Maternal employment and children's achievement in context: A meta-analysis of four decades of research.

This meta-analysis of 68 studies (770 effect sizes) used random effects models to examine whether children's achievement differed depending on whether their mothers were employed. Four achievement outcomes were emphasized: formal tests of achievement and intellectual functioning, grades, and teacher ratings of cognitive competence. When all employment was compared with nonemployment for combined and separate achievement outcomes without moderators, effects were nonsignificant. Small beneficial effects of part-time compared with full-time employment were apparent for all achievement outcomes combined and for each individual achievement outcome. Significant sample-level moderators of the associations between maternal employment and achievement for all outcomes combined included family structure, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; associations were positive when samples were majority 1-parent families and mixed 1- and 2-parent families, racially/ethnically diverse or international in composition, and not middle-upper class. Analyses of child gender indicated more positive effects for girls. Children's age was a significant moderator for the outcome of intellectual functioning. The identification of sample-level moderators of the relationship between maternal employment and children's achievement highlights the importance of social context in understanding work-family linkages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father Involvement Moderates the Effect of Maternal Depression During a Child's Infancy on Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten.

This research investigated whether father involvement in infancy may reduce or exacerbate the well-established adverse effect of maternal depression during a child's infancy on behavior problems in childhood. In a community sample (N = 350), the authors found that fathers' self-reported parenting styles interacted with the amount of time fathers spent caring for their infants to moderate the longitudinal effect of maternal depression during the child's infancy on children's internalizing, but not externalizing, behaviors. Low to medium amounts of high-warmth father involvement and high amounts of medium- or high-control father involvement at this time were associated with lower child internalizing behaviors. Paternal depression during a child's infancy exacerbated the effect of maternal depression, but this moderating effect was limited to depressed fathers spending medium to high amounts of time caring for their infants. Results emphasize the moderating role fathers may play in reducing or exacerbating the adverse long-term effects of maternal depression during a child's infancy on later child behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life stress, maternal optimism, and adolescent competence in single mother, African American families.

Although research demonstrates many negative family outcomes associated with single-parent households, little is known about processes that lead to positive outcomes for these families. Using 3 waves of longitudinal data, we examined how maternal dispositional optimism and life stressors are associated with parenting and child outcomes in 394 single mother African American families. Confirming prior research, we found that mothers' childhood adversities, current economic pressure, and internalizing problems were associated with lower levels of maternal warmth and child management and with lower child school competence. Extending previous studies, we found that maternal optimism was a positive resource, predicting lower levels of maternal internalizing symptoms and higher levels of effective child management and moderating the impact of economic stress on maternal internalizing problems. These findings highlight the need for further investigation of processes and resources that promote positive outcomes for African American mother-headed families and single mother families in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reciprocal models of child behavior and depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers in a sample of children at risk for early conduct problems.

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict, maternal and paternal parenting, and child adjustment: A test of mediation and moderation.

Parenting was examined as a mediator of associations between marital and child adjustment, and parent gender was examined as a moderator of associations among marital, parental, and child functioning in 226 families with a school-age child (146 boys). Parenting fully mediated associations between marital conflict and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Parent gender did not moderate associations when data from the full sample or families with girls only were evaluated. Parent gender did moderate associations when families with boys were evaluated, with the association between marital conflict and parenting stronger for fathers than mothers. A trend suggested fathers' parenting may be more strongly related to internalizing behavior and mothers' parenting may be more strongly related to externalizing behavior in boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of early maternal employment on toddlers, mothers, and fathers.

Investigated the effects of early maternal employment on toddler development and mothers' and fathers' parenting styles using a family system orientation. The 75 families with firstborn 20-mo-olds varied in maternal employment status (nonemployed, part-, and full-time). Observations were conducted of qualitative dimensions of parent–child relationships (toddler–mother and toddler–father attachment and child–parent problem-solving behavior), quantitative dimensions of family time allocation, and parental childrearing attitudes. Each mother had been employed outside the home prior to the baby's birth. 24 mothers had not been employed since the birth of their children; 23 mothers were employed part-time. Results indicate that maternal employment was not related to toddler outcomes (security of attachment or problem-solving behavior). It was related to the amount of time mothers spent with their children and to some childrearing attitudes and behaviors of fathers and mothers. Findings highlight the importance of examining direct (mother–child) and indirect (father–child) effects in the study of early maternal employment and the ability of families to adapt to a variety of lifestyles. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of maternal employment in the two-parent family.

Recent research is reviewed to consider the effects of the mother's employment on the child in the two-parent family. This work deals mainly with maternal employment during the child's preschool years. Because of the difficulties in measuring enduring traits in young children, and because neither previous nor current research has revealed clear differences between children in dual-wage and single-wage families, attention is also given to the effects on the family processes that mediate child outcomes: the psychological well-being of the parents, their marital relationship, the father's role, and parent–child interaction. The influence of maternal employment on these variables, as well as on child outcomes, is found to be dependent on the attitudes of the parents, the number of hours the mother is employed, social support, and the child's gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toddlers' context-varying emotions, maternal responses to emotions, and internalizing behaviors.

Relations of toddlers' observed negative affect in high- and low-threat contexts to maternal perceptions of their toddlers' internalizing problems and to mothers' responses to emotions (RTE) for fear and sadness were examined. Child-driven, parent-driven, and reciprocal transactional models across 1 year were directly compared. Two-year-old toddlers (N = 106) participated in lab-based activities to elicit distress, and their negative affect was coded. Mothers completed measures of their child's internalizing behaviors and their responses to their toddler's fear and sadness at ages 2 and 3. At age 2, only negative affect in low-threat contexts was associated with greater internalizing problems. Mothers' punishing and minimizing RTE at age 2 predicted an increase in internalizing problems across 1 year. Age 2 internalizing problems predicted an increase in mother's use of supportive RTE over time. Results highlight the importance of considering the context of toddlers' negative affective displays and supported a reciprocal conceptualization of toddlers' internalizing behaviors and mothers' RTE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A family process model of marital hostility, parental depressive affect, and early adolescent problem behavior: The roles of triangulation and parental warmth.

This study examined a family process model of early adolescent problem behavior in a community sample of 416 two-parent families. With family systems theory, a model was developed that suggests (a) marital hostility and parental depressive affect are conjoint familial stressors for youths, (b) youth triangulation mediates the association between marital hostility and adolescent problems, and (c) parental warmth buffers the negative effects of parental depressive affect and youth triangulation. With structural equation modeling, youth-perceived triangulation mediated the association between marital hostility and adolescent internalizing problems. Marital hostility was associated with externalizing problems. Mothers' depressive affect was associated with internalizing problems, and fathers' depressive affect was associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. Parental warmth was not a significant moderator. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term and long-term effects of early parental employment on children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

This study examined the effects of early parental employment on children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Minimal effects on children's later functioning were found. Early maternal employment status and the timing and continuity of early maternal employment were not consistently related to children's development. Working more hours was associated with slightly lower cognitive development through age 9 and slightly lower academic achievement scores before age 7 but had no significant relation to children's behavior problems, compliance, or self-esteem. Early parental employment appeared to be somewhat more beneficial for single mothers and lower income families. There was some support for the hypothesis that early parental employment positively affects children's development by increasing family income. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family members' uncertainty about parental chronic illness: the relationship of hemophilia and HIV infection to child functioning

Examined the relationships among parental and child uncertainty about fathers' illnesses and child internalizing problems. Participants included 65 families in which the father had hemophilia, approximately one half of the fathers also were HIV infected. Within each family, respondents included the father, the mother and one child. Outcome variables included both self- and parent-reported child internalizing behaviors. Results indicated that family members' illness uncertainty was intercorrelated, that child uncertainty about the father's illness predicted both anxiety and depressive symptoms in the child, and that mother's uncertainty predicted child-reported anxiety beyond the child's uncertainty.     

Factors associated with child mental health service use in the community

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of parent, family, and child factors with mental health services need and utilization. METHOD: Possible determinants of services need and utilization were assessed in a general population sample of 2,227 children aged 4 to 18 years. RESULTS: 3.5% of the total sample had been referred for mental health services within the past year. The most potent factors associated with service need and utilization were the child's problem behaviors (both internalizing and externalizing) and academic problems and family stress. Socioeconomic factors and the child's sex were not in itself associated with help-seeking factors. Parental psychopathology, life events, and family psychopathology lowered the parents' threshold for evaluating the child's behavior as problematic but did not increase the likelihood of referral. CONCLUSION: Referred children are more likely to live in families under stress than are children with the same level of problems who live in well-functioning families. Clinicians and researchers who make inferences from findings in clinical samples should realize, therefore, that children from problem families are overrepresented in their samples.     

Single parenthood and school readiness in White, Black, and Hispanic 6- and 7-year-olds.

The aim of this research was to examine the circumstances under which single parenthood may or may not represent an adverse influence on school readiness and achievement in 6–7-year-old children of White, Black, and Hispanic families in a large national survey (NLSY). Home visits provided measures of maternal and family characteristics and of children's vocabulary, math, reading, and behavior problems. Single parenthood was essentially unrelated to the child outcomes in all ethnic groups, and it did not interact with maternal education, ability level, or employment or with poverty status or child gender. Although single- and 2-parent families differed in income, they were very similar in maternal ability and education levels, thus suggesting that in the presence of positive maternal or family characteristics supportive of children's development, single parenthood as such need not represent a risk factor for these early child outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent-child antecedents of 5-year-olds' close friendships: A longitudinal analysis.

A longitudinal study of 73 families was extended to examine links between early parent–child relationships measured at 1 (in the Strange Situation) and 3 (in a laboratory observation) yrs of age and the target child's relationship with a close friend at 5 yrs of age (in a lab observation). Path analysis was used to test developmental models of parent–child antecedents of dyadic positive and negative friendship behavior. Results indicated that more positive and secure parent–child relationships are associated with more positive friendships and more negative family relationships with more negative friendships. However, several counterintuitive findings also emerged suggestive of compensatory processes. Specific findings illuminate the role of early attachment relationships and differential maternal and paternal effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital behavior, parenting behavior, and multiple reports of preschoolers' behavior problems: Mediation or moderation?

Associations among positive and conflictual marital behavior and multiple reports of child behavior problems were examined in a community sample of 78 families with 3-year-old children. Maternal and paternal parenting behaviors were tested as potential mediators and moderators. Parents reported on child behavior problems and were observed during parent-child interaction and couple discussion in the presence of the child. Observers and preschool teachers also reported on child behavior problems. Less positive marital engagement and greater conflict were associated with observers' reports, but not with parents' or teachers' reports, of more behavior problems. Associations between marital behavior and child behavior problems were not explained by maternal or paternal behavior; stronger support was found for moderating effects of parenting. Also, positive marital engagement was a slightly better predictor of child behavior problems than was marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother and child interpretations of threat in ambiguous situations: Relations with child anxiety and autonomic responding.

This study examined maternal and child interpretive bias to threat (IBT) during dyadic conversation, child physiological reactivity and regulation during dyadic conversation, and maternal report of child anxiety in a community sample of 35 mothers and their 8- to 10-year-old children. Mothers and children discussed one neutral and six ambiguous scenarios, which were subsequently coded for frequency of maternal and child initiation, minimization, and expansion of threat-related themes. Child electrocardiogram data were collected during these conversations and maternal reports of child anxiety and internalizing problems were obtained. Across the sample, children initiated threat-related discussion more often than mothers. Maternal threat expansions were significantly positively correlated with child anxiety and internalizing behaviors. Maternal minimizations of threat were significantly associated with augmented child vagal tone throughout the IBT paradigm. Implications for prevention of child anxiety and directions for extending IBT research within the context of the mother–child dyad are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fathering in family context and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study focuses on relations between fathers’ behavior in family context and children’s adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children’s emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers’ adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers’ depressive symptoms were directly related with children’s internalizing problems. Children’s emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father’s behavior in family context and children’s development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors and pathways from infancy to symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence.

Data from a prospective 11-year longitudinal survey were used to identify early predictors and pathways to symptoms of anxiety and depression at 12–13 years of age, and to examine whether there were unique predictors of anxious versus depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling was used to explore longitudinal relations between contextual (maternal distress, family adversities, and social support) and temperamental (shyness and emotionality) risk factors in their prediction of informant-consistent symptoms of anxiety and depression. The results show that early risk factors can explain 38% of the variance in boys’ covarying symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence, and 25% of variance in girls’ covarying symptoms. Two main pathways were identified. One pathway was through temperament, as nearly all risk factors were partly mediated through child emotionality in midchildhood. Another pathway was through early contextual risk factors, with all direct and indirect contextual impact from before 5 years of age. Family adversity uniquely predicted depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the persisting impact of contextual predictors in families with children less than 5 years of age. The importance of early interventions to prevent adolescent internalizing problems is stressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in caregiver depression in response to parent training: Genetic moderation of intervention effects.

A previous report in the Journal of Family Psychology (S. R. H. Beach et al., 2008) described the results of a randomized prevention trial contrasting families who participated in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF, a preventive intervention for rural African American parents and their 11-year-olds) with control families. This brief report examines a novel contextual variable, child's genetic risk status for negative affect and poor self-control, as a moderator of treatment effects on caregiver's depression. Genetic data were obtained from (N = 109) youths' saliva samples. The primary study hypothesis of differential program impact on caregiver depression as a function of youth genetic risk was confirmed. Among caregivers with initially elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies--Depression Scale (L. S. Radloff, 1977), SAAF participation was associated with greater impact on depressive symptoms among those whose children were at genetic risk, suggesting that effect size estimates based on full samples may underestimate the impact of prevention programs on at-risk subgroups, whose response is particularly important to understand and to target. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital psychological and physical aggression and children's mental and physical health: Direct, mediated, and moderated effects.

Relations between marital aggression (psychological and physical) and children's health were examined. Children's emotional insecurity was assessed as a mediator of these relations, with distinctions made between marital aggression against mothers and fathers and ethnicity (African American or European American), socioeconomic status, and child gender examined as moderators of effects. Participants were 251 community-recruited families, with multiple reporters of each construct. Aggression against either parent yielded similar effects for children. Children's emotional insecurity mediated the relation between marital aggression and children's internalizing, externalizing, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. No differences were found in these pathways for African American and European American families or as a function of socioeconomic status or child gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)