Aurora P. Jackson

Parenting Efficacy and the Early School Adjustment of Poor and Near-Poor Black Children

This short-term longitudinal study investigates whether maternal educational attainment, maternal employment status, and family income affect African American children’s behavioral and cognitive functioning over time through their impacts on mothers’ psychological functioning and parenting efficacy in a sample of 100 poor and near-poor single Black mothers and their 3- and 4-year-old focal children. Results indicate that education, working status, and earnings display statistically significant, negative, indirect relations with behavior problems and, with the exception of earnings, statistically significant, positive, indirect relationships with teacher-rated adaptive language skills over time. Findings suggest further that parenting efficacy may mediate the link between poor and near-poor single Black mothers’ depressive symptoms and their preschoolers’ subsequent school adjustment. Implications of these findings for policy and program interventions are discussed.

Single Parenting and Child Behavior Problems in Kindergarten

Two waves of data from a sample of 89 poor and near-poor single black mothers and their preschool children were used to study the influences of parenting stress, physical discipline practices, and nonresident fathers’ relations with their children on behavior problems in kindergarten. The results indicate that higher levels of parent stress, more frequent spanking, and less frequent father–child contact at time 1 were associated with increased teacher-reported behavior problems at time 2. In addition, more frequent contact between nonresident biological fathers and their children moderated the negative effect of harsh discipline by mothers on subsequent child behavior problems. Specifically, when contact with the father was low, maternal spanking resulted in elevated levels of behavior problems; with average contact, this negative effect of spanking was muted; and with high contact, spanking was not associated with increased behavior problems in kindergarten. The implications of these findings for future research and policy are discussed.

Single Mothers, Nonresident Fathers, and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Development: Social Support, Psychological Well-Being, and Parenting Quality

ABSTRACT Using data from two waves of a short-term longitudinal study, the influences of mothers’ social support with respect to parenting from nonresident fathers and significant others on behavioral outcomes among poor and near-poor preschool-aged Black children were examined. The sample consisted of 99 single Black mothers—each with a preschool-aged child (ages 3 and 5 years old, respectively, at Time 1 and Time 2)—who were current and former welfare recipients. Results revealed protective effects of nonresident fathers’ presence in the context of mothers’ parenting stress and depressive symptoms at Time 1 that appeared to operate through decreases in the negative influences of these variables on the childrens development of behavior problems 1.5 to 2 years later. Greater availability of instrumental support from significant others, including nonresident fathers, was associated with more adequate parenting at Time 1, and through the latter, with fewer child behavior problems at Time 2. Implications of these findings for program and policy interventions are discussed. Nonresident fathers are described in the Appendix.

The Effects of Collaborative Care Training on Case Managers' Perceived Depression-Related Services Delivery.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the effects of a depression care quality improvement (QI) intervention implemented by using Community Engagement and Planning (CEP), which supports collaboration across health and community-based agencies, or Resources for Services (RS), which provides technical assistance, on training participation and service delivery by primarily unlicensed, racially and ethnically diverse case managers in two low-income communities in Los Angeles. METHODS The study was a cluster-randomized trial with program-level assignment to CEP or RS for implementation of a QI initiative for providing training for depression care. Staff with patient contact in 84 health and community-based programs that were eligible for the provider outcomes substudy were invited to participate in training and to complete baseline and one-year follow-up surveys; 117 case managers (N=59, RS; N=58, CEP) from 52 programs completed follow-up. Primary outcomes were time spent providing services in community settings and use of depression case management and problem-solving practices. Secondary outcomes were depression knowledge and attitudes and perceived system barriers. RESULTS CEP case managers had greater participation in depression training, spent more time providing services in community settings, and used more problem-solving therapeutic approaches compared with RS case managers (p<.05). CONCLUSIONS Training participation, time spent providing services in community settings, and use of problem-solving skills among primarily unlicensed, racially and ethnically diverse case managers were greater in programs that used CEP rather than RS to implement depression care QI, suggesting that CEP offers a model for including case managers in communitywide depression care improvement efforts.

Minority Parents' Perspectives on Racial Socialization and School Readiness in the Early Childhood Period.

OBJECTIVE To describe how minority parents help their young children navigate issues of race and racism and discuss implications this racial socialization may have for school readiness. METHODS Sixteen focus groups were conducted among 114 African American, English language-primary Latino, Spanish language-primary Latino, and Korean language-primary Korean parents of children ages 0 to 4 years old. Transcripts were coded for major themes and subsequently compared across the 4 language-ethnicity groups. Parents also shared demographic and parenting data by survey, from which group-specific proportions provide context for identified themes. RESULTS In this sample, nearly half of surveyed parents had already talked to their young child about unfair treatment due to race. The proportion of such conversations ranged from one-fifth of Korean parents to two-thirds of Spanish language-primary parents. In focus groups, Korean parents reported fewer experiences with racism than African American and Latino parents. Within each language-ethnicity group, fewer fathers than mothers reported addressing race issues with their young children. All focus groups endorsed messages of cultural pride, preparation for bias, and a strong focus on the individual. The majority of parents viewed racial socialization as an important part of school readiness. CONCLUSIONS Racial socialization was believed to be salient for school readiness, primarily practiced by mothers, and focused at the individual level. The smaller role of fathers and systems-based approaches represent opportunities for intervention. These results may inform the development of culturally tailored parenting interventions designed to decrease the race-based achievement gap and associated health disparities.