Hurricane Katrina dramatically altered the level of social and environmental stressors for the residents of the New Orleans area. The Family Stress Model describes a process whereby felt financial strain undermines parents' mental health, the quality of family relationships, and child adjustment. Our study considered the extent to which the Family Stress Model explained toddler-aged adjustment among Hurricane Katrina affected and nonaffected families. Two groups of very low-income mothers and their 2-year-old children participated (pre-Katrina, n = 55; post-Katrina, n = 47). Consistent with the Family Stress Model, financial strain and neighborhood violence were associated with higher levels of mothers' depressed mood; depressed mood was linked to less parenting efficacy. Poor parenting efficacy was associated to more child internalizing and externalizing problems.By some estimates, Hurricane Katrina is the most expensive natural disaster ever to affect the United States (Bacon, 2005). The financial, psychological, and emotional toll of Hurricane Katrina on the lives of residents in the Gulf Coast is unprecedented. Although the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina did not discriminate by socioeconomic status, impoverished families may be at heightened risk for experiencing more difficulty recovering from Hurricane Katrina than their more affluent counterparts. Impoverished families have fewer financial reserves from which to draw during times of need and the increased cost demands associated with recovery may be overly taxing for low-income families. According to the Family Stress Model, felt economic pressure increases children's risk for problem behaviors indirectly by increasing parents' psychological distress and disrupting family relationships (Conger & Elder, 1994). Thus, although families residing in the New Orleans area may experience more economic strain since Hurricane Katrina, children of impoverished families may be at heightened risk for experiencing adjustment problems because of the psychological effects of severe economic strain on their parents. Alternatively, the experience of Hurricane Katrina might invalidate the Family Stress Model in that the psychological stress associated with experiencing the disaster, rather than perceived economic hardship, may influence parental depression and anxiety levels as well as levels of child problem behavior.Correspondence should be addressed to Laura V. Scaramella, Associate Professor of Psychology, Psychology, University of New Orleans, GP 2001, New Orleans, LA 70148. lscarame@uno.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article maybe used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the co...

During early childhood, harsh and emotionally negative parent-child exchanges are expected to increase children's risk for developing later conduct problems. The present study examined longitudinal associations between the quality of parenting responses and children's distress reactivity during children's second year of life. Forty-seven mother-child dyads completed observational assessments of children's distress reactivity and mothers' harsh and supportive parenting when children were 12 and 24 months of age. Results indicated that mothers' contingent harsh parenting responses to children's non-compliance when children were 12 months of age predicted increases in children's observed distress from 12 to 24 months, but children's level of distress at 12 months did not predict change in harsh parenting responses over the same time period. In contrast, supportive parenting contingent responses did not predict declines in children's distress reactivity, although children's distress reactivity predicted declines in mothers' supportive parenting responses from 12 to 24 months. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of the quality of parent-child interactions as a point of entry onto developmental pathways of risk.

Parents' supportive emotion socialization behaviors promote children's socioemotional competence in early childhood, but the nature of parents' supportiveness may change over time, as children continue to develop their emotion-related abilities and enter contexts that

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During the toddler period, children begin to shift from being primarily dependent on parents to regulate their emotions to managing their emotions independently. The present study considers how children's propensity towards negative emotional arousal interacts with mothers’ efforts to socialize emotion regulation. Fifty-five low income mothers and their 2-year-old children completed observational assessments measuring mothers’ socialization of emotion regulation, children's reactivity propensity, and children's emotion regulation. Children's propensity towards negative reactivity significantly interacted with mothers’ use of physical soothing. That is, mothers with less reactive children who used more soothing had children who were more likely to use interactive, distraction-based regulatory behaviors during a frustration situation. Theoretical and child care implications of the finding are discussed.