1-138 - Understanding the Role of Parenting in Early Childhood Among Low-Income Families in U.S. and Global Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A large body of research documents the important role that parents play in children’s development, particularly in the early years of life (e.g., Maccoby, 1992). Parenting is related to and influenced by the social, cultural and economic contexts in which families are embedded, and it is critical to acknowledge these contexts when examining the relationships between parenting practices and child development. Yet relatively little is known about these relationships within low-income families, including immigrant groups in U.S. and developing countries. This symposium presents three papers that employ new models to empirically examine the role of parenting on early childhood development, accounting for multiple contexts that relate to parenting while exploring various domains of parenting and child outcomes in diverse populations. The first paper examines the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), parenting and young children’s behavior problems in Brazilian families. The second paper uses a U.S.-based sample predominantly composed of low-income, first-generation immigrant parents and examines whether parents’ employment quality is linked to the quality of parent-child literacy interactions at home and children’s early language development. The third paper uses the U.S.-based, nationally representative Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) and employs classroom fixed-effects to explore the role of parenting on children’s outcomes among low-income families after the child’s first year in Head Start preschool. Together, these papers provide evidence for the relationship between parenting and early childhood development within low-income, diverse, U.S. and internationally-based populations, as well as highlight the importance in examining socioeconomic and preschool-related contexts on these relationships.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Dana Charles McCoy, Harvard University

Discussant

• Elizabeth Gershoff, University of Texas at Austin

Individual Presentations

• Examining the Relationships Between Parenting Practices, Socioeconomic Status, and Child Behavior in Brazil - Presenting Author: Elisa Rachel Pisani Altafim, University of São Paulo; Dana Charles McCoy, Harvard University; Beatriz Linhares, University Sao Paulo

• Influences of Low-Wage Jobs on Parenting Quality and Early Language Development Among Children of Ethnically Diverse Families - Presenting Author: Soojin Oh Park, University of Washington College of Education; Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

• Above and Beyond the Head Start Classroom: The Relationship Between Parenting Practices and Low-Income Children’s Development - Presenting Author: Emily Ross, Northwestern University; Terri Sabol, Northwestern University; Lindsey Chase-Lansdale, Northwestern University