Geographic variations in cost of living: associations with family and child well-being.

The effects of geographic variations in cost of living and family income on children's academic achievement and social competence in first grade (mean age = 86.9 months) were examined, mediated through material hardship, parental investments, family stress, and school resources. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (N = 17,565), higher cost of living was associated with lower academic achievement. For poor children only, higher cost of living was also detrimental to parental investments and school resources. Parental investments and school resources were more strongly associated with achievement for lower income than higher income children. Results suggest that cost of living intersects with income in meaningful ways for family and child well-being and should be accounted for in the poverty measure.

The younger siblings of childbearing adolescents: parenting influences on their academic and social-emotional adjustment.

The younger siblings of childbearing adolescents have poorer school outcomes and exhibit more internalizing and externalizing problems compared to their peers without a childbearing sister. We test a model where living with an adolescent childbearing sister constitutes a major family stressor that disrupts mothers' parenting and well-being, and through which, adversely affect youths' adjustment. Data came from 243 Latino younger siblings (62% female, M age 13.7 years) and their mothers, 121 of whom lived with a childbearing adolescent sister and 122 of whom did not. Individual fixed-effects models controlled for earlier measures of each respective model construct, thereby reducing omitted variable bias from pre-existing group differences. Results show that, for boys, the relationship between living with a childbearing adolescent sister and youth outcomes was sequentially mediated through mothers' stress and parenting (i.e., monitoring and nurturance). For girls, however, the relationship was mediated through mothers' monitoring only. Findings elucidate the within-family processes that contribute to the problematic outcomes of youth living with childbearing adolescent older sisters.

Children's classroom engagement and school readiness gains in prekindergarten.

Child engagement in prekindergarten classrooms was examined using 2,751 children (mean age=4.62) enrolled in public prekindergarten programs that were part of the Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten and the State-Wide Early Education Programs Study. Latent class analysis was used to classify children into 4 profiles of classroom engagement: free play, individual instruction, group instruction, and scaffolded learning. Free play children exhibited smaller gains across the prekindergarten year on indicators of language/literacy and mathematics compared to other children. Individual instruction children made greater gains than other children on the Woodcock Johnson Applied Problems. Poor children in the individual instruction profile fared better than nonpoor children in that profile; in all other snapshot profiles, poor children fared worse than nonpoor children.

Stress in Latino families following an adolescent's childbearing: effects on family relationships and siblings.

This study examined how increased stress in Latino families following an adolescent's childbearing impacts family relationships and the adolescent's siblings. Participants were 243 Mexican American youth (mean age: 13.7 years; 62% girls), or 121 youth who had a pregnant adolescent sister and 122 youth who had an adolescent sister who had never been pregnant. Youth and their mothers were studied at 4 time points across 15 months: The families of pregnant adolescents were studied when the adolescent sister was in her third trimester of pregnancy, and at 2 months, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum; the families of never-pregnant adolescents were studied at like intervals. Individual fixed-effects structural equation models were computed, which control for earlier measures of study constructs and thereby reduce omitted variable bias from preexisting family group differences. Results showed that an adolescent's childbearing was related to increases in family stress, which were related to increases in mothers' harsh parenting and mother-sibling conflict, which, in turn, were related to subsequent increases in siblings' problem behavior. Multiple group analyses revealed that the pathways through which a teenager's childbearing influences siblings operate similarly for girls and boys. Tests of an alternate ordering of model variables indicated a poor fit with the data. Findings provide evidence that the accumulation of stressful family changes following an adolescent's childbearing can negatively impact siblings. Findings also elucidate how family-level stress and disruption experienced across a family transition trickle down to affect family relationships and, in turn, child family members.

Adolescents' Pregnancy Intentions, Wantedness, and Regret: Cross-Lagged Relations With Mental Health and Harsh Parenting.

The authors used cross-lagged analyses to examine the across-time influences on and consequences of adolescents' pregnancy intentions, wantedness, and regret. One hundred pregnant Latina adolescents were studied during pregnancy and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. The results revealed 4 main findings: (a) similar to what has been found in adult women, adolescents' lower prenatal pregnancy intendedness and wantedness predicted initial difficulties in parenting; (b) frequent depression symptoms predicted subsequent lower pregnancy intendedness and wantedness; (c) adolescents' poor mental health and harsh parenting of their child predicted subsequent higher childbearing regret, and (d) high childbearing regret and parenting stress were reciprocally related across time. In addition, adolescents' wantedness of their pregnancy declined prenatally to postbirth, and strong pregnancy intendedness and wantedness were not concurrently related to adolescents' poor prenatal mental health. The findings reveal how adolescents' thoughts and feelings about their pregnancies are influenced by and predictive of their mental health and parenting experiences.

Family dynamics across pregnant Latina adolescents' transition to parenthood.

Growth curve models were conducted on assessments of family functioning at four time points from the third-trimester of pregnancy through the first year postpartum for 96 Latino families in which an adolescent daughter was pregnant. Results indicated significant family-level change following an adolescent's childbearing, though there were notable differences between family members in their perceptions of family functioning. Family conflict, as perceived by parenting teens, increased in the latter half of the first year after an initial decline, and family companionship (as rated by mothers and siblings) decreased. Parenting adolescents and siblings perceived significant increases in family cohesion, whereas mothers perceived a significant decline. Unplanned pregnancies, family financial hardship, and expected stress predicted unfavorable family functioning at 1 year. Contrary to expectations, adolescents' greater prenatal efforts to prepare for parenting predicted subsequent family conflict and declines in family cohesion (particularly as rated by mothers). Family members' acculturation level and attitudes of familism, gender roles, and the status attained by parenthood also had predictive effects. Implications of study findings for family adjustment following an adolescent's childbearing are discussed.

Links between sisters' sexual and dating victimization: the roles of neighborhood crime and parental controls.

This study examined the extent to which a sister's prior sexual and dating victimization is a risk factor for young women being similarly victimized and the possible factors underlying a co-occurrence. The sample involved 122 young adult Latina or African American sister pairs (244 women; ages 16-25) who resided in low-income, urban neighborhoods. Results indicated that women whose sisters had been victimized had increased risk of victimization even after controlling for neighborhood crime, parental controls, age and race-ethnicity (odds ratios were 4.0 for unwanted touching, 6.2 for a forced sex act, and 16.7 for dating violence). In high-crime neighborhoods, the presence of two adult parent figures in the home was associated with women's reduced likelihood of unwanted touching, and mothers' high monitoring during adolescence was associated with women's lower risk of dating aggression. Survival analysis results showed that the risk period of a second sister being victimized lasts between 7 and 10 years after a first sister's victimization. The prevention implications of study findings are discussed.