Jeffrey T. Cookston

Measuring Cultural Awareness in Nursing Students

Recognizing the need for a valid and reliable way to measure outcomes of a program to promote multicultural awareness among nursing faculty and students, the authors developed a cultural awareness scale. In the first phase of the study, a scale consisting of 37 items was generated from a literature review on cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence in nursing. A Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficient of .91 was obtained from a sample of 72 student nurses. In the second phase, the items were presented to a panel of experts in nursing and culture to determine content validity. A content validity index of .88 was calculated, and the total number of items on the scale was reduced to 36. The scale then was administered to 118 nursing students. Data from the two samples then were combined, and factor analysis was conducted to support construct validity. Cronbachs alpha for the combined samples was .82.

Acculturation-based and everyday family conflict in Chinese American families

Everyday conflict (studied primarily among European American families) is viewed as an assertion of autonomy from parents that is normative during adolescence. Acculturation-based conflict (studied primarily among Asian- and Latino-heritage families) is viewed as a threat to relatedness with parents rather than the normative assertion of autonomy. Our overarching goal for the chapter is to integrate our knowledge of these two types of family conflict that have been studied separately to arrive at a new understanding of what family conflict means for Chinese American adolescents and their parents.

Acculturation-based and everyday parent-adolescent conflict among Chinese American adolescents: longitudinal trajectories and implications for mental health.

The purpose of the study was to examine 2 types of conflict for Chinese American families that have not been integrated in previous literature: everyday conflict and acculturation-based conflict. We explored the relation between the 2 types of conflict over time and their associations with adolescent adjustment (i.e., anxiety/somatization, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem). The sample consisted of 316 Chinese American adolescents (M = 14.8 years, SD = .73 at Wave 1) who participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study. The results showed that everyday and acculturation-based conflict are related and change in parallel over time. However, the 2 types of conflict are unique predictors of the 4 different indicators of psychological functioning. Results also suggested that psychological functioning is a better predictor of trajectories of conflict than vice versa. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of considering how the acculturation process contributes to parent-adolescent conflict regarding everyday issues and deeper cultural values.

Mailed survey follow-ups--are postcard reminders more cost-effective than second questionnaires?

Finding cost-effective ways to increase response to mailed surveys is a concern for many nurse researchers. This study compared two follow-up methods: sending a second questionnaire packet versus sending a reminder postcard to those who did not respond to an initial mailing. Although the second questionnaire yielded a higher response than did the postcard, the cost per additional response was approximately 21/2 times higher for the questionnaire than for the postcard when the differential cost of the two mailings is considered.

Affiliative and Instrumental Marital Discord, Mother's Negative Affect, and Children's Negative Interactions with Unfamiliar Peers.

Indices of marital discord and mother-child affective processes were used to predict levels of negativity children displayed with unfamiliar peers. Thirty-nine mothers and their 5-year-olds were observed with 5–7 other mother-child dyads during a 30-minute free play session. Mother and child negativity were coded and two types of marital discord were assessed via mother self-report: affiliative discord (e.g., distress due to the lack of affiliative behaviors in the marriage) and instrumental discord (e.g., disagreements about the accomplishment of marital tasks, such as finances, time management, and goal setting). Affiliative discord was found to relate to the childs negativity with unfamiliar peers, but instrumental discord was not. Furthermore, maternal negativity moderated the link between marital discord and childs negativity with peers, such that high levels of affiliative discord combined with heightened maternal negativity was associated with child negativity. Practical implications are discussed.

Guided Cognitive Reframing of Adolescent-Father Conflict: Who Mexican American and European American Adolescents Seek and Why.

Adolescents may seek to understand family conflict by seeking out confidants. However, little is known about whom adolescents seek, whether and how such support helps youth, and the factors that predict which sources are sought. This chapter offers a conceptual model of guided cognitive reframing that emphasizes the behavioral, cognitive, and affective implications of confidant support as well as individual, family, and cultural factors linked to support seeking. The authors present empirical data from 392 families of seventh graders of Mexican and European ancestry to predict whether adolescents seek mothers, coresident fathers, and other sources and provide directions for subsequent research.

Attributions of Fathering Behaviors Among Adolescents The Role of Gender, Ethnicity, Family Structure, and Depressive Symptoms

Little attention has been paid to how early adolescents make attributions for their fathers’ behavior. Guided by symbolic interaction theory, we examined how adolescent gender, ethnicity, family structure, and depressive symptoms explained attributions for residential father behavior. A total of 382 adolescents, grouped by ethnicity (European American, Mexican American) and family structure (intact, stepfamilies), reported attributions for their fathers’ positive and negative behaviors. Results indicated that for positive events, girls made significantly more stable attributions, whereas boys made more unstable attributions. Mexican American adolescents tended to make more unstable attributions for positive events than European Americans, and adolescents from intact families made more stable attributions for positive events than adolescents from stepfamilies. Implications are discussed for the role of attributions in father–adolescent relationships as prime for intervention in families.

Father-Adolescent Engagement in Shared Activities: Effects on Cortisol Stress Response in Young Adulthood

Parent–child relationships can critically affect youth physiological development. Most studies have focused on the influence of maternal behaviors, with little attention to paternal influences. The current study investigated father engagement with their adolescents in household (shopping, cooking) and discretionary leisure activities as a predictor of youth cortisol response to a challenging interpersonal task in young adulthood. The sample (N = 213) was roughly divided between Mexican American (MA; n = 101) and European American (EA; n = 112) families, and included resident biological-father (n = 131) and resident stepfather families (n = 82). Salivary cortisol was collected before, immediately after, and at 20 and 40 min after an interpersonal challenge task; area under the curve (AUCg) was calculated to capture total cortisol output. Results suggested that more frequent father engagement in shared activities with adolescents (ages 11–16), but not mother engagement, predicted lower AUCg cortisol response in young adulthood (ages 19–22). The relation remained significant after adjusting for current mother and father engagement and current mental health. Further, the relation did not differ given family ethnicity, father type (step or biological), or adolescent sex. Future research should consider unique influences of fathers when investigating the effects of parent–child relationships on youth physiological development and health.

Parenting and Later Substance Use among Mexican-Origin Youth: Moderation by Preference for a Common Language.

The primary goal of the current study was to test whether parent and adolescent preference for a common language moderates the association between parenting and rank-order change over time in offspring substance use. A sample of Mexican-origin 7th-grade adolescents (Mage = 12.5 years, N = 194, 52% female) was measured longitudinally on use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents all reported on consistent discipline and monitoring of adolescents. Both consistent discipline and monitoring predicted relative decreases in substance use into early adulthood but only among parent–offspring dyads who expressed preference for the same language (either English or Spanish). This moderation held after controlling for parent substance use, family structure, having completed schooling in Mexico, years lived in the United States, family income, and cultural values. An unintended consequence of the immigration process may be the loss of parenting effectiveness that is normally present when parents and adolescents prefer to communicate in a common language.

Associations Between Parental Relocation Following Separation in Childhood and Maladjustment in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Petitions by custodial parents to relocate children away from noncustodial parents present difficult choices for family courts. In the current study, the sample (N = 81) was randomly recruited through the children’s schools according to the following criteria: Children were 12 years old and at the time resided primarily with their mothers and mothers had been living with a male partner “acting in a father role” for at least the previous year. Thirty-eight children had been separated by more than an hour’s drive from their biological fathers because of either their mothers or fathers relocating. The data were collected from 2 reporters (children and mothers) at 5 time points (child ages 12.5, 14, 15.5, 19.5, and 22) by trained interviewers using standardized measures with adequate reliability and validity. Long-distance separation from biological fathers prior to age 12 was linked in adolescence and young adulthood to serious behavior problems, anxiety and depression symptoms, and disturbed relationships with all three parental figures (i.e., biological fathers, mothers, and stepfathers). These associations held after controlling for mother–stepfather conflict and domestic violence, mothers’ family income, and mother–biological father relationship quality. These longitudinal findings over time replicated the cross-sectional findings of Braver, Ellman, and Fabricius (2003) and Fabricius and Braver (2006). Policy implications for parental long-distance relocation following separation are discussed.