Does adding parent education and workforce training to Head Start promote or interfere with children's development?

This study explores the effects of the two-generation program CareerAdvance-which combines education and training for parents in healthcare with Head Start for children-on children's academic, language, mathematics, and inhibitory control followed for 3 years. The sample (collected in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 2011 to 2018) includes 147 children in the CareerAdvance group and 139 children in a matched comparison group (n = 286; 40% Black, 17%, White, 10% Hispanic, 33% Mixed Race, or Other Race; M = 3.6 years old; 47% female). Overall, the effect of CareerAdvance on child outcomes is neither greater nor less than Head Start alone. These findings suggest that children's developmental outcomes do not worsen or improve in the short term when their parents return to school.

Under my skin: Parenting behavior and children's cortisol in the Los Angeles family and neighborhood survey.

This study examined links between aspects of parenting behavior and children's cortisol and whether those links varied by child behavioral problems and ethnicity. Participants included children ages 9-15 (N = 159, 75% Latinx) and their primary caregivers from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS; Wave 2). Children provided saliva upon waking, 30 min after waking, and at bedtime which was analyzed for cortisol. Analyses revealed associations between parenting behavior and cortisol were greater among children who had behavioral problems and these associations were stronger among non-Latinx White children compared to Latinx children. This study moves beyond the current literature by investigating these important associations in a predominately Latinx urban sample of children.

Improving the education and wellbeing of student parents.

Student parents, who make up approximately four million US undergraduates, are highly motivated to succeed in school but often face barriers to educational success due to logistical and financial constraints as well as mental health stressors. This randomized control trial examined the effectiveness of an education program centered in an adult workforce agency that was specifically designed to meet the needs of student parents and their families. Family-centered supportive services included coordinated parent-child schedules and childcare in addition to peer cohorts led by coaches, tuition-free courses, and additional financial assistance. Two hundred seventy-seven parents responded to online survey questions about their education and career, wellbeing, and parenting at baseline and approximately 1 year later (treatment n = 191, control n = 86). The racially and ethnically diverse pool of parents consisted mostly of low-income mothers aged 29 years on average who had a high school diploma or completed a General Educational Development (GED) program. After 1 year, parents in the education program were more likely to obtain at least a certificate or associate degree compared to control parents. These findings suggest that a family-focused approach is key to improving the educational success of student parents.

Daily Social Interactions and the Biological Stress Response: Are There Age Differences in Links Between Social Interactions and Alpha-Amylase?

Background and Objectives: According to the strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) model, older people are better able to avoid negative social interactions than younger people, but when they do experience negative interactions, they are equally or more emotionally and physiologically reactive than younger people. Less is known about the links between daily negative and positive social encounters and the sympathetic adrenal medullary system (a key stress pathway) and whether there are age differences in these links. This study considers whether negative and positive social interactions are associated with diurnal alpha-amylase (a measure of the sympathetic adrenal medullary system) and whether there are differences in these links by age. Research Design and Methods: Participants were from the Daily Health, Stress, and Relationship Study, which includes a random sample of 89 individuals (aged 40-95) who completed 14 days of daily diary interviews and provided saliva samples four times a day (wake, 30 min after wake, lunch, and bedtime) for four of those days that were assayed for alpha-amylase. Results: Days in which people reported more negative interactions were associated with flatter morning declines in alpha-amylase, indicating greater stress. Links between positive interactions and diurnal alpha-amylase varied by age group. Discussion and Implications: Findings are consistent with the SAVI model indicating that older adults respond differently to social stimuli than younger people.

Intergenerational ambivalence in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for depressive symptoms over time.

The parent-child relationship is often characterized by ambivalence, defined as the simultaneous experience of positive and negative relationship quality. This study examines reports of intergenerational ambivalence in 3 developmental periods: adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood, as well as its implications for depressive symptoms over a 12-year period. Participants ages 13 to 29 (n = 255) were interviewed in 1992 and again in 2005 at ages 25 to 41 (n = 186). Results indicate that offspring's reports of intergenerational ambivalence decreased over time. Greater ambivalence toward mothers predicted increased depressive symptoms over time while greater ambivalence toward fathers predicted decreased depressive symptoms over time. These results suggest that depressive symptoms in adulthood are vulnerable to the quality of the parent-child relationship earlier in the life course. (PsycINFO Database Record

Intergenerational relationship quality across three generations.

OBJECTIVES: Studies of intergenerational relationship quality often include one or two generations. This study examined within-family differences and similarities or transmission of positive and negative relationship quality across three generations. METHOD: Participants included 633 middle-aged individuals (G2; 52% women, ages 40-60 years), 592 of their offspring (G3; 53% daughters; ages 18-41 years), and 337 of their parents (i.e., grandparents; G1; 69% women; ages 59-96 years). RESULTS: Multilevel models revealed differences and similarities in relationship quality across generations. The oldest generation (G1) reported greater positive and less negative quality relationships than the middle (G2) and the younger (G3) generations. There was limited evidence of transmission. Middle-aged respondents who reported more positive and less negative ties with their parents (G1) reported more positive and less negative ties with their own children (G3). Grandmother (G1) reports of more positive relationship quality were associated with G3 reports of more positive relationship quality with G2. DISCUSSION: Findings are consistent with the intergenerational stake hypothesis and only partially consistent with the theory of intergenerational transmission. Overall, this study suggests that there is greater within-family variability than similarities in how family members feel about one another.