Parents are a child's first teachers. They are responsible for building children's social, emotional, physical, and intellectual foundations. The problem investigated through this dissertation case study was the inconsistent knowledge of child development and developmentally appropriate activities among parents of young and primary school aged…

In line with increasing calls for within-family analyses of monitoring processes, this study examined profiles of (combined) adolescent information management strategies and parent knowledge-gathering strategies among 174 families with middle adolescents (M[subscript age] = 15.7 years; 164 mother-teen and 112 father-teen dyads). Three…

Jamaican immigrant students are highly represented in U.S. public schools, primarily in regions concentrated throughout the east coast. Many of these students and their families have personal and social concerns that have implications for school counselors. In particular, scholars suggest that among this population, harsh methods of child…

Peer and parent influences on alcohol use and related risky behaviors were examined in a sample of late-adolescent (M = 17.3 years; SD = 1.11 years) urban youths. Participants (N = 400) completed an online measure assessing peer influences of alcohol use and alcohol offers and also parental influences of rules against alcohol use and perceived…

Background: More optimal parenting has been linked with lower rates of bullying. However, it is not clear whether parenting can alter the trajectories of bullying among children diagnosed with ADHD or ODD as well as those who are not so diagnosed. This study examined whether parenting at age 4-5 years was associated with changes in bullying over…

Aimed at low-income families in six of New York City's highest-poverty communities, the Family Rewards program ties cash rewards to a pre-specified set of activities. This paper presents the qualitative findings from interviews with 77 families. It examines how families incorporated the program into their households, and specifically the…

This study investigated how Chinese immigrant mothers in the USA make meaning of their parenting styles and practices in rearing their young children (aged two to six). Twelve Chinese immigrant mothers were interviewed. A key finding reveals that the Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting practices reflected the indigenous concept of jiaoyang in the…

Little is known about child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. Literature on child discipline in Jamaica and other Caribbean nations has mainly focused on physical discipline, and no empirical studies have investigated the types of discipline used in the Jamaican American community. The purpose of this study was to describe…

Parents' rules regarding child television, DVD, video game, and computer use (screen time) have been associated with lower screen use in children. This study aimed to identify modifiable correlates of this behavior by examining social-cognitive predictors of parents' restriction of child screen time. Low-income parents ("N" = 147) of…

The neighborhood context can interfere with parents' abilities to effectively monitor their children, but may be related to specific monitoring strategies in different ways. The present study examines the importance of mothers' perceptions of neighborhood disorganization for the specific monitoring strategies they use and how each of these…

Objective: To develop and test a brief measure of changes in eating, active play, and parenting practices after an intervention to help parents shape children's choices and home environments. Design: Sequential phases of development and testing: expert panel review, cognitive testing interviews, field testing, test-retest study, and assessment of…

Objectives: This paper examines the effectiveness of the Healthy Families New York (HFNY) home visiting program in promoting parenting competencies and preventing maladaptive parenting behaviors in mothers at risk for child abuse and neglect. Methods: The study used microlevel observational assessments of mother-child interactions in the third…

Noncompliance is a primary reason parents seek services for their young children. Research on socialization suggests that warning children about consequences is associated with greater compliance. In the current study, we test whether promised consequences (i.e., promises of parental responses to subsequent child behavior), compared with…

Formalized education has been around for a long time and the role of the parents has been to facilitate their child's academic success. The quality of parenting can vary widely. This study will explore parental involvement in their special needs child's educational process. More specifically, parental involvement with special needs children in a…

Objective: To examine differences in risk factors and comorbid conditions for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom groups in a sample of 248 elementary schoolboys (ages 6-10) recruited from 1994 to 1996. Method: The boys and their mothers received multiple assessments of cognitive, behavioral, academic, and family functioning, including a…