Food Insecurity and Children's Problem Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Parental Relationship Quality and Parenting Stress.

OBJECTIVE: Food insecurity, identified as a critical stressor for many families, can directly and indirectly influence children's development through interparental relationships and parenting. This study examines how food insecurity relates to children's problem behaviors and the mediating roles of interparental relationship quality and parenting stress. It also investigates the association between parents' perception of relationship quality and both their own and their partner's parenting stress. METHOD: The study included 2095 children from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The actor partner interdependence model was used to explore the actor and partner influence of relationship quality on parents' parenting stress. To examine the association pathways from food insecurity to children's problem behaviors, a structural equation model was conducted. RESULTS: Results suggest that fathers' perception of couple relationship quality predicted both their own and their partner's parenting stress while mothers' perception of couple relationship quality only predicted their own, but not fathers', parenting stress. In the positive association between food insecurity and children's problem behaviors, there was a serial mediation through mothers' perception of relationship quality and mothers' parenting stress. In addition, food insecurity was negatively correlated with mothers' perception of relationship quality, but not with that of fathers. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the pathway from food insecurity to children's problem behaviors through mothers' perceptions of interparental relationship quality and parenting stress. Results provide support for the family stress theory and offer valuable insights for the formulation of potential prevention and intervention programs.

Trajectories of Perceived Gratitude and Change Following Relationship Interventions: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Lower-Income, Help-Seeking Couples.

The current study was designed to advance basic and applied research on perceived gratitude from one's partner in established couple relationships. From a three-arm randomized controlled trial involving 615 lower-income, help-seeking couples (N = 1,224 individuals), study analyses examined (a) the trajectory of perceived gratitude from one's partner among couples assigned to the wait-list condition (i.e., absent of any intervention), and (b) changes in perceived gratitude for individuals assigned to either the OurRelationship (OR) or ePREP relationship intervention condition. With respect to the first aim, levels of perceived gratitude among wait-listed couples demonstrated no significant mean increase over the 6-month period; this rate of change was significantly different from rates of change observed in other relationship constructs (e.g., satisfaction, communication, support) during the wait-list period. Being married, female, and having more children were all associated with lower initial levels of perceived gratitude. For the second aim, individuals assigned to either the OR or ePREP treatment condition demonstrated significant improvements in levels of perceived partner gratitude compared to wait-listed couples. The magnitude of program effect sizes for gratitude (d = 0.33), however, was 3%-48% smaller compared to the magnitude of program effects of other relationship constructs (0.34 < d < 0.64). Results indicated that perceived gratitude is a distinct component of couple relationships, generally lower in more established relationships, and can be improved by participating in OR or ePREP relationship interventions. Implications for research and practice related to gratitude in couple relationships are discussed.

Skin-deep Resilience and Early Adolescence: Neighborhood Disadvantage, Executive Functioning, and Pubertal Development in Minority Youth.

Skin-deep resilience, in which youth overcome adversity and achieve success in psychological and academic domains but at a cost to their physiological well-being, has been documented in late adolescence and adulthood. However, its potential to emerge at earlier developmental stages is unknown. To address this gap, secondary data analyses were executed using waves 1 and 2 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (n = 7712; ages 9-10 years at baseline [mean: 9.92; SD = 0.63]; 47.1% female; 66.1% White, 13.4% Black, and 20.6% Hispanic). The results indicated high levels of executive functioning were associated with improved psychological and behavioral outcomes at one-year follow-up. However, for racial and ethnic minority (i.e., Black or Hispanic) youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods, high levels of executive functioning were also associated with accelerated pubertal development. No significant interaction was observed among White youth. The findings suggest the skin-deep resilience pattern may be evident in early adolescence.

Association of parents' work-related stress and children's socioemotional competency: Indirect effects of family mealtimes.

Family mealtimes play an important role in promoting the physical and psychological well-being of children. However, parents' work-related stress may impact their ability to participate in frequent family mealtimes. In dual-earner families, gendered norms may also influence parents' shared responsibility to participate in mealtimes with their children. Prior studies have primarily focused on the mother's role in feeding children, while the father's participation has been relatively unexplored. We used a sample of dual-earner families consisting of heterosexual married couples with children in the United States who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort to investigate how stressors at work may affect the mother's and father's participation in family mealtimes and, in turn, related to the child's socioemotional development. We tested the associations between the mother's and father's work-related stress on the child's socioemotional competency from age two through preschool (age 4-5). We examined the direct and indirect effects of parents' work-related stress on child socioemotional competency through their involvement in mealtimes. The results indicate a negative direct association between the mother's job/financial dissatisfaction and the child's socioemotional competency. The father's job dissatisfaction had an adverse impact on children in terms of socioemotional competency, partially explained by the father participating less often in family mealtimes. Fathers' job/financial dissatisfaction had a negative influence on children's socioemotional competency, even with an increase in the mothers' participation in family mealtimes in the absence of the fathers. The findings emphasize the importance of fathers' involvement in mealtimes above and beyond mothers' involvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Fathers' marital conflict and children's socioemotional skills: A moderated-mediation model of conflict resolution and parenting.

Marital conflict is common in many families. The effects of marital conflict may often spill over to parent-child dyads and affect children's development via their parenting practices. However, couples handle their marital conflict in different ways, and conflict resolution strategies may play a role in children's outcomes. Although mother-reported marital conflict has been a primary focus in most prior studies, little is known about fathers' perspectives. To that end, we examined the mediating effect of fathers' parenting in the association between the frequency of marital conflict and mother-reported children's socioemotional skills in preschool, as well as the moderating role of father constructive conflict resolution frequency in the association between father reports of the frequency of the marital conflict and parenting. Results indicate that father parenting warmth and parenting stress mediated the association between the frequency of marital conflict and children's socioemotional skills. We also found that father reports of the frequency of the marital conflict was positively associated with involvement and negatively associated with warmth at higher levels of constructive conflict resolution frequency. Fathers who reported higher constructive conflict resolution frequency showed higher father involvement and warmth. Finally, the moderated-mediation analysis revealed that, after accounting for mothers' parenting variables, father warmth was the moderated mediator, such that there was a negative indirect effect between the frequency of marital conflict and children's socioemotional skills through father warmth at average and higher levels of constructive conflict resolution frequency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following Family Expectations program participation.

The current study investigated changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following participation in Family Expectations, a relationship and parenting education program for new or expectant parents. The sample comprised 339 couples who participated in most sessions of the Family Expectations program and completed assessments at three different time points over a 12-month period. Study analyses examined: (a) change shortly following completion of the program, (b) associations between short-term change and subsequent change in outcomes at 12-month follow-up, and (c) differences in short-term change between married and unmarried couples. Significant improvements were observed in all three domains at short-term follow-up. Short-term changes, particularly for psychological distress, were predictive of long-term change in multiple domains. Few moderation effects by marital status were evident; those that appeared suggested stronger effects for married participants compared to unmarried. Study findings inform ongoing discussions into the utility of federally-funded relationship and parenting programming.

The protective effects of perceived gratitude and expressed gratitude for relationship quality among African American couples.

The current study was designed to investigate the protective effects of gratitude in romantic relationships. Particular attention was given to differentiating the beneficial effects of perceived gratitude (i.e., gratitude from one's partner, or feeling appreciated) versus expressed gratitude (i.e., gratitude to one's partner, or being appreciative) in mitigating the negative effects of ineffective arguing and financial strain on multiple indicators of relationship quality, both concurrently and longitudinally. The sample comprised 316 African American couples with three waves of data spanning approximately 16 months. Results indicated higher levels of perceived gratitude - but not expressed gratitude - weakened the association between relationship stressors and worsened outcomes (i.e., less satisfaction and confidence, more instability) at both between-person and within-person levels. Concurrently, perceived gratitude exhibited protective effects with respect to ineffective arguing and financial strain; longitudinal protective effects were observed only with respect to ineffective arguing. Results highlight the ways in which perceiving gratitude from one's partner, both at a single instance and sustained over many months, can be protective for multiple facets of relationship quality. Collectively, findings underscore the importance of interpersonal gratitude for romantic relationships and its merit for increased attention in research and practice.

Childhood poverty, immune cell aging, and African Americans' insulin resistance: A prospective study.

The present study investigated developmental pathways that can contribute to chronic disease among rural African Americans. With a sample of 342 African American youth (59% female) from the southeastern United States followed for nearly two decades (2001-2019), we examined the prospective association between family poverty during adolescence (ages 11-18) and insulin resistance (IR) in young adulthood (ages 25-29) as well as underlying biological and psychosocial mechanisms. Results indicated family poverty during adolescence forecast higher levels of IR in young adulthood, with accelerated immune cell aging at age 20 partially mediating this association. Serial mediational models confirmed the hypothesized pathway linking family poverty, perceived life chances, cellular aging, and IR. Findings provide empirical support for theorized developmental precursors of chronic disease.

Adolescent Substance Use and Individual Beliefs That Drug Use Is Wrong: A Statewide Epidemiological Study.

OBJECTIVE: Informed by cognitive dissonance theory, the current study investigated the ability of youths' belief that drug use is wrong to predict likelihood of past year substance use abstinence as well as frequency of use at grades 8, 10, and 12. METHOD: Study analyses were executed from a statewide epidemiological survey of more than 125,000 youth using multi-group Zero-Inflated Poisson regression modeling. RESULTS: Personal belief that drug use is wrong demonstrated the largest magnitude of effect at each grade among the individual, family, and school-based factors under examination; this finding emerged with respect to predicting past year substance use abstinence as well as rates of substance use among individuals reporting past year use. Although differences across grades were evident for the magnitude of effect within various risk and protective factors, the rank ordering in magnitude of effect between factors was consistent across grades 8, 10, and 12. CONCLUSION: Current results underscore the salience of youths' belief that drug use is wrong in explaining likelihood of past year substance use at multiple time points during adolescence.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2022.2034877 .