Maternal Employment in Childhood and Adults’ Retrospective Reports of Parenting Practices

Do adults’ perceptions of their mothers’ and fathers’ parenting practices in childhood vary by their mothers’ employment status? Among adults in the Survey of Midlife Development in United States who lived with 2 biological parents until the age of 16 years (N = 2,246), those who had employed mothers during most or all of their childhood reported less support and less discipline from both parents than those who had stay‐at‐home mothers. Sons but not daughters who had employed mothers reported more verbal or physical assaults by both parents than their counterparts who had homemaker mothers. Despite greater social acceptance of maternal employment among younger Americans, cohort differences were not evident. These findings underscore the significance of mothers’ economic roles in influencing offspring’s perceptions of family dynamics.     

Design and Evaluation of Prophylactic Interventions Using Infectious Disease Incidence Data from Close Contact Groups

Summary.  Prophylaxis of contacts of infectious cases such as household members and treatment of infectious cases are methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. We develop a method based on maximum likelihood to estimate the efficacy of such interventions and the transmission probabilities. We consider both the design with prospective follow-up of close contact groups and the design with ascertainment of close contact groups by an index case as well as randomization by groups and by individuals. We compare the designs by using simulations. We estimate the efficacy of the influenza antiviral agent oseltamivir in reducing susceptibility and infectiousness in two case-ascertained household trials.     

Parents and Peers in Relation to Early Adolescent Problem Behavior

Concurrent and prospective associations between parent‐youth dyadic hostility and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problem behavior were examined in a sample of 416 families. Parenting control, parents’ well‐being, and youths’ affiliation with deviant peers were included as integral covariates. Information from multiple sources was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Concurrently, youth externalizing problems were associated with dyadic hostility, deviant peers, inadequate parenting control, and fathers’ well‐being (inversely). Internalizing problems were associated with inadequate parenting control and lower levels of fathers’ well‐being. Prospectively, some of these relations continued over 2 years, with a few new associations emerging. A process model is proposed in which parent‐youth dyadic hostility during early adolescence influences parenting, peer relations, and parents’ well‐being over time.     

Single Mothers “Do” Family

This paper explores how single mothers both incorporate others into family life (e.g., when they ask others to care for their children) and simultaneously “do families” in a manner that holds out a vision of a “traditional” family structure. Drawing on research with White, rural single mothers, the author explores the manner in which these women both endorse their children’s attachment to other caregivers and maintain boundaries around issues of discipline and attachment vis‐à‐vis these others. The author demonstrates that single mothers are willing to share this protected realm of family life with a new man (a fiancé or cohabiting boyfriend) as they pursue the goal of what has been called the “Standard North American Family.”     

Nonresident Fathers' Contributions to Adolescent Well-Being

Using data from 453 adolescents in Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households, we examine how multiple dimensions of nonresident father involvement are associated with different dimensions of child well-being. Father-child relationship quality and responsive fathering are modestly associated with fewer externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescents. The quality of the mother-child relationship, however, has stronger effects on child well-being. Nevertheless, even if adolescents have weak ties to mothers, those who have strong ties to nonresident fathers exhibit fewer internalizing problems and less acting out at school than adolescents who have weak ties to both parents. Adolescents are worst off on a range of outcomes when they have weak ties to both their mothers and nonresident fathers.     

Parental Childrearing Attitudes as Correlates of Father Involvement During Infancy

Using daily diary data to document involvement with infants at 6 - 8 months of age (n = 142) and 6 months later (n = 95), we examined relations between reported childrearing attitudes and resident fathers' relative (as compared to mothers') involvement with children. Fathers' authoritarian views related negatively to their relative involvement on weekdays, and this relation held over time for caregiving and playing activities. Mothers' protective attitudes had concurrent negative associations with fathers' relative weekend involvement. Findings suggest that fathers' authoritarian and mothers' protective attitudes relate to how parenting responsibilities are shared within families and may be detrimental to how much fathers become, or choose to become, directly involved in the care of their infants in comparison to mothers.     

彝族地区3-6岁幼儿父母教养方式调查分析

本文采用问卷法随机抽取彝族地区386个幼儿及其父(母),测查父母对幼儿所采取的教养方式状况。分析认为,彝族地区父母的“情感温暖与理解”、“惩罚严厉”随幼儿年龄增长而增加;彝族父母所采取的消极教养方式多于汉族父母。因此,作者建议彝族地区父母尤其是彝族父母对幼儿多采取“情感温暖与理解”、“偏爱被试”等积极教养方式,少用“惩罚严厉”、“拒绝否认”、“过分干涉过分保护”等消极教养方式。     

Characteristics of Mother‐Child Interactions Related to Adolescents’ Positive Values and Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine a theoretical model that considered accurate perception and acceptance of maternal values in relation to adolescents’ positive values and behaviors. One hundred fifty‐one mother‐adolescent dyads completed measures targeting adolescent and maternal perceptions of prosocial values and adolescent behaviors (M age of adolescent = 16.34 years). Path analysis using structure equation modeling revealed that accurate perception and acceptance of maternal values were positively related, both additively and multiplicatively, to personal values. Accurate perception and acceptance were negatively related to adolescents’ antisocial behaviors, and personal values were positively related to adolescents’ prosocial behaviors. The current study provides insight into how maternal discipline might influence adolescent behaviors indirectly through mother‐adolescent interactions.     

教师集体效能量表中文版的修订

本课题组对Goddard等人2000年编制的教师集体效能量表进行了修订。样本的代表性较以往研究有所提高,获得了较好的测量学指标:每个条目与总分的相关在0.452~0.856之间,18个条目高、低分组差异性检验均达到极其显著水平;总量表的CronbachAlpha系数为0.95,总量表的分半信度为0.92;限制抽取一个因素,得到各个条目的因素负荷在0.532~0.877之间;以教师教学效能感即自我效能感为效标,与集体效能的相关为r=0.626,再以教师压力状况为效标,与集体效能感的相关系数为-0.342,均达到极其显著水平。修订后的量表可以用作测量中国小学、初中、高中和职业中学教师集体效能的有效工具。