Leslie N. Richards

Problems and Strengths of Single-Parent Families: Implications for Practice and Policy

Using qualitative interview data from a study of 60 single-parent mothers and 1 1 single-parent fathers, this paper examines family problems and strengths identified by these parents. With the exception of family finances and ex-spouses, mothers and fathers seemed to have very similar experiences. About two thirds of single parents reported that single parenting became easier over time. Implications forpractice and policy are addressed.

Intergenerational Family Support following Infant Death

The death of a child is a traumatic, nonnormative family life event. Although parental bereavement has received substantial attention, little research has focused on extended family members affected by a childs death, and still less on how multiple family members perceive and respond to one another following the loss. Guided by a life course perspective, this article examines social support between grandparents and their adult children in the aftermath of infant death. Through structured, open-ended interviews, 21 grandparents and 19 parents from 10 families described how they provided support to and received support from their intergenerational partners. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Six categories of support were identified: being present, acknowledgment, performing immediate tasks, information, unskilled support, and no support. Most support was provided by grandparents to adult children rather than from adult children to grandparents. All families reported significant support from at least one grandparent and nearly all families described ambivalent relationships that complicated support. Gender, family lineage, and family history were major influences. Multiple family perspectives about a significant life event contribute to our understanding about the intersection between individual and family life.

Remarriage: For Love or Money?

Abstract Marriage is a desired state by most Americans. This belief extends to those who have had a marriage fail. Much of the increase in divorce and remarriage in the last twenty years can be attributed to the baby boom cohort. This study examines remarriage in a sample of 62 baby boom cohort women. The following hypothesis was tested: Women who became single parents at a younger age, had more children, and less education would be more likely to remarry. While the hypothesis was supported, having a co-provider was not mentioned as a reason for remarriage. Still, a co-provider role is important. When remarriages failed, women spoke of the husbands failure to provide as an important factor in their decision to divorce. Implications and directions for future research are given.

MATERNAL GRANDMOTHERS AS CHILD CARE PROVIDERS FOR RURAL, LOW-INCOME MOTHERS: A unique child care arrangement

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of forty-two rural, low-income mothers who utilized their own mothers for routine child care. A life course perspective was used to explore mothers’ perceptions of their child care arrangement and the influence of the adult daughter–older mother relational context. Results focus on the benefits and weaknesses of child care provided by grandmothers and the influence of the relationship between participants and their mothers on this care arrangement. The analysis has implications for research, support programming, and public policy.

Gender, Genocide, and Ethnicity: The Legacies of Older Armenian American Mothers

Women use legacies to help family members articulate family identity, learn family history, and provide succeeding generations with information about family culture. Using feminist standpoint theory and the life-course perspective, this qualitative study examined the intergenerational transmissions that 30 older Armenian American mothers received and transmitted to succeeding generations within the sociohistorical experience of genocide. Mothers passed on legacies that included family stories, rituals/activities, and possessions. Because of multiple losses during the Armenian Genocide, they emphasized legacies that symbolized connection to family, underscored family cohesion, and accentuated ethnic identity. Tensions were evident as well because womens sense of responsibility for legacies clashed with their limited cultural knowledge, few inherited possessions, and the inevitable assimilation of their children and grandchildren into the dominant U.S. culture.

Associations Between Incarcerated Fathers’ Cumulative Childhood Risk and Contact With Their Children

Incarcerated fathers often experience early life risk factors that cumulate over time and are compounded by the negative repercussions of imprisonment. These dynamics may contribute to the intergenerational transmission of risk and help explain the persistent link between paternal incarceration and poor child outcomes. Contact between incarcerated fathers and their children can benefit them both, but there is limited research on the factors that affect father–child contact. Using data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities and a sample of fathers with at least one minor child (N = 5,809), the authors found that incarcerated fathers who experienced more childhood risk factors had less frequent contact with their children. A variety of inmate characteristics were also significant predictors of father–child contact. Parenting interventions could address incarcerated fathers’ childhood risk experiences, which likely undermine the development and maintenance of family relationships, to help them develop prosocial skills.

Physical Health, Food Security, and Economic Well-Being: The Rural Perspective

In this chapter authors discuss how health issues impact the ability to maintain employment. Poverty is associated with a wide variety of increased health risks contributing to lower economic status. Health care services are more limited in rural areas, decreasing the likelihood that families will get preventative or timely care. Rural Families Speak (RFS) findings highlight the health challenges of family members, which interfere with the ability of low-income mothers to seek, obtain, and maintain employment. The core findings of RFS research focusing on physical health and food insecurity of rural low-income families are presented.

Invisible Barriers to Employment: Mental and Behavioral Health Problems

This chapter focuses on mental health as a barrier to employment for rural low-income mothers. The authors discuss the rural/urban differences in the availability, accessibility, and acceptability of mental health care services. They present findings from the Rural Families Speak (RFS) project relative to mothers’ mental health, and in particular, depression. Mothers with depression tend to also have physical health problems, and have family members with mental and physical health problems. The authors link the literature to the Family Stress Model and confirm that family resources and perceptions of situation jointly determine an individual’s response to environment and chronic stress.

Youth as Interviewers: Methods and Findings of Participatory Peer Interviews in a Youth Garden Project.

The process of conducting peer interviews has not been widely reported on as a participatory method. Youth gardens are known to support individual and community health and well-being. Producing for the Future utilized the principles of community-based participatory research within a gardening and microenterprise program for low-income youth. In addition to several mixed-methods data collection techniques, a process was implemented in which youth participants designed, conducted, and debriefed peer interviews in order to address their own questions about program impacts. Participants in the peer interview process observed four emergent themes, which were not identified elsewhere in the data, focusing on individual outcomes and the successes and challenges of implementation within unique community settings. A methodological discussion of the process of peer interviewing within a participatory research project is presented. Researchers found that the benefits of the peer interview process included high levels of youth engagement in research, shared learning and new ideas generated by youth, and building youth capacity for critical social awareness. Researchers present lessons learned from the peer interviewing process, as well as implications for using peer interviewing in future participatory research and evaluation projects.

Understanding College-Student Roles: Perspectives of Participants in a High School/Community College Dual-Enrollment Program

ABSTRACT Dual-enrollment programs have been proposed as a useful way to ease students’ transition from high school to community college. Several studies have shown that dual enrollment produces positive effects for students, but less is known about the mechanisms these programs use to support student success. Symbolic interactionism suggests that clarity of the role of a college student may help students transition into this role with more ease. With new legislation allowing students to use Pell Grants to attend dual-enrollment programs, and other proposed policies to increase attendance at community college, research on the mechanisms that make dual enrollment successful is well-timed. This study takes a mixed method approach with an online survey (N = 101) and a series of focus groups (N = 15) to explore the experiences of dual-enrollment students from several high schools and one community college. Findings suggest that dual enrollment helped to enhance participants’ clarity of the college-student role, including who attends college, what skills are required, what college can lead to, and their own self-identification as college students. Sources of role expectations for these students included self-reflection and peer, family, teacher, and structural expectations. Students highlighted strengths and weaknesses of the dual-enrollment program in which they were enrolled. These findings have implications for practice, including the potential for dual enrollment to support low-income and first-generation college students in their transition to higher education.