Family processes as pathways from income to young children's development.

Abstract

A variety of family processes have been hypothesized to mediate associations between income and young children's development. Maternal emotional distress, parental authoritative and authoritarian behavior (videotaped mother-child interactions), and provision of cognitively stimulating activities (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [HOME] scales) were examined as possible mediators in a sample of 493 White and African American low-birth-weight premature infants who were followed from birth through age 5. Cognitive ability was assessed by standardized test, and child behavior problems by maternal report, when the children were 3 and 5 years of age. As expected, family income was associated with child outcomes. The provision of stimulating experiences in the home mediated the relation between family income and both children's outcomes; maternal emotional distress and parenting practices mediated the relation between income and children's behavior problems.

Cites (141)

1. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations
   Baron, Reuben M., Kenny, David A. · 1986 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2. Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences
   Cohen, Patricia, Cohen, Patricia, West, Stephen G., Aiken, Leona S. · 2014 · Psychology Press eBooks
3. Structural Equations with Latent Variables.
   Clogg, Clifford C., Bollen, Kenneth A. · 1991 · Contemporary Sociology
4. Structural Equations with Latent Variables
   Bollen, Kenneth A. · 1989 · Wiley series in probability and statistics
5. Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models
   Sobel, Michael E. · 1982 · Sociological Methodology
6. Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy
   Sampson, Robert J., Raudenbush, Stephen W., Earls, Felton · 1997 · Science
7. A Handbook of Child Psychology
   1932 · Nature
8. Inference and missing data
   RUBIN, DONALD B. · 1976 · Biometrika
9. Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences
   Kemp, Freda · 2003 · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series D (The Statistician)
10. Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development.
    Masten, Ann S. · 2001 · American Psychologist

Show all 141 references

Cited by (35)

1. The Influence of Parent Education and Family Income on Child Achievement: The Indirect Role of Parental Expectations and the Home Environment.
   Davis-Kean, Pamela E. · 2005 · Journal of Family Psychology
2. The environment of childhood poverty
   Evans, Gary W. · 2004 · American Psychologist
3. The specificity of environmental influence: socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech.
   Hoff, Erika · 2003 · Child Development
4. Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development
   Conger, Rand D., Conger, Katherine J., Martin, Monica J. · 2010 · Journal of Marriage and Family
5. An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development
   Conger, Rand D., Donnellan, M. Brent · 2007 · Annual Review of Psychology

See all 757