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Parents are in a powerful position to teach sexual topics to their children, promoting positive sex attitudes and lifelong sexual health. However, parents may lack sexual knowledge and confidence to address such topics. This study, grounded in social learning theory, tested the effects of an active learning intervention to increase parental efficacy regarding sexual communication with children aged one- to five-years-old. Parents were randomly assigned to a control group (n = 55), a factsheet group (n = 58), and an active learning group (n = 56). Multi-level Modelling (MLM) analyses showed the intervention was not effective at increasing parental sexual communication efficacy. However, a dosage effect was observed for the active learning and factsheet groups. In addition, factsheet and active learning intervention groups showed significant gains in knowledge of child sexual development. The results of this study suggest active learning may be a step towards promoting lifelong sexual health.

Racial and ethnic achievement gaps contribute to the lack of underrepresented minorities in STEM-related careers. This research is grounded in the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation which posits that motivation is influenced by social-cognitive variables such as self-efficacy and beliefs about the usefulness or utility of the task. These social-cognitive variables (self-beliefs and task beliefs), in turn, are influenced by numerous ecological factors such as parental involvement. Parent involvement can promote children's self-efficacy and task beliefs which is important for STEM interest and persistence. This study utilized data from the High School Longitudinal Study: 2009 (HLS: 2009) to examine links among parent involvement and underrepresented students' STEM self-efficacy, utility, interest and achievement. Concurrent and longitudinal models conducted in MPlus tested whether parent involvement in 9th grade predicted STEM interest and achievement directly and indirectly via self-efficacy and utility. Concurrent models showed that parent involvement in STEM was significantly related to adolescents' STEM self-efficacy which in turn was significantly related to STEM interest and achievement. Longitudinal models showed that parents' STEM involvement in 9th grade predicted adolescents' STEM efficacy in 11th grade which in turn predicted adolescents' cumulative GPA in STEM courses. Parent involvement in STEM was more strongly and consistently linked to self-efficacy than to utility. These results suggest that parent involvement in STEM helps adolescents to feel more confident in their STEM abilities but it does not necessarily contribute to adolescents' STEM utility values.

Trends in past research note parental involvement in education tends to decline as students get older. This targeted review draws on the bioecological model of human development and parental role construction to understand how parent involvement changes across developmental periods. Three distinct issues were identified from research on the effectiveness of parental involvement in secondary and higher education. First, in early adolescence and the middle school context, we explore whether too much involvement is possibly harmful rather than beneficial. Second, in mid- to late adolescence and the high school context, we explore racial/ethnic differences in level of involvement and the longitudinal effects of involvement on academic achievement. Third, in emerging adulthood, we reexamine the definition of parental involvement as it relates to the college context. Implications for the consideration of parental role construction in relation to these three issues and developmental periods are discussed.

The purpose of this article was to explore how family chaos, parenting processes, parent-child relationship qualities, and sibling relationship qualities changed before versus the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included one parent and two adolescent-aged children from 682 families (2,046 participants). Parents and youth participating in an ongoing longitudinal study in five Midwestern states in the United States completed an additional web-based assessment of family processes and family relationship qualities during the May-June 2020 pandemic-related shutdowns. A series of two-wave latent change score models indicated that family chaos increased with the onset of pandemic-related shutdowns and that the level of chaos within a family during the shutdowns had implications for changes in several parenting processes and family relationship qualities. Specifically, higher levels of family chaos during the pandemic mitigated observed increases in parental knowledge and were associated with declines in parental autonomy granting. Family chaos during pandemic-related shutdowns also was associated with increases in maternal-child conflict, paternal-child conflict, and sibling conflict as well as decreases in paternal-child intimacy, sibling intimacy, and sibling disclosure. Overall, consistent with a family stress perspective, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased strain and commotion within many households, and these changes had implications for multiple family relationships.

Building upon psychological momentum theory, we draw an analogy between motivational constructs proposed herein and the physical principles of mass, inertia, and momentum. From these principles, we derived constructs representing academic inertia in states of both low and high momentum. The sample consisted of 105 African American college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of a newly developed scale yielded support for two distinct factors reflecting low momentum state inertia (LMSI) and high momentum state inertia (HMSI). The conditional relationship between LMSI and HMSI was then examined with inspiration as a moderating variable. Consistent with our prediction, results indicated that the relationship between LMSI and HMSI was positive and significant at low levels of inspiration, while this slope was not significant at high levels of inspiration. Implications for cognitive-affective factors that may inhibit or facilitate psychological momentum in the context of academic functioning are discussed.

Discrimination because of one's stigmatized identities and personal characteristics can thwart healthy adolescent development. Little is known about the role of disclosure, including whether adolescents talk about their discrimination experiences with close relational partners (i.e., parents, siblings, friends) and whether disclosure mitigates the negative effects of discrimination. Addressing this gap, this study investigated links between adolescents' perceptions of discrimination in multiple settings (from teachers at school, from peers at school, and online) and indicators of adolescent well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, positive identity/values, school trouble, and school bonding), and tested whether disclosure of discrimination experiences moderated these associations. Survey data from 395 parent-adolescent dyads (33% African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and White, respectively) were analyzed using mixed model ANOVAs and multiple regression. Perceived discrimination was generally associated with less positive identity/values, more trouble at school and less school bonding; however, disclosure of discrimination mitigated some of these deleterious links. Adolescents' close relationships that promote disclosure therefore represent an important context that can provide protective benefits and ensure youth garner the resources and support they need for optimal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School choice has received national attention in the United States from policymakers and professionals as a way to improve parents' social capital and subsequent academic outcomes for adolescents. However, limited work has empirically tested the links among school choice, social capital, and academic outcomes, particularly for high school students. Guided by theories of social capital and Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model of Human Development, this study used multi-year data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (N = 9350) to examine the associations among school choice, social capital (intergenerational closure and perceived inclusion in school decision-making), and academic outcomes (cognitive test scores and educational attainment) for a diverse population of adolescents. Consistent with previous work, findings revealed positive associations between social capital and academic outcomes, along with differences based on family socioeconomic status. However, contrary to hypotheses, findings revealed no evidence of links between school choice, parental social capital, and subsequent adolescent academic outcomes. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

The stereotype inoculation model proposes that environments primarily comprised of underrepresented in-group members afford them protection against the inimical effects of stereotypes. We conducted a macrolevel test of this model by examining the conditional effects of university context on students' perceptions of threatening race-science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) stereotypes. Participants were 333 African American undergraduate STEM students attending both a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and a predominantly White institution (PWI). Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that HBCU students reported significantly lower identity threat than their PWI counterparts when they endorsed both mean and high levels of social identification. Identity threat and social identity were also found to be significant negative and positive predictors of STEM self-efficacy, respectively, after controlling for implicit race-STEM stereotypes and other contextual and intrapersonal factors. Implications for fostering the STEM career development of African American students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rooted in achievement goal theory, the buffering hypothesis posits that contextual factors serve to moderate the deleterious effects of personal achievement goals on relevant outcomes. The present study sought to test this hypothesis by examining the interactive effects of classroom affiliation perceptions and personal achievement goals for conducting research on participants' goal strivings within physics, biology and chemistry laboratory classes. Participants consisted of 185 undergraduate students voluntarily engaged in faculty-led research. Results indicated that affiliation strengthened the positive association between research mastery goals and class-based mastery approach goals. In contrast, perceptions of affiliation in the laboratory environment weakened the relationship between research mastery goals and performance approach goals. The importance of academic climates as facilitators of goal striving in classrooms designed to cultivate research skill development is discussed.

Objective: This study examined measurement equivalence of parental microprotections in Black, Latinx, and White families. Background: Microprotections refer to the small daily caring, supportive, and loving behaviors Black parents engage in to counteract the negative effects of racism and discrimination. It is possible that this parenting practice applies to other families in which adolescents are at risk for discrimination because of social identities and/or membership in a stigmatized group (e.g., Latinx adolescents, sexual minority adolescents). Methods: Participants were parent–adolescent dyads (N = 395) from across the United States. Adolescents were in Grades 9 through 12, and approximately one third of the families identified as Black/African American (n = 131), one third as Hispanic/Latinx (n = 132), and one third as White (n = 132). Results: Measurement equivalence was evaluated through a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Results showed strict measurement invariance in parent reports of parental microprotections across all three racial/ethnic groups. Adolescent reports of mothers' microprotections demonstrated strict measurement invariance and adolescent reports of fathers' microprotections achieved configural measurement invariance. Conclusion: These results support the use of the Parental Microprotections Scale in African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and White families. Implications: Parental microprotections are one way that parents can nurture hope, happiness, and health despite discrimination that adolescents may face. The Parental Microprotections Scale may be useful for family science practitioners and researchers who are interested in evaluating potential supports in adolescents and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental educational involvement during middle school has received increased attention from researchers and policymakers because of its links to a variety of academic outcomes. Despite this increased attention, parental involvement has been inconsistently linked to academic outcomes among adolescents, indicating different types and levels of involvement that may be more beneficial for adolescents. Therefore, this study examined the nonlinear associations between parental involvement (home-based involvement and academic socialization) and academic motivation in an effort to better understand the nature of parental involvement in middle school. Using data from an ethnically diverse (57% Black/African American, 19% multiracial, 18% White/Caucasian, 5% Hispanic or Latino, and 1% Asian American) sample of 150 adolescents (56% female) in grades 6 through 8, findings showed no associations between home-based involvement and intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. There was, however, a significant nonlinear association between academic socialization and both types of motivation. More specifically, the positive association between academic socialization and intrinsic motivation was attenuated at high levels of academic socialization. There was no association between academic socialization and extrinsic motivation at low and moderate levels, but there was a positive association at high levels of academic socialization. These findings suggest that different types of involvement and greater amounts of parental involvement may not always benefit adolescents' academic motivation.

The present study examined the extent to which parent involvement in education was directly and indirectly (via school engagement) related to academic outcomes in an effort to more fully understand the school experiences of urban adolescents. Participants (80% racial/ethnic minority; n = 108) were in grades 6, 7 or 8. In the Fall and subsequent Spring youth completed in-school surveys with items on parental involvement in education, school engagement (affective, behavioural, cognitive engagement) and perceived academic competence. Grades were obtained from official school records. Findings showed that parental involved was positively associated with behavioural and cognitive engagement, which in turn contributed to academic competence and achievement. Results underscore the importance of parental involvement in adolescents' engagement and academic success and highlight the importance of examining the multiple components of school engagement simultaneously, as we found differential effects for affective, behavioural, and cognitive engagement on academic competence and achievement.

Research Findings: Grounded in the investment model and informed by the integrative theory of the study of minority children, this study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort data set, a nationally representative sample of young children, to investigate whether the association between socioeconomic status (family income and maternal education) and children's preacademic skills (receptive language, expressive language, literacy, numeracy skills) as mediated by parenting (learning materials, language stimulation, and outside activities) varies across Euro-American, African American, Hispanic, and Asian children. Results indicated that in general, language stimulation and outside activities were the most consistent mediators for Euro-Americans, learning materials was the most consistent mediator for African Americans, learning materials and language stimulation were the most consistent mediators for Hispanics, and learning materials and outside activities were the most consistent mediators for Asians. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that how certain parenting behaviors are interpreted may vary by cultural context and thus how such parenting behaviors mediate the associations between socioeconomic status and preacademic skills outcomes may vary by cultural group as well. Thus, these findings have important implications for both future research and public policy. These results add to the growing literature demonstrating the necessity to consider parenting through the perspective of the majority culture not only when conducting research but also when providing programs for families from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

This study examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and school readiness, testing whether parenting (maternal sensitivity and negative behavior/intrusiveness) and financial stress mediated this association and if race moderated these paths. Participants included 164 mother-child dyads from African American and European American families. Findings supported moderated mediation hypotheses: maternal sensitivity mediated the link between SES and school readiness for European Americans only; maternal negative/intrusive behaviors mediated the link between SES and school readiness for both European Americans and African Americans. These results indicate that the meaning and effects of parenting behaviors can vary by racial groups, and findings obtained for European American families cannot be assumed to apply to ethnic minority families as well. Among the implications of these findings is that programs aimed at increasing school readiness and closing the achievement gap need to be mindful of the cultural context in which children are raised. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

Classroom context and school engagement are significant predictors of academic achievement. These factors are especially important for academically at-risk students. Grounded in an ecological systems perspective, this study examined links between classroom context, school engagement, and academic achievement among early adolescents. We took a multidimensional approach to the measurement of classroom context and school engagement, incorporating both observational and self-reported assessments of various dimensions of classroom context (instruction quality, social/emotional climate, and student-teacher relationship) and school engagement (psychological and behavioral engagement). Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we tested whether school engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement among 5th grade students, and whether these pathways were the same for students with previous achievement difficulties identified in 3rd grade. Participants included 1,014 children (50% female) in 5th grade (mean age = 11). The majority of the participants were white (77%) and 23% were children of color. Results indicated that psychological and behavioral engagement mediated the link between classroom context and academic achievement for students without previous achievement difficulties. However, for students with previous achievement difficulties psychological and behavioral engagement did not mediate the link between classroom context and academic achievement. These results suggest that improving classroom quality may not be sufficient to improve student engagement and achievement for students with previous achievement difficulties. Additional strategies may be needed for these students. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Purpose: Black and White middle-aged adults typically are in a pivot position of providing support to generations above and below. Racial differences in support to each generation in the family remain unclear, however. Different factors may account for racial differences in support of grown children versus aging parents. Design and Methods: Middle-aged adults (aged 40-60 years; 35%, n = 216 Black and 65%, n = 397 White) rated social support they provided each aging parent and grown child. Participants reported background characteristics representing their resources and measures of needs for each family member. Interviews also assessed beliefs about obligation to support parents and grown children and rewards from helping. Results: Multilevel models revealed White middle-aged adults provided more support to grown children than Black middle-aged adults. Demands from offspring, beliefs about support, and rewards from helping explained these racial differences. Black middle-aged adults provided more support to parents than White middle-aged adults. Beliefs about support and feelings of personal reward from providing support explained this difference but resources and demands did not. Implications: Racial differences varied by generation (parent or offspring). The prolonged transitions common for White young adults explained racial differences in support of offspring. Middle-aged adults may treat support of parents as more discretionary, with cultural ideas about obligation and personal rewards guiding behaviors.

Study goals were to assess: (a) the development of academic interests from middle childhood through late adolescence; (b) the degree to which junior high and high school transitions, parents' educational expectations, interests, and education were related to changes in academic interests; and (c) the longitudinal links between youths' academic interests and school grades. Participants were mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings from 201 White working-class and middle-class families who were interviewed in their homes on up to 9 annual occasions. Multilevel model analyses revealed overall declines in youths' interests over time, with boys showing more rapid decline than girls. Mothers' educational expectations were positively related to youths' interests, and youths' interests declined less when fathers had more education. The transition to junior high, but not high school, was linked to decline in interests, but this was buffered by mothers' academic interests. Declines in youths' academic interests were linked to declines in school grades. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)

The authors examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES), race, maternal sensitivity, and maternal negative-intrusive behaviors and language development in a sample selected to reduce the typical confound between race and SES (n = 146). Mother-child interactions were observed at 12 and 24 months (coded by randomly assigned African American and European American coders); language abilities were assessed at 18, 24, 30, and 36 months. For receptive language, race was associated with ability level, and maternal sensitivity and negative-intrusive parenting were related to rate of growth. For expressive communication, race, SES, and maternal sensitivity were associated with rate of growth; race moderated the association between negative-intrusive parenting and rate of growth such that the relation was weaker for African American than for European American children. The results highlight the importance of sensitive parenting and suggest that the association between negative-intrusive parenting and language development may depend upon family context. Future work is needed concerning the race differences found, including examining associations with other demographic factors and variations in language input experienced by children, using culturally and racially validated indices of language development. (Contains 4 tables and 6 figures.)

This study charted the development of gendered personality qualities and activity interests from age 7 to age 19 in 364 first- and second-born siblings from 185 White, middle/working-class families, assessed links between time in gendered social contexts (with mother, father, female peers, and male peers) and gender development, and tested whether changes in testosterone moderated links between time use and gender development. Multilevel models documented that patterns of change varied across dimensions of gender and by sex and birth order and that time in gendered social contexts was generally linked to development of more stereotypical qualities. Associations between time with mother and expressivity and time with father and instrumentality were stronger for youth with slower increases in testosterone.

This study investigated the links between racial discrimination and school engagement and the roles of racial socialization and ethnic identity as protective factors in those linkages in a sample of 148, sixth through twelfth grade African American adolescents from working and middle-class two-parent families. In home interviews, youth described their ethnic identity, discrimination experiences at school, and school engagement (school bonding, school grades, school self-esteem), and parents rated their racial socialization practices. Analyses revealed that discrimination was negatively related to school self-esteem and school bonding. Racial socialization had additive effects on school self-esteem and school bonding, but did not moderate the discrimination--school engagement association. For boys, ethnic identity had additive effects on school bonding, but for girls, ethnic identity moderated the relation between discrimination and school bonding: when girls experienced more discrimination and had a lower ethnic identity, they reported lower school bonding. Discrimination, racial socialization, and ethnic identity were not related to school grades. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

We examined reciprocal associations between parent-adolescent conflict and academic achievement over a 2-year period. Participants were mothers, fathers, and adolescents from predominantly White, working and middle class families (N = 168). After accounting for previous academic achievement, parent-adolescent conflict predicted relative declines in academic achievement 2 years later. After controlling for relationship quality at Time 1, lower math grades predicted relative increases in parent-adolescent conflict 2 years later among families with less education. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

The connection between out-of-school activities and school engagement was examined in 140, 6th through 9th grade African American adolescents. Youth's out-of-school activities were measured with a series of 7 nightly phone calls and focused on time in structured (homework, academically-oriented, extracurricular/sports) and unstructured (watching television, hanging out with peers) activities. School engagement was assessed during a home interview in terms of affective (school bonding), behavioral (school grades), and cognitive (school self-esteem) dimensions. Regression analyses controlling for parents' education and youth grade in school showed that more time in extracurricular activities was associated with greater school self-esteem and school bonding. In addition, more time spent on homework was associated with greater school bonding for boys. Conversely, more time watching television was associated with lower school self-esteem and school bonding.

Parents are in a powerful position to teach sexual topics to their children, promoting positive sex attitudes and lifelong sexual health. However, parents may lack sexual knowledge and confidence to address such topics. This study, grounded in social learning theory, tested the effects of an active learning intervention to increase parental efficacy regarding sexual communication with children aged one- to five-years-old. Parents were randomly assigned to a control group (n = 55), a factsheet group (n = 58), and an active learning group (n = 56). Multi-level Modelling (MLM) analyses showed the intervention was not effective at increasing parental sexual communication efficacy. However, a dosage effect was observed for the active learning and factsheet groups. In addition, factsheet and active learning intervention groups showed significant gains in knowledge of child sexual development. The results of this study suggest active learning may be a step towards promoting lifelong sexual health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]