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Links to Positive Parenting among African American and Hispanic American Low-Income Mothers
Laura D. Pittman
Psychology DepartmentNorthern Illinois University
Ethnicity and Parenting
Known link between parenting and child outcomes (Bornstein, 2002) For some parenting practices, ethnicity is a
significant moderator in this relationship Parenting also suggested as a mediator
between more distal factors and child outcomes
Few have considered ethnicity as a moderator in the links between the distal factors and parenting
Furthermore, studies often focus on within group differences or have comparisons to Caucasian families
Context of Parenting
Parents living in poverty are: More likely to use more punitive
parenting (McLoyd, 1990) And be less warm and supportive
(Magnuson & Duncan, 2002) Less likely to stimulate children
cognitively (Bradley et al, 2001) Unclear what factors within this
economic context influence parenting
Possible Distal Factors linked to Parenting
Psychological Distress/Health (e.g., McLoyd, 1990)
Financial Strain (e.g., Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 2000)
Neighborhood Problems (e.g., Furstenberg et al., 1999)
Collective Efficacy (Sampson, 1992)
Questions for this study
In this low-income sample, what factors are linked to positive parenting? Less parenting stress More cognitive stimulation Use of more family routines More authoritative parenting Less harsh parenting Less permissive parenting Less disengaged parenting
Are there differences by ethnicity in how these factors influence parenting?
Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study
2402 families completed interview (1999) Over 40,000 household screened for eligible families Children age 0-4 years or 10-14 years 74% overall response rate Boston, Chicago, San Antonio 490 African American & Hispanic American families with
2- to 4- year-old children kept in these analyses Procedure
2-hour interview of the maternal caregiver in family’s home using a computerized interview format
Obtained information on family background, mental health, economic condition, perceptions of the neighborhood and parenting
Mothers’ Parenting Measures
Parenting Practices - Raising Children Checklist (Shumow, et al., 1998) 20 items 4 Subscales derived: Authoritative, Harsh, Permissive &
Disengaged Parenting Cognitive Stimulation subscale from the HOME
(Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) Family Routines
6-items from Family Routines Inventory (Jensen et al., 1983)
Parenting Stress 7 items derived from similar measures in the New Hope
Study & Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
Mothers’ Psychological Health
10-item Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1986)
Psychological Symptoms Brief Symptom Inventory–18 (Derogatis,
2000) Includes symptoms of anxiety, depression, &
somatization
Family Economic Factors
Income-to-needs ratio Comparison of annual household
income to poverty threshold for families of same size
Financial Strain Index (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 2000) 6 items asking about how difficult it is
to make ends meet in the household
Neighborhood measures
Neighborhood Problem Scale 11 items adapted from the Denver
Youth Study and Chicago Youth Achievement Study (Eliot et al., 1996)
Collective Efficacy 9 items based on the Sampson’s
Collective Efficacy Scale (Sampson et al 1997)
Background Characteristics (N = 490)
Mothers’ Age: 28.77 years (SD = 8.43) Children’s Age: 3.51 years (SD = 0.86)
42% African American; 58% Hispanic American
61% Single; 33% Married; 6% Cohabiting
Household Income-to-Needs Ratio = .81
Analysis Plan
(1)T-test comparisons between African-American and Hispanic Americans on all variables
(2)Linear Regressions predicting each of the parenting variables were run, first entering some demographics and then ethnicity
(3)To the models in #2, the distal factors were added simultaneously to see what independently contributed to the prediction of parenting
(4)Added interactions terms between ethnicity and each of the distal variables
T-tests
Hispanic Americans more likely to be married or cohabiting than African Americans
Hispanic Americans reported lower levels of self esteem
African Americans had higher levels of cognitive stimulation as well as more harsh parenting in their home compared to Hispanic Americans No differences in parenting remained after
controlling for child’s age and gender and mothers’ marital status
Main effects: Psychological Health
Self-esteem positively linked to family routines, cognitive stimulation, and authoritative parenting, while being negatively linked with parenting stress and disengaged parenting
More psychological symptoms only linked to greater parenting stress
Main effects: Economic & Neighborhood Factors
Economic factors Higher family income was linked to
more parenting stress Financial strain not linked to parenting
Neighborhood Greater neighborhood collective
efficacy linked to use of more family routines
More neighborhood problems linked to more parenting stress
Interaction between Maternal Self-esteem and Ethnicity predicting Authoritative Parenting
2.85
2.9
2.95
3
3.05
3.1
3.15
3.2
3.25
3.3
3.35
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mothers' Self esteem
Au
tho
rita
tive
Par
enti
ng
Latino African American
Interaction between Maternal Self-esteem and Ethnicity predicting Permissive Parenting
1.8
1.9
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mothers' self-esteem
Per
mis
sive
Par
enti
ng
Latino African American
Interaction between Maternal Self-esteem and Ethnicity predicting Parenting Stress
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mothers' Self esteem
Par
enti
ng
Str
ess
Latino African American
Interaction between Maternal Psychological Symptoms and Ethnicity
predicting Family Routines
2.45
2.5
2.55
2.6
2.65
2.7
2.75
2.8
2.85
2.9
2.95
3
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mothers' psychological symptoms
Fam
ily R
ou
tin
es
Latino African American
Interaction between Maternal Psychological Symptoms and Ethnicity
predicting Permissive Parenting
1.8
1.9
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
- 1 SD +1 SD
Mothers' psychological symptoms
Per
mis
sive
Par
enti
ng
Latino African American
Interaction between Neighborhood Problems and Ethnicity predicting Harsh Parenting
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
- 1 SD +1 SD
Neighborhood Problems
Har
sh P
aren
tin
g
Latino African American
Interaction between Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and Ethnicity
predicting Harsh Parenting
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
- 1 SD +1 SD
Neighborhood collective efficacy
Har
sh P
aren
tin
g
Latino African American
Interaction between Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and Ethnicity
predicting Cognitive Stimulation
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
- 1 SD +1 SD
Neighborhood collective efficacy
Co
gn
itiv
e S
tim
ula
tio
n
Latino African American
Interaction between Income-to-Needs Ratio and Ethnicity predicting Family Routines
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
- 1 SD +1 SD
Income-to-needs ratio
Fam
ily R
ou
tin
es
Latino African American
Summary Maternal self-esteem important, but
perhaps more true among African American
Maternal psychological symptoms less meaningful here.
Economic factors not significant in this homogenous sample
Neighborhood factors linked to parenting stress and family routines
Overall, interactions found significant effects for African American families, but not for Hispanic American families
Future directions
Limited by the cross-sectional nature of these analyses Onto longitudinal analyses
Consideration of other possible moderators in prediction of parenting Child gender Child temperament Marital status