Academic achievement among formerly homeless adolescents and their continuously housed peers

This study examined the school experiences and academic achievement of 46 adolescents in families who experienced homelessness and 87 permanently housed adolescents whose families received public assistance. Measures taken after the homeless students were rehoused showed that both groups valued school highly and were similar in cognitive abilities assessed with the similarities subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R). Formerly homeless students had more school mobility, more grade retention, and worse school experiences by mother report and lower plans for post-secondary education by self-report. Both groups scored poorly on standardized tests of academic achievement. Homelessness was associated with further declines in achievement during the period of maximal residential disruption, but did not have effects 5 years later.     

Gender Differences in Mother-toddler and Father-toddler Verbal Initiations and Responses during a Caregiving and Play Context

Contextual variations in mother-child and father-child verbal communication were examined among 80 U.S. families from Kansas who were predominately Caucasian (85%) and middle-class. There were 41 girls and 39 boys between 15- and 18-months-old observed with their mothers and fathers in separate play and caregiving laboratory situations. Parent and child behaviors were coded for verbal initiation and response strategies. MANOVA’s revealed more differences between mother’s and father’s verbal communication strategies in the play context than the caregiving context. Boy’s and girl’s verbal communication was relatively similar across contexts. The interactions between gender and context are discussed in relation to gender role development in the family.     

Sexual Health Counselor Preferences of African American and European American Women: A Brief Report

African American women (n = 42) and European American women (n = 46) were queried regarding their comfort level discussing various sexual health topics with hypothetical counselors who were varied by race (African American vs. European American) or counseling value (culturally sensitive vs. knowledgeable). Contrary to hypotheses, European American participants were more comfortable with the knowledgeable African American counselor and the culturally sensitive European American counselor, while African American women showed no preference. Implications are discussed for improving sexual health counseling services for African American and European American women with consideration of client sexual attitude and race of counselor in order to reduce disparities in sexual health.     

Mother–child and father–child mutuality in two contexts: consequences for young children's peer relationships

This study examines the role that context plays in links between relative balance, or mutuality in parent–child interaction and children's social competence. Sixty‐three toddlers and their parents were observed in a laboratory play session and caregiving activity (i.e. eating snack). Mutuality was operationalised as the relative balance in (a) partners' compliance to initiations, and (b) partners' expression of positive emotion. Caregivers rated children's social competence with peers, and children's prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers was observed in their childcare arrangement. Contextual differences were observed in the manifestation of parent–child mutuality, with both mother–child and father–child dyads displaying higher mutual compliance scores in the play context than in the caregiving context. Father–child dyads also displayed higher levels of shared positive emotion during play than during the caregiving context. There were no differences in a way that parent–child mutuality during play and caregiving was associated with children's social competence with peers. Overall, the results suggest that parent–child mutuality is a quality of parent–child interaction that has consistent links to children's peer competence regardless of the context in which it occurs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exposure to child care,parenting style and attachment security

The present study addressed whether security of attachment is differentiated by quality of parenting and quantity of exposure to child care. Sixty mothers participated with their 14‐month‐old infants, who by the age of 12‐months had received either exclusive maternal care, or varying degrees of exposure to child care. Levels of attachment security were assessed through maternal completion of the Attachment Q‐Set(AQS); parenting quality was assessed through observations of mother–infant interactions during structured tasks. The scores that less sensitive mothers assign their toddlers is higher when their children are in child care for more hours per week; whereas the scores that more sensitive mothers assign their toddlers is lower when their children are in child care for more hours per week. These contrasting patterns suggest that the effects of parenting style on attachment security are moderated by quantity of exposure to child care. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing potential effects of daily cross-domain usage of information and communication technologies

ABSTRACT

A within-person diary research design with 39 full-time workers was used to examine the effects of daily cross-domain usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on job-related performance and stress in both workplace and home domains. Segmentation preference effects on links between cross-domain ICT usage and both job performance and job stress were also analyzed. A positive association was found for the first relationship in mixed home-workplace contexts, and a negative association for the second in home contexts only. A stronger segmentation preference effect on the negative relationship between cross-domain ICT usage and job stress was found for integrators (employees who integrate work and home domains) compared to separators (employees who separate work/non-work activities). Our findings suggest that daily cross-domain ICT usage can enhance job performance and reduce job stress, with a moderating effect of segmentation preference on the link between cross-domain ICT usage and job stress.