315-1 RT - Launch Into Adulthood? Relationships Between Parents and Young Disconnected Sons Presented by: Kevin Roy, Lauren Messina

315-2 RT - Observational Assessment of Parent Emotion Socialization: A Decade in Review Presented by: Elizabeth Jeanne Plowman

315-3 RT - Family Relational Predictors of Parental Education Expectations Presented by: Dana A. Weiser, Jennifer L. Lowman, Daniel J. Weigel

315-4 RT Provider Roles and Parental Involvement Presented by: Letitia E. Kotila, Claire M. Kamp Dush, Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan

Abstracts

Launch into adulthood? Relationships between parents and young disconnected sons

Presented by: Kevin Roy, Lauren Messina

Young men in low-income neighborhoods are uniquely vulnerable during the transition to adulthood.  In this study of disconnection from school and work, we examine how sons craft reciprocal relationships with their parents, and how low-income families launch them into adulthood.   Using life history interviews gathered from two years of participant observation in community-based programs near Washington DC, we find parent-son relationships shaped by role reversal, overprotection, and early separation.  We discuss the framing of the transition to adulthood as a similar process for all youth, and disconnection as a process in which young men struggle with uncertainty and marginality.

Observational Assessment of Parent Emotion Socialization: A Decade in Review

Presented by: Elizabeth Jeanne Plowman

Parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) support children's socio-emotional development; observational family assessments of ERSBs limit reporter bias and boast strong validity. We critiqued peer-reviewed articles that used observational family-level analysis to examine ERSBs from preschool to adolescence. Overall, theoretical guidance was implicit and subtle, samples were small, and coding systems lacked thorough description and psychometric testing. Across studies, there was inconsistency in measurement, limiting findings' contributions as a united body of research.  Despite limitations, findings suggest ERSBs shape children's socioemotional experience and behavior, manifest differently for mothers and fathers, and offer protection against environmental and biological risk.

Family Relational Predictors of Parental Education Expectations

Presented by: Dana A. Weiser, Jennifer L. Lowman, Daniel J. Weigel

Researchers have long recognized that parental education expectations significantly impact children's academic achievement and education continuation. In comparison, very little research has explored how families transmit these education expectations. The current study explored the relationship between perceptions of parental education expectations and parent-child relationship quality after controlling for a number of family demographics including family income and parent education level. It was found that the affective quality of the mother-child relationship and parental school involvement significantly predicted perceived education expectations. This implies that family relationship quality and interactions are more instrumental in developing education expectations than socioeconomic factors.

Provider Roles and Parental Involvement

Presented by: Letitia E. Kotila, Claire M. Kamp Dush, Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan

Social and economic changes have increased dual-earner families - parents who share financial responsibility for the family. Men's provider role attitudes have been associated with housework and may influence men's functioning within the family. We test the association between provider role attitudes and parental involvement in a sample of 182 dual-earner parents across the transition to parenthood. Fathers who considered themselves as the primary provider but depended on the income of the mother were more involved initially, but decreased more than other fathers over time. Inflexibility in provider role orientations may result in difficulties transitioning from work to family roles.