Can preschool socioeconomic composition moderate relationships between family environment and Chinese children's early academic and social outcomes?

Research on primary and secondary school composition has shown that a school's socioeconomic status, as an aggregated and stratified index, has a contextual effect on children's school performance. For Chinese children, preschool is their first formal schooling experience. Preschools are segregated by the enrolled children's socioeconomic status. However, no studies have yet examined the role of preschool socioeconomic status in young Chinese children.Taking family socioeconomic status as the structure index and the home learning environment and authoritative parenting as the process indexes, the current study aimed to examine how preschool socioeconomic status operates independently and moderates the family environment to determine Chinese children's early academic and social development. Data were obtained from 826 children aged 36–74 months from 29 urban preschools in Beijing. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that preschool socioeconomic status significantly directly predicted children's academic skills but not their social skills. Participation in higher socioeconomic status preschools appeared to compensate for the literacy skills of children from a lower family socioeconomic status, and it reinforced the positive effects of authoritative parenting on the children's social skills. These results suggest that the optimal development of young children depends on the “fit” between their family's environmental characteristics and the preschool in which they enrolled.     

Children's Family Environments and Intellectual Outcomes During Maternal Incarceration

Despite the dramatic increase in incarcerated mothers that has occurred in the past decades, there is a paucity of family research focusing on the children affected by maternal imprisonment. The present study investigated family environments and intellectual outcomes in 60 children between the ages of 2 and 7 years during their mothers’ incarceration. Multiple methods were used to collect data from children, mothers, and children's nonmaternal caregivers. Results indicated that most children experienced multiple risks across contextual levels. Cumulative caregiver sociodemographic risks predicted children's cognitive abilities, although quality of the home and family environment mediated this relation. Results underscore the importance of children's family environments and highlight the need for increased monitoring, service delivery, and longitudinal research with children of incarcerated mothers and their families.     

Understanding Leadership Development in African American Youth

Abstract

This exploratory study assesses factors related to leadership development for African American adolescents participating in a community service program designed to develop young African American leaders (N = 345). Psychometric characteristics of self-reported levels of leadership are explored to determine similarities and differences between gender groups. A multivariate analysis of socioeconomic factors, levels of self-esteem, school grades, and social activities as predictors of leadership development produced mixed findings. The results suggest that higher levels of global and academic self-esteem are related to leadership characteristics in female respondents, but not males. On the other hand, the impact of program participation on leadership was only significant in the area of personal relationship skills as a form of leadership for males. Findings from this investigation point out the need for research on leadership development dynamics among African American children and adolescents.     

Marital Satisfaction,Family Emotional Expressiveness,Home Learning Environments,and Children's Emergent Literacy

The current study investigates associations among marital satisfaction, family emotional expressiveness, the home learning environment, and preschool‐aged children's emergent literacy skills among 385 Midwestern mothers and their children. Path analyses examined how marital satisfaction related to emotional expressiveness in the home and whether this path was associated with the home learning environment and children's literacy skills. Higher maternal satisfaction was associated with higher levels of positive and lower levels of negative family emotional expressiveness. Additionally, family emotional environments characterized by mothers with higher positive expression were related to better home learning environments, which in turn were associated with higher literacy skills in children. Study findings underscore the importance of marital and family processes when considering young children's academic development.     

Traumatic Responding in Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Abstract

The present cross-cultural study summarizes the traumatic responses of Mexican, Mexican American, and non-Mexican American children who were residents of three shelters for battered women in Monterrey Mexico, McAllen Texas, and Ft. Worth Texas. Sixty-eight mothers reported on their children's (n = 90) individual and total traumatic symptoms. Findings revealed very slight differences in individual responses with no overall trauma symptom differences. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mothers' experiences of physical, and sexual abuse predicted greater trauma responses in children. Implications for practice with children and mothers in shelters for battered women are highlighted.     

Toward a dimensional model of risk and protective factors influencing children's early cognitive,social, and emotional development during the COVID-19 pandemic

Variation in infants’ home environment is implicated in their cognitive and psycho-social development. The pandemic has intensified variations in home environments through exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities, and increasing psychological stressors for some families. This study investigates the effects of parental (predominantly maternal) mental health, enriching activities and screen use on 280 24- to 52-month-olds’ executive functions, internalising and externalising problems, and pro-social behaviour; with socioeconomic status and social support as contextual factors. Our results indicate that aspects of the home environment are differentially associated with children’s cognitive and psycho-social development. Parents who experienced sustained mental distress during the pandemic tended to report higher child externalising and internalising problems, and executive function difficulties at follow-up. Children who spent more time engaged in enriching activities with their parents showed stronger executive functions and social competence six months later. Screen use levels during the first year of the pandemic were not associated with outcomes. To mitigate the risk of persistent negative effects for this ‘pandemic generation’ of infants, our study highlights the importance of supporting parents’ mental health. As our results demonstrate the impact of social support on mental health, investing in support services and interventions promoting building support networks are likely to be beneficial.     

The early home environment and developmental outcomes for young children in the child welfare system

The quality of the early home environment is predictive of young children's subsequent cognitive, academic, and behavioral functioning. Limited research has focused on the effects of the early caregiving environment on the functioning of young children involved with the child welfare system. This study investigated the influence of children's home environments (i.e., number of children in the home, number of moves the child experienced, level of cognitive stimulation, and level of emotional support) during the first 2 years of life on their preschool developmental outcomes (i.e., cognition, language, social skills, and behavior problems).As anticipated, a high-quality early home environment promoted the well-being of preschool children who had entered the child welfare system as infants. Children who lived with greater numbers of children incurred more compromised cognitive, language, behavioral, and social outcomes. No significant associations emerged between the total number of placements and developmental outcomes; children who remained in the same home during infancy (typically the birth family home) had more compromised developmental outcomes in every domain except behavioral problems.Both cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home predicted higher cognitive and language scores, decreased behavioral problems, and increased social skills. Early out-of-home placement and lack of emotional support interacted to predict children's behavioral problems. These findings are considered in the context of extant research and policy relevant to young children in the child welfare system.     

Resilient and Vulnerable At-Risk Children

Data from a large representative sample of American kindergarten children were used to examine the role of risk and protective factors involved in vulnerability and resilience as they relate to the development of school-based competence. Better fine motor, gross motor, and interpersonal skills and internalizing behaviors were associated with good outcomes across competence domains, even among children from at-risk backgrounds. Resilient children (higher risk, higher competence) had much in common with their competent peers with no risk factors, including average or better fine and gross motor skills, parental educational expectations, home literacy environment, and social skills and behavior. Results suggest that center-based child care and literacy-rich home environments are tied to competence as well as resilience among at-risk children.     

Meeting Life Challenges

SUMMARY

Mental health and social service providers need to understand the contextual experience of diverse aging populations and the types of life challenges they have encountered. This research examined the life challenges specified by a purposive sample of 75 urban community-dwelling low-income older adults from four high-rise housing facilities. Thirty-four study participants were Jewish American and 41 were African American. Results indicate that many participants of both groups identified personal events such as bereavement and health as stressors, but only the Jewish Americans identified societal events such as World War II. Both groups found social resources moderately valuable in meeting life challenges, but religious resources were frequently identified by African American older adults and personal resources were highly endorsed by Jewish Americans, resulting in a hierarchy of coping styles for each group. Results suggest that mental health and social service providers can create interventions to reinforce and strengthen natural client resources that may vary according to ethnic and racial differences     

African American Men,Child Welfare,and Permanency Planning

Summary

Like social services generally, child welfare and permanency planning services have failed to incorporate African American men as significant and serious participants in the service delivery process. Child welfare and permanency planning services have marginalized African American men such that children fail to benefit from the inclusion of these men in the service delivery process. This incomplete and inappropriate approach to permanency planning specifically, and to child welfare services more generally, is a disservice to African American children. Corrective measures are proffered to promote greater inclusion of African American men in child welfare and permanency planning services.     

The effect of poverty on young children's ability to organize everyday events

How children learn to organize their daily activities and function in multiple environments is important to our understanding of development. In general, children learn to represent their world through their interaction with both social and physical environments. What happens to the child's understanding of the world when those environments are impoverished? How does an impoverished environment affect the child's ability to function in the larger society? The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of severely impoverished home environments on young children's ability to organize and represent daily routines, using temporal and casual relations.     

Restoring and Sustaining Home: The Impact of Home Modifications on the Meaning of Home for Older People

ABSTRACT

The importance of a supportive home environment to successful aging has been well-established in the literature, with home modifications increasingly acknowledged as ways of removing barriers to function and increasing independence for older people. Home modification literature and practice primarily focus on the home environment as a physical space in which to perform tasks and on the impact of modification on competencies and function. Home, however, is much more than a physical environment. Within a transactive framework, people and places are seen as engaged in a dynamic, reciprocal relationship through which home becomes a place of significant personal meaning. Through a qualitative framework, this study examines the experience of older people living in the community who are recipients of a home modification service. It explores the impact modifying the physical environment has on their experience of home as a place of meaning and provides insight into how home modifications can strengthen the home as a place of personal and social meaning as well as improve safety and comfort for the older person at home.     

Cultural and Contextual Influences on Parenting in Mexican American Families

Family stress theory can explain associations between contextual stressors and parenting. The theory, however, has not been tested among Mexican Americans or expanded to include cultural‐contextual risks. This study examined associations between neighborhood, economic, and acculturative stressors and parenting behaviors in a sample of 570 two‐parent Mexican American families. Results support the negative impact of economic stress on parenting through parental depressive symptoms. Neighborhood stress influenced fathers’ depressive symptoms and parenting, but not mothers’. The effects of acculturative stress were inconsistent. Results suggest that contextual stressors common to Mexican American families impact parenting behaviors through parental depression.     

Using a logic model to evaluate the Kids Together early education inclusion program for children with disabilities and additional needs

Despite clear evidence that learning and social opportunities for children with disabilities and special needs are more effective in inclusive not segregated settings, there are few known effective inclusion programs available to children with disabilities, their families or teachers in the early years within Australia. The Kids Together program was developed to support children with disabilities/additional needs aged 0–8 years attending mainstream early learning environments. Using a key worker transdisciplinary team model, the program aligns with the individualised package approach of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).AimThis paper reports on the use of a logic model to underpin the process, outcomes and impact evaluation of the Kids Together program.MethodsThe research team worked across 15 Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres and in home and community settings. A realist evaluation using mixed methods was undertaken to understand what works, for whom and in what contexts. The development of a logic model provided a structured way to explore how the program was implemented and achieved short, medium and long term outcomes within a complex community setting.Discussion and conclusionKids Together was shown to be a highly effective and innovative model for supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities/additional needs in a range of environments central for early childhood learning and development. The use of a logic model provided a visual representation of the Kids Together model and its component parts and enabled a theory of change to be inferred, showing how a coordinated and collaborative approached can work across multiple environments.     

Child Abuse Investigation and Treatment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Abstract

Deaf children are more susceptible than other children to abuse in home and institutional settings. Many helping professionals are unaware of the unique vulnerabilities and needs of the deaf; this lack of awareness limits the effectiveness of their services to that population. Laws and ethical standards mandate that social workers and others use communication methods that deaf clients can understand; however, many human service agencies rely on less than adequate means of communication in child abuse investigations and other procedures. Such ineffective intervention practices fail to protect a vulnerable population of children who literally cannot speak for themselves.     

Diversity Within Diversity

Summary

Asian American elderly form a heterogeneous group with respect to immigration history, ethnic/cultural background, socioeconomic position, and health and mental health status. This paper provides an overview of the internal heterogeneity within the Asian American elderly population and identifies those who experience multiple stressors affecting their quality of life. Then it discusses barriers to formal service utilization as well as strengths and deficits of informal support systems. To better serve Asian American elders with their multiple needs for health, mental health, and social services, increased funding is recommended for research on this group, diversification of social service programs in coethnic communities, and increased cultural competence in non-Asian social service agencies.     

Navigating in an unknown land: Post adoption contexts of children adopted from China

Abstract

This qualitative/ethnographic study investigated how children adopted from China construct their identities. The authors describe the subtle interaction of home, school, and community cultures that influenced these children's identity formation. Focusing on the children, the researchers followed 13 adoptive families over the course of 16 months. The setting for the study was in several metropolitan areas of the American Midwest. Children's post adoption experiences, family life, schooling, and Adopted Children from China (ACC) activities became a window for viewing many of the core issues in constructing cultural identity. Children in this study actively negotiated their identities in various social contexts.     

Psychotherapeutic care for sexually-victimized children – Do service providers meet the need? Multilevel analysis

ObjectivesSurprisingly little is known on the decision to refer sexually-victimized children to psychotherapy. Previous research on service provisions for victims of child maltreatment has analyzed the impact of case characteristics, like child or caregiver functional levels, lack of social support, and socioeconomic status. Findings, however, show that the decision to provide services is not only needs-driven, but also affected by external factors like provincial legislation, institutional policies, and the availability and accessibility of services. By analyzing characteristics behind the decision to refer sexually-victimized children to psychotherapy at the case and institutional level, we aimed to disentangle the complex interplay of factors driving this decision.MethodsThe data for this analysis were drawn from the first nationally-representative agency survey on reported child sexual victimization (CSV) in Switzerland. Over a 6-month data-collection period, 165 child protective services, 87 penal authorities and 98 agencies in the health and social sector documented a total of 911 incidents of CSV. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to analyze factors at both the case and contextual level.ResultsThe main finding was that the severity of consequences was strongly associated with the probability of psychotherapeutic service referrals (OR = 10.4; p < 0.001). However, one bias was identified at the individual level: sexually-victimized children born in Switzerland were more likely to be referred to psychotherapy than immigrant children. Institutional disparities in the decision to refer a sexually-victimized child to psychotherapy were large (median OR = 3.83), with penal authorities referring significantly fewer cases to psychotherapy than specialized agencies in the health and social sector. What exactly was driving the difference between psychotherapy referral in different types of agency remains largely unexplained.ConclusionsFuture research should invest in scrutinizing contextual factors of child protective service decisions. As we operationalize the need for psychotherapy as proxy-rated consequences of victimization, routine screening for mental health needs using standardized measures for children in contact with child protection agencies should be implemented, to help frontline workers to identify the psychotherapeutic needs of victimized children.     

Remaining home: Well-being outcomes and co-occurring parental substance use following a maltreatment investigation in middle childhood

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to understand differences in child well-being related to parental substance use among children ages 6–12 who were investigated for maltreatment but not removed from their homes. Children with a substance-using parent in the home are compared to those without a substance-using parent in the home.MethodsLongitudinal data from waves 1 and 3 of the second National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II) are used. NSCAW II is a national sample of families with children and youth aged birth to 17.5 investigated by child protective services (CPS). A subset of the data (analyzed with domain analysis methods) is used for this study (n = 575). Eight well-being outcomes from four domains (cognitive development, physical health, psychological/behavioral development and social/emotional competence) are analyzed.FindingsWe hypothesized that (among children investigated for maltreatment and not removed from home) children whose parents used substances would exhibit lower mean levels of well-being at thirty-six months follow-up compared to those whose parents did not use. Unexpectedly, we found no significant differences in well-being levels between children with parents in the home using substances and those without.ConclusionsChildren with substance-using parents may be able to remain at home over an extended period after investigation, while maintaining well-being levels similar to children at home with parents not using substances. If an effective safety plan can be put in place, this option may provide a path to maintaining safety, permanency and well-being for such children without placement in out-of-home care.     

Predictors of well-being in the lives of student service members and veterans

Objective: The current study examined predictors of well-being, including quality of life and academic engagement, in a sample of student service members and veteran college students. Methods: Eighty-seven student service members/veterans (SSM/V) completed an online survey containing questions about post-deployment social support, emotion regulation skills, psychological distress, academic engagement, quality of life, and demographics. Participants were recruited from September 2012 through May 2014. Results: Results provided partial support for the proposed bi-directional mediational relations between post-deployment social support and emotion regulation predicting to quality of life and academic engagement. Path models indicated that both post-deployment social support and emotion regulation skills partially mediated the relation with quality of life while accounting for the effect of psychological distress, and that emotion regulation skills fully mediated the relation between social support and academic engagement. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both social support and emotion regulation skills may be useful targets for health promotion and intervention efforts for this population. Limitations and clinical implications for the development of on-campus SSM/V focused health promotion services are discussed.