Caring for Whole Families: Relationships Between Providers and Families During Infancy and Toddlerhood.

Caring relationships among families and providers are at the heart of high-quality early care and education (ECE). This study examines relationships between parents and providers in a nationally representative sample of infants and toddlers and their families ( = 527) enrolled in the two-generation Early Head Start (EHS) program in the U.S.

Impacts of Publicly Funded Health Insurance for Adults on Children's Academic Achievement.

Empirical evidence demonstrates that publicly funded adult health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has had positive effects on low-income adults. We examine whether the ACA's Medicaid expansions influenced child development and family functioning in low-income households. We use a difference-in-differences framework exploiting cross-state policy variation and focusing on children in low-income families from a nationally representative, longitudinal sample followed from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Better Late Than Never: Effects of Late ACA Medicaid Expansions for Parents on Family Health-Related Financial Well-Being.

Public health insurance eligibility for low-income adults has improved adult economic well-being. But whether parental public health insurance eligibility has spillover effects on children's health insurance coverage and family health-related financial well-being is less understood. We use the 2016 to 2020 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) to estimate the effects of Medicaid expansions through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for parents on child health insurance coverage, parents' employment decisions due to child health, and family health-related financial well-being.

Early Maternal Employment And Children's School Readiness: Changing Associations Over Time?

This study assessed whether the links between early maternal employment and children's school readiness have changed over time. Research has examined mothers' labor force participation and its associations with children's well-being. As maternal employment has become more normative, these associations may have changed, particularly among subgroups of families.

Socioeconomic Variations in the Frequency of Parent Number Talk: A Meta-Analysis.

Using data from 12 studies, we meta-analyze correlations between parent number talk during interactions with their young children (mean sample age ranging from 22 to 79 months) and two aspects of family socioeconomics, parent education, and family income. Potential variations in correlation sizes as a function of study characteristics were explored. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the amount of number talk in parent-child interactions and both parent education and family income (i.

Precarious Work Schedules and Sleep: A Study of Unionized Full-Time Workers.

Unlabelled: Unlike which is temporary and insecure, with inadequate pay, benefits, and legal protections, can affect workers with permanent full-time jobs in sectors where employment has historically been secure, well-compensated, and even unionized. Precarious work schedules - characterized by long shifts, non-daytime hours, intensity and unsocial work hours - are increasingly prevalent. Relations between precarious work schedules and poor health are not well understood, and less is known about how to attenuate this relation.

Effects of parental public health insurance eligibility on parent and child health outcomes.

Many states expanded their Medicaid programs to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These expansions increased Medicaid coverage among low-income parents and their children. Whether these improvements in coverage and healthcare use lead to better health outcomes for parents and their children remains unanswered.

Are math and behavioral skills interrelated? A longitudinal analysis in early childhood.

The interrelationships between math and behavioral skill development prior to school entry are not well understood, yet have important implications for understanding how to best prepare young children for kindergarten. This study addresses this gap by utilizing a sample of 1,750 children (53% male; 47% White, 16% Black, 16% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 13% other or multirace) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) to examine the interrelationships between behavioral (parent-reported prosocial skills and externalizing problems) and math skills (directly assessed) across the ages of 4, 5, and 6 years. Results from a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RICLPM) revealed significant between-person associations between each of these skills over time.

Risks and resources for college students' mental health: ACEs, attachment, and mindfulness.

To examine associations between risks and resources in predicting college students' depressive symptoms at the beginning of one semester and change over the semester. Participants were undergraduate students taking human development courses at one of 11 universities in the U.S.

Maternal Support of Children's Math Learning in Associations Between Family Income and Math School Readiness.

This study examined maternal support of children's math learning at 36 months (n = 140) as a mediator of the association between early childhood family income and children's counting and calculation skills at 4½ and 6-7 years. Family income was associated with this measure of children's math school readiness, but the association was almost entirely indirect and mediated by observed maternal support of children's numerical skills at 36 months. Maternal support of children's spatial concept and general learning (cognitive stimulation and sensitivity) were not significant mediators of this association.

Maternal Support of Children's Early Numerical Concept Learning Predicts Preschool and First-Grade Math Achievement.

The primary goal in this study was to examine maternal support of numerical concepts at 36 months as predictors of math achievement at 4½ and 6-7 years. Observational measures of mother-child interactions (n = 140) were used to examine type of support for numerical concepts. Maternal support that involved labeling the quantities of sets of objects was predictive of later child math achievement.

Early Maternal Employment and Children's Academic and Behavioral Skills in Australia and the United Kingdom.

This study assessed the links between early maternal employment and children's later academic and behavioral skills in Australia and the United Kingdom. Using representative samples of children born in each country from 2000 to 2004 (Australia N = 5,093, U.K.

Gender, male-typicality, and social norms predicting adolescent alcohol intoxication and marijuana use.

Objective: This study examined the direct and interactive effects of gender, male-typicality, and social norms in predicting the initiation and longitudinal patterns of alcohol intoxication and marijuana use in U.S. youth.

Direct and interactive effects of parent, friend and schoolmate drinking on alcohol use trajectories.

Objective: This study considered the unique and interactive roles of social norms from parents, friends and schools in predicting developmental trajectories of adolescent drinking and intoxication.

Design And Outcome Measures: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which followed adolescents (N = 18,921) for 13 years, we used discrete mixture modelling to identify unique developmental trajectories of drinking and of intoxication. Next, multilevel multinomial regression models examined the role of alcohol-related social norms from parents, friends and schoolmates in the prediction of youths' trajectory group membership.

Early maternal employment and children's school readiness in contemporary families.

This study assessed whether previous findings linking early maternal employment to lower cognitive and behavioral skills among children generalized to modern families. Using a representative sample of children born in the United States in 2001 (N = 10,100), ordinary least squares regression models weighted with propensity scores assessed links between maternal employment in the 2 years after childbearing and children's school readiness skills at kindergarten. There were neutral associations between maternal employment and children's school readiness, which were not differentiated by maternal time, stress, or wages.

Low-income women's employment experiences and their financial, personal, and family well-being.

Low-income women's rates of employment have grown dramatically in recent years, yet the stability and quality of their employment remain low. Using panel data from the Three-City Study following 1,586 low-income African American, Latina, and European American women, this study assessed associations between women's employment quality (wages; receipt of health insurance) and stability (work consistency; job transitions) and their financial, personal, and family well-being. Hierarchical linear models assessing within-person effects found that increases in wages were associated with improved financial well-being and physical health.

Sexual partner accumulation from adolescence through early adulthood: the role of family, peer, and school social norms.

Purpose: An early age of sexual initiation and sexual activity with multiple partners are risk factors for an array of detrimental outcomes. Drawing on social norms theory, this study assessed the role of subjective and descriptive social norms from parents, peers, and schoolmates on trajectories of sexual partner accumulation from early adolescence through early adulthood.

Methods: Data were drawn from the in-home survey sample of Add Health, following 14,797 youth from adolescence through early adulthood.

Using complementary methods to test whether marriage limits men's antisocial behavior.

Married men engage in significantly less antisocial behavior than unmarried men, but it is not clear whether this reflects a causal relationship. Instead, the relationship could reflect selection into marriage whereby the men who are most likely to marry (men in steady employment with high levels of education) are the least likely to engage in antisocial behavior. The relationship could also be the result of reverse causation, whereby high levels of antisocial behavior are a deterrent to marriage rather than the reverse.

Does maternal employment following childbirth support or inhibit low-income children's long-term development?

This study assessed whether previous findings linking early maternal employment to lower cognitive and behavioral skills among middle-class and White children generalized to other groups. Using a representative sample of urban, low-income, predominantly African American and Hispanic families (n = 444), ordinary least squares regression and propensity score matching models assessed links between maternal employment in the 2 years after childbearing and children's functioning at age 7. Children whose mothers were employed early, particularly in their first 8 months, showed enhanced socioemotional functioning compared to peers whose mothers remained nonemployed.