This study of students in grades 3-6 found that, for learning-disabled students in self-contained placements, subjects' perception of maternal and paternal acceptance plus subjects' academic achievement accounted for 58 percent of variance in subjects' self-esteem. These variables were not significantly correlated with the self-esteem of…

Reports on a 1988 survey of adolescents from two San Francisco Bay Area schools that tested an index of the frequency with which parents actively mediate children's interpretations of television messages. The predictive ability of the index for skepticism, media use, and involvement in public affairs was tested; and several family communication…

A study involving 70 grade school children shows that mothers are fairly accurate in estimating their children's abilities (IQ). Accuracy of estimation does not predict achievement or school grades, but mothers' demands of children are related to beliefs about ability and the children's levels of achievement. (SLD)

Two studies examined fathers of preschool boys with and without clinic-referred behavior problems. Found that clinic fathers differed from fathers of matched comparisons on life stress, psychological symptoms, parenting attitudes, positive involvement, and harsh discipline. Harsh discipline contributed uniquely to clinic status. Teacher, mother,…

The results of a recent study called Ask the Children challenges current thinking on work and family life, how we talk about it, and how we behave and communicate with children. This article shares eight findings from the study and the implications of the findings for leaders in the early childhood field. (TJQ)

Examined environmental and gene-environment processes linking parenting (affect, control, responsiveness) and preschoolers' behavioral adjustment difficulties (noncompliance, conduct problems). Found that estimates of shared environmental variance and mediation were greatest for observational data, and estimates of child genetic variance and…

A study of 984 families of children with emotional and behavioral disturbance used the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire to assess the effects of the shift of primary caregiving to the family due to deinstitutionalization. Results indicate the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, which also identified three related but unique dimensions of…

Data shows couples in low-risk circumstances experience individual and marital distress after having a baby; however, no services exist to ease this transition. Interventions have been offered to high-risk mothers, but few are based on before-to-after parenthood studies that would identify risk factors. Describes interventions in both populations…

A year-long qualitative study of 10 families of gifted children (grades 5 to 8) found 4 levels of parental reasoning concerning their child's social and emotional development: (1) no framework; (2) an intellectual framework only; (3) a full intellectual and partial social-emotional framework; and (4) a comprehensive framework recognizing both…

This article reviews resources that offer personal insights and lessons from families of children with disabilities. Five books are reviewed that offer perspectives from fathers and mothers on raising and coping with a child with a disability, along with three Web sites for families of children with disabilities or premature infants. (CR)

Examined relationship between family literacy practices and mothers' beliefs about early reading instruction, and children's emergent literacy skills. Identified mothers with 'whole language' theories and mothers with phonics orientations. Found that mothers' implicit theories were associated with their modeling of literacy behaviors, helping…

Conducted a pilot questionnaire study on Singaporean family reading practices. Found that in the majority of homes, the mother initiated reading of mostly fictional material borrowed from public libraries. Reading aloud to children occurred in about one-third of homes, with direct reading instruction occurring in over two-thirds of families. Found…

Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively…

Parents play an important role in the development of young people's smoking behavior, through the modeling effects of their own smoking status, through the ways they raise their children and through the ways they deal with smoking at home. The present study focused on anti-smoking socialization by, first, comparing the perspectives of both parents…

This dissertation examined primary caregiving father families and how they construct their roles in contrast to primary caregiving mother families. A Self-report survey instrument was constructed. and administered to a sample of 93 married couples in the United States with children under the age of 6. Surveys were coded by couple, analyzed, and…