The influence of cultural orientation on associations between Puerto Rican adolescent mothers' parenting and toddler compliance and defiance

Latina mothers' cultural orientation and child self-esteem: The mediating role of cultural socialization

This longitudinal investigation evaluated parental cultural socialization practices as a central mechanism by which parents' cultural values influence developmental outcomes in ethnic-racial minority children. Drawing on a sample of 129 Latina mothers and their children (48.1% daughters and 51.9% sons), path analyses evaluated hypothesized individual and interactive contributions of mothers' Latina heritage and American mainstream cultural orientations to changes in children's self-esteem via overt and covert cultural socialization practices. Mothers reported on their cultural orientation and socialization practices when their children were ages 5 and 8, respectively. Children reported their self-esteem at ages 8 and 10. Controlling for family socioeconomic status, mothers' nativity status, and prior child self-esteem, path analyses revealed a significant indirect effect from mothers' heritage orientation to increased child self-esteem via overt cultural socialization practices. Interestingly, a multigroup analysis by gender showed that mothers' heritage orientation was positively related to overt and covert cultural socialization practices toward both daughters and sons, but the indirect paths to child self-esteem through cultural socialization did not attain significance for daughters. Moreover, among sons, the indirect path through overt cultural socialization predicted increased self-esteem, whereas the indirect path through covert cultural socialization predicted decreased self-esteem. These findings show that cultural socialization is a salient process by which parental cultural orientation influences children's self-esteem while highlighting the specificity of these effects across overt and covert expressions of cultural socialization and child gender. Efforts to promote positive self-esteem among Latinx children should encourage parental cultural socialization practices, such as teaching, reading, and/or performing activities that celebrate the Latinx culture.

Young Puerto Rican Mothers' Cultural Orientation and Parenting Behaviors: Associations with Subsequent Child Emotion Dysregulation

Objective

Children of Latinx adolescent mothers are at risk for regulatory difficulties. However, a paucity of research has examined parenting behaviors and children's early emotional development in such families.

Design

Longitudinal associations between observed parenting behaviors (sensitivity, directiveness, child-directed language) at 18 months and children's emotion dysregulation at 18 and 24 months were tested among young mainland Puerto Rican mothers (N = 123) and their toddlers. Given the cultural variability present in Latinx families, whether mothers' cultural orientation moderated these associations was also tested.

Results

Maternal sensitivity predicted less child emotion dysregulation at 24 months at all levels of cultural orientation. Directiveness was unrelated to dysregulation. Child-directed language predicted lower dysregulation only when mothers endorsed lower levels of American cultural orientation.

Conclusions

It is important to consider families' cultural context when identifying maternal behaviors that are most beneficial to child development.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Relation Between Parenting and Preschoolers' Externalizing Behaviors

This study examined racial/ethnic differences in the relations between three dimensions of parenting practices (harsh, lax, and warm parenting) and children's externalizing behaviors across European American, African American, and Latinx families. Participants included 221 mothers who identified as African American (n = 32), Latina (n = 46), or European American (n = 143). Mothers' self-rated and observer-coded harshness, laxness, and warmth, and their ratings of their 3-year-old children's externalizing behaviors (hyperactivity, aggression) were analyzed. Multiple regression analyses indicated some racial/ethnic differences in the relations between harsh and warm parenting, and children's externalizing behaviors. The slopes of the relation between greater harshness and greater aggression and hyperactivity were more positive for European American families than for African American or Latinx families. The slopes of the relation between greater warmth and less aggression were more negative for European American and Latinx families than for African American families. Results indicated no racial/ethnic differences in the relation between laxness and externalizing behaviors. These findings suggest racial/ethnic differences in the relation between some parenting practices and externalizing behaviors, which has important implications in culturally sensitive clinical practice for different racial/ethnic groups. More research is necessary to replicate these findings, and to identify other parenting practices that may be more important in racial/ethnic minority families.

Longitudinal transactional relations among young children's defiance and committed compliance and maternal assertive control

The main goal of this study was to more closely understand the direction of relations between maternal behavior and young children's defiance and committed compliance. We examined 256 mother-child dyads to explore developmental transactional relations between maternal assertive control, children's committed compliance, and children's defiance at 18 (T1), 30 (T2), and 42 (T3) months of age. After controlling for maternal gentle control, SES, and child sex, results showed parent effects for children's committed compliance, such that T1 maternal assertive control negatively predicted T3 committed compliance. Furthermore, toddlers' behavior predicted T3 parenting; that is, toddlers' T1 defiance positively predicted T3 maternal assertive control. Results of the present study indicate relatively long-term prediction (to 42 months) from both parent and child behaviors at 18 months of age, and the findings have implications for understanding the bidirectional and complex processes that account for young children's adaptive and maladaptive behaviors.

Online Validation of a Battery of Questionnaires for the Assessment of Family Functioning and Related Factors

BACKGROUND

Family functioning relies on different factors that are related to the individual characteristics of each member, the social context in which the family nucleus is integrated, and the internal and interpersonal family factors. The Short Version of the Family Assessment Measure-III, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, Twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support are among the most commonly employed self-report measures for the assessment of family functioning and related factors. Traditionally, these scales have been administered using paper-and-pencil versions. However, with increased access to the Internet, online administration of questionnaires has become more common. The present study aimed to validate an online version of each of the above-mentioned questionnaires in a heterogeneous sample of Italian healthy individuals.

METHODS

One-hundred participants were recruited for each questionnaire. A crossover design was used in each validation. The minimum important difference (MID) was applied to evaluate the differences in the variances of the paper-and-pencil and online format scores. A MID >0.5 is a reasonable first approximation of a threshold of important change. Taking into account the cross over design, mean difference between pencil-and-paper and online versions, and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient were also estimated by mixed models.

RESULTS

The MID was <0.5 for all the instruments used. Therefore, no significant difference was observed between the score variances of the paper-and-pencil and online formats of all the questionnaires. Moreover, for each questionnaire the difference between the means of online and paper-and-pencil administrations scores (mean O-P) was calculated. We reported 95% confidence intervals that did not include the 0; therefore, mean (O-P) was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings indicate that the online versions of all the questionnaires we administered can be considered reliable tools for the assessment of family functioning and related factors.

Gender differences in young children’s compliance to maternal directives: A meta-analysis

Evolutionary theory and several lines of evidence suggest that the motive to establish positive relationships with others is stronger in females than males. Accordingly, it was predicted that in young children, girls would be more likely than boys to comply with their mothers’ directives. To test this prediction, the present meta-analysis examined gender differences in compliance to maternal directives in young children (ages 1–7 years) as assessed on structured tasks. The meta-analysis was performed on 80 effect sizes derived from 49 studies conducted in 10 countries. Two categories of studies were distinguished: those that assessed compliance with respect to the child’s presumed motives for performing compliant and those that assessed compliance without reference to the child’s presumed motives. For the former category of studies, girls were higher in internally motivated compliance whether the task required performing an action or not performing an action, and boys were higher in externally motivated compliance when the task required not performing an action. For the latter category of studies, results were mixed, with some evidence indicating that girls were higher in compliance. No evidence was found indicating that the magnitude of the gender differences changed with age. One caveat is that the effect sizes analyzed might have been attenuated due to measurement error. Discussion focuses on a number of explanations that may be offered to account for the gender differences found in internally motivated compliance favoring girls.

Associations Between Maternal Control and Child Defiance Among Puerto Rican-Origin Adolescent Mothers and Their Toddlers: A Person-Centered Examination

Parents use different forms of control to direct children toward their own demands and expectations; however, the literature on Latina parenting has demonstrated mixed findings on the influence of control on child outcomes (Halgunseth, Ispa, & Rudy, 2006). This study tested how maternal control relates to child dysregulated defiance within the cultural context experienced by Latina mother-child dyads. Participants included 122 adolescent mothers of Puerto Rican-origin and their toddlers. Highlighting the importance of ecologically-valid and culturally-sensitive methods of behavioral observation, mother and child behavior were observed during a clean-up task; mothers also reported on their levels of US acculturation and Puerto Rican enculturation. Using person-centered analyses, we identified groups of mothers by parenting behaviors (i.e., guidance, control, positive affect) and cultural orientation (i.e., acculturation, enculturation). Results revealed four sub-groups of mothers with distinct associations to child defiance: 1) enculturated/controlling, 2) bicultural/guiding, 3) bicultural/controlling, 4) acculturated/controlling. Toddlers of the mothers in the acculturated/controlling sub-group displayed greater defiance toward their mothers than those of mothers in the enculturated/controlling sub-group, even though the groups displayed similar levels of control behaviors and positive affect. Toddlers of the enculturated/controlling and the bicultural/guiding mothers displayed similar low levels of defiance, suggesting two different parenting approaches with favorable consequences for child behavior in adolescent mother and toddler dyads. Implications for culturally-informed research and tailored services for young Latina families are discussed.