This research tests the relations of parental practices to child competence and assertions that practices differ by gender of the child. Home-based interviews and structured observations of parent-child interactions were conducted with an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of families (N = 501) whose 4-year-old children were served in public prekindergarten. Study data confirmed the importance of parental practices for children's academic and social competence but did not support claims that use of any of the practices was related to the child's gender. Significant differences were found for economic status on dialogic practices and for ethnicity on control and ethnic socialization. Poor parents employed dialogic practices less than nonpoor parents' and African American parents employed dialogic practices less often and control and ethnic socialization more often than European Americans. Dialogic practices were related to competence, but parental control and ethnic socialization were not.

Home visitors in the Florida MIECHV program served as trusted confidants that helped families navigate social services. Future research should focus on the impact that home visiting has on immigrant health and whether this impact is maintained over time.

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Adolescents’ attitudes predict sexual behavior; therefore, attitudes are targeted in sexually transmitted infection (STI) and pregnancy prevention programs. However, attitudes and behaviors do not always align. Young adolescents who have had penile vaginal intercourse (PVI) and have attitudes supportive of PVI have two risk factors for future health risks while those with attitudes in conflict with PVI experience (i.e., attitudes not supportive of PVI) only have one risk factor, that is, early sexual debut. Rural sixth- to eighth-grade students in southern, central Florida who had PVI experience ( N = 162) completed surveys about their sexual history, substance use, PVI refusal skills, and PVI attitudes. Logistic regressions found that longer time since PVI, never trying other drugs, and better PVI refusal skills predicted higher odds of attitude-behavior conflict; thus, youth with attitude-behavior conflicts have fewer predictors of sexual health risk than those without attitude-behaviors conflicts. Those without attitude-behaviors conflicts likely need more focused and intensive interventions.

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