Family investments in low-income children's achievement and socioemotional functioning.

Family processes and parenting practices help explain developmental differences between children in low- versus higher-income households. There are, however, few studies addressing the question of: what are the key family processes and parenting practices for promoting low-income children's growth? We address this question in the present study, following conceptual work framing family processes and parenting practices as investments in children. Using secondary analyses of longitudinal data on low-income children from birth to age 15 (n = 528), we estimate several potential family investments in achievement and socioemotional outcomes during early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. For achievement outcomes, family investments in learning stimulation were consistently the strongest predictors. For socioemotional outcomes, investments in an orderly household and close parental supervision were the most consistent and strongest predictors, even more so than sensitive parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record

Changes in health risk behaviors for males and females from early adolescence through early adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify (a) the course of changes in smoking, alcohol and marijuana use, violence, and sexual behavior from early adolescence through young adulthood for males and females, (b) points of divergence and convergence for 5 health risk behaviors between males and females, and (c) whether the trajectories of change in health risk behaviors differed for males and females. METHOD: Data from four waves of the nationally representative National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) followed 18,911 youth from early adolescence through the transition to adulthood (ages 13 through 31 years) and were analyzed using zero-inflated negative binomial growth models and logistic growth models. RESULTS: Generally, health risk behaviors steadily increased through adolescence into the early 20s, subsequently leveling off or decreasing. Results indicated early adolescent females were more likely to smoke and have more sexual partners, and 14- and 18-year-old females had higher rates of increase for getting drunk. The majority of findings, however, indicated that adolescent and young adult males engaged in more risk behaviors and were increasingly likely to engage over time. Among youth engaged in health risk behaviors, males reported greater frequency and increases in rates over time for most risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: We identify several critical groups for health professionals to address: early adolescent females not previously identified as more engaged in health risks; adolescent females "catching up" to male health risks; early and mid-adolescent males shifting into adult patterns of heightened health risk behaviors; and the group of risk-taking males across age groups.