Racial and Ethnic Differences in Longitudinal Patterns of Family Mealtimes: Link to Adolescent Fruit and Vegetable Consumption.

Objective: To examine the longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes across racial/ethnic groups and to investigate whether the associations between longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes, baseline family and demographic characteristics, and healthy food consumption in adolescence differ by race/ethnicity.

Methods: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study spanning from kindergarten to eighth grade were used for this study. Longitudinal patterns of family mealtimes and their link to baseline characteristics and healthy food consumption in adolescence, as defined by fruit and vegetable intakes, were determined using latent growth curves.

Harsh, inconsistent parental discipline and romantic relationships: mediating processes of behavioral problems and ambivalence.

According to the Development of Early Adult Romantic Relationships (DEARR) model (Bryant, C. M., & Conger, R.

Linking questionnaire reports and observer ratings of young couples' hostility and support.

Past studies have correlated observer ratings with questionnaire self- and partner-reports of behaviors in close relationships. However, few studies have actually proposed and tested longitudinal models that link observer ratings to past behaviors and to questionnaire self- and partner-reports of behaviors during an observational task. Using data from a panel of 324 young couples, we demonstrate that (a) observer ratings of hostility and support are significantly related to couple reports of the same behavior in the relationship two years earlier, and (b) respondent and partner questionnaire reports of hostility and support during the observational task converge with observer ratings of the same behavior even after controlling for earlier self- and partner-reports.

Family Economic Hardship and Progression of Poor Mental Health in Middle-aged Husbands and Wives.

Using prospective data from 370 middle-aged husbands and wives during a 12-year period, we investigated the intra-individual and dyadic influence of family economic hardship on the levels of depressive symptoms of husbands and wives over their middle years. The results suggest that family economic hardship during the early middle years contributes to subsequent increase in depressive symptoms of husbands and wives after controlling for family economic hardship in late middle years. Consistent with stress-process theory, economic hardship influences depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through its influence on self-esteem.

Parental support, partner support, and the trajectories of mastery from adolescence to early adulthood.

This study examines the long-term associations among parental support, extra-familial partner support, and the trajectories of sense of mastery from adolescence to the early adulthood years. Ten waves of panel data collected over a 16-year period from the Iowa Family Transitions Project (N = 527) were used to test the hypotheses. Results indicated that parental support in adolescence was initially associated with higher levels of sense of mastery and with greater extra-familial partner support during the transition to adulthood.

Dynamics of family economic hardship and the progression of health problems of husbands and wives during the middle years: a perspective from rural Mid-West.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of theoretically important dimensions of stability and change in economic hardship during early middle years on decade-long health problems of husbands and wives.

Method: The study used prospective data collected from 360 middle-aged husbands and wives during a 12-year period. The variables included self-reported economic hardship (22 items), mental and physical health, and physical impairment.

The influence of work control trajectories on men's mental and physical health during the middle years: mediational role of personal control.

Objectives: This study investigated whether men's mental and physical health problems during the middle years may be attributed, in part, to the influence of varying levels of, and changes in, work control among members of a rural midwestern cohort. Specific study objectives were to examine (a) how trajectories of work control influence men's mental and physical health outcomes and (b) how this influence is mediated by the trajectories of personal control during the middle years.

Methods: The study used four waves of data on 318 employed men across 10 years of midlife.