Parenting as a Protective Process for School Success in Children from Homeless Families

The role of parenting as a protective process for school success was investigated among 59 African American children 6 to 11 years old from homeless families residing in a Minneapolis shelter. Reliable scores for three dimensions of parenting—parent-child closeness, parent involvement in education, and firm discipline—were derived from ratings based on interviews with parents while they were living at the shelter. After families had left the shelter, children's school success was assessed via three types of indicators: a) performance on a standardized achievement test; b) ratings of school records for the current school semester as well as cumulative school records; and c) teacher assessments of appropriate school behavior. Results suggested that good parenting may be protective for school success in these children. Close parent-child relationships and high parent involvement in the child's education were associated with school success in terms of school records of achievement and behavior in school. Parent's intellectual functioning, education level, psychological distress and firm disciplinary practices were unrelated to child academic success. Future research directions and implications for intervention are discussed.     

Parent–Child Shared Time From Middle Childhood to Late Adolescence: Developmental Course and Adjustment Correlates

The development and adjustment correlates of parent–child social (parent, child, and others present) and dyadic time (only parent and child present) from age 8 to 18 were examined. Mothers, fathers, and firstborns and secondborns from 188 White families participated in both home and nightly phone interviews. Social time declined across adolescence, but dyadic time with mothers and fathers peaked in early and middle adolescence, respectively. In addition, secondborns’ social time declined more slowly than firstborns’, and gendered time use patterns were more pronounced in boys and in opposite‐sex sibling dyads. Finally, youths who spent more dyadic time with their fathers, on average, had higher general self‐worth, and changes in social time with fathers were positively linked to changes in social competence.     

An exploratory study of argument in the jury decision‐making process

Different from most other group decision‐making contexts, courtroom jurors face two distinct layers of argument— arguments made during the trial and arguments made during deliberation. The juror often makes an individual decision prior to deliberation based on arguments heard in court and then, using that decision, creates arguments with the other jurors about “what really happened.” The researchers used Canary, Tanita‐Ratledge and Seibold's (1982) coding scheme to analyze arguments in 80 mock juries. The results revealed that jurors’ arguments were not complex; they used assertions and acknowledgments most frequently, followed by propositions, elaborations, and non‐related arguments. The conclusions suggest practical applications for attorneys as well as a model of argument in jury decision‐making.     

The nature and correlates of Mexican-American adolescents' time with parents and peers

Drawing on cultural-ecological and person-environment fit perspectives, this study examined links among Mexican-American adolescents' time with peers and parents, parents' cultural orientations, and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment and cultural orientations. Participants were 492 Mexican-American adolescents (Ms=15.7 and 12.8 years for older siblings and younger siblings) and their parents in 246 families. Family members described their family relationships, cultural orientations, and psychosocial functioning in home interviews, and time-use data were collected during a series of nightly phone calls. Mexican-American adolescents spent the majority of their peer time with Mexican youth. Some support was found for the hypothesis that the mismatch between parents' cultural orientations and adolescents' peer involvement is linked to adolescents' psychosocial functioning.     

Beyond “what works”: A mixed-methods study of intervention effect modifiers in the Good Behavior Game

This mixed-methods study examines two moderators of the impact of the Good Behavior Game—implementation variability, participant risk status, and the interaction between them—as predictors of behavioral and academic outcomes. Quantitative data from 38 primary schools were utilized, with outcome data collected at baseline and 2-year follow-up. Behavior (disruptive behavior, prosocial behavior, and concentration problems) was assessed via the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation Checklist. Reading attainment was assessed via national teacher assessment scores, and the Hodder Group Reading Test. Implementation fidelity/quality data were collected via independent observations. Participant risk status was modeled using a cumulative risk index. Multilevel modeling revealed that higher levels of fidelity/quality were associated with improved overall reading scores (d = 0.203–225), but worsening disruptive behavior among high-risk students (d = 0.560). Thematic analysis of qualitative interview data collected from 20 teachers identified six groups of at-risk students who were perceived to experience differential effects, and five key mechanisms underpinning these.