RESUMEN
The goal of this study is to examine associations among family and child protective factors, maternal and paternal levels of distress, and children's social competence in a sample of 156 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse first-time mothers, fathers, and their children, followed from 9 months to 30 months of age. Using multiple linear regression modeling, our results indicate that dyadic synchrony and children's positive temperament during infancy are significantly associated with fewer behavior problems and paternal optimism with high levels of social competence at 21 months (main effects). Father optimism and child positive temperament are only significantly related to higher levels of social competence and fewer behavioral problems, respectively, in the context of low levels of paternal distress (interaction effects). These results suggest that in our sample maternal dyadic synchrony operates in the same way across levels of maternal distress as it relates to children's behavior problems, with the exception of paternal optimism and children's positive temperament. Results also suggest that protective factors are different for mothers, fathers, and children.
RESUMEN
To understand the developmental outcomes of Latinx children growing up poor in the United States, we examine how socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnic minority status jointly condition the development of Latinx children in the United States. To address these gaps, in this chapter we first present a brief demographic profile of Latinx in the United States to contextualize the later theoretical and empirical discussions. We then review theoretical frameworks that explain SES differences in Latinx home environments and examine how they have been used to explain disparities in Latinx children's outcomes. Third, we describe the current research on the early home environments of Latinx children of varying levels of parental SES. Fourth, we review the literature on Latinx children's inequalities noting the scarcity of research that compares Latinx to White children or Latinx to Black children compared to the studies that focus on the White-Black academic gap. Finally, we conclude by summarizing state of knowledge and offering suggestions for future directions. We focus on young children (0-8) due to space limitations but also because the early childhood period is foundational to later development and is where the effects of poverty most likely to have enduring effects.
