How our longitudinal employment patterns might shape our health as we approach middle adulthood-US NLSY79 cohort.

Recent labor market transformations brought on by digital and technological advances, together with the rise of the service economy since the 1980s, have subjected more workers to precarious conditions, such as irregular work hours and low or unpredictable wages, threatening their economic well-being and health. This study advances our understanding of the critical role employment plays in our health by examining how employment patterns throughout our working lives, based on work schedules, may shape our health at age 50, paying particular attention to the moderating role of social position. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (NLSY79), which has collected 30+ years of longitudinal information, was used to examine how employment patterns starting at ages 22 (n ≈ 7,336) might be associated with sleep hours and quality, physical and mental functions, and the likelihood of reporting poor health and depressive symptoms at age 50. Sequence analysis found five dominant employment patterns between ages 22 and 49: "mostly not working" (10%), "early standard hours before transitioning into mostly variable hours" (12%), "early standard hours before transitioning into volatile schedules" (early ST-volatile, 17%), "mostly standard hours with some variable hours" (35%), and "stable standard hours" (26%). The multiple regression analyses indicate that having the "early ST-volatile" schedule pattern between ages 22 and 49 was consistently, significantly associated with the poorest health, including the fewest hours of sleep per day, the lowest sleep quality, the lowest physical and mental functions, and the highest likelihood of reporting poor health and depressive symptoms at age 50. In addition, social position plays a significant role in these adverse health consequences. For example, whereas non-Hispanic White women reported the most hours of sleep and non-Hispanic Black men reported the fewest, the opposite was true for sleep quality. In addition, non-Hispanic Black men with less than a high school education had the highest likelihood of reporting poor health at age 50 if they engaged in an employment pattern of "early ST-volatile" between ages 22 and 49. In comparison, non-Hispanic White men with a college degree or above education had the lowest likelihood of reporting poor health if they engaged in an employment pattern of stable standard hours. This analysis underscores the critical role of employment patterns in shaping our daily routines, which matter to sleep and physical and mental health as we approach middle adulthood. Notably, the groups with relatively disadvantaged social positions are also likely to be subject to nonstandard work schedules, including non-Hispanic Blacks and people with low education; hence, they were more likely than others to shoulder the harmful links between nonstandard work schedules and sleep and health, worsening their probability of maintaining and nurturing their health as they approach middle adulthood.

Changing Employment and Work Schedule Patterns over the 30 Working Years-A Sequential Cluster Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: As labor markets have become increasingly volatile and precarious since 1980s, more workers are susceptible to working conditions such as unpredictable and unstable hours, threatening their economic security. However, our understanding of employment patterns regarding the changes in work schedules over our working lives has yet been established. This study builds our knowledge in this area by paying attention to how social positions may shape the specific work schedule patterns over our working lives. METHODS: We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (NLSY79) to examine our research questions. NLSY79 follows a nationally representative sample of United States men and women between the ages of 14 and 22 when first interviewed in 1979. The participants were then interviewed annually until 1994 and then biennially thereafter. We first conducted a sequence analysis to examine work schedule patterns between ages 22 and 53 (n = 7987). We then used a multinomial logit regression to examine the factors contributing to specific work schedule patterns, with attention to social position. RESULTS: Our sequence analysis results suggest five work schedule patterns during 31 years of adult life: working only standard hours (25%), mainly standard hours with some portions of nonstandard hours (38%), standard hours during early working years but transitioning to either largely variable or mainly evening or night hours (14% and 13%), and mostly not working (10%). Our multinomial logit analysis indicates that being non-Hispanic Black, having a high school degree or below, or having ever experienced poverty or welfare by age 23 were more likely to have a nonstandard work schedule pattern than their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis underscores the dynamic employment patterns over our working lives, with some groups more likely than others to be engaged in nonstandard or volatile work schedules. Importantly, the groups likely to be subject to nonstandard work schedules also tend to have relatively disadvantaged social positions, thus worsening their vulnerability in securing work characterized by stability and economic security.

Does internet access make a difference for older adults' cognition in urban China? The moderating role of living arrangements.

Since the mid-1990s, information technology, particularly the diffusion of the internet, has brought tremendous changes to communication and social participation for people in China, including older adults. At the same time, modernisation and urbanisation have transformed the way many people in China live. The traditional multigenerational household-older adults living with adult children and grandchildren-is giving way to other living arrangements, such as living alone or with a spouse only. Using wave 1 of the World Health Organization Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health collected between 2007 and 2010, we examined the extent to which home internet access might be associated with cognitive function in older adults aged 50 or over in urban China (N = 5,898), paying attention to the moderating role of living arrangements. We found that home internet access was associated with better cognitive function, and living arrangements played an essential role in such an association for different age groups. Specifically, older adults living alone benefited cognitively from internet access, particularly among those aged 50-64 and 65-74. Those living with a spouse only and those in two-generation households benefited cognitively from internet access, particularly among those aged 50-64 and 75+. Older adults age 75+ in skip-generation households benefited cognitively from internet access. Considering the trend of older adults living apart from their children, our research suggests that providing internet access to older adults in urban China, especially those living alone, could help protect their cognitive function.

Job precarity and economic prospects during the COVID-19 public health crisis.

OBJECTIVE: As labor markets in recent decades have become increasingly volatile and precarious, more workers are susceptible to working conditions threatening their economic security. COVID-19 has further laid bare such economic insecurity from holding a precarious job. We examined the association between precarious employment and the probability of losing income or a job during COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A multivariate regression analysis was conducted using a cross-sectional data set collected in May 2020 in the United States. RESULTS: Our results confirm a strong positive association between precarious employment and losing work or income. Specifically, holding part-time work in the service sector, and feeling disempowered in the workplace, receiving low material rewards, having few benefits, and experiencing obstacles in exercising rights all significantly doubled the probability of losing income or jobs. CONCLUSION: Our analysis underscores the increasing vulnerability faced by our workforce and how a public health crisis magnifies the dire consequences of a precarious job.

Who We Live With and How We Are Feeling: A Study of Household Living Arrangements and Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults in China.

Using a sample of Chinese adults over the age of 50 from wave 1 of the WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (n = 13,367), we investigated the relationship between living arrangements and subjective well-being (SWB) in regard to life satisfaction, happiness, and control. We also looked at the moderating role of resources, proxied by income and hukou status. Multivariate regression results indicate that living only with a spouse was significantly associated with better SWB. Multigenerational living arrangements may not always promote SWB, particularly when resources are constrained. Yet, results also underscore the importance of daughters and daughters-in-law in promoting SWB among older adults. Older adults in rural areas had better SWB, including greater life satisfaction if living with grandchildren only, compared to their urban peers living with a spouse only. Findings suggest that context matters in the association between living arrangements and older adults' SWB.

Childhood deprivation experience, family pathways, and socioemotional functioning.

Using the ECLS-K, a dataset following a nationally representative cohort of children from kindergarten through 8th grade in the United States (N ≈ 9,250), this study fills the following knowledge gaps. We captured childhood economic experiences by incorporating multiple forms of exposures to income-based deprivation-poverty depth (i.e., the severity of deprivation), spells (i.e., length of time in poverty), and income volatility (i.e., fluctuations in family income)-with a latent class analysis. We also examined how different patterns of economic experiences shaped adolescents' socioemotional functioning through family stress (parental depressive symptoms and punitive parenting) and family investment (provision of stimulating materials and parental school involvement) pathways via structural equation modeling. Our analysis indicated 6 classes of deprivation, and these deprivation patterns had both direct and indirect significant associations with children's locus of control and internalizing behaviors. Our structural equation modeling results further indicated that deprivation was associated with parental depressive symptoms, which were, in turn, associated with parents providing less cognitively stimulating materials to children and engaging less in children's school activities. These disadvantages were associated with unfavorable socioemotional functioning in 8th grade. The findings highlight the importance of family practitioners and psychologists recognizing and acting on the interconnections among deprivation, inequity, and child well-being. Our results also suggest considering variations in economic experiences and mechanisms when developing informed policies and programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

COVID-19 Interconnectedness: Health Inequity, the Climate Crisis, and Collective Trauma.

The COVID-19 pandemic brings to the forefront the complex interconnected dilemmas of globalization, health equity, economic security, environmental justice, and collective trauma, severely impacting the marginalized and people of color in the United States. This lack of access to and the quality of healthcare, affordable housing, and lack of financial resources also continue to have a more significant impact on documented and undocumented immigrants. This paper aims at examining these critical issues and developing a framework for family therapists to address these challenges by focusing on four interrelated dimensions: cultural values, social determinants of health, collective trauma, and the ethical and moral responsibility of family therapists. Given the fact that family therapists may unwittingly function as the best ally of an economic and political system that perpetuates institutionalized racism and class discrimination, we need to utilize a set of principles, values, and practices that are not just palliative or after the fact but bring forth into the psychotherapeutic and policy work a politics of care. Therefore, a strong call to promote and advocate for the broader continuum of health and critical thinking preparing professionals to meet the challenges of health equity, as well as economic and environmental justice, is needed. The issues discussed in this paper are specific to the United States despite their relevance to family therapy as a field. We are mindful not to generalize the United States' reality to the rest of the world, recognizing that issues discussed in this paper could potentially contribute to international discourse.

La pandemia de la COVID-19 ha puesto en primer plano los dilemas complejos e interconectados de la globalización, la equidad sanitaria, la seguridad económica, la justicia ambiental y el trauma colectivo, afectando gravemente a las personas marginadas y de color de los Estados Unidos. Esta falta de acceso a asistencia sanitaria de calidad, a viviendas asequibles, y la falta de recursos económicos también continúan teniendo un efecto más significativo en los inmigrantes documentados e indocumentados. Este artículo tiene como finalidad analizar estas cuestiones críticas y desarrollar un marco para que los terapeutas familiares aborden estas dificultades centrándose en cuatro dimensiones interrelacionadas: valores culturales, determinantes sociales de salud, trauma colectivo, y responsabilidad ética y moral de los terapeutas familiares. Teniendo en cuenta el hecho de que los terapeutas familiares pueden funcionar inconscientemente como los mejores aliados de un sistema económico y político que perpetúa el racismo institucionalizado y el clasismo, necesitamos utilizar un conjunto de principios, valores y prácticas que no sea solo paliativo o a posteriori, sino que genere en el trabajo político y psicoterapéutico una política de asistencia. Por lo tanto, es necesario un reclamo firme de promover y abogar por un continuo más amplio de la salud y un pensamiento crítico que prepare a los profesionales para responder a las dificultades de la equidad sanitaria, así como de la justicia económica y ambiental, si fuera necesario. Las cuestiones tratadas en este artículo son específicas de los Estados Unidos a pesar de su relevancia para la terapia familiar como área. Somos conscientes de no generalizar la realidad de los Estados Unidos para el resto del mundo, y reconocemos que las cuestiones tratadas en este artículo podrían contribuir al discurso internacional.

Uncovering Multidimensional Poverty Experiences in Shaping Children's Socioemotional Trajectories during the First 6 Years of Schooling.

The extant literature has attested to the importance of poverty on child well-being generally using a unidimensional approach. Researchers have yet to establish solid evidence on how multiple dimensions of poverty (e.g., depth, volatility, and spells of exposure) might be associated with children's socioemotional well-being during their early school years. Building upon Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory, this study used latent class analysis to identify poverty patterns by incorporating multiple dimensions of poverty and investigated the relationship between multidimensional poverty patterns and children's socioemotional trajectories from kindergarten through fifth grade. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K), a longitudinal dataset featuring a nationally representative cohort of children in the United States (N ≈ 20,090), the analysis identified seven poverty groups. Each group exhibited a unique poverty or economic pattern that incorporates the three poverty dimensions. Growth-curve results indicate that multidimensional poverty patterns were significantly associated with externalizing and internalizing behaviors both at kindergarten and over time by fifth grade. Children with the acutest form of economic deprivation-extreme poverty, volatile income, and multiple spells of poverty exposure-were reported to have the worst outcomes. The significant variations in children's socioemotional trajectories due to different poverty patterns highlight the importance of poverty reduction and prevention strategies corresponding to those patterns for optimal effect. This study suggests a focus not just on helping families exit poverty temporarily, but on improving their economic security as a way to nurture children's socioemotional well-being.

La bibliografía existente ha avalado la importancia de la pobreza en el bienestar de los niños, generalmente usando un enfoque unidimensional. Los investigadores aun tienen que demostrar con pruebas sólidas cómo las múltiples dimensiones de la pobreza (p. ej.: la profundidad, la volatilidad y los periodos de exposición) podrían estar asociadas con el bienestar socioemocional de los niños durante sus primeros años de escolarización. Basándose en la teoría bioecológica de sistemas de Bronfenbrenner, este estudio utilizó el análisis de clases latentes para identificar patrones de pobreza incorporando varias dimensiones de pobreza e investigó la relación entre los patrones multidimensionales de pobreza y las trayectorias socioemocionales de los niños desde el jardín de infantes hasta quinto grado. Utilizando el Estudio longitudinal de la primera infancia, promoción de jardín de infantes de 1998-99 (ECLS-K), un conjunto de datos longitudinales que presenta una cohorte de niños de los Estados Unidos representativa a nivel nacional (N ≈ 20,090), el análisis identificó siete grupos de pobreza. Cada grupo expuso un patrón económico o de pobreza único que incorporó las tres dimensiones de pobreza. Los resultados de la curva de crecimiento indican que los patrones multidimensionales de pobreza estuvieron asociados significativamente con conductas exteriorizadas e interiorizadas tanto en el jardín de infantes como en transcurso del tiempo hasta quinto grado. Se informó que los niños con la forma más aguda de privación económica-pobreza extrema, ingresos volátiles y varios periodos de exposición a la pobreza-tuvieron los peores resultados. Las variaciones significativas en las trayectorias socioemocionales de los niños debido a diferentes patrones de pobreza destacan la importancia de la reducción de la pobreza y de las estrategias de prevención correspondientes a esos patrones para lograr un efecto óptimo. Este estudio sugiere enfocarse no solo en ayudar a las familias a salir de la pobreza temporariamente, sino en mejorar su seguridad económica como forma de promover el bienestar socioemocional de los niños.

One Roof, Three Generations: Grandparental Co-residence and Child Outcomes in China.

This study examined the association between grandparental co-residence and child academic and behavioral outcomes using a sample from Shanghai, China (n = 1,763), and was built on two theoretical perspectives: intergenerational solidarity theory and the contextual model of family stress. These models integrate the impact of residential and relational proximity to grandparents on child well-being and underscore the importance of family context. This study also explored the moderating effects of family resources using proxies that prior theoretical and empirical studies have found to be important to such associations: family income, parental education, hukou status, and subjective social status. Results indicated that among families without co-residing grandparents, rural and low-income parents reported their children to have more externalizing behavioral issues than their respective urban and non-low-income counterparts. In addition, children who resided in poorly resourced families (i.e., low family income, low parental education, low subjective social status, or rural hukou status) tended to benefit from living with grandparents compared to their well-resourced counterparts in terms of lower externalizing and internalizing behaviors reported by teachers. These results do not negate the potential beneficial effects of living with grandparents for children in well-resourced environments. Implications for practice and policy, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Este estudio analizó la asociación entre la convivencia con los abuelos y los resultados académicos y conductuales de los niños utilizando una muestra de Shanghái, China (n = 1,763) y se basó en dos perspectivas teóricas: la teoría de la solidaridad intergeneracional y el modelo contextual de estrés familiar. Estos modelos integran el efecto que tiene la proximidad residencial y relacional a los abuelos en el bienestar de los niños y subrayan la importancia del contexto familiar. Este estudio también analizó los efectos moderadores de los recursos familiares usando variables cuya importancia para dichas asociaciones ha sido comprobada por estudios teóricos y empíricos previos: ingresos familiares, educación de los padres, estado en el sistema de registro de hogares (hukou) y estatus social subjetivo. Los resultados indicaron que entre las familias sin abuelos convivientes, los padres de bajos recursos y de áreas rurales informaron que sus hijos tenían más problemas de conducta externalizante que sus respectivos pares de zonas urbanas que no eran de bajos recursos. Además, los niños que vivían en familias de escasos recursos (p. ej.: bajos ingresos familiares, bajo nivel educativo de los padres, bajo estatus social subjetivo, o estado en el sistema de registro de hogares rurales) tendieron a beneficiarse de vivir con los abuelos en comparación con sus pares de altos recursos en cuanto a menos comportamientos externalizantes e internalizantes informados por los maestros. Estos resultados no niegan los posibles efectos beneficiosos de vivir con los abuelos en el caso de los niños de entornos de altos recursos. Se debatieron las implicancias para la práctica y las políticas así como las futuras direcciones de las investigaciones.

Child Overweight and Obesity in Shanghai, China: Contextualizing Chinese Socioeconomic and Gender Differences.

PURPOSE: Childhood overweight and obesity is on the rise in China and in Chinese cities in particular. The aim of this study is to explore the extent of income differences in childhood overweight in Shanghai, China, and examine demographic, social, and behavioral explanations for these differences. METHODS: Using the 2014 Child Well-Being Study of Shanghai, China-a survey that included extensive contextual information on children and their families in China's most populous city, prevalence rates and adjusted odds ratios of child overweight and obesity at age 7 were calculated by income tercile controlling for a wide variety of sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: District aggregate income increases the odds of child overweight/obesity, but only for boys. In contrast, rural hukou status was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity for girls. CONCLUSIONS: Boys at age 7 are more likely to be overweight and obese than girls. District income further increases this likelihood for boys, while rural hukou status decreases this likelihood for girls, suggesting that preferences for boys and thinness ideals for girls may play a role in the income patterning of childhood overweight and obesity.

Poverty Dynamics and Academic Trajectories of Children of Immigrants.

Using Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K), we investigated the relationship between poverty and academic trajectories for children in immigrant families in the United States. We used family socioeconomic status (SES) which considers parental education, parental occupation, and family income to define poverty in correspondence with the U.S. federal poverty threshold. Three dimensions of poverty were examined including depth (i.e., not-poor, near-poor, poor or extreme poor), stability (i.e., continuously or intermittently), and duration (i.e., for how many times in poverty). Our results indicated that living in poverty, particularly when it was extreme, volatile, and for long spell could compromise children's reading and math achievements during the first nine schooling years. Children of immigrants were doing as well as, if not better than, children of native-borns in certain areas (i.e., math) or in facing of certain pattern of poverty (i.e., long-spell). However, deep poverty and volatile changes in family SES could compromise academic achievements for children of immigrants throughout their first nine years of schooling, a period holds important key to their future success. Implications to practice and policy as well as future directions were discussed.

Women's Short-Term Employment Trajectories Following Birth: Patterns, Determinants, and Variations by Race/Ethnicity and Nativity.

Despite a large literature documenting the impact of childbearing on women's wages, less understanding exists of the actual employment trajectories that mothers take and the circumstances surrounding different paths. We use sequence analysis to chart the entire employment trajectory for a diverse sample of U.S. women by race/ethnicity and nativity in the first year following childbirth. Using data from the 1996-2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation and sample selection models, we find that women employed before childbirth show a high degree of labor market continuity. However, a notable share of them (24 %) took less stable paths by dropping out or scaling back work. In addition, mothers' attachment to the labor force is simultaneously supported by personal endowments and family resources yet constrained by economic hardship and job characteristics. Moreover, mothers' employment patterns differ by race/ethnicity and nativity. Nonwhite women (blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) who were employed before childbirth exhibited greater labor market continuation than white women. For immigrant women, those with a shorter length of residence were more likely to curtail employment than native-born women, but those with longer duration of residence show greater labor force attachment. We discuss the implications of these findings for income inequality and public policy.

Shanghai: Front-Runner of Community-Based Eldercare in China.

Facing dramatic growth in its elderly population, Shanghai, China's economic center, has strategically exercised decentralized policy-making power to develop community-based service centers for the elderly. A growing number of elders have been using such services, particular dining services, since 2007. We discuss the evolution in community-based eldercare services in Shanghai, using dining services as an example. We also compare these service centers in Shanghai to multipurpose senior centers in the United States to offer policy recommendations for Shanghai and China's growing eldercare industry. Tailored policy recommendations are discussed.

Household income and preschool attendance in china.

This article draws upon the literature showing the benefits of high-quality preschools on child well-being to explore the role of household income on preschool attendance for a cohort of 3- to 6-year-olds in China using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, 1991-2006. Analyses are conducted separately for rural (N = 1,791) and urban (N = 633) settings. Estimates from a probit model with rich controls suggest a positive association between household income per capita and preschool attendance in both settings. A household fixed-effects model, conducted only on the rural sample, finds results similar to, although smaller than, those from the probit estimates. Policy recommendations are discussed.

Trajectory of physical health, cognitive status, and psychological well-being among Chinese elderly.

This study investigates the trajectory of various dimensions of health status among the Chinese elderly in their late years. We used growth-curve analyses on a subsample (n≈2000) of the elderly from the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Survey (CLHLS) who had longitudinal information from 1998 to 2005. Analyses controlled for a large set of individual and family characteristics. Our findings indicate that elderly who had relatively advantaged childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and who regularly engaged in physical and/or leisure activities had significantly healthier well-being than their respective counterparts on all dimensions considered. In addition, regularly participating in physical and/or leisure activities was associated with slow deterioration of health well-being among the Chinese elderly. The results indicate the potential benefits of engaging in physical and/or leisure activities, and consequently, the importance of implementing programs that promote such activities among elders in China.

Is Participation in Head Start Associated with Less Maternal Spanking for Boys and Girls?

Head Start includes family-oriented services to enhance parent-child relationships, but little is known about the effect of Head Start on parenting practices. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 7,000), we examined whether participation in Head Start was associated with maternal spanking, with particular attention to whether the association differed by child gender. We found that Head Start participation was associated with lower likelihood that mothers spanked their child in the past week at both preschool and kindergarten entry as well as lower likelihood that mothers would use spanking in a hypothetical situation, among boys but not girls. These beneficial effects of Head Start participation on mothers' use of spanking among boys were not reduced by additionally including maternal depression and child behavior problems.

Child care subsidies and the school readiness of children of immigrants.

This study is the first to test whether receipt of a federal child care subsidy is associated with children of immigrants' school readiness skills. Using nationally representative data (n ≈ 2,900), this study estimates the associations between subsidy receipt at age 4 and kindergarten cognitive and social outcomes, for children of immigrant versus native-born parents. Among children of immigrants, subsidized center-based care (vs. subsidized and unsubsidized home-based care) was positively linked with reading. Among children of native-born parents, those in subsidized center care displayed poorer math skills than those in unsubsidized centers, and more externalizing problems than those in unsubsidized home-based care.

Fathers' Leave and Fathers' Involvement: Evidence from Four OECD Countries.

In recent years, several OECD countries have taken steps to promote policies encouraging fathers to spend more time caring for young children, thereby promoting a more gender equal division of care work. Evidence, mainly for the United States and United Kingdom, has shown fathers taking some time off work around childbirth are more likely to be involved in childcare related activities than fathers who do not take time off. This paper conducts a first cross-national analysis on the association between fathers' leave taking and fathers' involvement when children are young. It uses birth cohort data of children born around 2000 from four OECD countries: Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States. Results show that the majority of fathers take time off around childbirth independent of the leave policies in place. In all countries, except Denmark, important socio-economic differences between fathers who take leave and those who do not are observed. In addition, fathers who take leave, especially those taking two weeks or more, are more likely to carry out childcare related activities when children are young. This study adds to the evidence that suggests that parental leave for fathers is positively associated with subsequent paternal involvement.

Head start participation and school readiness: evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort.

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 6,950), a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001, we examined school readiness (academic skills and socioemotional well-being) at kindergarten entry for children who attended Head Start compared with those who experienced other types of child care (prekindergarten, other center-based care, other nonparental care, or parental care). Using propensity score matching methods and ordinary least squares regressions with rich controls, we found that Head Start participants had higher early reading and math scores than children in other nonparental care or parental care but also higher levels of conduct problems than those in parental care. Head Start participants had lower early reading scores compared with children in prekindergarten and had no differences in any outcomes compared with children in other center-based care. Head Start benefits were more pronounced for children who had low initial cognitive ability or parents with low levels of education or who attended Head Start for more than 20 hr per week.

Parents' nonstandard work schedules and child well-being: a critical review of the literature.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of empirical evidence linking parental nonstandard work schedules to four main child developmental outcomes: internalizing and externalizing problems, cognitive development, and body mass index. We evaluated the studies based on theory and methodological rigor (longitudinal data, representative samples, consideration of selection and information bias, confounders, moderators, and mediators). Of 23 studies published between 1980 and 2012 that met the selection criteria, 21 reported significant associations between nonstandard work schedules and an adverse child developmental outcome. The associations were partially mediated through parental depressive symptoms, low quality parenting, reduced parent-child interaction and closeness, and a less supportive home environment. These associations were more pronounced in disadvantaged families and when parents worked such schedules full time. We discuss the nuance, strengths, and limitations of the existing studies, and propose recommendations for future research.