Carol MacKinnon-Lewis

Racial Socialization Messages and the Quality of Mother/Child Interactions in African American Families

Racial socialization messages were examined within a particular ecological niche: two-parent, African American families with a child in early adolescence. The linkage between mothers’provision of racial socialization messages and family process components (e.g., communication, warmth, negativity, child monitoring, and involvement) of the mother/child relationship was examined. Sixty-six African American mothers and their early adolescent sons and daughters participated in videotaped mother/child interactions and completed questionnaires regarding family demographics and parenting. Based on the frequency of their provision of proactive responses to discrimination items, mothers were categorized into three groups (high, moderate, and low). Results indicated that mothers in the moderate socialization group exhibited the most positivity, were the most involved, and monitored their child’s activities the most. Mothers in that group also displayed the lowest levels of dyadic negativity. Mothers in the moderate socialization group had children who exhibited the most positivity and displayed the lowest levels of negativity.

The relationship between biased maternal and filial attributions and the aggressiveness of their interactions

This study examined the relation between maternal and filial attributions and the aggressiveness of their interactions. We also examined whether or not certain setting conditions (e.g., maternal and child depression, maternal and child negative life events, marital conflict, socioeconomic status) predispose some mothers and children to make negative attributions and interact coercively. One hundred four mothers and sons (age 7-9 years) from married and divorced families participated. They completed questionnaire and interview data and were observed while participating in two gamelike tasks (e.g., Trouble, Etch-a-Sketch). Both maternal and child attributions were significantly related to their coercive interactions. The most aggressive dyads were those in which both mothers and sons perceived hostile intent in the other. The relations between attributions and coercive interactions were found to be moderated by marital conflict, and maternal education, such that the association between attributions and coercive behavior, was stronger when marital conflict was low and the mothers were better educated.

Family conflict in divorced and non-divorced families: Potential consequences for boys’ friendship status and friendship quality

This study examined associations between family conflict and the quality of boys’ friendships in divorced and non-divorced families. Interviews and self-report measures were completed by 173 boys (Mage = 8.10; 92 Caucasian, 65 African American) and their parents from divorced and non-divorced families. Findings indicated that boys from divorced families had fewer friends, and lower quality friendships, than boys from non-divorced families. Marital conflict was associated with low levels of reasoning in mother-son and sibling-brother relationships in non-divorced families, and low levels of reasoning in father-son relationships in divorced families. Family conflict-resolution strategies mediated connections between marital conflict and the number of boys’ mutual friendships as well as boys’ friendship quality.

Juvenile justice and mental health: Youth and families in the middle

Addressing the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system is a key imperative for all stakeholders interested in preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. Despite the substantially higher rates of mental health disorders among these youth, services and approaches are fraught with barriers including inadequate assessment, fragmentation, and deficit-based intervention. Comprehensive, system-level reform is necessary to better address the needs of youth with mental health disorders entering the juvenile justice system. Using a public health approach to youth violence as an overarching framework, the need for a community-based, family-centered, strength-based system of care philosophy is outlined.

A Longitudinal Examination of the Associations between Fathers' and Children's Attributions and Negative Interactions

The present investigation examined the concurrent and longitudinal relations between attributions and negative behavioral interactions in the context of the father-child dyad. Participants were 177 fathers and their young adolescents recruited from nonmetropolitan counties in the southeast. Results indicated that for children, attributions about their father play a significant role in their negative behavioral interactions with their father both within and across time. Interestingly, father’s earlier negative behavioral interactions with their children predicted children’s subsequent attributions about their father in the longitudinal analyses. In addition, both attributions and behavioral interactions were highly stable across time for both fathers and children.

Cognitive Attributions and Emotional Expectancies Predict Emotions in Mother-Adolescent Interactions.

The purpose of this study was to examine adolescent’s hostile attributions of mother’s intent and emotional self-expectancies as contributors to expression of emotion between mothers and adolescents. Data were collected from 268 10- to 12-year-olds (133 girls, 135 boys) and their mothers. Each dyad was observed in a conversational activity that was coded for both partners’ expressions of four discrete emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Adolescents responded to hypothetical stories to assess their emotional expectancies and attributions. Regression analysis revealed that adolescents’ hostile attributions and emotional expectancies made independent contributions to the expression of happiness and anger with their mother. Adolescents who interpreted their mother’s hypothetical behavior as hostile, and who expected to feel less happiness and more anger in response to their mother’s hypothetical behavior, expressed less happiness and more anger with their mother. The findings support the conceptual distinction between hostile attributions and emotional expectancies.