The relationship between mother–child discrepancies in educational aspirations and children's academic achievement: The mediating role of children's academic self-efficacy

We examined the relationships between parent–child discrepancies in educational aspiration and child academic achievement and the mediating role of child's academic self-efficacy. In total, 829 Chinese elementary students (10 years old) and their mothers (36 years old) were invited to participate. The educational aspirations of the students and their mothers and students' academic self-efficacy and academic achievement based on their most recent midterm and final examinations were assessed. The results indicated that the absolute difference between mothers' and children's raw aspiration scores was negatively associated with children's academic achievement. Additionally, after accounting for the degree of discrepancy, the direction of the discrepancies showed differential effects. Compared to children whose aspirations were the same as their mother's, children whose mothers held higher aspirations than their own had lower academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy played a significant mediating role in the relationship between children's academic achievement and the direction of discrepancy “mothers' aspirations > children's”. In contrast, the direction “mothers' aspirations < children's” was positively associated with children's academic achievement. The reasons for this finding are also discussed in the paper.     

Women’s work: public relations efforts of the US Children’s Bureau to reduce infant and maternal mortality, 1912–1921

This article traces the efforts of the US Children’s Bureau to reduce infant and maternal mortality, primarily through education. The Bureau developed and carried out a carefully conceived public relations campaign that spanned nearly 10 years, from 1912, when the Bureau was formed, to 1921, when the Sheppard-Towner Act was passed by Congress. The Act was the first piece of social welfare legislation passed by Congress.The Bureau’s public relations campaign was notable for its use of innovative tactics designed to increase public awareness of the problems of infant and maternal mortality and gain support for passage of legislation to address the problems. This article proposes that it was this campaign that galvanized public support for federal legislation, particularly among women. The campaign also was important because it was conceived and carried out almost entirely by women at a time when public relations as a field had not been formally defined.