The Effect of Birth weight on Child Development Prior to School Entry.

The present study examines variation in the effect of birth weight on children's early cognitive and socioemotional outcomes by family socioeconomic status (SES). It is hypothesized that not only will lower birth weight children display worse cognitive and socioemotional outcomes prior to school entry, as prior research has found, but that effects will be stronger for lower-SES children. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, the study compares the age 4 outcomes of twins discordant for birth weight (N ~ 1,400). Twin fixed-effects models are run on the full twin sample and separately for low- and high-SES children. Results support the study's hypotheses, suggesting that socioeconomic risk accentuates the effects of birth weight on early development.

The link between child temperament and low-income mothers' and fathers' parenting.

Numerous studies have shown that children's temperamental characteristics impact the quality and quantity of parent-child interactions. However, these studies have largely focused on middle-class samples, have not compared multiple domains of parenting across mothers and fathers, and have not considered the possibility of nonlinear associations between temperament and parenting. The present study addresses these gaps by examining the potentially nonlinear role of two temperamental characteristics-negative emotionality and sociability-in predicting the quality and quantity of low-income mothers' and fathers' parenting. Data were drawn from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a study of low-income children and families. Results indicated that whereas parenting quality was somewhat impaired when children were temperamentally vulnerable (low sociability, high negativity), parents increased parenting quantity with the same vulnerable children. There was some evidence that parents were most reactive to children who scored either very high or very low on negative emotionality and sociability in both parenting domains. Patterns also suggest that mothers were more reactive to sociability, and fathers to negative emotionality.

Numerosos estudios han mostrado que las características del temperamento de los niños tienen un impacto sobre la calidad y cantidad de interacciones entre progenitor y niño. Sin embargo, estos estudios se han enfocado por la mayor parte en grupos muestras de clase media, no han comparado múltiples dominios de crianza que incluyan tanto a las mamás como a los papás, y no han considerado la posibilidad de asociaciones no lineales entre el temperamento y la crianza. El presente estudio trata estos vacíos al examinar el potencialmente no lineal papel de dos características del temperamento - la negativa emocionalidad y sociabilidad - para predecir la calidad y cantidad de interacciones de crianza de mamás y papás de bajos recursos económicos. Los datos se obtuvieron del Proyecto de Investigación y Evaluación de Comienzo Temprano (Early Head Start - EHS), un estudio de niños y familias de bajos recursos económicos. Los resultados indicaron que mientras que la calidad de la crianza se vio de alguna manera afectada cuando los niños eran temperamentalmente vulnerables (baja sociabilidad, alta negatividad), los progenitores aumentaron la cantidad de las interacciones en la crianza con los mismos niños vulnerables. Se dio alguna evidencia de que los progenitores reaccionaban más con los niños cuyos puntajes eran muy altos o muy bajos en la negativa emocionalidad y sociabilidad en ambos dominios de la crianza. Los patrones también sugieren que las mamás reaccionaron más en cuanto a la sociabilidad y los papás a la negativa emocionalidad.

De nombreuses études ont montré que les caractéristiques du tempérament des enfants impactent la qualité et la quantité des interactions parent-enfant. Cependant, ces études ont largement porté sur des échantillons de classes moyennes, et n'ont pas comparé de multiples domaines de parentage entre les mères et les pères, et n'ont pas non plus considéré la possibilités d'associations non-linéaires entre le tempérament et le parentage. Cette étude aborde ces fossés en examinant le rôle potentiellement non-linéaire de deux caractéristiques du tempérament - l'émotivité négative et la sociabilité - en prédisant la qualité et la quantité de parentage de mères et de pères issus de milieux socioéconomiques défavorisés. Les données ont été tirées du Projet de Recherche et d'Evaluation du programme américain de Early Head Start (EHS), une étude d'enfants et de familles de milieux socioéconomiques défavorisés. Les résultats ont indiqué qu'alors que la qualité de parentage était plus ou moins dépréciée lorsque les enfants étaient vulnérables d'un point de vue du tempérament (sociabilité faible, négativité élevée), les parents augmentaient la quantité de parentage avec les mêmes enfants vulnérables. On a pu établir que les parents étaient plus réactifs envers les enfants ayant des scores soit très élevés soit très bas pour ce qui concerne l'émotivité négative et la sociabilité dans les deux domaines de parentage. Les patterns suggèrent aussi que les mères étaient plus réactives à la sociabilité et les pères à l'émotivité négative.

Childcare Instability and Maternal Depressive Symptoms: Exploring New Avenues for Supporting Maternal Mental Health.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated links between childcare experiences-specifically, care instability and mothers' perceptions of care access-and maternal depressive symptoms in an effort to illuminate policy-amenable mechanisms through which childcare experiences can support maternal mental health. METHODS: Data were taken from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. We used regression models with lagged dependent variables to estimate associations between aspects of childcare instability and perceptions of care availability and maternal depressive symptoms. We did so on the full sample and then on subgroups of mothers for whom childcare instability may be especially distressing: mothers who are low income, working, single, or non-native speakers of English. RESULTS: Childcare instability-length in months in the longest arrangement and number of arrangements-was not associated with maternal depressive symptoms. However, mothers' perceptions of having good choices for care were associated with a reduced likelihood of clinical depressive symptoms, even after controlling for prior depressive symptoms and concurrent parenting stress; this latter association was observed both in the full sample (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.63-0.96) and among subgroups of employed mothers (AOR = 0.71; CI = 0.57-0.87) and single mothers (AOR = 0.72; CI = 0.52-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Although dimensions of care instability did not associate with maternal depressive symptoms, mothers' perceptions of available care options did. If replicated, findings would highlight a previously unconsidered avenue-increasing care accessibility and awareness of available options-for promoting maternal mental health in a population likely to experience depression but unlikely to be treated.

Predictors of Public Early Care and Education Use among Children of Low-Income Immigrants.

Little is known about predictors of publicly funded early care and education (ECE) use among low-income children of immigrants. Without this knowledge, it is difficult to effectively increase participation in these public programs, which promote school readiness but are underused by children of immigrants. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), this study attempts to identify pertinent family, child, maternal ECE preference, broader contextual, and immigrant specific characteristics predictive of ECE use among 4-year old children in a sample of low-income children of immigrants (N ≈ 1,050). Specifically, we estimate multinomial logistic regression models predicting type of ECE (Head Start, public pre-k, subsidized ECE, unsubsidized ECE, parental care) from these characteristics. Findings suggest that even in a low-income sample, correlates of disadvantage such as low maternal education and prior receipt of public benefits are important predictors of public ECE use, as are maternal preferences for certain features of care and supply-side factors such as ECE availability. Immigrant-specific factors such as English proficiency, citizenship status, availability of non-English speaking caregivers, and generosity of state policies toward immigrants emerged as particularly salient for explaining the public ECE selection patterns of low-income immigrants. Results point to future research areas and potential policy solutions aimed at increasing public ECE use for children who may stand to benefit the most.

Socioeconomic Gaps in Parents' Discipline Strategies From 1988 to 2011.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of corporal punishment is high in the United States despite a 1998 American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement urging against its use. The current study tests whether the socioeconomic difference in its use by parents has changed over the past quarter century. It goes on to test whether socioeconomic differences in the use of nonphysical discipline have also changed over time. METHODS: Data are drawn from 4 national studies conducted between 1988 and 2011. Each asked how often a kindergarten-aged child was spanked in the past week and what the parents would do if the child misbehaved, with physical discipline, time-out, and talking to child as possible responses. We use regression models to estimate parents' responses to these questions at the 90th, 50th, and 10th percentiles of the income and education distributions and t tests to compare estimates across cohorts. RESULTS: The proportion of mothers at the 50th income-percentile who endorse physical discipline decreased from 46% to 21% over time. Gaps between the 90th and 10th income-percentiles were stable at 11 and 18 percentage points in 1988 and 2011. The percentage of mothers at the 10th income-percentile endorsing time-outs increased from 51% to 71%, and the 90/10 income gap decreased from 23 to 14 percentage points between 1998 and 2011. CONCLUSIONS: Decline in popular support for physical discipline reflects real changes in parents' discipline strategies. These changes have occurred at all socioeconomic levels, producing for some behaviors a significant reduction in socioeconomic differences.

Adoptive and Nonadoptive Mother-Child Behavioral Interaction: A Comparative Study at 4 Years of Age.

Comparable samples of low-risk adopted and nonadopted children and mothers were observed during 3 tasks at age 4 years. Quality of mother-child interactions, child level of functioning in 4 domains, and maternal parenting satisfaction and social support were assessed. Adopted children were as competent as nonadopted children on measures of developmental functioning. Both groups of mothers expressed high satisfaction and support as parents. However, ratings of child, maternal, and dyadic behavior when interacting were all lower for adoptive dyads than for nonadoptive dyads, and adoptive dyads with boys accounted for the maternal and dyadic group differences.