“It Makes Me Worry About Her Future Pain:” A Qualitative Investigation of White Mothers of Non-White Children

In the United States, increasing numbers of White women are mothering children of color. Little is known about their psychosocial experiences of racially socializing non-White children within a culture that transmits socially constructed meanings about race. Such messages influence employment and quality and access to health care. Thirteen White mothers of non-White children (school age to adulthood) residing in the U.S. were interviewed. Their psychosocial experiences and racial socialization practices were explored. Through an analysis of transcribed interviews and interview notes, seven themes emerged: (1) Looking Like a Family and Looking Alike; (2) Mothering as Vulnerability; (3) Teen Daughters’ Perceptions of Black Men as Undesirable and Frightening; (4) Exposing Children to Culture; (5) Children and Mothers’ Experiences as “Other”; (6) Hostility from Black Women; and (7) Not Talking About Race. Study's limitations and future research are discussed.     

Locked Up,Then Locked Out

SUMMARY

Women prisoners face tremendous psychological, emotional, and physical hardships inside prison. These include isolation, separation from their families and children, lack of medical care and general abuse of their basic human rights. When they are released from prison, women confront institutional as well as psychological barriers to a successful return to their communities     

Contextual analysis of home environment factors influencing the acquisition of early reading skills in Zambian families

This study examined the effect of home environment factors in the acquisition of early reading skills (orthographic awareness and decoding competence). To assess these factors, a sample of seventy-two (72) first grade learners (females?=?55%; age range?=?7–8 years) and their maternal parents (age range 26–61 years old) from low SES in Zambia's capital city, Lusaka were recruited. Parents, in response to a home literacy questionnaire, reported on their attitudes towards reading, literacy teaching in the home, the home literacy environment, presence of reading materials for adults and children, parental education, occupation, family size and family possessions. Two measures of reading skill were administered at school. Correlations revealed that parental education, occupation and the size of the family were not significantly associated with the reading measures. Family possessions, parental reading attitudes, literacy activities, and reading materials significantly predicted orthographic awareness. In predicting decoding competence, only family possessions, parental reading attitudes and literacy activities were predictive. Regardless of the context, children experience literacy in varied forms and quantities.     

Perceptions of Violence and Crime as Aggression by Turkish—Islamic Families in Johannesburg

This study explored perceptions of aggression of Turkish-Islamic families with adolescent children in a large South African city. Participants were from four Turkish families with adolescent children (father = 4, mothers = 4; children = 5). Data were collected via interviews and analyzed. The families considered aggression to comprise crime and violence. They also considered it a universal phenomenon.     

Violence in Low-Income Neighborhoods in the United States

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the chronic violence in low-income neighborhoods to which children and adults are regularly exposed. Such neighborhoods have been called “urban war zones,” and those who witness the violence have been referred to as co-victims. This paper examines what we know about the prevalence of neighborhood violence, the consequences of continued exposure to it, the dominant responses to the problem within psychology, a critique of these responses, and possible next steps.     

The Gift of Growing Up in a Same-Gendered Family: A Case Study

This article portrays the personal strengths of children growing up in same-gendered families from a positive psychological framework. One of the major challenges all children growing up in same-gendered families are faced with is the integration of their family experience with that of the wider society outside the home. A narrative approach was used to explore the experiences of children from their perspectives. Five children from eight families participated in the project. Data were created through interviews and a variety of other supportive qualitative techniques. The data were analyzed using a holistic analysis approach and a narrative was subsequently written to illuminate the uniqueness, the specificity and the individuality of each particular child. This article depicts one of these narratives. From this narrative the following personal strengths emerged: humor, a sense of perceived control, socially intelligent disclosure, agency, okayness and the ability to form positive relationships. I propose that remarkable personal strengths are displayed in the way in which children growing up in same-gendered families engage a heteronormative world.     

Mothers’ physical interventions in toddler play in a low-income,African American sample

This mixed method study examined 28 low-income African American mothers’ physical interventions in their 14-month-old toddlers’ play. Inductive methods were used to identify six physical intervention behaviors, the affect accompanying physical interventions, and apparent reasons for intervening. Nonparametric statistical analyses determined that toddlers experienced physical intervention largely in the context of positive maternal affect. Mothers of boys expressed highly positive affect while physically intervening more than mothers of girls. Most physically intervening acts seemed to be motivated by maternal intent to show or tell children how to play or to correct play deemed incorrect. Neutral affect was the most common toddler affect type following physical intervention, but boys were more likely than girls to be upset immediately after physical interventions. Physical interventions intended to protect health and safety seemed the least likely to elicit toddler upset.     

Psychometric Properties of the Family Support Scale with Head Start Families

Social support systems can have either a beneficial or adverse effect when a family faces stress. Hence, support perceived by family members is an important construct. We studied the psychometric properties of the Family Support Scale (FSS) with a sample of 244 low-income families of children in a Head Start program, and we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with the scale. We obtained a 5-factor solution for the FSS when assessing the family support of low-income families. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were moderately high for the 5 proposed subscales. The factor structure obtained may prove more valid for Head Start families than structures from previous studies, although there is still a need for further psychometric study of the FSS.     

Relationships Among Paternal Involvement and Young Children's Perceived Self-Competence and Behavioral Problems

We examined the relationships of father involvement to young children's perceived self-competence and fathers' and mothers' perceptions of their children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. The results indicated that mothers in families in which father involvement is high may have a more positive outlook regarding their child's behavior than do mothers in families in which father involvement is low. Fathers who were highly involved indicated their children have more behavior problems than fathers who were not highly involved. High father involvement was associated with increased children's feelings of paternal acceptance, a factor that plays a role in the development of self-concept and esteem.