Childrearing of firstborns by adolescent and older mothers

Adolescent and older mothers of firstborn infants were observed and interviewed to learn about their childrearing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Adolescent mothers knew as much about developmental milestones and had equally positive attitudes about childrearing as older mothers. No significant differences existed between groups during observed sessions of direct childcare interactions. However, adolescent mothers scored significantly lower than older mothers on a measure of overall stimulation provided for the infant. Also, adolescents relied more on relatives and their mothers for help and information about childcare, while older mothers turned more often to friends. Implications of these results for providers of service to adolescent mothers are discussed.     

Long-term support and personal adjustment of adolescent and older mothers.

Adolescent and older mothers reported the size and quality of social networks and perceptions of family support at 1, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Maternal behavior, general life satisfaction, and parental satisfaction were assessed at 12 months. No significant differences were found in the size of social networks and quality of interactions within those networks, though older mothers had significantly higher scores on perceived family support than did adolescent mothers. Perceived family support and quality of interactions within the social network generally were associated positively with maternal behavior, life satisfaction, and parental satisfaction. This was true in more cases for the adolescent than for older mothers.     

Parenting style and adolescent smoking cognitions and behaviour

Parenting style and smoking-related cognitions have both successfully predicted adolescent smoking behaviour. Data were collected among 482 Dutch adolescents to examine whether effects of parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, rejecting, neglecting, measured by underlying dimensions support, strict control, and psychological control) on adolescent lifetime smoking were mediated by cognitions (pro-smoking attitude, social norm, self-efficacy, intention) and to study the role of gender in this process. Support was not significantly associated with smoking behaviour. The inverse relation between strict control and smoking was partly mediated by attitude and intention, both associated with increased smoking. Psychological control related directly to increased lifetime smoking. Combinations of dimensions creating the specific styles were not associated with cognitions or behaviour. Maternal and paternal parenting were equally associated with smoking cognitions and behaviour; nor were effects moderated by adolescent gender. Interventions to prevent adolescent smoking initiation should aim at increasing strict control and reducing psychological control.     

Parenting among Hispanic and Anglo-American mothers with young children

The authors examined parenting practices and developmental expectations among 38 Hispanic and 38 Anglo-American mothers living in the United States. Mothers of children 3 to 5 years of age completed the Parent Behavior Checklist (R. A. Fox, 1994), a 100-item measure of parents' developmental expectations, discipline, and nurturing practices. In addition, the authors appraised the Hispanic mothers' acculturation and selected them for participation if their scores on an acculturation scale indicated (a) that their lifestyle was predominantly Hispanic and (b) that they had not been assimilated into the dominant culture. The 2 ethnic groups were also divided by socioeconomic status (SES). There were significant main effects for ethnicity and SES on the discipline and nurturing scores but not on the expectations scores. The Hispanic and higher SES mothers reported higher discipline and lower nurturing scores than did the Anglo-American and lower SES mothers. An unexpected finding was the tendency for higher SES Hispanic mothers to report more frequent use of discipline than the other 3 groups.     

Parenting and adolescent well-being in two European countries

The main and interactive effects of parental behavioral control and parental support on adolescent adjustment were examined with students ages 15-19 in Italy (N = 391, 59.1% male) and The Netherlands (N = 373, 45.3% male). In general, parental support was associated with better adjustment and parental control was associated with worse adjustment. However, parental control as well as age and sex moderated the effects of parental support on psychological discomfort and expectations of future success. Positive self-perceptions were less well predicted. Further, there were more moderated effects in the Dutch sample than in the Italian sample. Generalizability of the contributions of parenting behavior to adolescent adjustment outside of a North American context is discussed.     

Differences in child rearing attitudes between immigrant Chinese mothers and Anglo-American mothers

In order to explore cultural differences in child rearing attitudes, we studied 30 Anglo-American mothers and 30 immigrant Chinese mothers in the US, together with their preschool children and the children's teachers. Mothers completed a measure of child rearing attitudes, children were assessed for perceived competence, and teachers rated children's competence. Results showed that immigrant Chinese mothers were more authoritarian overall, as expected from previous research, but that they also were more likely to encourage independence and demand maturity from their children. Chinese-American children scored higher than Anglo-American children on cognitive competence, and their cognitive competence was related to authoritarian child rearing. The results are discussed in the context of Confucian and American cultural values. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting in relation to child and adolescent vocational development

Processes of child and adolescent vocational development include acquisition of knowledge, beliefs, and values about work options and requirements, exploration of interests that will be relevant for occupational interest development, development of academic aspirations, self-efficacy, expectations, and attainment. These elements serve to provide preparation for entry into a range of occupations and provide for the establishment of vocational aspirations, occupational self-efficacy, expectations, planning, and attainment. Parenting occurs within a family context influenced by a myriad of factors, including availability of financial capital, human capital, social capital, child agency, work-family interfacing, family roles, family structure, and the historical conditions affecting parents. These family contextual factors promote our understanding of differences in parenting in relation to child and adolescent vocational development. Far more complex than specific steps to entering the labor market per se, child and adolescent vocational development includes the interfacing of parenting and developmental processes.     

Parenting in mothers with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The authors examined the impact of maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on parenting behaviors. Sixty mothers between the ages of 31 and 50 with (n = 30) and without (n = 30) ADHD and their 8- to 14-year-old children with ADHD completed self-report and laboratory measures of monitoring of child behavior, consistency in parenting, and parenting problem-solving abilities. These parenting behaviors were selected because of their established links to the development of child behavior problems. As predicted, mothers with ADHD were found to be poorer at monitoring child behavior and less consistent disciplinarians compared with mothers without ADHD. There was some evidence to support the prediction that mothers with ADHD were less effective at problem solving about childrearing issues than control mothers. The differences between the 2 groups of mothers persisted after child oppositional and conduct-disordered behavior were controlled. These results indicate that parenting is an area of functioning that requires more attention in adult ADHD research.     

Nonpsychotic postpartum depression among adolescent mothers

This study examined the extent to which childbearing increases vulnerability to clinical depression and depressive symptomatology among primiparous adolescent girls (ages 14 to 18). Childbearing Ss (n = 128) were assessed during pregnancy, 6 weeks postpartum, and 1 year postpartum. Matched nonchildbearing Ss (n = 114) were assessed at corresponding time points. Six weeks postpartum, 6% of the childbearing adolescents met Research Diagnostic Criteria for major depression and 20% for minor depression. These rates were not significantly different from those found for nonchildbearing Ss (4% major depression, 10% minor depression). However, higher rates of somatic symptoms of depression were found among the childbearing Ss than among the nonchildbearing Ss.     

Enhancing intuitive skills among adolescent mothers

Studies indicate that adolescent mothers differ from adult mothers in their ability to interact with the infant in an adaptive fashion. In particular, teenage mothers appear to possess immature representational capacities which prevent them from predicting imminent infant achievement. As a result, they behave in a manner that undermines the emergence of new developmental skills in the infant. For example, the visual and vocal cues of adolescent mothers tend to be either subdued or absent, while holding behavior often fails to convey a sense of security. Physically punitive actions are also more common among these younger caregivers than among adult mothers. The application of a new developmental strategy referred to as previewing may, however, reverse these trends by fostering representational and interpersonal skills in adolescent mothers.     

Changing adolescent attitudes toward stuttering

Purpose

Live oral or recorded video presentations on stuttering were delivered to high school students in order to determine the extent to which their attitudes toward stuttering could be improved.

Methods

A classroom teacher administered the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) to two health classes before and after an oral live presentation by a person who stutters. She also gave the POSHA-S to two other similar classes before and after a True Life^®: I Stutter video presentation. The stuttering person in the oral condition was one of three people featured in the video. Also, following the video condition, students filled out the POSHA-S a third time after a short oral presentation by the same person who stutters.

Results

Measured attitudes improved overall on the POSHA-S and on selected items.

Conclusions

High school students hold similar attitudes toward stuttering and stutterers as adults, and these attitudes can be improved, at least temporarily, by a presentation on stuttering but more via a live presentation than a professionally prepared video.Educational objectives: (1) The reader will identify different ways to improve attitudes toward stuttering in high school students. (2) The reader will list advantages and disadvantages of live oral presentations and recorded video presentations as strategies to change attitudes toward stuttering. (3) The reader will identify characteristics of a speaker that can assist in attitude changes of high school students.     

The epidemiology of adolescent sex-role attitudes

This study examines the epidemiology of sex-role attitudes among a national probability sample of 1,626 American adolescents. The results of this study generally corroborate earlier findings with more limited samples: More traditional sex-role attitudes are reported by male, lower-class, and minority respondents. The magnitude of the sex difference overshadows the remaining differences. In addition, the impact of sex-role attitudes on conventional and delinquent behaviors and values was assessed. Sex-role groups differ in their involvement in the conventional settings of family, school, religion, and work, as well as in minor forms of delinquency and in their values concerning conventional and delinquent behaviors. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to our general understanding of adolescent sex-role attitudes.This study was supported by Center for the Studies of Crime and Delinquency, NIMH (Grant # MH 27552) and the Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape, NIMH (Grant # MH 31751).     

Infant feeding and maternal attitudes among mothers of low-income

Demographic variables, maternal attitudes, knowledge, practices, and support systems were examined in a sample of 50 women attending a public health clinic for well baby visits. Black women were nonsystematically selected an approached as they were waiting for their babies. Because the number of white women attending the clinic was small, an effort was made to include all of them. Data were obtained through individual interviews conducted by a trained interviewer. A questionnaire was constructed to obtain demographic information, information regarding prenatal awareness, delivery, mother infant interaction in the hospital, nutrition and infant care during the 1st year of life, and attitudes. 68% of the women were black and 32% were married. Most unmarried mothers lived with parents (50%), other relatives (26.5%), or ex husbands/boyfriends (5.9%). The mean educational level of 11.8 years was higher than anticipated for studies of public health department clinic populations. Teenagers made up 38% of the sample. 74% of the women reported family incomes below $8000. 64% had more than 1 child. Only 2 mothers in the sample had attended childbirth classes. 2/3 of the mothers recalled receiving no prior information about labor and delivery procedures and medications. Practices during the 1st few days after delivery indicate that only 20% of the mothers held their babires in the 1st hour after delivery and none of the mothers had the baby rooming in with them. 54% of the babies spent some time in the high risk nursery. This limited the mothers' opportunities to interact with and feed them. Only 3 of the mothers breastfed their babies for any length of time. 2 of them decided to breastfed because that was the best nutrition for the baby, and 1 did so because her mother had breastfed. The most common reasons given for bottlefeeding were not wanting to nurse (43.5%) and inconvenience (26.1%). Only 13% mentioned the necessity of back to school/work as a reason for not breastfeeding. No differences were observed between teenage mothers and older mothers in regard to the reasons for not breastfeeding. Since the number of breastfeeding mothers in this study was too small to permit statistical analysis, only scores for bottlefeeding mothers were compared. Bottlefeeding mothers of the low income group had statistically significant higher mean scores on 3 attitudinal scales: seclusion of the mother, acceleration of development, and mother's covert attitudes toward breastfeeding. Lower scores alone or with their spouses suggest that, when the childrearing responsibility was shared with extended family, mothers tended to be stricter with their children and minimized physical and emotional dependence of the children on them. Mothers who lived with spouses or alone tended to be more nurturing and less strict with their children.     

Job and home attitudes of undergraduate women and their mothers

Seventy-seven undergraduate women and their mothers participated in a study of job/home attitudes. All subjects rated 10 conflict elements and 8 conflict types: mothers also rated the conflict elements and types retrospectively, as young adults, and responded to related open-ended questions. Cohort effects were stronger than historical period or stage-of-life effects. Mothers' current and retrospective responses both indicated significantly more interest, confidence, and perceived external support for home-related than job-related activities, whereas daughters' responses reflected approximately equal interest, confidence, and support for home- and job-related activities.     

The process of pregnancy resolution among adolescent mothers

This paper reports on in-depth interviews with black and white unmarried adolescent mothers, from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, about their pregnancy resolution. They revealed the importance of family members and other significant adults in the decision process. The analysis also indicated that personal, familial, and religious values were primary considerations in deciding to bear and keep their children.     

Strange situation behavior of infants with adolescent mothers

Forty 6-month-old infants and their adolescent mothers were observed interacting at home and in Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure when the infants were 14 months old. There were significantly more A-group infants (45%) and fewer C-group infants (3%) at 14 months in this sample of adolescent mothers than in other samples of adult mothers. Furthermore, A-group attachments were more common when levels of dyadic engagement at 6 months had been lower, and future A-group infants were less vocal at 6 months than were future B-group infants. At 6 months, mothers of future B-group infants provided more care than did mothers of future A-group infants. These findings provide some support for claims that adolescent mothers provide parenting of lower quality than adult mothers and that quality of early interactions may predict subsequent infant behavior in the Strange Situation.