Vonnie C. McLoyd

Economic pressure in African American families: a replication and extension of the family stress model.

This study of 422 two-caregiver African American families, each with a 10-11-year-old focal child (54% girls), evaluated the applicability of the family stress model of economic hardship for understanding economic influences on child development in this population. The findings generally replicated earlier research with European American families. The results showed that economic hardship positively relates to economic pressure in families. Economic pressure was related to the emotional distress of caregivers, which in turn was associated with problems in the caregiver relationship. These problems were related to disrupted parenting practices, which predicted lower positive child adjustment and higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The results provide significant support for the family stress model of economic hardship and its generalizability to diverse populations.

Economic Well-Being and Children's Social Adjustment: The Role of Family Process in an Ethnically Diverse Low-Income Sample

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a family economic stress model that links economic well-being to child well-being in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 419 elementary school-age children was evaluated. The sample was 57% African American and 28% Hispanic, and most families were headed by single mothers. The results provided support for the position that family process is a critical mediator of the effects of economic hardship on childrens social adjustment. Lower levels of economic well-being, and the corollary elevated perceptions of economic pressure indirectly affected parenting behavior through an adverse impact on parental psychological well-being. Distressed parents reported feeling less effective and capable in disciplinary interactions with their child and were observed to be less affectionate in parent-child interactions. In turn, less than optimal parenting predicted lower teacher ratings of childrens positive social behavior and higher ratings of behavior problems. Multiple-group analyses revealed that the pathways by which economic hardship influences childrens behavior appear to operate similarly for boys and girls, and for African American and Hispanic families.

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.

The effects of extrinsic rewards of differential value on high and low intrinsic interest.

McLoYD, VONNIE C. The Effects of Extrinsic Rewards of Differential Value on High and Low Intrinsic Interest. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 1010-1019. This study examined the effects of a high-value versus low-value reward on intrinsic interest in reading a high-interest versus low-interest storybook in 54 secondand third-grade children. Both reward value and storybook interest were inferred on the basis of individual choices made by each child. Children in the high-interest group received their first-choice storybook to read, while children in the lowinterest group received their last-choice storybook. In each of these interest groups, children received either their first-choice reward for reading a portion of the storybook (high value), their last-choice reward (low value), or no reward. Results indicated that, during a 10-min free-choice period, children in the high-interest group spent significantly more time with and read more words from the respective storybook than children in the low-interest group, except those who received a high-value reward. Of children in the high-interest group, those in the no-reward condition spent significantly more time with and read more words from the storybook than children in both the highand low-value reward conditions, which did not differ significantly from each other. In contrast, of children in the low-interest group, those in the high-value reward condition spent significantly more time with and read more words from the storybook than children in both the low-value and no-reward conditions, which did not differ significantly from each other.

Exposure to Violence and Socioemotional Adjustment in Low-Income Youth: An Examination of Protective Factors

Using a sample of 391 low-income youth ages 13–17, this study investigated the potential moderating effects of school climate, participation in extracurricular activities, and positive parent–child relations on associations between exposure to violence (i.e., witnessing violence and violent victimization) and adolescent socioemotional adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems). Exposure to violence was related to both internalizing and externalizing problems. High levels of participation in extracurricular activities and positive parent–child relations appeared to function as protective factors, weakening the positive association between exposure to violence and externalizing problems. Contrary to prediction, school climate did not moderate associations between exposure to violence and socioemotional adjustment. Further, none of the hypothesized protective factors moderated the association between exposure to violence and internalizing problems.

Achievement and Behavior Among Children of Welfare Recipients, Welfare Leavers, and Low‐Income Single Mothers

This article examines the behavior and achievement of children infemale-headed families that were on welfare, that left welfare, and that were not on welfare in the3 years preceding the study. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, a nationally representative sample of children under age 13 collected in 1997. The results suggest that there are both positive and negative outcomes of welfare transitions. Based upon our results, children whose mothers are able to leave and remain off welfare score consistently better on cognitive tests of their development. The transition period, however, is a difficult one. Childrens emotional well-being may suffer during the parental transition from cash assistance to self-sufficiency.

Social class differences in sociodramatic play: A critical review☆

Studies of children’s sociodramatic play as a function of socioeconomic status report conflicting and marginal findings which militate against unqualified generalizations that economically disadvantaged children engage in less and poorer-quality sociodramatic play. Further, definitive conclusions on the basis of these studies are unwarranted because of flawed methodological procedures, confounding variables, and insufficient consideration of how verbal behavior. a critical component of sociodramatic play, is affected by situational variables. It is concluded that data from play intervention studies with low-income children and ethnographic studies of children from non-Western societies are virtually irrelevant to the issue of social class differences. The theoretical significance of social class differences in pretend play in general, and sociodramatic play in particular, even if found consistently, is unclear. In future research, priority should be given to both improved assessment of social class differences and clarification of how these differences relate to competences thought to be consequences of sociodramatic and pretend play. Preschool children’s pretend play is no longer regarded as “just play,” but serious business indeed. The seriousness with which developmental psychologists have come to regard play has fomented interest in its determinants. Variation in pretend play, particularly sociodramatic play, as a function of social class has been the focus of a number of research studies. This paper presents a critical examination of these studies and related literature to clarify the limits of our existing knowledge on this issue.

The Conduct and Publication of Research on Afro-American Children: A Content Analysis.

Quantitative procedures are used to assess differences in the qualitative nature of studies which compare Afro-American children with children from another racial or ethnic group (race comparative, n

The External Validity of Research Involving American Minorities

Comparative research involving American minorities is examined in terms of external validity. The process of insuring external validity is approached through the use of cultural, interpretive, populat

A longitudinal investigation of employment among low-income youth: Patterns, predictors, and correlates

Drawing on previous research linking patterns of adolescent employment—defined in terms of duration and intensity—to educational and occupational outcomes later in life (Staff & Mortimer, 2008), the present study (a) examined positive social behavior and academic variables as longitudinal predictors of patterns of adolescent employment during the school year in a low-income, ethnically diverse sample and (b) assessed patterns of employment as correlates of adolescents’ optimism for the future and perceived efficacy. Results revealed a predictive relationship between youths’ autonomy and steady employment 3 years later. Furthermore, steady employment during adolescence was related to greater optimism about the future and higher levels of efficacy.