Rosario Ceballo

Community violence and children's psychological well-being: does parental monitoring matter?

Poor, inner-city children are exposed to inordinately high rates of community violence. Although the link between exposure to violence and adverse mental health outcomes is well documented, less attention has focused on factors that may buffer children from negative outcomes. Using a sample of 163 4th- and 5th-grade children, this study investigated whether childrens perceptions of parental monitoring moderate the relation between childrens violence exposure and their psychological well-being, as assessed by depression and hopelessness. Greater exposure to community violence was associated with more symptoms of depression and feelings of hopelessness. Moreover, parental monitoring buffered to a certain extent the relation between violence exposure and psychological functioning. Increased monitoring had a positive impact on the psychological well-being of children who were less exposed to violence; however, as violence exposure increased, the impact of parental monitoring was attenuated.

The Influence of Neighborhood Quality on Adolescents' Educational Values and School Effort.

Interview data from a sample of 262 poor African American single mothers and their 7th- and 8th-grade children were used to investigate the relations between neighborhood conditions and adolescents’educational values and school effort. The model tested incorporates both subjective and objective assessments of neighborhood quality and controls for several family- and school-related constructs. United States Census data on household incomes served as an objective measure of neighborhood quality. In the full sample, the findings revealed that the percentage of middle-class neighbors and self-perceived academic abilities were significantly linked to adolescents’educational values, which were, in turn, related to school effort. Several theories identifying the processes by which neighborhood characteristics influence adolescents’ educational values are discussed. Gender differences emerged when the model was tested separately for females and males. For African American females, but not for adolescent males, neighborhood conditions were associated with educational values.

Early Problem Behavior Among Children From Low-Income, Mother-Headed Families: A Multiple Risk Perspective

Examined proximal and contextual factors most strongly related to externalizing behavior among young children growing up in low-income, mother-headed families. Participants were 50 low-income single mothers and their preschool-age children who were visited twice in the home setting. Measures of proximal (low levels of supportive parenting, high levels of punitive disciplinary practices, low levels of maternal emotional well-being) and contextual (low maternal support, high levels of family stress) risk were assessed in relation to maternal reports of child externalizing behavior and an index of negative child behavior during a clean-up task. Child defiance during the clean-up task was highly associated with punitive maternal control in the same situation but had no other direct correlates. However, multiple risk factors representing both proximal and contextual variables were associated with variations in childrens behavior problem scores. Mothers of children with high behavior problem scores reported lower feelings of self-efficacy in handling child care and emotional stressors, more frequent use of punitive child disciplinary practices, and lower feelings of satisfaction with the quality of their supportive resources than others. Maternal self-evaluations of coping efficacy mediated the relation between perceived support and child behavior problems, suggesting that constructs of personal control are important to represent in future studies of highly stressed parents.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND WOMEN'S MENTAL HEALTH IN CHILE

Domestic violence against women is a pervasive, global health problem. This study investigates the correlates and psychological outcomes of domestic abuse among women in a semi-industrial country. The participants included 215 mothers residing in working-class communities located on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. We utilized structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that poverty and other structural inequalities would be related to incidents of domestic abuse in Chile, as they are in the United States. Our results suggest that lower socioeconomic status, even within poor communities, and stressful life events have a direct relationship to domestic conflict. Domestic abuse was, in turn, associated with womens mental health such that greater domestic conflict was related to higher reports of depressive affect and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. The importance of identifying similarities and differences in the occurrence of domestic violence in developing countries as compared to industrialized countries is discussed.

Excavating Culture: Disentangling Ethnic Differences From Contextual Influences in Parenting

Historically, much of the research on parenting has not disentangled the influences of race/ethnicity, SES, and culture on family functioning and the development of children and adolescents. This special issue addresses this gap by disentangling ethnic differences in parenting behaviors from their contextual influences, thereby deepening our understanding of parenting processes in diverse families. Six members of the Parenting Section of the Study Group on Race, Culture, and Ethnicity (SGRCE) introduce and implement a novel approach toward understanding this question. The goal of this project is to study culturally related processes and the degree to which they predict parenting. An iterative process was employed to delineate the main parenting constructs (warmth, psychological and behavioral control, monitoring, communication, and self-efficacy), cultural processes, and contextual influences, and to coordinate a data analytic plan utilizing individual datasets with diverse samples to answer the research questions.

In response to community violence: Coping strategies and involuntary stress responses among Latino adolescents

Among poor, urban adolescents, high rates of community violence are a pressing public health concern. This study relies on a contextual framework of stress and coping to investigate how coping strategies and involuntary stress responses may both mediate and moderate the relation between exposure to community violence and psychological well-being. Our sample consists of 223 ninth grade Latino adolescents from poor, urban families. In response to community violence, these adolescents reported using an array of coping strategies as well as experiencing a number of involuntary stress responses; the most frequent coping responses were turning to religion and seeking social support. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that involuntary stress responses mediated the relations between both witnessing or being victimized by violence and poorer psychological functioning, while coping strategies moderated these relations. These findings suggest that the negative psychological effects of exposure to community violence may, in part, be explained by involuntary stress responses, while religious-based coping may serve as a protective factor.

Who, what, when, and where? Toward a dimensional conceptualization of community violence exposure.

A plethora of research on the psychological consequences of community violence exposure among youth has conceptualized and measured community violence as a single, homogenous construct that indiscriminately gives rise to a wide range of outcomes. However, it is increasingly recognized that community violence exposure is comprised of many disparate characteristics. Thus, a more dimensional theoretical approach to the study of community violence exposure is proposed; such an approach will more precisely clarify how community violence exposure is differentially associated with specific outcomes. In particular, the dimensions of type, severity, physical proximity, relational proximity (familiarity with the persons involved), and chronicity of community violence exposure are suggested as potential moderating factors that may each, individually and in interaction, differentially impact youths’ well-being. In order to account for greater contextual complexity in childrens experiences of community violence, several recommendations for new methodological approaches and research directions are proposed and discussed. Such a theoretical shift is critical to advance our understanding of the processes underlying the links between community violence exposure and youth outcomes, as well as to inform more targeted and effective interventions for youth exposed to community violence.

Negotiating the Life Narrative: A Dialogue with an African American Social Worker

This article explores two methodological issues that arise when researchers involve the women they study in the construction of life narratives. These issues are examined in the context of an interview-derived, life-narrative study of an African American social worker. First, the tension between presenting a neatly unified identity in a written text and acknowledging the contradictions within any persons life story are discussed from both the researchers and participants vantage point. The second issue addresses the dilemma that arises when the researcher and the research participant disagree about the meanings and interpretations garnered from the participants life story. I contend that it is precisely at this moment that the research process has the potential to become a dialogue between theorists and that scholars can incorporate a womans own theorizing about her life in the research. In concluding, several methodological suggestions are offered as broad guidelines for researchers planning a life-narrative study.

Silent and Infertile An Intersectional Analysis of the Experiences of Socioeconomically Diverse African American Women With Infertility

To date, the preponderance of research on infertility in the United States has been conducted with affluent, White couples seeking advanced medical interventions. However, racial/ethnic minorities are equally, if not more, likely to experience infertility in the United States. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 50 African American women of different socioeconomic backgrounds, our study uses an intersectional framework to explore the experiences of African American women who cope with infertility. First, we found that experiencing infertility greatly impaired women’s sense of self and gender identity. Moreover, the imperative to be an African American mother was influenced by an interplay of gendered, racial, and religious mandates. Second, women’s relationships with friends and family members were characterized by a deep sense of silence and isolation; several explanations for this finding are proposed, including stereotypes about African American women’s sexuality. Third, interactions with medical professionals were influenced by women’s multiple social identities, with no single identity conferring an advantage in medical settings. Finally, we highlight several interventions, such as the dissemination of information featuring a greater range of African American women’s reproductive experiences, and we underscore the clinical importance of normalizing African American women’s experiences with infertility, thereby lessening women’s sense of shame and isolation.

Emotionally Numb: Desensitization to Community Violence Exposure among Urban Youth.

Community violence exposure (CVE) is associated with numerous psychosocial outcomes among youth. Although linear, cumulative effects models have typically been used to describe these relations, emerging evidence suggests the presence of curvilinear associations that may represent a pattern of emotional desensitization among youth exposed to chronic community violence. This study uses longitudinal data to investigate relations between CVE and both internalizing and externalizing symptoms among 3,480 youth ages 3 to 12 at baseline and 9 to 18 at outcome. Results support desensitization models, as evidenced by longitudinal quadratic associations between Wave 2 CVE and Wave 3 anxiety/depressive symptoms, alongside cross-sectional linear associations between Wave 3 CVE and Wave 3 aggression. Neither age nor gender moderated the associations between CVE and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record