Miriam R. Linver

Patterns of adolescents' participation in organized activities: are sports best when combined with other activities?

Although many adolescents participate in sports and other types of organized activities, little extant research explores how youth development outcomes may vary for youth involved in different combinations of activities. The present study uses the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a large, nationally representative sample, to compare activity patterns of adolescents ages 10-18 years (n = 1,711). A cluster analytic technique revealed 5 activity clusters: sports-focused, sports plus other activities, primarily school-based activities, primarily religious youth groups, and low activity involvement. Activity patterns were examined in conjunction with 5 categories of youth development outcomes, including competence (e.g., academic ability), confidence (e.g., self-concept of ability), connections (e.g., talking with friends), character (e.g., externalizing behavior problems), and caring (e.g., prosocial behavior). Results showed that those who participated only in sports had more positive outcomes compared with those who had little or no involvement in organized activities, but less positive outcomes compared with those who participated in sports plus other activities.

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory: The Derivation of Conceptually Designed Subscales

Objective. Our goals for this Special Issue are threefold. First, we report on the development of conceptually meaningful subscales that assess specific domains of the home environment for the 3 youngest age versions of the HOME Inventory (infants/toddlers, early childhood, and middle childhood). Second, we address the problems inherent to the items relying on caregiver (typically maternal) self-report. Third, we assess the predictive validity of the newly developed subscales. Design. To address our objectives, we drew data from 6 large, national data sets. These include the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), the National Longitudinal Study of Youth-Child Supplement (NLSY-CS), the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (NICHD-SECC), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement (PSID-CDS), the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), and the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS). Exact sample sizes vary by age version of the HOME Inventory used. Results. We assessed the predictive validity of our proposed HOME subscales by correlating them with selected cognitive and behavioral outcomes in each data set. Conclusions. Results from each article are discussed with respect to the validity of the newly derived subscales.

African-American Parents' Racial and Ethnic Socialization and Adolescent Academic Grades : Teasing Out the Role of Gender

This study examined the relationship of racial and ethnic socialization and academic achievement in a sample of 218 African American adolescents (grades 9–12; 52% girls) attending a public high school in the northeastern United States. Researchers were particularly interested in whether adolescent gender moderated the relationship between racial and ethnic socialization and academic grades. Results indicated that aspects of ethnic socialization, African American cultural values and African American heritage were linked to adolescent grades. Additionally, adolescent gender was found to moderate the association between these socialization variables and grades. The findings also suggest that socialization provided by paternal caregivers around African American cultural values and African American heritage may have differential effects for academic grades than the socialization messages provided by maternal caregivers. Information generated from this study broadens the understanding of socialization factors that can facilitate positive academic outcomes in African American youth and has practical implications for parents and educators.

What Happens during the School Day? Time Diaries from a National Sample of Elementary School Teachers.

The education literature contains many studies of what happens in schools and classrooms, but no documentation of what actually happens to children during an entire school day in a nationally-representative sample of students in the US. This study presents data collected from a nationally-representative sample of teachers of first through fifth graders (N 5 553). Teachers completed a time diary, recording exact beginning and ending times for all the target student’s school activities for a randomly selected day. We examined students’ total time in school and their activities while there. We found wide variation in the length of the school day based on the student and classroom characteristics. Students attending school for the longest day were significantly more likely to be White and have fewer special needs, and to have smaller classes with a larger percentage of White students and a smaller percentage of students of other races than students attending for less time daily. We grouped students’ activities at school into four categories that accounted for all but 9 minutes of the school day: academic, enrichment, recess, and maintenance activities. We found variations in how students spent their time based on student, family, and classroom characteristics. Teachers of African American students reported spending more time on academic subjects, and less time on enrichment and recess activities than teachers of white students. The same pattern emerged for teachers of more advantaged students, and classrooms with a larger percentage of White students. Results are discussed in terms of school reform efforts and inequality issues.

The Role of Gender in the Racial and Ethnic Socialization of African American Adolescents.

Scholars in the field of African American family studies recognize the influence of gender on socialization. However, few studies investigate how gender influences the racial and ethnic socialization of African American youth. To examine the role of gender (both caregiver and adolescent) in socialization practices, data were obtained from 218 African American adolescents attending a public high school in the northeastern United States. Participants reported on the socialization messages provided by their caregivers by completing the Adolescent Racial and Ethnic Socialization Scale (ARESS). The ARESS is a newly developed measure of racial socialization and ethnic socialization, which assesses these constructs as distinct multidimensional processes. A series of ANCOVAs revealed that male and female caregivers differ in their approaches to racial and ethnic socialization. Findings suggest that caregivers engage in more socialization with female adolescents and raise questions about how gender differences may be related to African American youth development.

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) in Middle Childhood: A Study of Three Large-Scale Data Sets

Objective. Conceptually sound subscales for the Middle-Childhood Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (MC-HOME) were created and evaluated utilizing 3 large-scale data sets including children ages 6 to 9 years: the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement (PSID-CDS), and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement (NLSY-CS). Design. Sample sizes were 459 children in the PHDCN, 152 children in the PSID-CDS, and 6,961 children in the NLSY-CS. We grouped items into subscales based on conceptual coherence and evaluated the reliability of the proposed subscales by examining individual item-to-scale correlations and Cronbachs alphas. We tested predictive validity by calculating correlations with cognitive and behavioral outcomes in each data set. Results. Results suggest 7 out of 9 conceptually based MC-HOME subscales are associated with childrens cognitive status, even after adjustment for key demographic characteristics. In contrast, mixed results were found for childrens behavioral outcomes. The Parental Warmth and Parental Lack of Hostility subscales are the most predictive of behavior problems. Conclusions. Conceptually meaningful subscales are promising to examine childrens cognitive and behavioral outcomes, although more and finer-grained analyses of the ways these conceptually meaningful HOME subscales relate to childrens later outcomes are needed to further validate the approach established here.

Parent – Adolescent Relationships and Girls’ Unhealthy Eating: Testing Reciprocal Effects

This longitudinal study tested the direction of associations between parent –adolescent relationships and adolescent girls’ unhealthy eating. Girls (N= 184) were seen at Time 1 (M age = 14.30 years), and then again 2 years later (Time 2; M age = 16.04 years). At both assessment periods, they completed measures that assessed their eating attitudes and behaviors, relationships with their parents, height, weight, and age of menarche. Whereas unhealthy family relationships have been hypothesized as a precursor to unhealthy eating attitudes and behaviors, it is also possible that increases in these behaviors contribute to more negative relationships within the family. Structural equation modeling was employed to simultaneously investigate the longitudinal influence of parent – adolescent relationships on girls’ unhealthy eating, and girls’ unhealthy eating on parent – adolescent relationships. The model was tested with the following controls: body mass (kg/m2), pubertal timing and age. A longitudinal direct effect was found for unhealthy eating on parent– adolescent relationships; however, no direct effect was found for parent– adolescent relationships on unhealthy eating over time. For middle– and late–adolescent girls, it appears that unhealthy eating behaviors and attitudes are predictive of less positive parent – adolescent relationships over time.

Measuring Infants' Home Environment: The IT-HOME for Infants Between Birth and 12 Months in Four National Data Sets

Objective. This article examines new conceptually derived subscales for the Infant-Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (IT-HOME) Inventory. Design. Data from 4 diverse national longitudinal data sets were used to assess several newly created subscales: the Infant Health and Development Program (N = 872), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N = 1,279), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 2,374), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (N = 258). Validity and reliability of the newly created subscales were assessed. Results. In total, 7 new subscales emerged. Analyses demonstrate overall consistency in validity and reliability of these subscales. Conclusions. Although both observational and self-report items were included in analyses, observational items were in the majority. Researchers are encouraged to include observational items in future implementations of the IT-HOME. If designers of large-scale surveys find the cost of training observers to administer the IT-HOME prohibitive, they should consider selecting subscales rather than the entire Inventory.

Conflict or Divorce? Does Parental Conflict and/or Divorce Increase the Likelihood of Adult Children's Cohabiting and Marital Dissolution?

The short- and long-term effects of family structure on child well-being remains a hotly contested area among both researchers and policymakers. Although previous research documents that children of divorce are more prone to divorce themselves, much of this research has been plagued by multiple data and analytic problems. A second problematic issue relates to whether it is the divorce per se that leads to increased divorce or rather the conflict that may precede the divorce. In this article we examine whether children who experience parental conflict and/or divorce are more likely to experience a cohabiting breakup or divorce as adults compared with children from low conflict and/or intact families. Our examination improves on past research by using a three-wave longitudinal data set and by controlling for predivorce family characteristics, including the conflict between parents before divorce. We extend previous research on the effect of parental conflict and divorce on adult childrens likelihood of divorce by also examining the likelihood of a cohabiting dissolution.

Mixed Methods in Youth Purpose: An Examination of Adolescent Self-Regulation and Purpose

Utilizing a relational developmental systems approach to examining character strengths, this article examines the connection between adolescents’ intentional self-regulation (ISR) with youth sense of purpose, using data from a large-scale evaluation of a youth development program in Scotland. Data were triangulated from multiple sources, including youth surveys and interviews as well as teacher assessments. Surveys were collected from 783 S2 (approximately seventh grade) pupils; teacher survey data were collected for 732 of these pupils. Telephone interviews were conducted with a subset of 29 adolescents. The data were analyzed with an innovative mixed-methods technique that allows qualitative interview data to underscore consistencies and disconnects with quantitative findings from both teacher and adolescent surveys. Results demonstrate a strong connection between ISR and purpose and many consistencies across measures of purpose.