Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Aspirations in Chinese Families: Identifying Mediators and Moderators

Parents’ educational aspirations for youth play an important role in shaping youth’s own educational aspirations; however, little is known about how and in what context parents may transmit their aspirations to youth effectively. This is of particular interest and import to be examined in Chinese families, given Chinese cultural emphasis on educational achievement and Chinese youth’s outstanding academic performance internationally. By integrating several key theories of motivation and parental socialization (i.e., the expectancy-value model of academic achievement, the two-step model of value transmission, the contextual model of parenting, and the self-determination theory), the current study investigated simultaneously the mediating roles of parental involvement in youth’s learning and youth’s perceptions of parental aspirations, as well as the moderating role of parental warmth in the intergenerational transmission process of educational aspirations in Chinese families. A two-wave longitudinal study spanning about half a year was conducted among 323 Chinese seventh graders (54% female; M_age?=?13.25 years) and one of their parents (median educational attainment?=?completion of high school, median monthly income?=?USD 766–1226). It was found that parental educational aspirations for youth were related positively both indirectly through parental involvement and directly to youth’s perceptions of parental aspirations, which in turn were associated positively with youth’s own educational aspirations about half a year later. It was also found that parental educational aspirations for youth and youth’s own educational aspirations were associated positively with each other only when youth reported experiencing high levels of parental warmth, but unrelated when youth reported experiencing low levels of parental warmth, whereas such moderating effects of parental warmth were absent on the links from parental aspirations to youth’s perceptions of parental aspirations and parental involvement. These findings highlight the importance of integrating multiple theories to understand parent-to-youth transmission of educational aspirations in non-western cultures, which helps not only reveal generalizability, as well as boundary conditions for Western-originated theories, but also inform practical endeavors at promoting youth’s educational achievement worldwide to draw on strengths of different cultures.     

Does Mother Know Best? Adolescent and Mother Reports of Impulsivity and Subsequent Delinquency

Although impulsivity is one of the strongest psychological predictors of crime, it is unclear how well impulsivity, measured at a specific moment in adolescence, predicts criminal behavior months or years into the future. The present study investigated how far into the future self-reports and parents’ reports of a youth’s impulsivity predicted whether he engaged in illegal behavior, whether one reporter’s assessment was more predictive than the other’s, and whether there is value in obtaining multiple reports. Data were obtained from a 6-year longitudinal study of adjudicated juvenile offenders (n = 701 mother-son dyads). Youth (m = 15.93 years old; sd = 1.14) and their mothers independently reported on adolescents’ impulsivity at the initial assessment. We examined the prospective correlation of these measures with illegal behavior, assessed by official records of arrests and youths’ self-reports of offending across the 72-month study period. Youths’ and mothers’ reports of the adolescents’ impulsivity were weakly, but significantly, correlated with one another. Furthermore, mothers’ ratings of their sons’ impulsivity predicted arrest up to 6 years into the future, whereas youths’ reports did not significantly predict arrest beyond 30 months. With respect to youths’ self-reports of offending, mothers’ ratings of impulsivity again predicted farther into the future (as late as 6 years later) than did youths’ self-reports of impulsivity, which were not predictive beyond 4 years. However, across the first 4 years, youths’ self-reports of impulsivity explained more variance in self-reported offending than did mothers’ ratings. The results underscore the endurance of the predictive utility of an assessment of impulsivity and the importance (and accuracy) of parents’ reports of developmental constructs, even when their children are adolescents.     

Parental Monitoring, Parental Warmth, and Minority Youths’ Academic Outcomes: Exploring the Integrative Model of Parenting

Guided by the integrative model of parenting, the present study investigated the relationship between parental monitoring and racial/ethnic minority adolescents’ school engagement and academic motivation as a function of parental warmth, and explored whether these associations varied for boys and girls. Participants (60 % female) were 208 sixth through eighth grade students (63 % African American, 19 % Latino, 18 % Multiracial) from an urban middle school in the Midwestern United States. Youth completed an in-school survey with items on parenting (parental monitoring, mothers’/fathers’ warmth), cognitive engagement (school self-esteem), behavioral engagement (school trouble), and academic motivation (intrinsic motivation). As hypothesized, mothers’ warmth enhanced the association between parental monitoring and youths’ engagement and motivation. No gender differences in these associations emerged. Fathers’ warmth strengthened the negative association between parental monitoring and school trouble, and this association was stronger for boys. Implications regarding the importance of sustaining a high level of monitoring within the context of warm parent–adolescent relationships to best support academic outcomes among minority youth are discussed.     

Intergenerational Continuity in Depression: The Importance of Time-Varying Effects,Maternal Co-morbid Health Risk Behaviors and Child’s Gender

Intergenerational continuity in depressive symptoms is well established between mother and child, but there are still important facets of this relationship that are underexplored. We examine intergenerational continuity in depressive symptoms between mother–child dyads as a flexible function of child age and account for the potential moderating role of maternal co-morbid health risk behaviors. Using prospective, self-report data collected yearly from 413 mother–child dyads (210 mother–son dyads and 203 mother–daughter dyads) between child ages 12–17, the results indicate that the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on daughters’ depressive symptoms steadily increases throughout adolescence whereas the effect of maternal depressive symptoms on sons’ depressive symptoms is relatively small, stable, and non-significant during mid-adolescence before increasing in effect in later adolescence. A positive interactive effect between maternal depressive symptoms and intimate partner violence is observed for sons and maternal depressive symptoms and substance use for daughters. A negative interactive effect of maternal depressive symptoms and substance use is observed among sons. Overall, this study identifies particular subgroups for whom intervention programming is most beneficial and suggests targeting health risk behaviors of mothers to lessen the impact of maternal depressive symptoms on offspring.     

Parent–Child Relationships,Parental Psychological Control,and Aggression: Maternal and Paternal Relationships

Few studies have examined both maternal and paternal parenting practices in the prediction of child outcomes despite evidence that underscores the salience of fathers throughout their children’s development. This study examined the role of the quality of mother–child and father–child relationships in buffering the influence of ineffective parenting practices on subsequent adolescent aggression. Measures of parental psychological control, the quality of the parent–child relationship, and youth aggressive behavior were completed by 163 (49 % female) mostly White and Asian adolescents and their parents during the eighth and ninth grades. Paternal psychological control predicted aggression when adolescents perceived low-quality relationships with their mothers. Similarly, maternal psychological control predicted aggression when adolescents perceived low-quality relationships with their fathers. Maternal psychological control was also associated with lower levels of aggression among adolescent males who reported a high-quality relationship with their father. These findings indicate that, when one parent exerts psychological control, the low-quality relationship the adolescent shares with the opposite gender parent increases risk for adolescent aggression. The findings also suggest that, as mothers exert psychological control, the high-quality parent–child relationship a son shares with his father decreases risk for adolescent aggression.     

Sibling Relationships and Empathy Across the Transition to Adolescence

Although socioemotional competencies have been identified as key components of youths’ positive development, most studies on empathy are cross-sectional, and research on the role of the family has focused almost exclusively on parental socialization. This study examined the developmental course of empathy from age 7 to 14 and the within-person associations between sibling warmth and conflict and youths’ empathy. On three occasions across 2?years, mothers, fathers, and the two eldest siblings from 201 White, working- and middle-class families provided questionnaire data. Multilevel models revealed that, controlling for youths’ pubertal status and parental education, girls’ empathy increased during the transition to adolescence and then leveled off, but boys’ lower levels of empathy remained relatively unchanged. Moreover, controlling for parental responsiveness and marital love, at times when firstborns and second-borns reported more sibling warmth and less sibling conflict than usual, they also reported more empathy than usual. The within-person association between sibling warmth and empathy also became stronger over time. Findings highlight gender differences in empathy development and the unique role of siblings in shaping each other’s socioemotional characteristics during adolescence.     

Cumulative Family Risk Predicts Increases in Adjustment Difficulties across Early Adolescence

Family is an important socialization context for youth as they move through early adolescence. A significant feature of this complex socialization context is the accumulation of potential family risk factors that may compromise youth adjustment. This study examined cumulative family risk and adolescents’ adjustment difficulties in 416 two-parent families using four waves of annual longitudinal data (51 % female youth). Risk factors in four family domains were examined: socioeconomic, parents’ psychological realm, marital, and parenting. Cumulative family risk experienced while in 6th grade was associated concurrently with daughters’ higher internalizing problems and with increased internalizing problems during early adolescence. Cumulative family risk was associated concurrently with sons’ higher externalizing problems and with daughters’ increased externalizing problems over time. Cumulative family risk was associated concurrently with lower grades and with declining grades over time for both daughters and sons. The number of risk domains also was associated with youths’ adjustment difficulties during early adolescence, providing evidence that risk in two-parent families involves more than ineffective parenting. These findings suggest a critical need to provide strong support for families in reducing a variety of stressors across multiple family domains as their children traverse early adolescence.     

Maternal employment and adolescents' relations with parents,siblings, and peers

The association between maternal employment status and the relations that adolescents have with their parents, siblings, and peers was investigated. Three daily reports of conflicts with family members and time spent with parents, peers, and alone were obtained from 64 tenth-grade adolescents using a telephone interviewing technique. Males, but not females, had more arguments, which were of longer duration and greater intensity, with their mothers and siblings when their mothers worked than when they did not. Female conflict behavior was unrelated to the work status of the mother. Adolescents of both sexes spent less time with their parents when their mothers worked, especially when they worked full-time, than when they were nonemployed. Adolescents with employed mothers generally spent less free time with their parents than those with nonemployed mothers. Time spent with parents in the performance of household tasks was not affected by maternal employment status. The need to take a family system perspective in order to understand fully the relationship between maternal employment and adolescent development was emphasized.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1974. Major research interests are in parent and peer relations during adolescence.     

The Consequences of Adolescent Delinquent Behavior for Adult Employment Outcomes

Delinquent behavior is common during adolescence and may disrupt trajectories of labor market attainment. Estimates of the relationship between delinquency and employment are threatened by selection bias, as youth who engage in delinquency often differ substantially from youth who do not. The current study examined the association between adolescents’ engagement in serious delinquency and four measures of occupational attainment in young adulthood: unemployment, personal earnings, employer-provided benefits, and occupational earnings. It examined the effect of delinquency independent of between-person differences in a variety of attributes and tested whether the hypothesized relationship was mediated by educational attainment, work experience, disconnectedness from both education and work, or criminal justice sanctioning. This study analyzed data from the first four waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), yielding an analytic sample of 14,800 (51% female, mean age 16 years). The Wave 1 Add Health survey was administered in 1994–1995, and Wave 4 of the survey was administered in 2007–2008. The analytic strategy, propensity score weighting, produced estimates that were less biased by differences between youth who had and who had not engaged in delinquent behavior. The study found that delinquency was significantly associated with the likelihood of being unemployed: compared to non-delinquents, delinquents were more likely to be unemployed even after controlling for temporally prior traits and resources, human capital, and criminal justice contact. The results provided more qualified support for hypothesized relationships between delinquency and job quality. The study concluded that offending may result in less fruitful job searches, but once a search results in employment, employed delinquents are not readily discernible from employed non-delinquents in the quality of their jobs. These conclusions contribute to literature on the labor market outcomes of people with histories of adolescent delinquency as they enter young adulthood.

     

Father- and Mother-Adolescent Decision-Making in Mexican-Origin Families

Understanding the prevalence and correlates of decisional autonomy within specific cultural contexts is necessary to fully comprehend how family processes are embedded within culture. The goals of this study were to describe mothers’ and fathers’ decision-making with adolescents (M = 12.51 years, SD = 0.58; 51% female), including parent-unilateral, joint, and youth-unilateral decision-making, and to examine the socio-cultural and family characteristics associated with these different types of decision-making in 246 Mexican-origin families. Mothers reported more joint and youth-unilateral decision-making and less parent-unilateral decision-making than did fathers. Fathers reported more youth-unilateral decision-making with sons than with daughters. Further, for mothers, more traditional gender role attitudes and higher levels of mother-adolescent conflict were associated with more parent-unilateral and less joint decision-making. In contrast, for fathers, lower levels of respect values were associated with more youth-unilateral decision-making with sons, and higher levels of parent-adolescent warmth were associated with more youth-unilateral decision-making with daughters. The importance of understanding the different correlates of mothers’ and fathers’ decision-making with sons versus daughters is discussed.     

Youth Pathways to Placement: The Influence of Gender, Mental Health Need and Trauma on Confinement in the Juvenile Justice System

Although the juvenile crime rate has generally declined, the involvement of girls in the juvenile justice system has been increasing. Possible explanations for this gender difference include the impact of exposure to trauma and mental health needs on developmental pathways and the resulting influence of youth’s involvement in the justice system. This study examined the influence of gender, mental health needs and trauma on the risk of out-of-home placement for juvenile offenders. The sample included youth referred to three urban juvenile probation departments in Texas between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008 and who received state-mandated mental health screening (N = 34,222; 30.1 % female). The analysis revealed that, for both genders, elevated scores on the seven factor-analytically derived subscales of a mental health screening instrument (Alcohol and Drug Use, Depressed-Anxious, Somatic Complaints, Suicidal Ideation, Thought Disturbance, and Traumatic Experiences), especially related to past traumatic experiences, influenced how deeply juveniles penetrated the system. The findings suggest that additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of trauma interventions and the implementation of trauma informed systems for youth involved with the juvenile justice system.     

The Relationship Between Parents’ Intimate Partner Victimization and Youths’ Adolescent Relationship Abuse

Witnessing inter-parental intimate partner violence has been found to be associated with adolescents’ own relationship abuse. This study investigates the relationship between patterns of inter-parental intimate partner verbal and physical violence victimization reported by parents and their children’s reports of dating abuse experiences and behavior. Latent class analysis was performed on a sample of 610 parents (42% male and 67% white) and their dating adolescent children (ages 12–21 years; 52% male). Parents reported five types of victimization by their partners in the past year, while youth concurrently reported their own victimization and perpetration within their dating relationships. Three profiles of parents’ intimate partner victimization were related to youth relationship abuse experiences and behaviors. Children of parents who experienced verbal abuse were more likely to experience similar patterns in their own relationships, whereas children of parents who report physical and verbal abuse were more likely to report psychological, physical and sexual abusive encounters in their partnerships. Findings indicate that parents’ relationship quality and abusive behaviors may have a long lasting effect on their children as they enter mid and late adolescence. Parents should pay attention to their own relationship quality and behavior even as their teen-age children gain independence.     

Dependency,Self-Criticism,and Mothers' Responses to Adolescent Sons' Autonomy and Competence

A previous study found that dependency was associated with mothers' reacting punitively to independent behavior of their adolescent daughters and that self-criticism was associated with punitive and controlling responses to adolescent daughters. To extend these findings to mother–son relationships, the present study examined relations between personality and parenting behavior in 78 mothers of adolescent boys. Mothers completed measures of dependency and self-criticism and of baseline affect, and then were given experimentally manipulated results of the son's initial assessment of problem-solving ability (competence) and choice of discussion partner. Affect was assessed again. Mothers coached sons on computer problem-solving puzzles. Dependency was associated with mothers' giving fewer explicit commands and less negative feedback to (1) sons who were described as high in competence and who chose someone else as discussion partner and (2) sons who were described as average in competence and who chose the mother as discussion partner. It was concluded that mothers high in dependency relate to competent sons in ways that encourage independence, but relate to their less competent sons in ways that may foster dependency, by thwarting attempts at autonomy.     

Bidirectional Influences Between Dimensions of Coparenting and Adolescent Adjustment

Research on coparenting documents that mothers’ and fathers’ coordination and mutual support in their parenting roles is linked to their offspring’s adjustment in childhood, but we know much less about the coparenting of adolescents. Taking a family systems perspective, this study assessed two dimensions of coparenting, parents’ shared decision-making and joint involvement in activities with their adolescents, and examined bidirectional associations between these coparenting dimensions and boys’ and girls’ risky behaviors and depressive symptoms across four time points (6 years) in adolescence. Participants were 201 mothers, fathers, and adolescents (M = 11.83, SD = .55 years of age at Time 1; 51 % female). Parents of sons shared more decisions, on average, than parents of daughters. On average, shared decision-making followed an inverted U shaped pattern of change, and parents’ joint involvement in their adolescents’ activities declined. Cross-lagged findings revealed that risky behavior predicted less shared decision-making, and shared decision-making protected against increased risky behavior for boys. For girls and boys, parents’ joint involvement predicted fewer risky behaviors, and lower levels of risky behavior predicted higher levels of joint involvement. In contrast, boys’ and girls’ depressive symptoms predicted less joint involvement. The discussion centers on the nature and correlates of coparenting during adolescence, including the role of child effects, and directions for future research on coparenting during this developmental period.     

A Jury of Their Peers: A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Teen Court on Criminal Recidivism

Juvenile delinquency has been on the decline for a number of years, yet, juvenile courts continue to assess more than 1 million cases per year. Involvement with the juvenile justice system has been linked to a number of risk factors and consequences that may impact positive youth development; however, evidence-based correctional programs that divert juvenile offenders away from formal processing are limited. Teen Court is a specialized diversion intervention that offers an alternative to traditional court processing for juvenile offenders. Despite the rapid expansion of Teen Courts, there is little comprehensive and systematic evidence available to justify this expansion. This meta-analytic study examines the effects of Teen Court on the recidivism of juvenile offenders. The literature search resulted in the selection of 14 studies, which contributed 18 unique effect sizes with a total sample of 2125 treatment group and 979 comparison group youth. The findings suggest that Teen Court is no more effective at reducing recidivism than (a) formal processing or (b) other diversion programs. Implications of formal and informal court processing for low-risk, first-time young offenders are discussed. The authors draw on the Risk-Need-Responsivity model to provide recommendations for policies and practices.     

Do mothers know their teenagers' friends? Implications for individuation in early adolescence

This study addresses three issues: (1) Do mothers and teenagers agree less than mothers and children about their friends? (2) Are family and individual characteristics related to agreement? (3) Is agreement related to subsequent substance use? One hundred ten subjects and their mothers provided information on the friendship network at 9 and 13 years, individual and family characteristics at 13 years, and substance use at 15 years. The results indicate little change in the percent of friends the mother knows from middle childhood to early adolescence, although the number of friends the mother does not know does increase significantly. High mother teenager agreement about opposite-sex friends is related to close family relations, social and moral competence, and a lower likelihood of cigarette use. The findings are discussed as they relate to the constructs of individuation in adolescence and parental monitoring.     

Continuity in Primary School Children’s Eating Problems and the Influence of Parental Feeding Strategies

Eating problems are highly prevalent and seem to show continuity in children. Nevertheless, the effect of different maternal and paternal feeding practices on changes in these problems is not fully understood yet. This study examines short-term continuity in primary school children’s overeating, loss of control (over eating), restraint and concerns (about eating, body shape and weight) and the predictive value of parental feeding strategies on change in these eating problems. Children (8–12 years, n = 613, 46.5 % girls) completed the Child Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (ChEDE-Q) twice with the second measurement (T2) taking place 6 months after the first (T1). Parents (n = 714, 57.7 % mothers) completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) at T1 to assess the level of controlling feeding strategies. More overeating, restraint and concerns at T1 predicted higher levels of the same eating problems 6 months later, whereas more of loss of control at T1 predicted lower levels of loss of control 6 months later. Additionally, the interaction between maternal pressure and the gender of the child was predictive for increases in overeating, whereas the interaction between paternal monitoring and gender of the child was a marginally significant predictor for decreases in overeating. These findings point to the possible negative and positive effects of parental feeding practices as well as to the possible larger influence of mothers on their daughters’ and of fathers on their sons’ eating behaviors. The importance of studying mothers and fathers, as well as daughters and sons, and of including different feeding strategies and eating problems is discussed.     

Collective Identity and Well-Being of Bulgarian Roma Adolescents and Their Mothers

In Europe and specifically in Bulgaria, Roma represent the largest indigenous ethnic minority exposed to severe discrimination, social exclusion, poverty, and compromised well-being. To improve their conditions, identifying sources of psychological well-being for Roma is theoretically relevant and practically important. This study investigated the relation between ethnic, familial, and religious identities as salient collective identity components for psychological well-being among 194 Roma adolescents (age: M = 16.11 years, SD = 1.36) and their mothers (age: M = 35.95 years, SD = 3.54). The results indicated that in line with marginalization models of acculturation, Roma youth and their mothers showed a low endorsement of both Bulgarian mainstream and Roma ethnic identity. The average scores of well-being were also low. For both groups, familial identity was stronger compared to Roma, Bulgarian, and religious identity. A path model showed that collective identity was a positive predictor of well-being in both adolescents and mothers and that the mothers’ collective identity was a predictor of adolescent well-being. Bulgarian mainstream identity had the strongest relationship with collective identity. It is concluded that, for Roma youth and their mothers, family is an important identity domain as it represents the most salient identification source that is not challenged in their environment.     

Cognitive Vulnerabilities to Depression for Adolescents in Single-Mother and Two-Parent Families

Although research consistently suggests that adolescents in single-mother families are at increased risk for depression, the mechanisms that explain this relationship are unclear. In a community sample of adolescents (N?=?368; ages 12–16; 50?% female; 50?% White) and their mothers (42?% single), adolescents completed measures of depressive symptoms, rumination, and depressogenic inferential style at baseline and two yearly follow-ups. Mothers reported on stressful events that occurred in the child’s life from birth until baseline. Adolescents raised by single mothers, relative to partnered mothers, experienced more childhood stressors and higher rumination levels at 1-year follow-up. Additionally, higher rumination mediated the relationship between single motherhood and greater youth depressive symptoms at the 2-year follow-up. Clinical implications and developmental considerations are discussed.