Mary Stock

Noninfected children of HIV-infected mothers: A 4-year longitudinal study of child psychosocial adjustment and parenting*

The purposes of this study were to compare, across 4 years, the psychosocial adjustment of noninfected children (ages 6 to 11 at first assessment) whose mothers are and are not HIV-infected, examine differential changes of the two groups of children across the 4 years, and examine the role of parenting on the childs adjustment. Children of HIV-infected mothers reported more depressive symptoms across the four assessments than children whose mothers were not infected. Evidence for differential change of child psychosocial adjustment across assessments for the two groups did not emerge. Parenting variables, particularly the mother-child relationship, were related to child adjustment in both groups. Many of the findings suggest that mothers and children often provide unique perspectives. Prevention and intervention implications are considered.

The role of community risks and resources in the psychosocial adjustment of at-risk children: An examination across two community contexts and two informants

Relative to the attention given to the family, the larger environmental context in which children live has received little attention. This study examined 277 African American children from single-parent families living in two community contexts: rural and urban. Resources and risks within each community were compared across communities. Furthermore, the relations of community, community environment (a resource-risk index), and the interaction of these two variables to child psychosocial adjustment were examined. Finally, the role of informant (mother or child) was examined. The results indicated that the mothers and children from the urban community reported more risks than those from the rural community. The community environment, but not community (rural vs. urban), related consistently to child psychosocial adjustment but only when the same informant (mother or child) reported both the resource-risk index and child psychosocial adjustment. Community did not qualify this relationship. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are considered.

Orphans of the AIDS epidemic in the United States: Transition-related characteristics and psychosocial adjustment at 6 months after mother's death

This study has two purposes: (1) to describe the characteristics related to the transition to orphanhood for children whose mothers die from AIDS and (2) to examine the psychosocial adjustment of these children at six months following maternal death. Twenty orphans and a control sample of 40 children from the same neighbourhoods, as well as their mothers or care-givers, served as participants. Two assessments occurred: (1) prior to the death of the mother in the orphan group and (2) six months after her death. The results indicated that relatives, particularly maternal grandparents, became the new care-giver of the orphans, no more than one residential move had occurred following the mothers death, and the new care-givers were providing a stable home environment. Child psychosocial adjustment did not change following maternal death.

Mother Knows Best? Mother and Child Report of Behavioral Difficulties of Children of HIV-Infected Mothers

Children of HIV-infected mothers have more psychosocial adjustment difficulties than do those of noninfected mothers. In this study, child psychosocial adjustment in children of HIV-infected women is examined across the three stages of HIV-infected: asymptomatic, symptomatic and AIDS. Participants were 99 HIV-infected women and 148 noninfected women. Children were not identified as being HIV infected. Mother and child reports of behavioral difficulties are compared, and competing hypotheses about mother report of child behavior difficulties are tested. Results indicate an ascending linear trend for child report of internalizing and externalizing difficulties from the noninfected stage through increasingly severe stages of HIV-infection. According to mother report, child externalizing and internalizing difficulties are nonlinear, as mothers report an increase through the infected symptomatic stage, then a decrease in the AIDS stage. Implications for assessment, prevention and intervention in families with maternal HIV infection are discussed.

The Relationship of Maternal HIV Status and Home Variables to Academic Performance of African American Children

The incidence of HIV/AIDS continues to rise among impoverished, urban, African American women, yet the children of these women have been overlooked in the literature. The primary aim of this study was to determine the relationship of maternal HIV status to child academic performance. In addition, we examined whether family variables (e.g., maternal education, parenting) related to academic performance similarly or differently in families in which mothers were and were not infected. Finally, the roles of stage of maternal HIV infection and school attendance in the relation between maternal HIV status and child academic performance were examined. Participants included two groups: 85 African American, HIV-infected women and their noninfected children, and 148 noninfected African American women and their children. Maternal HIV status predicted childrens grades, and the relation between family variables and child academic performance was similar in the infected and noninfected samples. School attendance appeared to be a mechanism that may explain the relationship between maternal HIV status and child academic performance.

Father-child contact in inner-city African American families with maternal HIV infection

This study examines father-child contact in inner-city African American families with maternal HIV infection. Participants were 246 African American women, 40% of whom are infected with HIV, and one of their non-infected children. Children from non-infected families were more likely to have fathers who are alive and who are living in the home. In addition, regardless of whether or not the father lived in the home, these children had more frequent father contact than children from families with maternal HIV infection. Explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.