Verified Document

Factors Affecting Inner City Developmental Outcomes Essay

Amato, P.R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. Marriage and Child Wellbeing, 15(2), 75-96. The author addressed two questions related to child development in single-parent households: (1) cognitive, social, and emotional consequences, and (2) etiology of outcome differences. This review of the research literature was up-to-date 2005. Overall, the author concluded that children of single-parent households will do more poorly throughout their life, but only modestly so. Protective variables included remarriage and cohabitation, in that order. The author pays careful attention to inconsistent and mixed findings within and between studies, thereby rendering the review credible. Shook, S.E., Jones, D.J., Forehand, R., Dorsey, S., & Brody, G. (2010). The mother-coparent relationship and youth adjustment: A study of African-American single-mother families. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(3), 243-51. This study examined the impact of coparent relationship quality on child development outcomes in African-American single-mother households in the Southeastern United States. Discordant coparenting relationships were associated with lower social and cognitive child competence and problem behaviors. A positive parenting style was protective against the negative effects of coparent conflict. These findings are limited by the cross-sectional study design and reliance on maternal self-reports for the data.

Gonzalez, M., Jones, D., & Parent, J. (2014). Coparenting experiences in African-American families: An examination of single mothers and their nonmarital coparents. Family Process, 53(1), 33-54. This study examined the impact of coparenting and parental depression on child behavioral problems in single-mother African-American families and found that maternal depression, coparent depression, and mother-coparent conflict predicted an increased risk of youth externalizing behavior. In this sample from North Carolina, the vast majority of coparents were non-resident grandmothers, sisters, and female friends. The credibility...

(2013). Maternal parenting behaviors and child coping in African-American families. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(4), 607-17. Inner-city African-American mothers or legal guardians were studied to better understand how coping skills may be transferred to their children. The predictors of child coping competency were maternal support and socialization of coping, but this finding was based on child reports only. Child gender determined the magnitude of the effect, with girls benefiting the most. There are a significant number of limitations associated with this study, including recruitment of participants from family support agencies. This method of recruiting would tend to limit the generalizability of the findings to all inner-city African-American single-parent households.
Choi, J-K., & Jackson, A.P. (2012). Nonresident fathers' parenting, maternal mastery and child development in poor African-American single-mother families. Race and Social Problems, 4(2), 102-11. The authors of this study examined eight variables, including child behavioral and cognitive problems, but in contrast to the majority of studies on this topic the variables were assessed longitudinally. All maternal and non-resident paternal factors were significant predictors of cognitive and behavioral problems, with maternal mastery and parenting skills having a consistently large effect. A non-resident father's involvement in parenting, however, was protective against negative child outcomes. Study limitations include sole reliance on mother reports for all data and a lack of consideration for parenting contributions from other males. Additionally, the impact of paternal contributions was not evaluated longitudinally.

Tolan, P.H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D.B. (2003). The developmental ecology of urban males' youth violence. Developmental Psychology,…

Sources used in this document:
McMahon, T.J., & Luthar, S.S. (2007). Defining characteristics and potential consequences of caretaking burden among children living in urban poverty. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(2), 267-81. This study examined the impact of caretaker burden imposed on children between the ages of 8 and 17, living in inner-city households with mothers abusing drugs or suffering from psychiatric problems. Doing household chores, caring for siblings, and/or caring for mother were significant predictors of internalizing and externalizing behaviors and social competence. The authors mentioned continued controversy about how to measure caretaker burden in children, which could represent a significant limitation of this study.

Sagrestano, L.M., Paikoff, R.L., Holmbeck, G.N., & Fendrich, M. (2003). A longitudinal examination of familial risk factors for depression among inner-city African-American adolescents. Journal of Family Psychology, 17(1), 108-20. This longitudinal study followed children of inner-city, African-American single-parent household to better understand how family factors influenced the incidence of depression and anxiety among children and parents. Increased family conflict and reduced parental monitoring were both significant predictors of child depression, while increased positive parenting was protective. Interestingly, parental depression was increased by peer interactions with the child and decreased by positive parenting. The data was based on self-reports from child and mother and revealed significant differences in perceptions, which the authors attributed in part to the immaturity of the child.

Florsheim, P., Tolan, P., & Gorman-Smith, D. (1998). Family relationships, parenting practices, the availability of male family members, and the behavior of inner-city boys in single-mother and two-parent families. Child Development, 69(5), 1437-47. African-American and Latino families, with boys between 10- and 15-years of age and living in inner-city Chicago neighborhoods, were recruited to participate in a study examining possible predictors of externalizing behaviors. Externalizing behaviors by the boys in the study were reduced significantly by feelings of family cohesion, structure, discipline, affiliation, and the presence of a positive male influence. Although child self-reports were the source for much of this data, the externalizing data was based on child, parent, and teacher reports.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Psychology Affect on Domestic Violence on Children
Words: 3107 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

psychological research there a thousands of pressing questions, yet among all those questions one rises to the top of the list. In the area of family psychology and family therapy the question of the psychological affects of domestic violence on children has been hotly debated and eternally researched, yet many questions remain unanswered. These questions are pressing as the institution of family in our culture evolves and emerges as

School-Based Mental Health Program on
Words: 8166 Length: 25 Document Type: Research Proposal

This is discussed at length by Fusick and Bordeau (2004) "...school-based counselors need to be aware of the disturbing inequities that exist in predominantly Afro-American urban school districts, where nearly 40% of Afro-American students attend school in the United States" (Fusick and Bordeau, 2004) This again places emphasis on the need for mental health programs in these areas of concern. This is also related to findings from a study

Dually Diagnosed African-American and Latino
Words: 13893 Length: 50 Document Type: Term Paper

(1999) which are: 1) Those with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder with major depression and who use alcohol and drugs to self-mediate to cope with the symptoms; and 2) Those with borderline personality and anti-social personality disorders including anxiety disorder that is complicated by use of alcohol and illicit drugs. (Mather et al. 1999) Presenting further difficulty is the establishment of problems with alcohol and illicit drug use

Impact of School Culture on School Safety
Words: 33592 Length: 122 Document Type: Term Paper

School Culture on School Safety Many studies have been done on safety in schools. Likewise, many studies have been done on the culture of various schools. Unfortunately, there has not been significant research on a link between the two. This is not to say that these kinds of studies have not been done, but rather that there has not been enough of them. Many of the studies that have been

School Funding in Urban and
Words: 8456 Length: 31 Document Type: Research Proposal

In suburban areas, on the other hand, the economic opportunities are diverse and the population is less dense. Here parents are motivated to educate their child and the child gets higher individual attention from the teachers than those in the urban areas where population density is very high (Broomhall and Johnson, 1994; and Hanson and Ginsburg, 1988). Since educational aspirations of parents, students and teachers differ by population density

Gap: Early Childhood Intervention and the Development
Words: 6336 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

Gap: Early Childhood Intervention and the Development of the Disabled Child Children with special needs include those who have disabilities, developmental delays, are gifted/talented, and are at risk of future developmental problems. Early intervention consists of the provision of services for such children and their families for the purpose of lessening the effects of their condition. Early intervention may focus on the child alone or on the child and the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now