increase in international studies examining the experiences of parents with intellectual impairments and their children, few have utilised population-based data. This study investigated the behavioural and cognitive outcomes of 3-year-old US children of mothers with intellectual impairments compared with children of mothers…

The present study used nationally representative data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) merged with census-track data from the American Community Survey (ACS) to model race-ethnic disparities in overweight, obesity, and obesity-related disease among children and adolescents as a function of neighborhood race-ethnic segregation,…

Researchers examined enrollment and family income data from the past 50 years at Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private elementary schools (that is, schools serving grades K-8). The study used data on families' incomes and elementary-school choices from the decennial census, Current Population Survey, U.S. Department of Education…

We present three statistical methods for causal analysis in life course research that are able to take into account the order of events and their possible causal relationship: a cross-lagged model, a latent growth model (LGM), and a synthesis of the two, an autoregressive latent trajectories model (ALT). We apply them to a highly relevant…