Parental Influence on Children during Educational Television Viewing in Immigrant Families

It has been suggested by researchers that educational television programmes may support the language and literacy development for children, especially those in immigrant families. In an immigrant family, many family characteristics appear to be related to educational television programme viewing of children at home, for example, parental acculturation (the process of adapting to the new culture) and parental mediation (supervision and guidance) of television viewing. In the present work, the parental influence on children during educational television viewing was studied quantitatively, based on a sample (n = 171) of immigrant families with children aged 3–6 years collected across the U.S. The results have revealed that significant differences existed between Asian and Hispanic groups in coviewing mediation and in their children's educational television viewing. Furthermore, language in parental acculturation significantly predicted instructive and restrictive parental mediation, and parental occupation significantly predicted language in parental acculturation. This study initiates the attention to the topic of educational television viewing in immigrant families, which warrants further investigations in the future as the Asian and Hispanic immigrant population increases rapidly in the U.S. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental Cooperation with Social Services and Termination of Parental Rights in Israeli Court Cases of Child Maltreatment

Parental cooperation with social services in child maltreatment cases is fundamental to all forms of family intervention. If rehabilitation efforts fail and the child cannot be safely reunified with his parents, the state is authorized to initiate termination of parental rights (TPR) proceedings. Given the scant literature on parental cooperation and TPR, the present study examined associations between parental cooperation and TPR in Israeli court cases of child maltreatment. Comparisons between uncooperative (n = 106) and cooperative parents (n = 155) revealed that uncooperative parents were more than three times more likely to have their parental rights terminated than cooperative parents, controlling for child and parent characteristics. Parents who did not cooperate with social services had high levels of mental health problems, substance abuse, criminal records, and poverty and their children had more mental health concerns and suffered more from neglect. We discuss the important implications resulting from these findings, which include: the need to view the engagement of parents in the child welfare process as a specific goal in itself and develop research-based models specifically targeting multiple-problem families at high risk of TPR; the need for professionals to build a good working alliance with parents in order to strengthen their participation; the need to take into account different background conditions and stressors related to the parents in order to facilitate greater cooperation; and the need to assess the potential mental health needs of children involved in cases of maltreatment with low parental cooperation.     

Parent–Child Roles in Decision Making About Medical Research

Our objective is to understand how parents and children perceive their roles in decision making about research participation. Forty-five children (ages 4–15 years) with or without a chronic condition and 21 parents were the participants. A semistructured interview assessed perceptions of up to 4 hypothetical research scenarios with varying levels of risk, benefit, and complexity. Children were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition, to assess verbal ability, as a proxy for the child's cognitive development. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes related to parent and child decision-making roles. Both parents and children varied in their perceptions of decision-making roles. Child perceptions of parental influence on decision making as knowledge-based increased with cognitive development, whereas perceptions of parental influence as power-based decreased. Both children and parents commented that they would collaborate with each other when making decisions. Collaborative decision making appeared to increase with cognitive development. These findings suggest that approaches to child assent and parent permission should consider the parent–child relationship and how children and families typically make decisions. Future research is necessary to explain variation in the process of research decision making across children and families, explore the role of collaboration on children's decision-making skills, and understand developmental trajectories and mechanisms related to research decision making.     

Disentangling the Relations Between Different Components of Family Socioeconomic Status and Chinese Preschoolers’ School Readiness

Family socioeconomic status (SES) has been frequently linked to children’s early development. Treating SES as an aggregated variable has many issues, as different components of SES may relate to child outcomes through divergent mechanisms. The purpose of the study was to examine whether parents’ engagement in home learning activities and children’s participation in extracurricular activities (EAs) would function as pathways through which individual SES components related to children’s school readiness. A total of 588 families with preschool‐aged children were recruited from Guangdong province in China. Children’s receptive vocabulary, Chinese reading, and early math skills were individually assessed at three time points, and children’s social skills were rated by parents. Parents reported their engagement in home learning activities with children and their children’s participation in EAs. The results showed that all three components of family SES were related to multiple aspects of children’s school readiness, but through different pathways. Parental income was related to children’s school readiness through EA participation only; parental education and occupational status were associated with school readiness via both parental engagement and child EA participation. The findings suggest that considering SES components separately will produce a more nuanced understanding of the divergent pathways through which family SES may relate to children’s school readiness. Chinese government may provide parent education programs focused on cognitive stimulation for low‐SES families to promote children’s school readiness. Furthermore, the government needs to ensure children’s equal access to EAs to prevent increasing the developmental gap among children from discrepant socioeconomic backgrounds.     

Parents’ Rights and Educational Provision

Legitimate parental interests need to be distinguished from any putative rights parents qua parents may be said to possess. Parents have no right to insulate their children from conceptions of the good at variance with those of their own. Claims to the right to faith schools, private schools, home-schooling or to withdraw a child from any aspect of the curriculum designed to enhance a child’s capacity for autonomous decision-making, are refuted.     

Children's antisocial behavior, mental health, drug use, and educational performance after parental incarceration: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Unprecedented numbers of children experience parental incarceration worldwide. Families and children of prisoners can experience multiple difficulties after parental incarceration, including traumatic separation, loneliness, stigma, confused explanations to children, unstable childcare arrangements, strained parenting, reduced income, and home, school, and neighborhood moves. Children of incarcerated parents often have multiple, stressful life events before parental incarceration. Theoretically, children with incarcerated parents may be at risk for a range of adverse behavioral outcomes. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize empirical evidence on associations between parental incarceration and children's later antisocial behavior, mental health problems, drug use, and educational performance. Results from 40 studies (including 7,374 children with incarcerated parents and 37,325 comparison children in 50 samples) were pooled in a meta-analysis. The most rigorous studies showed that parental incarceration is associated with higher risk for children's antisocial behavior, but not for mental health problems, drug use, or poor educational performance. Studies that controlled for parental criminality or children's antisocial behavior before parental incarceration had a pooled effect size of OR = 1.4 (p < .01), corresponding to about 10% increased risk for antisocial behavior among children with incarcerated parents, compared with peers. Effect sizes did not decrease with number of covariates controlled. However, the methodological quality of many studies was poor. More rigorous tests of the causal effects of parental incarceration are needed, using randomized designs and prospective longitudinal studies. Criminal justice reforms and national support systems might be needed to prevent harmful consequences of parental incarceration for children.     

父母生涯相关行为和学前教育专业大学生专业满意度的关系：生涯适应力和生涯规划的中介作用

以600名学前教育专业大学生为被试,探讨了父母生涯相关行为 (支持、干涉和缺位) 和专业满意度 (6个月后) 的关系及生涯适应力和生涯规划的中介作用。结果表明：(1) 支持对专业满意度的直接预测作用不显著,是通过正向预测生涯适应力和生涯规划及生涯适应力→生涯规划这一序列中介作用间接预测专业满意度。(2) 干涉对专业满意度的直接预测作用不显著,但通过负向预测生涯适应力及生涯适应力→生涯规划这一序列中介作用间接预测专业满意度。     

Do Mixed Unions Foster Integration? The Educational Outcomes of Mixed-Parentage Children in Italy

We investigate the nexus between intermarriage and immigrant integration by analyzing mixed-parentage children’s educational outcomes. We use Italian Labor Force Survey data to compare the upper secondary school participation of children of different types of mixed unions with that of children of two native and two migrant couples. Our results show that mixed-parentage children perform halfway between natives and immigrants, but their educational careers are highly heterogeneous. Among families with non-Western origins, mixed-parentage children improve substantially with respect to their peers with two migrant parents. But if the mother was born abroad, the children still exhibit higher dropout risks and lower general school enrolment as compared to children of natives and all other mixed-parentage children. A pivotal role in accounting for this educational disadvantage is played by the higher incidence in this specific type of union of nonstandard family dynamics and household fragilities that may give rise to less parental monitoring and lower educational performance. This finding is consistent with a prediction based on the status exchange theory, according to which such unions are more likely affected by instability and conflict.     

A Longitudinal Assessment of Teacher Perceptions of Parent Involvement in Children's Education and School Performance

This study examines the ways in which parental involvement in children's education changes over time and how it relates to children's social and academic functioning in school. Teachers provided information on parent involvement and school performance for 1,205 urban, kindergarten through third-grade children for 3 consecutive years. They rated the following four dimensions of parent involvement: frequency of parent-teacher contact, quality of the parent-teacher interactions, participation in educational activities at home, and participation in school activites. As predicted, the frequency of parent-teacher contacts, quality of parent-teacher interactions, and parent participation at school declined from Years 1 to 3. Every parent involvement variable correlated moderately with school performance and parent involvement in Years 1 and 2, and accounted for a small, but significant amount of variance in Year 3 performance after controlling for initial performance level. Participation in educational activities at home predicted the widest range of performance variables. Results suggest that enhancing parental involvement in children's schooling relates to improvements in school functioning.     

亲子间教育期望差异对小学生情感幸福感的影响:学业成绩和学业自我效能感的中介作用

以891名河北省衡水市某小学4~6年级学生为研究对象，采用问卷调查的方式，考察了亲子间教育期望差异对小学生情感幸福感的影响，以及学业成绩和学业自我效能感的多重中介作用。结果发现：（1）亲子间教育期望差异影响小学生情感幸福感，与感知到的父母教育期望和自我教育期望一致相比，当感知到的父母教育期望高于自我教育期望时，小学生的积极情感水平更低而消极情感水平更高；（2）学业成绩和学业自我效能感在“感知到的父母教育期望 > 自我教育期望”这一差异方向与积极情感间起部分中介作用，在“感知到的父母教育期望 > 自我教育期望”与消极情感间起完全中介作用。具体而言，“感知到的父母教育期望 > 自我教育期望”可直接影响积极情感，还可通过学业成绩和学业自我效能感的链式中介作用以及学业自我效能感的独立中介作用间接影响积极情感；同时，“感知到的父母教育期望 > 自我教育期望”可通过学业成绩和学业自我效能感的链式中介作用、学业自我效能感的独立中介作用以及学业成绩的独立中介作用影响消极情感。     

The ethics of return migration and education: transnational duties in migratory processes

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that most prominent normative theories on immigration neglect a critical dimension of the migratory phenomenon, a neglect that blinds them to important rights that, under some circumstances, immigrants ought to have as a matter of justice. Specifically, the paper argues that these theories fail to appreciate that the children of immigrant families, regardless of whether they were born in their parents’ country or in the host country, should benefit from educational rights addressing needs that are particular to their situation. These children may be forced to move between these two countries. This situation generates an obligation for both states (‘receiving’ and ‘sending’) to act jointly to provide educational opportunities so that these children are fully conversant with both cultures and in both languages. Put succinctly, then, we argue that since children of immigrant families lack any certainty of permanent residence in the host society owing to the threat of deportation and the precarity of their legal status, host and home societies bear the duty to offer an education that allows them to be functional in both societies.     

Children’s rights and the non-identity problem

Abstract

Can appealing to children’s rights help to solve the non-identity problem in cases of procreation? A number of philosophers have answered affirmatively, arguing that even if children cannot be harmed by being born into disadvantaged conditions, they may nevertheless be wronged if those conditions fail to meet a minimal standard of decency to which all children are putatively entitled. This paper defends the tenability of this view by outlining and responding to five prominent objections that have been raised against it in the contemporary literature: (1) the identifiability objection; (2) the non-existence objection; (3) the waiving of rights objection, (4) the lack of legitimate complaint objection; and (5) the unfairness objection.     

Parental Involvement in Primary School Education: its Relationship with Children’s Academic Performance and Psychosocial Competence through Engaging Children with School

The benefits of parental involvement in children’s education have been well established but increasing evidence suggests that overparenting may have adverse effects on children. The question of whether excessive parental involvement hinders children’s academic and psychosocial development warrants further investigations. This study examined the associations of parental educational involvement at home and in school with academic performance and psychological health of 507 Chinese Grade 3 schoolchildren in Hong Kong. Parents reported on their level of involvement in children’s schooling and their children’s psychosocial issues. Children were surveyed to determine their school engagement, and their Chinese language and mathematics attainment was assessed. We also explored the underlying mechanism by testing children’s engagement with school as a mediator of the relationships. Our results showed that home-based parental educational involvement was positively associated with children’s language competence and psychosocial wellbeing, and the associations were linked through engaging children with school. However, the benefits reached a plateau at higher level of parental involvement in children’s learning at home. School-based parental involvement had an indirect effect on children’s prosocial behavior through school engagement. These findings highlight the significance of optimal level of parental involvement in children’s education at home for children’s development.     

Adolescent autonomy and minors' legal rights: contraception and abortion

During adolescence, dependent children grow into independent and autonomous adults, and it is necessary to make difficult policy judgements about children's rights. Questions that arise include: shoudl minors have the right to work, to marry, to make legal contracts, and to obtain medical care without parental consent; or should parental consent be required by the state in order to protect minors and to preserve parental authority. This discussion focuses upon the area of family planning, a topic of special interest to policymakers because they now face many questions about minor's contraceptive and abortion rights in Congress, in state legislatures, and in the courts. comprehensive response to policy questions about family planning rights for minors would require information about adolescent development, maturity, and autonomy; about teenagers' sexual and contraceptive attitudes and behavior; about the nature of parent-child communication regarding sexual and contraceptive questions; and about politics and values. Many from the legal system want help in answering questions about minors' rights. As little research has been conducted, policymakers can obtain only limited guidance from social scientists. As the policy issue is fundamentally tied to developmental issues, the better the knowledge about the development of cognitive competence, social competence, and autonomy, the easier it will be to make the difficult legal and policy judgements about minor's rights. Regarding minors' access to contraceptives, the situation is somewhat cloudy. There is only 1 state statute that requires parental consent for access to contraceptive medical services, passed in Utah in 1981, and pertaining to services provided with public funds. Yet, common law requires parental consent for any medical treatment (with exceptions for emancipated or mature minors) and "physicians often hesitate to serve young people without first obtaining parental consent because they fear civil liability." The situation is even more cloudy in the case of abortion. The Supreme Court's present position seems to grant emancipated and mature minors access to abortion without a requirement for parental consent or notification, but states may place some requirements for parental involvement upon other minors, as long as these minors have an alternative route to abortion. A thorough search of the literature on adolescent development reveals that the policy questions loom larger than the alternatives. 2 policy alternatives are: to single out a reasonable age below which minors require either parental consent or some form of adult involvement; or treat family planning and fertility control as basic rights which cannot be abridged because of age.     

When not teaming up puts parents at risk: Coparenting and parental burnout in dual-parent heterosexual families in Switzerland

Parental burnout refers to loss of energy and pleasure in the parental role. It is predictive of psychopathological outcomes in parents and dysfunctional parenting behaviors. Support of parental duties is central to alleviation of parental burden and prevention of burnout. Coparenting is the concept related to interparental mutual support in rearing a child. However, the links between coparenting and parental burnout have yet to be assessed. We thus aimed in this study to assess which dimensions of coparenting are linked with parental burnout. A total of 306 participants from the French-speaking part of Switzerland (120 fathers, 186 mothers) completed online questionnaires about parental burnout, their coparental relationship, and sociodemographic characteristics. We performed hierarchical regressions, entering sociodemographic characteristics in a first block and coparenting dimensions in a second block. Results showed that (i) a higher number of children and having younger children are linked to higher burnout; (ii) coparenting exposure to conflict is related to higher burnout, whereas endorsement of the partner's parenting is related to lower burnout; and (iii) no interaction effect occurs between sociodemographic characteristics and coparenting variables. Coparenting thus significantly contributes to the occurrence of burnout syndrome. Working on the coparental relationship preventively in parental educational programs or at a relational systemic level in therapy may help prevent burnout. Treating one parent only may not be sufficient to alleviate burnout, as negative coparenting could counter the effect of individual therapy.     

Evaluation of a Community-Based Peer-to-Peer Support Program for Parents of At-Risk Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties

Parents of children with emotional and behavioral needs frequently experience difficulty navigating community-based services for their child, as well as experience increased stress and parental strain. Peer-to-peer support programs are an emerging approach to assist these parents, and evidence suggests that they are effective in increasing parents’ perceptions of social support, self-efficacy, and well-being. However, these programs often focus on parents of youth with diagnosed mental health disorders, despite the potential benefit for parents of youth who are at-risk for significant emotional and behavioral problems. In the current study, we used a pre-post design to evaluate a community-based, peer-to-peer support prevention program delivered via telephone to parents (N = 139) of youth with emerging behavioral and emotional difficulties. We evaluated (1) whether the intervention was delivered as designed, (2) the pre- and post-intervention gains in social support and concrete support, and (3) whether parents’ level of participation in the intervention and program adherence predicted outcomes. Results indicated that the intervention was delivered as intended and resulted in increased parental perceived social support and concrete support over time. Furthermore, higher levels of parental participation and intervention adherence were associated with increases in perceived social support. Thus, findings suggest that it may be beneficial for parents of at-risk youth with significant emotional and behavioral difficulties to engage in a peer-to-peer phone support prevention program.     

The emotional relations of children's participation rights in diverse social and spatial contexts: Advancing the field

Children's participation rights, enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), have been a popular area of research, policy and practice for decades. Despite a great deal of interest and activity, participation rights have posed a particular challenge to implement. In response, researchers have consistently called for more in-depth and nuanced analyses of the way participatory rights are actually lived and experienced by children and young people, within the complexity of interdependent relationships. However, there has been surprisingly little focus on the emotional relations of children's participation rights. The analytical links between emotions and participation rights are rarely the focus and, where emotions are discussed, they are rarely discussed as a central concern in their own right. This article provides a review of the field and identifies three ways in which making emotions a central concern can help to advance debates on children's participation rights: by helping to unsettle ‘traditional’ constructions of the child-adult binary, by increasing sensitivity to ethical and safeguarding issues, and by making visible and challenging intersectional power relations.     

The effects of perceived parental rearing style on the development of Type A pattern

The aetiological antecedents of the Type A pattern have not been studied widely. In the present study the effects of parental rearing practices on the development of Type A pattern were evaluated. Perceived parental rearing style was assessed by the EMBU and Type A pattern by the JAS. Subjects were drawn from a random sample of residents (older than 21 years) of a Dutch community. Results suggested that a significant amount of variance of Type A behaviour can be accounted for by perceived parental characteristics, especially rejection and lack of emotional warmth. It is suggested that lack of emotional warmth and negative evaluation of children by their parents may lead to an internalized maladaptive cognitive set in the children which may be a developmental antecedent for eliciting the competitiveness, achievement striving, and sense of time urgency characteristic of Type A adults.     

Gratitude and parents' rights over their children's religious upbringing

Although most parents claim their children owe them obligations of gratitude, there has been no attempt to analyze gratitude as a basis for parental rights over children's religious upbringing. Parents' provision of benefits to their children in an altruistic fashion requires that children ought normally to honor parental requests that they participate in religious rituals and attend sectarian education. However, the limits on parental altruism and the self‐defeating nature of extreme demands for requital of gratitude suggest that gratitude is not a sufficiently strong basis to justify the rights of parents to prevent their children's exposure to religious beliefs inconsistent with their own. The state acts consistently with children's obligation of gratitude when it offers an education providing children the right to exit their religious communities, but not when it seeks to promote radical religious autonomy.