Using interview data from a sample of 241 single African American mothers and their seventh- and eighth-grade children, this study tests a model of how 2 economic stressors, maternal unemployment and work interruption, influence adolescent socioemotional functioning. In general, these economic stressors affected adolescent socioemotional functioning indirectly, rather than directly, through their impact on mothers' psychological functioning and, in turn, parenting behavior and mother-child relations. Current unemployment, but not past work interruption, had a direct effect on depressive symptomatology in mothers. As expected, depressive symptomatology in mothers predicted more frequent maternal punishment of adolescents, and this relation was fully mediated by mothers' negative perceptions of the maternal role. More frequent maternal punishment was associated with increased cognitive distress and depressive symptoms in adolescents, and consistent with predictions, these relations were partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of the quality of relations with their mothers. Increased availability of instrumental support, as perceived by mothers, predicted fewer depressive symptoms in mothers, less punishment of adolescents, and less negativity about the maternal role. Both economic stressors were associated with higher levels of perceived financial strain in mothers, which in turn predicted adolescents' perceptions of economic hardship. Adolescents who perceived their families as experiencing more severe economic hardship reported higher anxiety, more cognitive distress, and lower self-esteem.

Using interview data from a sample of 241 single African American mothers and their seventh‐ and eighth‐grade children, this study tests a model of how 2 economic stressors, maternal unemployment and work interruption, influence adolescent socioemotional functioning. In general, these economic stressors affected adolescent socioemotional functioning indirectly, rather than directly, through their impact on mothers' psychological functioning and, in turn, parenting behavior and mother‐child relations. Current unemployment, but not past work interruption, had a direct effect on depressive symptomatology in mothers. As expected, depressive symptomatology in mothers predicted more frequent maternal punishment of adolescents, and this relation was fully mediated by mothers' negative perceptions of the maternal role. More frequent maternal punishment was associated with increased cognitive distress and depressive symptoms in adolescents, and consistent with predictions, these relations were partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of the quality of relations with their mothers. Increased availability of instrumental support, as perceived by mothers, predicted fewer depressive symptoms in mothers, less punishment of adolescents, and less negativity about the maternal role. Both economic stressors were associated with higher levels of perceived financial strain in mothers, which in turn predicted adolescents' perceptions of economic hardship. Adolescents who perceived their families as experiencing more severe economic hardship reported higher anxiety, more cognitive distress, and lower self‐esteem.

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The work on gender differences in academic life spans a wide array of colleges and universities, scholarly disciplines, and countries. Using a survey conducted in 2016 to capture “the state of the field” in Iranian Studies as US–Iran relations were in a brief thaw, this paper draws on some of these perspectives and explores gender differences in the professional experiences of Iranian Studies scholars working in the USA. Iranian Studies has grown and diversified in the USA since the 1960s. This expansion occurred despite disruptions in Iran itself and in US–Iranian relations since 1979, with many US-based Iran specialists having heritage connections to Iran. The survey, which is the first of its kind conducted among this particular academic community, covered a range of topics related to respondents’ academic and professional experiences, career outlook, and political activities. The results spotlight some notable differences—statistically significant differences in several cases—in the professional experiences of men and women in this academic field. Women respondents were more likely to be of junior rank or graduate students and were more likely than men to feel that gender identity influenced their professional milestones. Women were more likely to list the desire for social impact as a professional motivation than men. Women tended to feel less sanguine about the state of their careers, their professional environment, their career prospects, and the state of the Iranian Studies field as a whole. Some of these attitudes varied depending on their self-identification as Iranian, Iranian-American or American, while some held true across self-identification. These results mostly confirmed expectations based on similar research discussed in our literature review.

This article examines vote defection by white Democrats in the presidential elections of 1980-1988 and reconsiders the foundations of the "Reagan Democrat" phenomenon. The conventional wisdom has been that the defection of Reagan Democrats was motivated by conservative policy preferences, especially on race and redistribution. National Election Study data from 1980-1988 are used to test a multivariate model of vote choice. In 1980 and 1984, Democratic de@ctors were much more influenced by performance assessments than by policy preferences. Contrary to the prevailing storyline, Reagan Democrats were not voting to endorse a conservative policy agenda, but were more generally punishing Jimmy Carter in I980 for poor performance in office and rewarding Ronald Reagan in I984 for a job well done. Racial policy was a more potent influence on defection in 1988.During the 1980s a new term entered the vocabulary of American electoral politics-Reagan Democrats. Ronald Reagan's victories in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections were attributed in no small measure to the defection of large numbers of white, working-and middle-class Democrats. Conventional wisdom held that these Reagan Democrats felt betrayed by the "national" Democratic Party and its leftward tilt on key policy questions (Greenberg 1995). In polls and focus groups, Reagan Democrats expressed opposition to a host of redistributive and race-targeted programs such as affirmative action, welfare, and food stamps (Edsall and Edsall 1991;Greenberg 1995). They also supported increases in defense spending and a more resolute stance toward the Soviet Union (Frankovic 198 1 ;Keeter 1985). All told, Reagan Democrats were said to embrace a policy conservatism that encompassed a broad range of domestic and foreign policy questions, setting them apart from other rank-and-file Democrats and making them especially receptive to the ideas and rhetoric of Ronald Reagan.In a variety of ways, Reagan Democrats have left an imprint on contemporary electoral politics, but important parts of the Reagan Democrat story line have escaped empirical examination.