The research proposed in this application is an outgrowth of an ongoing 5-year programmatic research effort focusing on family predictors of competence among African-American children living in the rural South. The proposed study brings our substantial experience in conducting research with rural African-American families to bear on the study of normative family processes among female-headed Southern rural African American families. We propose a test of a developmental model describing the family processes in African-American female-headed households that foster academic and socioemotional competence during middle childhood. We focus on rural African-American families, on whom little research has been done. First-born children will be recruited at age 7 and followed through age 9. We know less about children and families during the important middle childhood years than during any other developmental period. In the proposed research we incorporate the following family context variables: (1) endorsement of competence-promoting child developmental goals; (2) the socialization of these goals through effective childrearing practices; (3) agreement among family caregivers regarding competence-promoting goals and childrearing practices; (4) relationship quality among family caregivers; (5) economic pressure, maternal depression, and kinship support; and (6) child temperament. Children's development of self-regulation competencies are central to this model. Children's academic and socioemotional competence, which are positively associated with self-regulation competencies, also will be assessed. To examine these key constructs, we propose a multimethod design that includes self-reports from mothers, extended family caregivers, children, and teachers, as well as observations of mother-child and extended family caregiver-child interactions.
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