Parenting and Adolescent Self-Esteem in Latino Intact Families, Stepfather Families, and Single-Mother Families

Family Profiles of Cohesion and Parenting Practices and Latino Youth Adjustment

“…Building on Zeiders, Roosa, and Tein (2011), research is needed to examine the potential of family profiles as mediators of family structures and Latino youth outcomes. Fourth, despite evidence of measurement reliability for the selected measures among Latino participants in our study and other studies (Behnke et al, 2008;Plunkett et al, 2007), measures developed for White populations have shown limitations on measurement equivalence with diverse samples, including Latinos (Bingenheimer, Raudenbush, Leventhal, & Brooks-Gunn, 2005;Crockett et al, 2005). Fifth, using cross-sectional data limited the ability to discern the direction of the association between family profiles and youth adjustment.…”

“…Sample items and reliabilities follow: (a) parental monitoring – “Keeps track of who I am going to be with when I go out”, α = .78 for mothers and .81 for fathers; (b) parental punitiveness – “Yells at me when I don't do what he/she says”, α = .75 for mothers and .78 for fathers; and (c) psychological control – “Will not talk to me when I disappoint him/her”, α = .68 for mothers and .66 for fathers. Previous work using adapted versions with Latino youth obtained alphas ranging from .65 to .92 (Plunkett, Williams, Schock, & Sands, ).…”

Parental Psychological Control, Psychological Autonomy, and Acceptance as Predictors of Self-Esteem in Latino Adolescents

“…given the enormity of literature supporting the idea that accepting or supportive parenting increases self-esteem in children and adolescents from european American and/or ethnically diverse groups (e.g., Barber, 2002;gecas & Schwalbe, 1986;Khaleque & Rohner, 2002;Nielsen & Metha, 1994), it was surprising that the elimination of these factors from the model did not result in a significantly worse fit. This finding is even more puzzling when compared to findings of a significant relationship between accepting and supportive parenting and self-esteem in research that used a U.S.-based or Mexican Latino sample (i.e., Benjet & Hernandez-guzman, 2001;Plunkett et al, 2007). It should be noted that these studies did not examine psychological autonomy, suggesting that this unexpected result may be a function of this underresearched aspect of parenting, which certainly merits further exploration.…”

Fathering and Adolescent Adjustment: Variations by Family Structure and Ethnic Background

“…A study examining parenting and adolescent self-esteem in Latino intact, stepfather, and single-mother families found that the link between parental psychological control and self-esteem was strongest in stepfather families, with higher levels of psychological control being related to lower adolescent self-esteem (Plunkett et al, 2007). The current study extends prior research by examining the link between fathers’ parenting and adolescent adjustment in step and intact Mexican American and European American families.…”