Early Parental Resources Predict Young Adult Achievement

Using longitudinal data from 164 families, this study tested whether mothers' and fathers' education and occupation attainments, as well as the mean level and cross-time consistency of parental warmth across childhood and adolescence, predicted educational and occupational achievements in young adulthood. Results revealed that both mothers' and fathers' educational attainment and warmth consistency predicted young adults' educational attainment. Fathers' occupational prestige predicted sons', but not daughters', prestige. Daughters with mothers in high prestige jobs and sons with mothers in low prestige jobs benefited most from maternal warmth consistency. Therefore, family resources combine in different ways to predict young adult achievements.

Objectives

1. To examine how youth’s family experiences from middle childhood through adolescence predicted their educational and occupational achievements in young adulthood. 2. To examine mothers’ and fathers’ roles in daughters’ and sons’ achievements. 3. To examine the Person (youth gender) × Process (parent-youth warmth and warmth consistency) × Context (parent education and occupation) interaction effects in young adult achievements.

Family Routines in Adolescence Forecast African Americans’ Young Adulthood Outcomes

The present study investigated whether family routinization during adolescence would forecast positive development in young adulthood. From a sample of 517 rural African Americans followed over a six year period, results indicated that families with greater routinization had children who, in young adulthood, reported less alcohol use, lower stress hormones, improved psychosocial adjustment, and were more likely to be attending a 4-year college or university; these effects appeared controlling for levels of supportive parenting and socioeconomic risk. In addition, decreases in conduct problems during adolescence emerged as underlying mechanisms for some outcomes.

Objectives

(1) To determine the degree of within- and between-family change in family routines across adolescence among a sample of rural African Americans. (2) To analyze the effect of family routines during adolescence on physical, psychological, Behavioral, and educational outcomes in young adulthood. (3) To identify mechanisms through which family routines affect young adult outcomes.

Helicopter Parenting, Parental Warmth, and Emerging Adults’ Well-Being

Emerging adults’ perceptions of their mothers’ and fathers’ parenting were factor analyzed.  Two hundred twenty-seven college students were surveyed.  Results revealed that participants perceived three constructs their parents’ parenting:  Warmth/Support, Hovering and Intrusion, and Taking Over.  The three constructs related to participants’ well-being.  Participants who perceived their parents as being high in parental warmth and support reported better adjustment in all areas of well-being (lower anxiety, lower stress, lower loneliness, lower depression, and high GPA).  In contrast, participants who perceived their parents to be high in hovering and intruding, or high in taking over reported less well-being.  

Objectives

1. To identify the factor structure of an assessment of parents' (mother's and father's) parenting behaviors. 2. To determine the relations between mother's parenting and father's parenting to assessments of emerging adults' well-being. 3. To compare how mother's parenting versus father's parenting relates to emerging adults' well-being.

2016 NCFR INNOVATION GRANT WINNING PROPOSAL: Helicopter Parenting of College Students: Strengthening Family Wellbeing With an Interdisciplinary Approach

Helicopter parenting has emerged as a growing trend in contemporary society. From a family systems perspective, such parenting behavior could affect each family member. Despite the growing trend and overwhelming media attention, research in this area is limited and fraught with methodological issues. Investigators propose to collect data from 800 college students and their parents in a longitudinal study to (1) develop knowledge about the current state of helicopter parenting and its impact on the health of young adult children and parents, (2) disseminate research-based information about the practice of helicopter parenting, and (3) inform family life educators and practitioners of parenting programs to reduce the practice of helicopter parenting