Rebekah Levine Coley

Child Care and the Development of Behavior Problems Among Economically Disadvantaged Children in Middle Childhood

Research examining the longer term influences of child care on childrens development has expanded in recent years, but few studies have considered low-income childrens experiences in community care arrangements. Using data from the Three-City Study (N=349), the present investigation examines the influences of child care quality, extent and type on low-income childrens development of behavior problems during middle childhood (7-11 years old). Higher levels of child care quality were linked to moderate reductions in externalizing behavior problems. High-quality child care was especially protective against the development of behavior problems for boys and African American children. Child care type and the extent of care that children experienced were generally unrelated to behavior problems in middle childhood.

Trajectories of Parenting Processes and Adolescent Substance Use: Reciprocal Effects

Drawing on transactional theories of child development, we assessed bidirectional links between trajectories of adolescent substance use and parenting processes from early through mid adolescence. Hierarchical generalized models estimated trajectories for 3,317 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, exploring both between- and within-individual effects. Between individuals, adolescents reporting more regular family activities and greater father and mother knowledge of friends and teachers experienced lower levels of substance use through mid adolescence. Similarly, adolescents with more frequent substance use reported lower family activities, father knowledge, and mother knowledge, though these differences dissipated over time. More conservative within-individual differences indicated a prospective protective effect of family activities, with increases in adolescent participation in family activities predicting later declines in substance use. Results support the central importance of engagement in regular family activities, and suggest the need for further exploration of transactional processes between parents and children in the development of risk behaviors.

A Longitudinal Study of Paternal Mental Health During Transition to Fatherhood as Young Adults

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Rates of paternal depression range from 5% to 10% with a growing body of literature describing the harm to fathers, children, and families. Changes in depression symptoms over the life course, and the role of social factors, are not well known. This study examines associations with changes in depression symptoms during the transition to fatherhood for young fathers and whether this association differed by key social factors. METHODS: We combined all 4 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to support a 23-year longitudinal analysis of 10 623 men and then created a “fatherhood-year” data set, regressing age-adjusted standardized depressive symptoms scores on fatherhood status (nonresidence/residence), fatherhood-years, and covariates to determine associations between Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores and fatherhood life course intervals. RESULTS: Depressive symptom scores reported at the entry into fatherhood are higher for nonresident fathers than nonfathers, which in turn are higher than those of resident fathers. Resident fathers have a significant decrease in scores during late adolescence (β = –0.035, P = .023), but a significant increase in scores during early fatherhood (β = 0.023, P = .041). From entrance into fatherhood to the end of early fatherhood (+5 years), the depressive symptoms score for resident fathers increases on average by 68%. CONCLUSIONS: In our longitudinal, population-based study, resident fathers show increasing depressive symptom scores during childrens key attachment years of 0–5. Identifying at-risk fathers based on social factors and designing effective interventions may ultimately improve health outcomes for the entire family.

Maternal, family, and work correlates of role strain in low-income mothers

Welfare reform brought large numbers of low-income mothers into the labor force, yet little research has examined how low-income mothers manage the multiple demands of parenthood and employment. Using Hobfolls conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001) to guide hypotheses, the authors examined correlates of role strain in a racially diverse sample of low-income mothers (N = 276) combining work/school with family responsibilities. Results from regression analyses indicate that characteristics that deplete resources, particularly family factors (e.g., more young children, having a child with a disability) and work characteristics (e.g., long work hours, work transitions), related to higher maternal role strain, whereas greater work flexibility predicted lower role strain. Findings suggest that interventions directed toward increasing womens resources may help reduce role strain.

Measuring Father Involvement Within Low-Income Families: Who is a Reliable and Valid Reporter?

SYNOPSIS Objective. This study assesses and compares the internal reliability and predictive validity of fathers’ versus mothers’ reports of father involvement. Design. Two hundred and twenty-seven fathers and mothers reported separately on 6 identical items regarding father involvement with a designated focal child. Mothers reported on their own parenting and child demographic characteristics. Direct assessments assessed child cognitive skills. Results. Reliable composites of father involvement were similar across father versus mother reports and across resident versus nonresident and African American versus Latin American fathers. Father reports and a combined reporter composite predicted childrens reading and math skills; mother reports showed significant relations to only to childrens math skills. Conclusions. Simple surveys that include either father or mother reports of father involvement can be used to create reliable father involvement measures. Father reports of father involvement showed more consistent predictive validity than mother reports of father involvement. Further measurement development and assessment are needed for more comprehensive measures of fathers’ involvement and contributions to childrens well-being.

Parental Endorsement of Spanking and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in African American and Hispanic Families

This study assessed prospective, bidirectional associations between maternal endorsement of spanking and childrens internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in low-income urban African American and Hispanic (N = 592) families drawn from the Three City Study. Children in sample families were followed from early childhood through middle childhood with 3 sets of interviews and assessments at ages 3, 4, and 9 years. Cross-lagged path analyses tested longitudinal bidirectional associations between parental endorsement of spanking and childrens internalizing and externalizing problems, with multigroup comparisons employed to test group differences between race/ethnic groups. African American and Hispanic mothers showed similar endorsements of spanking. Results suggest that associations between spanking endorsement and child functioning were due primarily to parenting effects, with spanking predicting changes in childrens behaviors, rather than child evocative effects, with limited evidence of child behaviors predicting changes in parental spanking. Maternal spanking endorsement predicted short-term decreases in childrens internalizing problems in early childhood, but over the longer term spanking was associated with increased internalizing and externalizing problems for both African American and Hispanic children in middle childhood among economically disadvantaged families.

Welfare History, Sanctions, and Developmental Outcomes among Low‐Income Children and Youth

Using a representative sample of low‐income, urban preschoolers (n = 755) and adolescents (n = 1,130), this article addresses links among family welfare receipt, family processes, and child outcomes. For adolescents, family welfare receipt is related to decreased cognitive achievement and heightened behavioral and emotional problems. For preschoolers, both current and past welfare receipt are associated with problematic functioning. Families who received welfare sanctions have children with particularly problematic developmental outcomes. Mothers’ human capital, health, and parenting practices attenuate many of these links. Policy implications regarding potential impacts of welfare reform on children’s developmental trajectories are discussed.

Timing, extent, and type of child care and children's behavioral functioning in kindergarten.

Prior research has unearthed a link between early education and care (EEC) experiences and worse behavioral functioning for children, yet the research has not clearly delineated whether this link is due to early entry into care (timing), extensive hours of care (extent), or use of center-based care (type). Using a nationally representative sample of children followed from infancy through kindergarten (N ≈ 6,000), we assessed links between EEC timing, extent, and type, and childrens kindergarten functioning. Both center-based and full-time preschool predicted heightened behavior problems and more limited learning behaviors in kindergarten, with care type and extent functioning additively. EEC during infancy and toddlerhood showed limited independent links with childrens later functioning, but it exacerbated negative associations between preschool and childrens kindergarten behaviors.

Does Maternal Employment Following Childbirth Support or Inhibit Low-Income Children’s Long-Term Development?

This study assessed whether previous findings linking early maternal employment to lower cognitive and behavioral skills among middle-class and White children generalized to other groups. Using a representative sample of urban, low-income, predominantly African American and Hispanic families (n = 444), ordinary least squares regression and propensity score matching models assessed links between maternal employment in the 2 years after childbearing and childrens functioning at age 7. Children whose mothers were employed early, particularly in their first 8 months, showed enhanced socioemotional functioning compared to peers whose mothers remained nonemployed. Protective associations emerged for both part-time and full-time employment, and were driven by African American children, with neutral effects for Hispanics. Informal home-based child care also heightened positive links.

Does Early Paternal Parenting Promote Low-Income Children’s Long-Term Cognitive Skills?:

Although scholars and policy makers herald the promotive influence of fathers’ parenting involvement, limited research has carefully delineated effects of fathers’ parenting on low-income children’s development and whether early contributions from fathers confer long-term protective effects. Using data from the Three-City Study (N = 261), analyses assessed whether fathers’ parenting practices during early childhood showed long-term links with low-income children’s cognitive skills through middle childhood. Results found that fathers’ warm and stimulating parenting predicted enhanced reading and math skills for children in middle childhood, whereas fathers’ restrictive discipline predicted lower reading and math skills. These links were independent of mothers’ parenting and emerged controlling for a range of child and family characteristics. Associations between fathers’ parenting and children’s cognitive skills were similar across both resident and nonresident fathers and across African American and Hispanic families.