Journal of Family Issues

Intergenerational factors have been suggested as a critical interactional context shaping African American fathers’ beliefs and parenting practices. However, relatively little attention has been given to the identification of underlying processes guiding the association between intergenerational factors and African American fathers’ involvement with their children. The current investigation builds the case for fathering role ideologies and sense of parenting competence as mediators. The sample was composed of 185 African American fathers (M = 32.20 years, SD = 8.24) residing in a midsized city in the Southeastern region of the United States. Results revealed that fathering role ideologies, but not sense of parenting competence, mediated the relationship between African American fathers’ intergenerational factors and their involvement. Findings from this investigation highlight underlying mechanisms guiding the relationship between intergenerational factors and African American fathers’ involvement with their children. Implications for intervention and prevention programming for African American fathers are discussed.

This study investigates associations between neighborhood social processes and parenting qualities among mothers of young children and tests variation according to relationship status. Data come from Year 3 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 3,535). Aim 1 is to examine associations between neighborhood collective efficacy and social disorder and parenting qualities (parenting stress, parental efficacy, harsh discipline, and neglect). Aim 2 is to test relationship status (married, cohabiting, or single) as a moderator of links between neighborhood social processes and parenting. Results showed significant associations in expected directions; collective efficacy was related to more positive parenting qualities, and social disorder had negative implications for parenting. Interactions by relationship status revealed that neighborhood social processes had stronger implications for single relative to married or cohabiting mothers. Discussion centers on the importance of identifying neighborhood risk and protective factors for parenting qualities among mothers with young children.

Previous research on arranged marriage focuses on young people getting married. In this article, the author turns the focus toward parents, examining whether Nepali parents value approving their child’s future spouse. A fifth of parents did not value approving their child’s spouse. They then investigated which parents value such approval less than others and how these connections differ by gender. Parents who had low-quality relationships with their children and believed it is better, in general, for children to choose their own spouses were less likely to value approval. Parents of children with salaried work experience, especially mothers of daughters, were also less likely to value approval. By contrast, children’s education, parents’ marital experience, and valuation of parental respect were not important. Believing arranged marriage and respect for parents will decrease in the future and that parents relinquish spouse approval in exchange for old age support were also unimportant.

We examined differences in family structure change in an urban sample of mothers (N = 1,314) from their child’s birth to age 5 and whether ecological risk moderated this association. We found that compared with U.S.-born Latino mothers, foreign-born Latino mothers were 62% less likely to break up and 75% less likely to repartner than remain stably resident. Across nativity status, Latina mothers with fewer children, more economic stress, less income, and less frequently reported father involvement were more likely to break up and repartner than remain stably resident. We found no moderation effects of ecological risk.

The literature suggests that families of children and youths in residential care are often associated with negative social images. These images may shape prejudiced attitudes and behavior toward them and, when shared by care professionals, compromise the effectiveness of family intervention and reintegration. This study explored these social images in a sample of 176 participants with and without professional contact with this population. Participants were asked to indicate five attributes describing families of children or youths living in residential care or in mainstream environments with low or medium socioeconomic status (SES). Results indicated that both families of children and youths in residential care and families of low SES were predominantly described with negative attributes. However, only the former were characterized by dysfunctional parenting-related attributes. Medium SES families were overall described with positive attributes. Furthermore, these social images were organized in different profiles. Implications for family intervention and reintegration are discussed

Presently, there is a lack of consensus about whether interactive technology enhances or restricts the quality and quantity of shared time between parents and their children. The purposes of this exploratory study were to identify parent and adolescent/young adult perceptions of time spent together and to investigate ways in which the use of technology is related to that time. Using a purposive sample, 766 youth (high school and early college) and their parents (n = 735) responded to questions about their interactive time spent together. Results indicated that parents and their adolescent/young adult children distinguished between parent–child quality and parent–child quantity time. Participant perceptions of both quality and quantity parent–child time were explored in relation to parent–child computer-mediated communication via text messaging, telephone calls, social networking, video chat, and e-mail. The type of interactive technology was related to participant perceptions of parent–child quality time more than the quantity of time.