Remarkably little is known about factors related to parenting and child outcomes among Latina adolescent mothers. Understanding these factors is critical in light of the fact that the birth rate for Latino youth is substantially larger than that for any other group, and Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the US. The aims of this proposal are to test 1) direct and moderated (by residential context) relations between different types of supports provided by the adolescents' mothers (grandmothers) and partners and the quality of parenting displayed by young mainland Puerto Rican mothers; 2) how indices of parenting are related to changes in children's cognitive and emotional/behavioral outcomes during early childhood; and 3) how acculturation level moderates the above relations. The study examines the above associations among families with children in their second year of life (18ms & 24ms) as adverse cognitive and emotional/behavioral difficulties start to emerge during this time. It uses a multi-method, longitudinal design to examine maternal behavior and child outcomes among 180 English- and Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican adolescent mothers and their children. Data are gathered at the participants' home. The role of support is studied in terms of sources of support (grandmothers & partners), types of supports (social support & child care support), and the residential and cultural context in which the support is embedded (coresidence with support provider; acculturation level). Acculturation is assessed in terms of language use / preference and values. Indices of parenting quality are obtained through observer ratings of maternal behavior and teaching strategies during 4 mother-child interaction episodes videotaped in the mothers' homes. Children's cognitive and emotional/behavioral outcomes are measured by a standardized cognitive assessment, maternal reports of child emotional/behavioral problems, and observer ratings of child responsiveness, positive and negative affect, and compliance during mother- child interactions. This research will allow the PI to test a portion of a model of parenting she developed to account for both the developmental stage and the unique cultural and socio-demographic ecology of Latina adolescent mothers in the U.S. Findings will aid in the identification of universal and culture-specific factors related to parenting and child developmental processes among Puerto Rican adolescent mothers, contribute to our conceptual understanding of what constitutes optimal parenting among Latina mothers of different acculturation levels, and help uncover factors related to successful outcomes among children of Latina adolescent mothers.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter