Concurrent Sessions 5 - (NBCC CE Credit: #1 hr and Conference Attendance Credit: #1 hr)

215-01: Examining Parental Middle School Involvement to Reduce Behavior Problems and Emotional Symptoms
Andrew Garbacz

215-02: From Family Support to Goal-Directed Behaviors: Examining the Mediating Role of Cognitive Well-Being Factors
Xu Jiang, Dexin Shi

215-03: Examining The Social Predictors of Grit: Does Strength-Based Parenting  Have An Incremental Effect Beyond General Parental Support? 
Lauren Fenningmore, Xu Jiang

Discussant: Kimberly A. Greder
Chair/Moderator: Xu Jiang

Summary
The importance of social support from parents in children's development has been well documented in literature. Even during adolescence when individuals tend to seek more support from peers, research has shown that the impact of parental support is still crucial, especially in the area ofemotional and behavioral development. In this symposium, we will present three studies to communicate research advances to suggest three ways to optimize the positive effects of parental support, including increasing parental involvement in schooling, promoting hope in parenting, and utilizing strength-based parenting.Theemotional and behavioralindicators included problematic behaviors, emotional symptoms, meaningful engagement in activities, and grit. Implications will be discussed for family life educators and other practitioners to promote parental support in innovative ways in schools and communities.

Objectives
-- Symposium attendees will experience a rich and focused discussion on how parental support is connected to their children's emotional and behavioral development in three unique ways beyond general support.
-- Family life educators and other practitioners will learn recent evidence that supports the importance of parental involvement in schooling, promoting hope through parenting, and strengths-based parenting, and apply it in practice to promote positive parenting and home-school collaboration.
-- Researchers will gain greater insight in studying the relations between parenting and youth emotional and behavioral well-being at meso-systems level (e.g., family-school) and via a strengths-based approach.

Subject Codes: parenting, strengths, mental health
Population Codes: adolescence, emerging/young adulthood
Method and Approach Codes: longitudinal research, mediation/indirect effects models, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical)