Socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress: Prospective effects on psychological syndromes among diverse low-income families

Living with persistent poverty is toxic for one’s psychological health. This study examined SES, income, neighborhood disadvantage, and poverty-related stress as predictors of a wide range of psychological problems including anxiety, depression, aggression, relationship problems, physical problems, and trouble with the law. Longitudinal analyses were conducted with a low-income multiethnic sample of 98 families recruited from the greater Denver, CO metropolitan area (300 family members: 136 adults, 82 preadolescents, 82 adolescents) using hierarchical linear modeling to predict all eight ASEBA narrow band syndromes. Analyses showed that poverty-related stress was directly related to anxious/depressed symptoms and social problems and interacted with prior symptoms, contributing to worsening symptoms for delinquency, attention problems, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Hollingshead SES also had direct predictive effects for certain syndromes, though these effects were in the opposite direction predicted. In contrast, lower income-to-needs predicted more problems as expected. Neighborhood disadvantage also predicted psychological syndromes. Developmental differences are discussed. Our data show that parents are not the only family members who are affected by stress from living in poverty. SES, neighborhood disadvantage and poverty-related stress take a toll on children, adolescents, and adults.     

The Role of Gesture in Children's Comprehension of Spoken Language:Now They Need It, Now They Don't

Two experiments investigated gesture as a form of external support for spoken language comprehension. In both experiments, children selected blocks according to a set of videotaped instructions. Across trials, the instructions were given using no gesture, gestures that reinforced speech, and gestures that conflicted with speech. Experiment 1 used spoken messages that were complex for preschool children but not for kindergarten children. Reinforcing gestures facilitated speech comprehension for preschool children but not for kindergarten children, and conflicting gestures hindered comprehension for kindergarten children but not for preschool children. Experiment 2 tested preschool children with simpler spoken messages. Unlike Experiment 1, preschool children's comprehension was not facilitated by reinforcing gestures. However, children's comprehension also was not hindered by conflicting gestures. Thus, the effects of gesture on speech comprehension depend both on the relation of gesture to speech, and on the complexity of the spoken message.     

Breaking the mould: new trajectories in the domiciliary care of older people in Ireland

This article reviews the development of domiciliary care services for older people in Ireland over the last decade. It reveals three central developments, namely (i) the first steps, in the Irish context, towards a quasi-market; (ii) the introduction of cash-for-care and the subsequent notable segmentation of care tasks among three provider groups; and (iii) a rapidly increasing reliance on for-profit private home care providers. The authors conclude that while the Irish social care regime is still anchored in important ways in the primacy of informal (family) care and the subsidiarity principle, it has broken path-dependency by evolving towards an increasingly complex mix of public, not-for-profit and for-profit provision and financing. The most policy-relevant aspect of this new constellation is the lack of a regulatory framework that would enable the State to monitor the multiple and diverse providers with the view to ensuring the quality of home care services.     

Reconstructing the size of the African American population by age and sex, 1930–1990

We estimate the size of the African American population in five-year age groups at census dates from 1930 to 1990 using a three-part strategy. For cohorts born after 1935, we follow the U.S. Census Bureau in using classical demographic analysis. To estimate the size of cohorts born before 1895, we use extinct-generation estimates. For remaining cohorts, we implement an age/period/cohort model of census counts. All approaches are applied to a data set in which the age distribution of deaths has been corrected for age misreporting. Results provide strong confirmation of the basic validity of Census Bureau estimates of census undercounts for African Americans while extending estimates to new cohorts and periods. Our estimates are less consistent with an historical series prepared by Coale and Rives (1973).     

Infant Electroencephalogram Coherence and Toddler Inhibition are Associated with Social Responsiveness at Age 4

Previous work has suggested that individual differences in infant functional neuroconnectivity are a potential biomarker for later cognitive and social outcomes, but the mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated a longitudinal model of infant frontotemporal electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence predicting toddler inhibition, which then predicted childhood social responsiveness. A structural equation model showed good fit, with increased right hemisphere frontotemporal EEG coherence predicting less inhibition at age 2, which in turn predicted less social responsiveness at age 4. These findings support the hypothesis that infant frontotemporal connectivity is indirectly associated with later social behavior, with toddler inhibition as a potential mechanism.     

The effects of maternal depression on children

The importance of identifying children at risk because of parental pathology such as schizophrenia has been well established. It is recommended that a systematic investigation of children of depressed mothers be made. An object relations developmental model is presented as a conceptual framework for understanding the consequences to children of being cared for by depressed mothers.     

An Ecological Model of Social Interaction between Deaf and Hearing Students within a Postsecondary Educational Setting

Deaf students are enrolling in postsecondary educational institutions in the United States in greater numbers than ever before. However, attrition rates remain high. Models for explaining persistence in college link success to student integration within the informal and social fabric of their institution. The research reported in this paper is the result of a study of social integration of deaf and hearing students within a residence hall on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology. It was found that characteristics of both the individual and of the postsecondary environment are important in explaining interaction levels. An ecological model is proposed as a framework for describing and analyzing student integration within informal and social dimensions of college life.