African-American Mothers' Community Social Capital and Parenting Quality (original) (raw)
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Residential stability, social capital and parenting quality among African-American mothers
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Predictors of parenting among african american single mothers
Guided by family stress theory, relations among neighborhood stress, maternal psychological functioning, and parenting were examined among 123 low-income, urban-dwelling, African American single mothers. Using a longitudinal design, structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that neighborhood stress results in poorer parenting over time through its detrimental effect on maternal psychological functioning. Social support from family and friends was examined as a potential moderator of the association between neighborhood stress and parenting behavior. Results indicated that higher levels of neighborhood stress were related to greater psychological distress among mothers, which in turn, was significantly related to less engagement in positive parenting practices approximately 15 months later. A moderating effect emerged for social support, however, such that the proposed model provided a better fit for mothers reporting low levels of perceived social support than for mothers reporting high levels. Implications of the findings for prevention and intervention are discussed.
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This secondary analysis explored how social support changed during the first 6 months postpartum and examined the relationships among social support, parenting competence, and parenting role satisfaction. Single, low-income, adolescent, new mothers ( N = 34) completed measures of perceived parenting competence, parenting role satisfaction, and four types of received social support (emotional, informational, tangible, problematic) from the entire social network at 1 week, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum. Results indicated that social support did not change over time. Emotional, informational, and tangible social support were significantly correlated, concurrently and predictively, with perceived competence and satisfaction at most data collection points. Future social support intervention studies using social support as a modifiable variable with this high-risk group of African American adolescent new mothers are advocated. Health care professionals are encouraged to exami...
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In this article, we examine the social networks of low-income mothers, using a conceptual framework that differentiates social networks that offer support from those that yield leverage. This ethnographic analysis pays particular attention to how respondents generate social capital to obtain resources for survival and social mobility. Respondents identi ed at least three issues beyond resource constraints that work alone or in combination to positively or negatively in uence their use of family as sources of social support: physical proximity, reciprocity, and family tensions. We also explore the conditions under which respondents generate social support through friendships and non-pro t institutions. We nd that social capital that improves opportunities for upward mobility can be obtained from relationships that provide advice, contacts, and encouragement to get ahead. We also nd that social support and social leverage networks can work in tandem or in tension to allow (or preclude) day-to-day survival and mobility. Social support networks can inhibit social mobility by enforcing timeconsuming and professionally limiting expectations on women. The size and heterogeneity of the network becomes important in such instances.
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This study examined the relations between family demographics and positive parenting dimensions among urban-residing, low-income, Black caregiving dyads. Participants were 100 co-caregivers affiliated with a Head Start program and reporting on 50 preschool-aged children. Given that the parenting context for the caregiver pairs was not independent, multilevel dyadic analysis was employed to determine demographic predictors of positive parenting dimensions as measured by the emically derived Black Parenting Strengths in Context scale. Findings illuminated associations between combinations of adult/child characteristics (e.g., nativity, parental employment status, child gender) and the five dimensions of positive parenting measured (i.e., Fostering Connectedness; Racial and Cultural Pride; Involvement at School; Religious and Spiritual Practices; Behavioral Responsiveness and Guidance). Findings suggest implications for future research and theory involving Black family life-specifically the need to examine parenting by considering the combined effects of
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The effects of community characteristics on well-being were examined among 709 African American women. Direct and moderating effects of neighborhood characteristics on distress were tested. Aggregate-level ratings of neighborhood cohesion and disorder were significantly related to distress, although the relation between cohesion and distress became nonsignificant when individual risk factors were statistically controlled. Aggregate-level neighborhood variables interacted significantly with individual risk and resource variables in the prediction of distress, consistent with trait-situation interaction theories (D. Magnusson & N. S. Endler, 1977). Community cohesion intensified the benefits of a positive life outlook. Community disorder intensified both the benefits of personal resources and the detrimental effects of personal risk factors. Results showed evidence of resilience among African American women. Characteristics of the neighborhoods in which people live profoundly affect their daily lives. Neighborhood contexts influence exposure to victimization, the availability of positive and negative role models, the ease with which relationships are formed, and a variety of emotions, attitudes, and behavioral responses that derive from the objective characteristics of people's surroundings (Aneshensel & Sucoff, 1996;Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). Neighborhood context is believed to affect the course of development, including mental health (Bronfenbrenner, 1986;Jessor, 1992,1993). However, to date relatively little research on mental health has been conducted from a contextual or ecological perspective. Considerably more work has been done on the effects of community context on delinquency, crime, physical health, and parenting practices (e.g.
Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) raised interest in the possibility of profound, second-order change in the structure of services and the community impact of service organizations operating at the neighborhood level. But to what degree do the presence, character, and interactivity of community groups affect neighborhood change? How do these aspects of Civic Infrastructure compare with Sociocultural Ties -the bonds and behaviors comprising the other key category of neighborhood social capital -in their relationship to neighborhood improvement?
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Using longitudinal data from the Woodlawn Project (N=680), this study examined how patterns of living arrangements among a community cohort of African American mothers were associated with later physical and emotional health. We identified eight patterns of stability and transition in living arrangements during the childrearing years. Health outcomes include SF-36 Physical Functioning, SF-36 Bodily Pain, depressed mood, and anxious mood. Specific patterns of living arrangements were related to later health, controlling for age, earlier health, education, and poverty. Poverty explained many, but not all, of the relationships between living arrangements and health. Findings underscored the benefits of social support and social integration and highlighted the negative effects of marital dissolution on health.
Social Support and Parenting in Poor, Dangerous Neighborhoods
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This study investigated how stressful environmental conditions influence the relation between mothers' social support and parenting strategies, utilizing interview data from a sample of 262 poor, African American single mothers and their seventh-and eighth-grade children, as well as objective data about respondents' neighborhoods. In general, the results indicated that neighborhood conditions moderate the relation between social support and parenting behaviors. Specifically, as neighborhood conditions worsened, the positive relation between emotional support and mothers' nurturant parenting was weakened. In a similar fashion, the negative relation between instrumental social support and punishment was stronger in better neighborhoods. As the surrounding environments became poorer and more dangerous, the relation between greater instrumental support and a lower reliance on punishment was weakened. Thus, on the whole, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the positive influences of social support on parenting behavior were strained and attenuated in poorer, high-crime environments.