No abstract

Using a cohort of 310 low-income males living in an urban community and followed prospectively from 18 months through adolescence (ages 15 to 18 years), the current study examined whether individual, family, and community risk factors from ages 18 to 42 months were associated with adolescents’ violent behavior, as indexed by juvenile petitions. Results of multivariate analyses indicated that while family income was the only factor to discriminate those with no arrest record from those with nonviolent arrests, rejecting parenting, child oppositional behavior, emotion regulation, and minority status during the toddler period contributed unique variance in distinguishing adolescent males arrested for violent behavior compared to those never arrested and those arrested for nonviolent behavior. Implications for prevention efforts are discussed.

Marital quality and social support satisfaction were tested as moderators of the association between maternal depressive symptoms and parenting during early childhood (18-36 months) among two large, divergent, longitudinal samples (n = 526; n = 570). Unexpectedly, in both samples the association between maternal depressive symptoms and reduced parenting quality was strongest in the context of high marital quality and high social support, and largely non-significant in the context of low marital quality and low social support. Possible explanations for these surprising findings are discussed. Results point to the importance of accounting for factors in the broader family context in predicting the association between depressive symptoms and maternal parenting.

This study used a large (N = 519), longitudinal sample of adoptive families to test overreactive parenting as a mediator of associations between parental depressive symptoms and early childhood externalizing, and parents' social support satisfaction as a moderator. Maternal parenting (18 months) mediated the association between maternal depressive symptoms (9 months) and child externalizing problems (27 months). Paternal parenting was not a significant mediator. Unexpectedly, we found a cross-over effect for the moderating role of social support satisfaction, such that partners' social support satisfaction reduced the strength of the association between each parent's own depressive symptoms and overreactive parenting. Results point to the importance of accounting for broader family context in predicting early childhood parenting and child outcomes.

This study examined the impact of residential instability and family structure transitions on the development of internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 through 10.5. Child's race was examined as a moderator. Caregiver reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained on 665 children at ages 5 and 10.5. Early-childhood residential and family structure transitions predicted elevated internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 10.5, but only for Caucasian children. These findings suggest that residential and family structure instability during early childhood independently contribute to children's later emotional and behavioral development, but vary as a function of the child's race. Community organizations (e.g., Women, Infant, and Children) can connect turbulent families with resources to attenuate effects of residential and family structure instability.