Assessing low-income African-American pre-schoolers' behaviour problems in relationship to community violence, inter-partner conflict, parenting, informal social support and social skills

Abstract

This study examined the relations among community violence exposure, inter‐partner conflict and informal social support and the behaviour problems of pre‐schoolers, and explored how mothers' parenting skills and children's social skills may mediate the child outcomes associated with such exposure. Participants were 185 African‐American mothers and female caregivers of Head Start children who completed study measures in a structured interview. Path analyses revealed that greater inter‐partner conflict was associated with more internalizing and externalizing child behaviour problems. Positive parenting was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviours. Higher levels of child social skills were associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Child social skills fully mediated the relationship between community violence and externalizing behaviours as well as between informal support and externalizing behaviours. Social skills partially mediated the relationships between positive parenting and externalizing behaviours. No mediating effect was found on the relationships between inter‐partner conflict and child behaviour problems. Implications of the findings for intervention and future research are discussed.

Prenatal cocaine exposure: The role of cumulative environmental risk and maternal harshness in the development of child internalizing behavior problems in kindergarten

“…Child exposure to violence is subsequently associated with higher risk for internalizing behavior problems across multiple studies (Huang, Wang, & Warrener, 2010; Oravecz, Osteen, Sharpe, & Randolph, 2011). Similarly, higher maternal psychological distress is a robust prospective predictor of children’s internalizing behavior problems (Connell & Goodman, 2002).…”

Interdependencia Funcional de la Crianza Positiva Materna

“…El nivel explicativo de la varianza del modelo con respecto de la crianza positiva fue del 27 %, por lo cual casi una tercera parte de la crianza positiva es explicada por las variables utilizadas en la presente investigación, sin embargo, los coeficientes estructurales fueron de bajos a moderados, siendo el valor más alto un valor de 0.26 entre las variables bienestar psicológico y la crianza positiva, por lo cual es necesario considerar estos puntajes en la interpretación del modelo en su conjunto. Tanto las variables cohesión social del vecindario, como el apoyo social familiar fueron variables exógenas que presentaron relación con la crianza positiva, como se ha demostrado en otras investigaciones (Byrnes & Miller, 2012;Oravecz et al, 2011). Otros estudios apoyan las relaciones encontradas entre el apoyo social familiar, la cohesión social del vecindario y la crianza positiva a través de las variables salud positiva, autorregulación, autoestima, y bienestar psicológico (Diez-Roux & Mair, 2010;Grusec, 2011;Kim et al, 2012;Tahmassian et al, 2011).…”

“…El apoyo social, por su parte, tiene relación con el bienestar psicológico (Thoits, 2011); definido este último como una ponderación personal con respecto a la auto-aceptación, las relaciones positivas, la autonomía, el dominio del entorno, el propósito en la vida, el crecimiento personal, los recursos internos y la vitalidad (Rodríguez-Carvajal, Méndez, Moreno-Jiménez, Blanco & Van Dierendonck, 2010), el cual establece las bases para la crianza positiva (Oravecz, Osteen, Sharpe & Randolph, 2011). Por lo tanto, los recursos de apoyo social recibidos de los familiares, probabilizan por medio de las trayectorias señaladas, los estilos de crianza positivos que indican las investigaciones (Geens & Vandenbroeck, 2012).…”

The Effect of Social Problem Solving Skills in the Relationship between Traumatic Stress and Moral Disengagement among Inner-City African American High School Students

“…Improving participation is critical to gaining a better understanding regarding the manner in which certain experiences, such as trauma, might affect the social-cognitive functioning of minority youth living in inner-city areas. Future studies could also delineate possible ways in which familial and peer networks serve as a risk or protective function in the likelihood of traumatized youth morally disengaging (Oravecz, Osteen, Sharpe, & Randolph, 2011; Rankin & Quane, 2002). …”