Ethnic-racial disparities in achievement and mental health during adolescence, in which ethnic minority youth from African American, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian backgrounds are at elevated risk for poor academic and mental health outcomes relative to their European American counterparts are well documented. Such disparities suggest that it is crucial to understand the potential ethnic-racial variations in the components of parenting that most effectively protect youth from maladaptive outcomes versus those that place them at risk. However, there is little consensus among researchers regarding whether varied aspects of parenting operate similarly or differently across sub-cultural groups within the United States, most commonly delimited in terms of racial-ethnic group membership. Comparative studies do not consistently disentangle differences due to race/ethnicity from potentially confounding differences due to socioeconomic, family, or neighborhood factors. And studies rarely include measures of cultural processes that permit a test of a-priori hypotheses regarding cultural factors (beliefs, goals, or value orientations) that may underlie ethnic group differences in parental influences. Thus, the central aim of this study is address previous research limitations by aggregating data from multiple datasets into a single data set that is comprised of ethnically diverse families, extensive measures of parenting, and youths'behavioral, academic outcomes, and self-perceptions alongside demographic, family, and neighborhood controls. This pooled data analytic strategy simultaneously includes and enables the testing of (a) multiple ethnic groups, (b) comparable measures of parenting and of developmental outcomes, (c) comparable controls for family, socioeconomic, and neighborhood factors that may confound empirical relationships and, most importantly, (d) methods for assessing cultural based values, beliefs, or social cognitions that may underlie ethnic-racial differences in parenting consequences, when found. Through the collaborative work of the 10 members and 4 affiliates of the Study Group on Culture, Race, and Ethnicity (SGRCE) , the central aims of the study are: (1): To aggregate data from 11 datasets (9 belonging to study group members;2 public use datasets) into a single dataset that contains large samples of participants from five ethnic groups (European American, African American, Chinese-origin, Mexican American, and American Indian), extensive measures of parenting, and youths'behavioral and academic outcomes, and also their self- perceptions (self-esteem and ethnic identity) along with demographic, family, and neighborhood variables that will be used as controls (2) To evaluate a conceptual model that specifies inter- relationships between core parenting constructs (warmth, behavioral control, psychological control, cultural socialization) and youths'adjustment (internalizing, externalizing, academic achievement) , including self-esteem and ethnic identity as important mediators, (3) To examine whether models that allow inter-relationships among core parenting variables and between parenting and youths'self perceptions and adjustment to vary across ethnic groups fit the data better than ones in which inter-relationships are constrained to be equal and (4) To utilize findings from the pooled-data analysis regarding relationships between parenting and adolescent outcomes to generate hypotheses regarding cultural processes underlying differences that emerge.
The well-documented ethnic-racial disparities in achievement and mental health during adolescence argue for the need to understand the potential ethnic-racial variations in the components of parenting that most effectively protect youth from maladaptive outcomes versus those that place them at risk. This project examines the inter-relationships among parenting and youths'behavioral, academic outcomes, and self-perceptions alongside demographic, family, and neighborhood controls through the use of a pooled-meta pooled data analytic strategy. In light of the focus of intervention/prevention programs on parent training, this research will inform scholars and practitioners in regards to increased understanding of potential ethnic-racial variations in the components of parenting that most effectively protect youth from maladaptive outcomes versus those that place them at risk.
