Poster #98 - Similarities and Differences Between Spanish-Speaking and English-Speaking Mothers on Measures of Well-Being and Parenting Skills

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Family Context & Processes

Integrative Statement

A body of literature has established the strong contribution of maternal well-being and parenting skills to positive psychosocial outcomes among children and youth (Maggi et al., 2010). However, maternal well-being and parenting skills might be compromised by living in conditions of poverty (Yoshikawa et al., 2012). To date, most of the literature on maternal well-being and parenting skills among low-income mothers has come from studies comprised almost exclusively of English-speaking samples. Therefore, knowledge about the maternal well-being and parenting skills of low-income, immigrant Spanish-speaking mothers who are parenting young children in the United States is still limited.

The present study used baseline data from the Spanish-language implementation of the parenting program Legacy for ChildrenTM (Perou et al., 2012) to accomplish two objectives: 1) to compare levels of maternal well-being between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking low-income mothers of young children; 2) to examine the contribution of maternal well-being to parenting skills among low-income primarily Spanish-speaking and English-speaking mothers.

At baseline, the mothers (Spanish-speaking n = 59; English-speaking n = 70; age range = 18 to 45, mean age = 28.02, SD = 5.94) all had at least one child under three months of age, and all families were WIC eligible. The Spanish-speaking mothers were born in Mexico or Central America, whereas all English-speaking mothers were born in the United States and identified themselves as non-Hispanic. Participants self-reported on measures of parenting self-efficacy, responsive parenting, executive function, depressive symptoms, and perceived social support. Spanish-speaking mothers also completed measures of acculturation and enculturation.

Compared with English-speaking mothers, Spanish-speaking mothers reported significantly lower levels of parenting self-efficacy, responsive parenting, and perceived social support. Conversely, Spanish-speaking mothers scored significantly higher on executive function. No group differences were found regarding levels of depressive symptoms. Notably, among Spanish-speaking mothers, higher levels of acculturation, but not enculturation, were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. After correlation analyses were conducted, two sets of linear regression analyses examined the unique contribution of maternal well-being variables to parenting self-efficacy and responsive parenting, respectively.

The first analysis showed perceived support as the only variable associated with responsive parenting, while controlling for parenting self-efficacy and native language. The second analysis indicated that higher levels of executive function, lower levels of depressive symptoms, and being a native English speaker were associated with higher levels of parenting self-efficacy; interestingly, social support was not associated with parenting self-efficacy.

Taken together, the findings suggest that although native Spanish-speaking mothers might show fair levels of executive function, the limited English proficiency that is generally associated with speaking primarily Spanish in the U.S., might be hindering their sense of parenting self-efficacy. Moreover, the lower levels of social support reported by the Spanish-speaking mothers in the sample seem to contribute to lower levels of reported responsive parenting among them. This study suggests that immigrant Spanish-speaking mothers of young children might benefit distinctly from parenting programs, such as Legacy for Children TM, designed to foster parenting self-efficacy and enhance social support among participants.

Authors

• Jens Erik Jespersen, Oklahoma State University
  Presenting Author

• Martha I. Zapata, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kelly Titchener-Stiller, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amy E Treat, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mallory Branch, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rashmi Singh, Oklahoma state university
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jane F. Silovsky, University of Oklahoma
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lana Beasley, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Sheffield Morris, Oklahoma State University
  Non-Presenting Author