Efrat Sher-Censor

Perceptions of Mexican American Adolescents and Parents Regarding Parental Autonomy Promoting Divergent Views and Adolescents’ Adjustment

Our study examined discrepancies in Mexican American adolescent–parent perceptions regarding parental autonomy promoting and their associations with adolescents’ adjustment. A total of 138 Mexican American sixth graders reported their global self-worth and depressive symptoms. Adolescents and parents also reported their perceptions of parental autonomy promoting. Discrepancies in perceptions of adolescents and their fathers, in particular fathers’ rose-colored perceptions of their autonomy promoting, which were not shared by their adolescent, were associated with more depressive symptoms of male and female adolescents and with lower self-worth of female adolescents. The study findings show the importance of assessing perceptions of family members at the dyadic level. Furthermore, the study extends previous studies on autonomy promoting and discrepancies in perceptions to the context of Mexican American families.

The intergenerational congruence of mothers’ and preschoolers’ narrative affective content and narrative coherence

Intergenerational congruence of mothers’ and preschoolers’ narratives about the mother–child relationship was examined in a sample of 198 Hispanic (59.1%), Black (19.2%), and White (21.7%) mothers and their preschool child. Mothers’ narratives were obtained with the Five Minute Speech Sample and were coded for negative and positive affective content and narrative coherence. Preschoolers’ narratives were collected with the MacArthur Story Stem Battery and were coded for the portrayal of the mother-child relationship and narrative coherence. Across ethnoracial groups, maternal narrative coherence, but not narrative affective content, was related to preschoolers’ positive portrayal of the mother–child relationship. Our findings highlight the importance of maternal narrative coherence for understanding intergenerational continuity of relational representations.

Mothers’ rejection sensitivity and their information processing of possible social rejection of their child

Parents often guide the interactions of their young children with their peers. Identifying factors that may shape parents’ behaviors in such situations is thus important. The objective of this study was to investigate whether maternal rejection sensitivity (RS) would be related to mothers’ responses to challenges in their children’s peer interactions. Specifically, we examined whether mothers’ RS would be associated with their information processing of hypothetical events that may suggest rejection of their child by her/his peers. Two hundred nineteen mothers of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children completed an online survey. To assess RS, mothers completed the Adult Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire. Mothers were also presented with five ambiguous common scenarios that could be interpreted as peer rejection of their child. Mothers were asked about their attributions, emotions, and likely behavioral responses regarding each scenario. Maternal RS was associated with more attributions of intentional rejection of the child, more negative emotions, and more behavioral responses of avoidance and overinvolvement. Furthermore, the associations between mothers’ RS and maternal responses of avoidance and overinvolvement were sequentially mediated by maternal attribution of intentional rejection followed by negative emotions. The study thus extends RS research to the context of parenting and suggests that practitioners working with families of young children should consider parents’ RS disposition, as it might affect parents’ responses to their children’s peer interactions.

Earliest memories in Israeli kibbutz upbringing: it is parental engagement that makes a difference

ABSTRACT Culture and parenting shape the ability to recall early childhood experiences. This research focused on the unique context of upbringing in the Israeli kibbutz and examined how cultural orientation and experiences of parental engagement in Kibbutz and non-Kibbutz settings shaped adults’ earliest memories. Participants were 108 women (study 1) and 75 women and men (study 2) who were raised in traditional kibbutz upbringing or in a non-kibbutz family setting. In addition to reporting their earliest memory and age at earliest memory, participants estimated retrospectively the amount of daily time spent in interaction with parents, caregivers, and other children during the time of earliest memory. Overall, upbringing-related variations in cultural orientation were evident in the content of memories. A prediction of later age at earliest memory due to limited opportunities for parent–child interaction characteristic of traditional kibbutz upbringing was not supported. Rather, in both studies, age at earliest memory was linked to retrospective estimation of parental engagement, after controlling for childhood ecology. Study 2 revealed also a link of age at earliest memory to retrospective estimation of involvement with non-parental caregivers. These findings are congruent with the social-interaction model’s claims about the importance of interaction with caregiving adults to autobiographical memory’s development.