The purpose of this study was to explore sojourning Japanese mothers’ perceived family resilience. The study used Walsh's Framework of Family Resilience in relation to children's behavioral adjustment, perceived stress, and marital satisfaction. Using a quantitative approach, the findings based on responses from 70 mothers revealed the importance of having a strong “belief system” as an adaptive strategy in response to family relocation. The results also indicated that perceived stress, marital satisfaction, and family resilience were significant factors of children's adjustment to the relocation. Implications and recommendations for educators and employers were discussed.

Three related hypotheses derived from attachment theory were examined in this multi-informant and multi-method study of 71 postdivorce mothers and their preschool children (40 boys, 31 girls): (1) mother-child interactions observed at home will be related to attachment-related representations by children (Attachment Story Completion Task or ASCT) and mothers (Parent Attachment Interview or PAI); and (2) these variables will be inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms and positively with social support (from mother's parents and the child's father); and (3) mother-child observations and representations will predict teacher-rated peer behavior. Where appropriate, child gender, maternal income, and child receptive language were statistically controlled. More harmonious observed mother-child interactions were associated with children's sense of self-worth in family relationships (ASCT) and maternal accounts of sensitive-effective guidance (PAI). Observational and representational variables were inversely correlated with maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers' satisfaction with social support from their parents was indirectly linked to the family variables while social support from the child's father had no measurable effect on the mother-child variables. Mother-child variables and teacher ratings were uncorrelated but explained independent variance in ASCT self-worth scores.

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This multi-method multi-informant study assessed 105 Puerto Rican kindergartners' sense of self-worth in family relationships as coded from their responses to the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). The ASCT scores were compared with responses to two other age-appropriate self-evaluation measures (the Cassidy Puppet Interview and the Pictorial Scales of Social Acceptance). Correlations of children's scores on the three self-measures with maternal ratings of the mother-child relationship and teacher ratings of the child's prosocial behavior with peers were then compared. ASCT self-worth and Puppet Interview scores were strongly correlated with each other and both were modestly related to the pictorial social acceptance scales. All three measures were significantly associated with maternal and teacher reports of child behavior, but the strongest correlations were obtained with the ASCT. Coding the ASCT in terms of self-worth appears to be a promising approach for evaluating young children's (vicariously expressed) self-worth in family relationships.

Few studies have examined the dietary intake of low-income pregnant women participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The aim of this study was to assess the dietary quality of WIC-enrolled pregnant women and examine associations with maternal characteristics, nutrition knowledge, and key health indicators. Fifty-one WIC-enrolled pregnant women completed two sets of 3-day food records. Food records were analyzed for nutrient content, and diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015. Since an HEI score of less than 60 is indicative of the need to improve dietary quality, participants’ HEI scores were divided into two categories: <60 and ≥60. The total mean HEI score of the cohort based on analysis of the first set of food records was 59.1 ± 12.5 (range 37.1–89.2), while the mean score for the second 3 days of food records was 56.8 ± 12.7 (range 30.0–89.0). The majority of participants did not consume the minimum recommended servings of whole vegetables. Those in the <60 HEI category consumed on average less than 50% of the recommended servings of whole fruits and whole grains. The diets of the majority of participants were high in saturated fat and sodium. More than one-third did not meet the recommendations for folate and iron intake, while less than half met the RDA for vitamin D. Choline intake was insufficient based on analysis of the first 3 days of food records. Our results indicate that the dietary quality of WIC-enrolled pregnant women requires improvement.