Search

Existing research has found that home visiting programs for families with young children can improve children's development and strengthen caregivers' and families' well-being. However, the pandemic created numerous challenges for home visiting programs, forcing them to deliver services online or in a hybrid format and to adapt the content of their program models to respond to pandemic-related challenges. Questions remain about the impacts of these programs when delivered at scale during this uniquely challenging time. The current study reports 12-month impacts from a randomized controlled trial of Child First--an evidence-based home visiting program that provides a psychotherapeutic, parent-child intervention embedded in a coordinated system of care--implemented across two states. After randomly assigning a racially and ethnically diverse sample of families (N = 226) from predominantly low-income backgrounds to receive the Child First services or typical community services, the research team surveyed caregivers (N = 183) about a year after program enrollment. Results from regression models with site fixed effects revealed that Child First reduced caregivers' job losses, residential mobility, and self-reported substance abuse, and increased receipt of virtual services during the pandemic. Child First also reduced parenting dysfunction (the name of the subscale within the Parenting Stress Index) among caregivers who reported clinical depression at enrollment. There were null impacts on caregivers' psychological well-being, families' involvement with the child welfare system, children's behaviors, and other indicators of economic well-being. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

College students who are parents or caregivers of dependent children make up more than one in five U.S. undergraduates. Colleges need basic information about the experiences and outcomes of the student parents they serve, since these students face distinct challenges, including high rates of economic insecurity and significant time and caregiving demands that can affect their educational outcomes (Institute for Women's Policy Research and Ascend at the Aspen Institute 2019). This briefing paper discusses why data on student parents are critical to increasing equity in college outcomes, and reviews existing and potential new data sources on undergraduate college students with children. It also provides recommendations for improving data collection efforts around parent status, including examples of how these data can be collected by institutions of higher education.

College is one of the most reliable routes to economic security for parents and their children. College credentials are linked to increased earnings, higher rates of employment, lower poverty rates, and improved economic and educational outcomes among the children of college graduates. Student parents and their families stand to gain disproportionally from college degrees, through both short-term economic returns and long-term multigenerational benefits. College students with children, however, face financial and time demands that challenge their ability to enroll and persist in college. Students with children spend substantial time caring for their families, often work long hours, and face significant financial insecurity, which can make it difficult for them to complete their educational programs. College promise programs, sometimes referred to as "free college" programs, offer invaluable college opportunities for many students who face obstacles to higher education. This briefing paper focuses on characteristics of the student parent population that make inclusive college promise programs an imperative for improving equity in college access and completion.

This paper provides a structured overview of the existing parenting literature with the aim of developing an evidence-based and culture-sensitive framework of parenting and its influence on child development. The paper outlines how changes in the 21st century have altered family life and summarises evidence from 29 meta-studies and 81 quantitative studies for the developmental impact of different parenting styles and dimensions. Overall, results suggest that warm parenting that provides children with age-appropriate autonomy and structure is key for a healthy and prosperous development of children and adolescents across various domains. The parenting approach adopted by parents but also its effect varies and the paper points to various contextual (e.g. culture, socio-economic factors, support within the community and family) and individual (e.g. gender, personality and health condition of children and parents) factors explaining these variations. The paper discusses how a systematic consideration of such factors not only sharpens the scientific understanding of parenting and its impact but also helps improving family policies and support.

This paper examines the impact of the iconic Perry Preschool Project on the children and siblings of the original participants. The children of treated participants have fewer school suspensions, higher levels of education and employment, and lower levels of participation in crime, compared with the children of untreated participants. Impacts are especially pronounced for the children of male participants. These treatment effects are associated with improved childhood home environments. The intergenerational effects arise despite the fact that families of treated subjects live in similar or worse neighborhoods than the control families. We also find substantial positive effects of the Perry program on the siblings of participants who did not directly participate in the program, especially for male siblings. [Additional support for this research was provided by the American Bar Foundation.]

This report focuses on pathways to postsecondary education (PSE), including high school completion, for pregnant and parenting teens. Although birth rates among teens have declined in the United States over the last 20 years, one in seven adolescent females (14.4 percent) is expected to give birth before age 20 with females of color (24 percent of Hispanics and 21 percent of African Americans) more than twice as likely to have a child when compared with white females (10 percent) (OAH 2014). For too many of these adolescents, parenthood marks the end of their high school careers and aspirations for attending college. This is unfortunate because completing high school and earning a postsecondary degree or credential are critical for the economic well-being of both teen parents and their children. Very little is known about pathways to PSE for pregnant and parenting teens. Although some studies have focused on programs to prevent subsequent pregnancies among teen parents (Klerman 2004), research is lacking on effective approaches for preparing these students for college. This report represents a first step towards filling that gap. Drawing on a literature and program review, analysis of a small online survey conducted with Health Teen Network (HTN), and consultations with experts in the field, "Pathways to Postsecondary Education," examines barriers and promising approaches to support educational success for pregnant and parenting teens. Among the findings are: (1) More than two out of three young single mothers aged 18 to 24 are poor, and almost half of their children are poor; (2) Only about half of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by the age of 22, compared with about nine in ten women who do not have a child during their teen years; and (3) A survey supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that a third of the young women surveyed reported that becoming a parent played a major role in their decision to leave school. This report features eight programs that provide a range of academic and other supports and services to support pathways to PSE, including high school completion, among pregnant and parenting teens: (1) Florence Crittenton High School (FCHS) in Denver, Colorado; (2) Cal-SAFE in California; (3) New Heights in Washington, DC; (4) The Care Center in Holyoke, Massachusetts; (5) Keys to Degrees at Endicott College in Massachusetts; (6) Student Parent HELP Center (SPHC) at the University of Minnesota; (7) Generation Hope, a program started by a former teen mother in Washington, DC; and (8) The Jeremiah Program, a residential program in the twin cities of Minnesota. A list of experts consulted is appended. [This report is a product of IWPR's Student Parent Success Initiative.]

We study the link between parental selection and children criminality in a new context. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany experienced an unprecedented temporary drop in fertility driven by economic uncertainty. We exploit this natural experiment to estimate that the children from these (smaller) cohorts are 40 percent more likely to commit crimes. We show that women who gave birth at this period were negatively selected. Investigation of the underlying mechanisms reveals that emotional attachment and risk attitudes play important roles in the fertility-crime relationship. Finally, results for siblings support a causal interpretation of our findings. [This research was partially funded by a grant from the Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE), Maastricht University.]

This paper discusses the challenges college students with children face, as well as the steps colleges, universities, and the surrounding communities must take to help students succeed in their work as both students and parents. The role of parenthood in postsecondary settings needs greater focus from the higher education reform community. Unless the care-giving responsibilities of low-income adults are actively acknowledged and addressed, efforts to improve postsecondary access and completion for low-income adults--be they through online learning, improved on-ramps, developmental education, institutional accountability, financial aid, or curriculum reform--are likely to fall short of their full potential for change. Some colleges have recognized the needs of student parents by providing them with additional resources, like campus child care centers, benefits access services, housing opportunities, referral programs and scholarships. These promising efforts should be replicated and expanded, and federal funding for programs such as the U.S. Department of Education's Child Care Means Parents In School Program, and the Pregnancy Assistance Fund, should be strengthened and expanded. In addition, more states should use the flexibility within Perkins Workforce Development Grants to expand supports for students who are raising children while they seek to expand their credentials.

Children face many important changes in the first eight years of life, including different learning centres, social groups, roles and expectations. Their ability to adapt to such a dynamic and evolving environment directly affects their sense of identity and status within their community over the short and long term. In particular, the key turning points in children's lives--such as "graduating" from kindergarten to primary school or going through a culturally specific rite of passage--provide challenges and opportunities for learning and growth on multiple levels. This paper provides a review of the major perspectives in research on early childhood transitions and reveals the predominant areas of focus in both academic and professional studies, as well as important neglected viewpoints and study populations. Beginning with a broad and inclusive definition of the topic, the authors provide an overview of early childhood transitions research, highlighting the underlying assumptions that informed the studies. They assess concepts in the developmental theory that preceded transitions research as well as in the logic that determines how transitions are structured. More recent approaches are examined, including systems theories and the role of children as active participants in transitions. Several examples in this review show how multidisciplinary collaboration and culturally sensitive interventions can result in better participation of both parents and children in crucial early childhood transitions. Citing the need to harmonise early childhood education and care programmes with local education practices, the authors stress the value of greater transparency in the creation of policy and programming for children, in order to identify potentially limiting assumptions. Broadening and diversifying perspectives on transitions can lead to more integrated and culturally relevant rights-based early childhood programmes worldwide. A glossary and a bibliography are included. (Contains 7 footnotes.)

This report looks at the development and socialisation of children under 5 years of age in two Caribbean countries, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica. It involved fieldwork in four very different communities as well as extensive discussion with academics and professionals. Too little is known about child socialisation in the Caribbean, and this research, the authors believe, breaks new ground. It shows that although most children are loved and cared for, the lives of many are scarred by poverty. The two countries the authors worked in are by no means the poorest in the developing world. But they both have substantial poor populations. Poor families are offered only the most basic help by the state. Child-rearing in the communities they studied remains highly traditional. Corporal punishment is common and children are often ignored, shouted at or belittled. Both countries have signed up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and their laws and policies pay attention to it. But the day-to-day lives of children have changed little. This applies particularly to children living in poverty, with a disability or with some other form of disadvantage. But the picture is not one of unrelieved gloom. Child-rearing in the region does seem to be getting less regimented and more caring, and there is a growing realisation that the first few years of a child's life are vital to his or her social as well as intellectual and physical development. However, many of the people they met said that Caribbean communities are less supportive than in the past. This means that children are cared for increasingly by their mothers. Despite stereotypes of extended Caribbean families, many mothers are not involved in a wide network of female support. The feeling is that families are drawing in on themselves because of cultural change, including more television watching, and the fear of crime, especially from gangs of drug-fuelled young men. A bibliography is included. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This paper was written with Martin Ince.

I use data from the American Time Use Survey to examine how maternal employment affects when during the day that mothers of pre-school-age children spend doing enriching childcare and whether they adjust their schedules to spend time with their children at more-desirable times of day. I find that employed mothers shift enriching childcare time from workdays to nonwork days. On workdays, full-time employed parents shift enriching childcare time toward evenings, but there is little shifting among part-time employed mothers. I find no evidence that full-time employed mothers adjust their schedules to spend time with their children at more-preferred times of day, whereas part-time employed mothers shift employment to later in the day. Classification of activities among routine care, quality care, and unclassified care is appended. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures and 29 footnotes.)

This paper examines correlations between children's educational outcomes and family structure. Although popular discussions focus on distinctions between two-parent and single-parent families, earlier research shows that outcomes for stepchildren are similar to outcomes for children in single-parent families, and earlier researchers suggested that the crucial distinction is between children who were reared by both biological parents and children who were not. This paper suggests that such a finding is misleading, asserting that educational outcomes for both types of children in blended families--stepchildren and their half-siblings who are the joint biological children of both parents--are similar to each other and substantially worse than outcomes for children reared in traditional nuclear families. It concludes that the crucial distinction is between children reared in traditional nuclear families and children reared in other family structures. The paper also examines the effect of family structure on children's outcomes, recommending a reformulation of the family structure question by specifying some explicit counterfactual and expressing a preference for a policy-relevant counterfactual. The paper suggests considering the effect of reducing the marriage penalty in the earned income tax credit that makes the credit essentially unavailable to two-earner couples. (Contains 44 references.) (SM)

This paper summarizes changes in key elements of welfare policy and in closely related policies on child support enforcement and sex education and family planning programs. Drawing on a conceptual framework that highlights how incentives created by public policy can affect demographic behaviors, the paper concludes that, as Congress intended, reform has shifted welfare's incentives in directions that encourage marriage and discourage nonmarital pregnancy and childbearing, childbearing while on welfare, divorce, living independently from relatives, and avoiding child support responsibilities. The paper reviews the empirical evidence about welfare's effects on demographic behavior, including nonmarital childbearing, abortion, sexual activity, contraceptive use and pregnancy among teenagers, marriage and divorce, single parenthood, living arrangements, and nonresident parenting behavior. The general tenor of this evidence is that behavioral effects consistent with theoretical expectations and policymakers' intentions do exist. Their magnitudes are small or uncertain. A tentative but reasonable "bottom line" is that one should not expect welfare reform to dramatically alter low-income Americans' demographic behavior, but one can expect it to have modest effects in the directions desired by policymakers. There is little or no evidence about how several important aspects of recent reform are likely to affect demographic behavior. (Contains 81 references.) (Author/SM)

This paper explores the fatherhood experiences of young Chicanos from the perspective of a social insider, from the same ethnic background and neighborhood. This vantage point places the issue of teenage fatherhood for Chicanos within the context of contemporary urban culture as well as within the structural challenges that many minority and poor youth face in our shifting economy. The study draws on a conceptual framework called "generative fathering" or "fatherwork"--the work that most men do to meet the needs of their children and the next generation. Extensive, in-depth interviews were carried out with seven Chicano teen fathers, or Chicanos who had fathered children in their teens, who were known to be actively involved with their children, as well as with a few teen mothers, other family members, and youth advocates knowledgeable about the issues. Four major themes emerged during interviews: (1) masculinity and fathering in spite of the bad example of one's own father; (2) taking responsibility for one's obligations, and the ways that sense of responsibility was conveyed to young men by strong mothers and grandmothers; (3) competing interests between families and children; and (4) creative strategies of exploiting local resources to provide for families ("hustling"). (Contains 67 references.) (SV)

The experience of long-term poverty affects many child outcomes, in part through a family stress process in which poverty is considered to be one of the major factors causing family dysfunction, depression among caregivers and inadequate parenting. Recent scholarship extends the classical Family Stress Model by researching the ways in which neighbourhood contexts might mediate or modify these relationships. Neighbourhoods vary from the affluent to the economically deprived and since the long-term poor rarely live in well-off neighbourhoods, measures of neighbourhood disadvantage add little to family poverty in the prediction of child health and behaviour problems. But neighbourhoods also differ in the degree to which they are socially organized, cohesive and supportive to the enterprise of raising children. Sociologists refer to this as the "social capital" of neighbourhoods and propose that such social capital may ameliorate the effects of poverty and help parents raise children to achieve their full potential. This study reports the construction of measures related to social capital (Collective Efficacy and Social Support) at the neighbourhood, rather than the individual level, and the use of these along with a battery of census characteristics and other explanatory variables in the prediction of outcomes for longitudinal children aged 4 to 15 in the NLSCY [National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth]. The authors used statistical modeling to study the impact of higher or lower amounts of social capital in a national sample and in a smaller sample of some 200 neighbourhoods (as defined by census enumeration areas). The results support some aspects of an expanded family stress theory in that the effects of long-term poverty upon child outcomes are mediated, but also moderated by neighbourhood social capital, and by family "burnout" (dysfunction and parental depression). The study confirms previous research showing that certain parenting styles are strongly associated with children's health and behaviour problems, and that neighbourhoods account for small but significant proportions of the variation in child outcomes. An innovative result is that the degree to which long-term poverty impacts child outcomes varies according to the characteristics of neighbourhoods. The authors caution that their study cannot provide national estimates of the impact of neighbourhood social capital on child outcomes. A bibliography is included. (Contains 3 figures, 12 tables, and 30 footnotes.) [This paper is available in French under the title: "La pauvrete, le capital social, les competences parentales et les resultats des enfants au Canada."

With the aim of tailoring future programming decisions to local conditions and concerns, an ethnographic study was commissioned to examine childrearing practices in a small middle income village in Hebei Province, China. The research was designed to learn about the concerns and goals of child care providers, and about the strategic thinking and activities that derived from these goals and concerns. This report details the study of 10 children between the ages 1 and 3 and their caregivers, typically parents or grandparents, who were observed over a 12-month period as they went about their everyday routines. Additional information was obtained through conversations with caregivers. The research was conducted in three stages, each stage during a different agricultural season. Section 1 of the report summarizes the child care arrangements for each of the children studied, showing that arrangements varied by family, and frequently changed throughout the year to accommodate parental employment and other circumstances. Section 2 of the report describes adults' practices and expectations with respect to children's health and hygiene, the various activities comprising a child's day, what adults endeavor to teach children, and children's relationships with adults. The topics covered in this section of the report address the key areas of concern articulated by childcare providers in the course of the research: (1) child health, hygiene, and the body; (2) children's activities, including toys, books, television, drawing and writing, visiting friends, and visiting relatives; (3) purposeful teaching, including names, personal information, songs and poems, counting, and teaching styles; and (4) behavior toward adults, including obedience, addressing adults, and hosting adult guests. (KB)

While it might appear to be a harmless rite of passage, bullying can have deadly consequences for some school children. Reports from Norway, England, and Japan indicate that children have allegedly committed suicide following episodes of severe bullying. Researchers agree that bullying is worldwide in scope and negatively impacts the general school culture and students' right to attend safe schools free of fear. There seems to be a lack of bullying among Pacific Island children, perhaps because it is a group experience (friends coming to the aid of a victim). In Micronesia and Polynesia, traditional child-rearing is usually indulgent, protective, and supportive, with collective and shared authority over children, values that might positively influence later behavior. Studies indicate a strong correlation between bullying other students during school years and criminal behavior in adulthood. Bullying seems to increase during elementary years, peak during junior high school years, and decline during high school years. An intervention approach includes distributing an initial questionnaire to student and adults, increasing personal awareness, establishing class rules, and incorporating other components of anti-bullying programs. There is still a great need for schools to be vigilant of bullying behavior and take preventive action. (RT)

This document examines the diversity of family form and function throughout the world and argues that education, social network, and intelligent government policies can enhance families' capacities for long-term commitment to children and to community renewal. Chapter 1 provides an overview of families throughout the world, survival and industrial models of functioning, and their need, in the face of difficulties, for education and support in rearing their children. Chapter 2 describes problems of education in the developing and developed worlds and the promise that a new vision of basic education would make education more relevant to people's concerns and provide lifelong opportunities to learn basic skills and competencies, including family education. Formal education is advocated to improve family well-being through education of girls and the promotion of universal ideas favorable toward children and women. Chapter 3 defines family education as it is applied in the developing and developed worlds and includes brief descriptions of three programs. Contextual factors influencing family well-being and the potential impact of family education are delineated. Arguments for government investment in family education are presented, including social demand, economic returns, legal and equity concerns, and educational efficiency and social development. Chapter 4 provides a rationale for planning family education, describes a nested family systems model to clarify levels of intervention, and discusses potential delivery mechanisms, personnel, and training. The document concludes with recommendations for developing family education programs. (Contains 45 references, 1 table, and 2 figures). (KDFB)

Children in Africa starve to death or fail to thrive and achieve their full potential as a result of social problems that have their roots in both national and international issues. In many African countries, parents are unable to feed their children because farmers no longer grow enough food and prefer to cultivate cash crops that are exported to foreign countries to service debts to rich industrial nations. This paper recommends a multilevel and integrated approach to defining and solving the problem of child survival and child development in Africa. The following issues are explored: (1) the development of an agenda for dealing with the fundamental issue of Africa's underdevelopment that is in the best interest of Africans and their children; (2) the promotion of child welfare through the empowerment of families and communities; (3) the use of the African concepts of childhood and socialization, and the strong emotions and expectations that Africans have for their children, as the bases for any campaigns or programs for promoting child welfare and development; (4) the empowerment of Africans by means of technical information; and (5) the creation of public awareness in Africa, as a result of which the general public, communities that are at risk, and various other national and international groups will become informed about the issues and problems of child survival and child development in Africa. (SM)

Parental involvement programs aim to increase school-and-parent communication and support children's overall learning environment. This paper examines the effects of low-cost, group-based parental involvement interventions in Mexico using data from two randomized controlled trials. The first experiment provided financial resources to parent associations. The second experiment provided information to parents about how to support their children's learning. Overall, the interventions induced different types of parental engagement in schools. The information intervention changed parenting behavior at home -- with large effects among indigenous parents who have historically been discriminated and socially excluded -- and improved student behavior in school. The grants did not impact parent or student behaviors. Notably, we do not find impacts of either intervention on educational achievement. To understand these null effects, we explore how social ties between parents and teachers evolved over the course of the two interventions. Parental involvement interventions led to significant changes in perceived trustworthiness between teachers and parents. The results suggest that parental involvement interventions can backfire if institutional rules are unclear about the expectations of parents and teachers as parents increase their involvement in schools. [Funding for this research was provided by the Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund and the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program.]

Families undergo difficulties in trying to negotiate the labyrinth of early childhood services offered in Illinois. Because of the multiplicity of programs and scarce funding, many children and families do not receive the services they need. Coordination among programs and services is also limited. This paper offers background on how the foundations of Illinois' current system were laid, where Illinois is in the process of improving the coordination of services, and how a structure of services can be achieved which efficiently and equitably cares for and educates Illinois' youngest citizens. The following sections are included: (1) Background, including information on the 1989 Child Care Summit, along with the infusion of funds; (2) Current Status, including details on the mega-computer concept, Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R), and how to link care with education; (3) National Trends and Models, describing Illinois as a national leader in establishing a statewide system which links parents and providers; (4) Policy Implications; and (5) Alternatives for Action, includes a discussion of nine policy implications and future considerations. Appendices contain details of 30 early education funding streams, including Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) employment-related child care, Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA) programs, Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) programs, federal programs, and public/private programs. (BGC)

This report summarizes key findings of a series of national public opinion polls to determine the public's attitudes and actions with respect to child abuse prevention. Findings are reported for four areas: public attitudes toward specific parental discipline practices; the frequency of specific parental discipline practices; the public's support for and involvement in child abuse prevention efforts; and the public's perception of the causes of maltreatment. Results suggest a dramatic change in public attitudes and behaviors over the past several years with 75% of Americans now believing that repeated yelling and swearing and the use of physical punishment can injure a child. Other findings showed 12% fewer parents (than 1988) spanking their children, and 25% acting in some way to prevent child abuse. However, other findings indicated over 50% of the states continue to allow corporal punishment in the schools and that few respondents saw a link between spanking and child abuse and 10% fewer (than in 1988) individuals feel that can help to prevent child abuse. (DB)

As described in earlier articles, children whose parents have higher income and education levels are more likely to grow up in stable two-parent households than their economically disadvantaged counterparts. These widening gaps in fathers' involvement in parenting and in the quality and stability of parents' relationships may reinforce disparities in outcomes for the next generation. This paper reviews evidence about the effectiveness of two strategies to strengthen fathers' involvement and family relationships--fatherhood programs aimed at disadvantaged noncustodial fathers and relationship skills programs for parents who are together. Fatherhood programs have shown some efficacy at increasing child support payments, while relationship skills approaches have shown benefits for the couples' relationship quality, coparenting skills, fathers' engagement in parenting, and children's well-being. The research evidence suggests that parents' relationship with each other should be a fundamental consideration in future programs aimed at increasing low-income fathers' involvement with their children. (Contains 2 figures and 4 notes.) [A version of this paper (and four other policy papers) was presented at the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) conference on "Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Families, Poverty, and Policy" which was held September 14-15, 2009, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.]

Policies governing divorce and parenting, such as child support orders and enforcement, child custody regulations, and marital dissolution requirements, can have a large impact on the welfare of parents and children. Recent research has produced evidence on the responses of divorce rates to unilateral divorce laws and child support enforcement. In this paper the authors argue that in order to assess the child welfare impact of family policies, one must consider their influence on parents' investments in their children as well as the stability of the marginal marriage. Further, the authors expect that changes in the regulatory environment induce changes in the distribution of resources within both intact and divided families. The authors develop a continuous time model of parents' marital status choices and investments in children, with the main goal being the determination of how policies toward divorce influence outcomes for children. Estimates are derived for model parameters of interest using the method of simulated moments, and simulations based on the model explore the effects of changes in custody allocations and child support standards on outcomes for children of married and divorced parents. We find that, while small changes in children's academic attainment are induced by significant shifts in custody and support, the major effects of these policies in both intact and divided households are on the distribution of welfare between parents. In addition, children's attainments are not necessarily best served by the divorce-minimizing policy. [This research is supported in part by a grant from the C. V. Starr Center for Applied Economics at NYU.]

New research shows the critical impact of a child's "environment of relationships" on developing brain architecture during the first months and years of life. We have long known that interactions with parents, caregivers, and other adults are important in a child's life, but new evidence shows that these relationships actually shape brain circuits and lay the foundation for later developmental outcomes, from academic performance to mental health and interpersonal skills. However, many of our nation's policies, such as parental leave, child care, welfare work requirements, and child protection services fail to take into account the crucial importance of this environment of relationships and its impact on child well-being. This report summarizes the most current and reliable scientific research on the impact of relationships on all aspects of a child's development, and identifies ways to strengthen policies that affect those relationships in the early childhood years.

A growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that emotional development begins early in life and is closely connected with the emergence of cognitive, language and social skills. Early emotional development lays the foundation for later academic performance, mental health, and the capacity to form successful relationships. Despite this knowledge, most policies related to early childhood focus exclusively on cognitive development as it relates to school readiness, neglecting the importance of such capacities as the ability to regulate one's own emotions and behavior and to manage successful interactions with other people. As a result, many of our nation's policies, such as those that regulate child care provider training, availability of early childhood mental health services, and early identification and treatment of behavioral disorders, overlook emotional development as a focus of evaluation and intervention. This report presents an overview of the scientific research on how a child's capacity to regulate emotions develops in a complex interaction with his or her environment and ongoing cognitive, motor, and social development. It then discusses the implications of this research for policies affecting young children, their caregivers, and service providers. [This report was published by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.]

New research suggests that exceptionally stressful experiences early in life may have long-term consequences for a child's learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health. Some types of "positive stress" in a child's life--overcoming the challenges and frustrations of learning a new, difficult task, for instance--can be beneficial. Severe, uncontrollable, chronic adversity--what this report defines as "toxic stress"--on the other hand, can produce detrimental effects on developing brain architecture as well as on the chemical and physiological systems that help an individual adapt to stressful events. This has implications for many policy issues, including family and medical leave, child care quality and availability, mental health services, and family support programs. This report explains how significant adversity early in life can alter--in a lasting way--a child's capacity to learn and to adapt to stressful situations, how sensitive and responsive caregiving can buffer the effects of such stress, and how policies could be shaped to minimize the disruptive impacts of toxic stress on young children.

The paper reviews research trends and findings on the development of personality in deaf individuals. The first section, "Adolescent and Adult Deaf Personalities," focuses on studies in the psychological literature that tend to promulgate stereotypical views of deaf people by reflecting researcher bias rather than researcher findings. The second section, "Personality Development in Deaf Children," examines in depth the consistent finding that deaf children who grow up in deaf families generally have better social, emotional, and cognitive development than do deaf children from hearing families. In the final section, "Implications for Parents of Deaf Children," a planned intervention called a "Sensory Integration Program for Deaf Infants" is recommended. Hearing parents of deaf children are encouraged to learn from deaf parents their ways of touching, communicating, and playing with young deaf children. Contains 85 references. (DB)

This prospective, birth cohort study addressed three questions: Which individual and family-of-origin characteristics predict the age at which young men make the transition to fatherhood? Do these characteristics predict how long young men live with their children? Are individual differences in the amount of time fathers spend living with their children associated with the fathers' psychosocial characteristics in young adulthood? Individual and family-of-origin characteristics were assessed from birth until age 15, and contemporaneous characteristics were assessed at age 26. By age 26, 19 percent of the 499 study men had become fathers. Those who had experienced a stressful rearing environment and history of conduct problems were more likely to become fathers at an early age and to spend less time living with their children. Of those who experienced no risk factors, fewer than 10 percent had become fathers by age 26, versus more than 60 percent of those who experienced 5 risk factors. Fathers who lived apart from their children reported the most social and psychological difficulties in young adulthood. Findings point to individual and family-of-origin characteristics that might be targeted to delay fatherhood and increase levels of paternal involvement. (Contains 60 references.) (SM)

Consequences of mothers' participation in child care (interaction and child-care tasks) on 160 Caucasian middle-class fathers and mothers were examined in an interview study of parents of kindergarten and fourth grade children. In half of the families, mothers were employed. Three forms of mothers' participation were examined in relation to two categories of consequences: role strain and well-being. Role-strain items referred to immediate and specific problems such as time and energy constraints and role conflicts. Well-being items assessed self-esteem, life satisfaction, and quality of experience in the parental and marital roles. In general, relationships among mothers' participation and both categories of consequences were stronger in dual-earner families. In these families, mothers' role strain was not consistently related to mothers' participation. In contrast, fathers' role strain was correlated with mothers' participation, especially proportional interaction time. The more mothers did, relative to fathers, the less role strain fathers reported. With respect to well-being consequences, for fathers, increased mothers' participation was associated with decrements in feelings of involvement in the role of parent but gains in assessments of the marriage. The opposite pattern emerged among mothers. Increased maternal participation was associated with more positive feelings in the role of mother and less positive feelings in the marital role. (Author/RH)

To investigate dimensions of fathers' participation in family work and to examine the effects of each dimension on children's sex-role related attitudes, this study collected data from 160 fathers of kindergarten and fourth-grade children, their wives, and their children. Fathers and mothers were interviewed jointly as well as separately and they independently filled out a questionnaire. Children were individually interviewed at school. The following categories of data related to dimensions of fathers' participation were reported: (1) intensity of interaction with children; (2) absolute amount of time spent in child care or home chores versus the proportional amount of time spent (i.e., the number of hours spent by the father divided by the number of hours spent by both parents); (3) solo participation versus participation with the mother; (4) performance of household chores versus child care; and (5) responsiblity for tasks versus simply performing them. Children's sex-role sterotyping and attitudes were assessed in three domains: current interests and activities, adult occupational roles, and adult family roles. In addition, children's occupational aspirations were also ascertained. Fathers' participation patterns were associated with maternal employment status and parents' sex-role attitudes (specifically, their attitudes about the male role). (AS)

This study addresses the nature, extent, antecedents, and consequences of fathers' participation in child care and home chores. Data was collected from 160 families with children in kindergarten and fourth-grade classes. The sample was equally divided between the two grade levels and within each grade level by sex. Within each of the four groups thus formed, half the mothers were employed. Dimensions of fathers' participation selected for analysis included total, proportional, and solo interaction time; solo performance of specific child care tasks; and performance of traditionally feminine household chores. Antecedents thought to influence fathers' participation included mother's and father's employment status and pattern, demographics, family structure, parental attitudes, and parental socialization. Consequences of fathers' participation were conceptualized as involving role strain and well-being. Children's sex role-related beliefs and values were measured by assessing attitudes concerning children's activities, adult occupational roles, and adult family roles, and by addressing several dimensions within each domain. Results provide descriptive data on each of the five father participation variables, correlational data describing the relationship between antecedents and the five father participation variables, consequences of fathers' participation for parents, descriptive data concerning children's sex role attitudes, and consequences for children of fathers' participation. A four-page reference list and 28 tables are appended. (RH)

The issue of combining careers and child rearing has come into public consciousness because so many more women with children now work. This means that there are many more families where both parents work. Women are voicing a growing sense of disillusionment regarding earnings, occupational segregation, child care difficulties, and performing two full-time jobs. They are dropping out of promising careers and starting their own businesses. Barriers to combining career and child rearing include standard business practices, such as the lack of schedule flexibility; entry barriers, such as finding child care; and hours of work. The average employed married woman with children works the equivalent of more than two full-time jobs. Men are experiencing the tradeoffs of combining career and child rearing at an increasing rate, but still significantly less than their spouses. If women cannot participate in the labor force to their fullest capacity, the marketplace is deprived of some of its most productive workers. Fertility in the United States has declined dramatically. Given the demands of careers and the costs of children to careers, many women and men appear to be making an explicit choice between career and child rearing. Policy implications for dependent care, employer flexibility, and management sensitivity are discussed; a research agenda is identified; and 39 references are included. (CML)