Parenting within residential neighborhoods: A pluralistic approach with African American and Latino families at the center

Profiles of parents' emotion socialization within a multinational sample of parents

Introduction

Seminal emotion socialization theories classify parents according to two patterns of parent emotion socialization processes: 'emotion coaching' (i.e., parents validate and teach children about emotions) versus 'emotion dismissing' parenting (i.e., parents minimize and dismiss their children's emotions). However, empirical evidence supporting this binary distinction of parents remains limited. Our objective was to investigate whether parents can be differentiated by distinct patterns in their (1) beliefs about children's emotions, (2) emotion regulation, and (3) emotion-related parenting practices.

Method

Participants were parents of children aged 4-10 years from the Child and Parent Emotion Study (N = 869) (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e038124). Parents completed self-reported measures of emotion socialization processes via an online survey, which took 20-30 min to complete. Data included in the current study were collected May-August 2019. We conducted a latent profile analysis of parents' emotion socialization (13 indicators). To assess reliability of the profiles, we examined stability of the profiles across (1) parents of children in early versus middle childhood, and (2) fathers versus mothers, via measurement invariance testing. Further, to assess for construct validity of the profiles, we examined concurrent associations between six criterion constructs and parents' emotion socialization profiles.

Results

A three-profile model emerged characterizing parents by: (1) emotion coaching; (2) emotion dismissing; (3) emotion disengaged. There was strong support for construct validity and reliability.

Discussion

Our study provides empirical support for distinct differentiated classifications of emotion coaching and emotion dismissing parenting, aligned with emotion socialization theories. We further extend on extant theory and suggest a third 'emotion disengaged' classification, describing parents with moderate levels of emotion dismissing parenting and low levels of emotion coaching parenting. It should be noted that the profiles were derived with self-report data, therefore, data may have been biased by contextual factors. Furthermore, the study sample consisted of Western families from affluent backgrounds. The field should focus efforts on conducting person-centered studies with more diverse samples in future.

Neighborhood-level predictors of African American and Latinx parents' ethnic-racial socialization

Few studies examine how neighborhood structural factors (e.g., socioeconomic status [SES] and diversity) and perceived disorder may influence the messages parents communicate to their youth about race/ethnicity. Guided by the integrative model and social disorganization theory, this study examines how parents' ethnic-racial socialization messages (ERS) are shaped by the broader environment. Data come from the MacArthur Studies of Diversity in Midlife. Latinx and African American parents N = 508 (M_age  = 39) with a child between 6- and 17-years old living in two urban US cities were included. Cultural perceptions were assessed at both the individual level (e.g., perceived discrimination and ethnic affirmation) and neighborhood level along with demographic and structural neighborhood characteristics at the individual and neighborhood level, respectively. Multilevel analyses revealed that at both the individual level and neighborhood levels, perceived neighborhood problems were associated with more frequent messages about ethnicity and race (e.g., cultural socialization and preparation for bias). In addition, neighborhood-level affirmation promoted cultural messages; in contrast, neighborhood-level discrimination experiences positively impacted preparation for unfair treatment. Results reveal how parents' ERS is informed by their own characteristics as well as neighborhood factors. Further, cross-level interactions were found. Findings are discussed in terms of contextual and cultural-developmental theorizing about parenting.

Adolescent Development in Context: A Decade Review of Neighborhood and Activity Space Research

Over the last decade, two lines of inquiry have emerged from earlier investigations of adolescent neighborhood effects. First, researchers began incorporating space-time geography to study adolescent development within activity spaces or routine activity locations and settings. Second, cultural-developmental researchers implicated neighborhood settings in cultural development, to capture neighborhood effects on competencies and processes that are salient or normative for minoritized youth. We review the decade's studies on adolescent externalizing, internalizing, academic achievement, health, and cultural development within neighborhoods and activity spaces. We offer recommendations supporting decompartmentalization of cultural-developmental and activity space scholarship to advance the science of adolescent development in context.

Latinx Adolescents' Assets, Risks, and Developmental Pathways: A Decade in Review and Looking Ahead

I selectively review the last decade of theory and research on Latinx adolescents and emerging adults' development. After briefly reviewing the changing demographics of US Latinx families, I address: (1) asset-based theories of Latinx youth's development; (2) the literature on the educational pathways of US Latinx youth; (3) how close relationships, ethnic/racial (ERI) identity, and family, school, and community context promote or constrain Latinx youth's educational and positive development and provide examples of successful interventions to promote ERI and academic adjustment. I conclude with suggestions for scholarship in the next decade, including applying intersectional, interdisciplinary, biopsychosocial, and international lenses to studying Latinx youth, researching father involvement, and addressing between- and within-country of origin variations in Latinx youth's education and development.

Profiles of teacher-child interaction quality in groups of 3-year-old children in Quebec and France

Theory and studies support that educational quality may differ according to socio-political context even in states with similar cultures. Based on a secondary analysis of data, this study aims at identifying latent profiles of adult-child interaction quality in groups of three-year-old children in Quebec's (Canada) early childhood centers and France's kindergarten classrooms using the CLASS Pre-K. This study also aims to explore existing associations between identified profiles, socio-political contexts, and structural characteristics (staff qualifications, ages, group size). Latent profile analyses showed four interaction quality profiles, namely a high-quality profile (HQ), a medium-high-quality profile (MHQ), a medium quality profile (MQ), and a medium-low-quality profile (MLQ). The scores of the three CLASS Pre-K domains associated with identified profiles show a higher average interaction quality in Quebec compared with France, suggesting a more favorable sociocultural context for interaction quality in Quebec. As for characteristics of structural quality, analyses suggest that the group size variable is significantly associated with scores of interaction quality, with the HQ and the MHQ profiles showing a significantly lower group size than the MQ and MLQ profiles. Age is also significantly associated with profiles, exhibiting a general trend of younger participants found in higher quality profiles. Courses of action to enhance French policies are discussed.

Ethnic-racial Socialization, Perceived Neighborhood Quality, and Psychosocial Adjustment among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents

Ethnic-racial socialization is employed by ethnic minority parents to support their children's psychosocial adjustment. These socialization messages may be associated differently with psychosocial adjustment for Black youth according to ethnicity and qualities of the neighborhood context. This research examined whether associations between ethnic-racial socialization messages and psychosocial adjustment vary by ethnicity and perceived neighborhood quality in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents who participated in the National Survey of American Life Adolescent supplement study. The effects of promotion of mistrust messages varied by ethnicity, and the effects of egalitarianism messages varied depending on perceived neighborhood quality. These findings help clarify prior research which has yielded equivocal results for the effects of these messages for Black youth's psychosocial adjustment.