This study was designed to examine the prospective relations of perceived racial discrimination with allostatic load (AL), along with a possible buffer of the association. A sample of 331 African Americans in the rural South provided assessments of perceived discrimination from ages 16 to 18 years. When youth were 18 years, caregivers reported…

A randomized prevention design was used to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a polymorphism in the "SCL6A4"("5HTT") gene at 5-HTTLPR and increases in youths' risk behavior initiation. Participation in the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program was hypothesized to attenuate the link between 5-HTTLPR status and risk…

Longitudinal links between perceived racial discrimination and later conduct problems and depressive symptoms were examined among 714 African American adolescents who were 10-12 years old at recruitment. Data were gathered 3 times over a 5-year period. Hypotheses were tested via latent curve modeling and multiple-group latent growth modeling.…

Hypotheses concerning the extent to which adolescents' cognitions mediate the relation between parenting behaviors and adolescent substance use were examined in a panel of African American adolescents (N=714, M age at Time 1=10.51 years) and their primary caregivers. A nested-model approach indicated that effective parenting (i.e., monitoring of…

A 4-wave longitudinal design was used to examine protective links from child competence to behavioral problems in first- (M=10.97 years) and second- (M=8.27 years) born rural African American children. At 1-year intervals, teachers assessed child behavioral problems, mothers reported their psychological functioning, and both mothers and children…

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a contextual model positing that regulated, communicative parenting causes changes in factors protecting…

Examined the relationship between maternal psychological functioning and child competence and psychological adjustment among black families with 11-year-old children. Found a chain of influences over a 3-year period in which maternal education and income were linked with maternal psychological functioning, which predicted competence-promoting…

Examined contributions parenting and classroom processes make to 7- to 15-year-olds' self-regulation and adjustment among single-parent Black families. Found that parenting and classroom processes contributed uniquely to children's adjustment through the development of self-regulation, and that each process could serve a protective or stabilizing…

Used a hierarchical linear model to examine contributions of neighborhood disadvantage, collective socialization, and parenting to African American 10- to 12-year-olds' affiliation with deviant peers. Found that community disadvantage had a significant positive effect on deviant peer affiliations. Nurturant/involved parenting and collective…

Traced links among family financial resource adequacy, maternal beliefs and behavior, developmental goals, and child outcomes in rural, single-parent African American families of 6- to 9-year-olds. Found that financial adequacy was linked with childrearing efficacy. Efficacy beliefs were linked with parenting practices indirectly through…

Examined influence of residential dislocations on child behavior problems, depression, peer competence, cognitive competence, and quality of sibling relationships among Head Start children and their older siblings. Found that child emotionality moderated the effects of residential mobility. Caregiver conflict was a less powerful moderator.…

Tested a model linking maternal/family characteristics to child cognitive and psychosocial competence in African-American 6- to 9-year olds in rural single-mother-headed households. Found that maternal education, religiosity, and financial resources were linked with parenting style, mother-child relationship, and maternal school involvement.…

Observed parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, and family problem solving, and obtained parent-reported child temperament assessments. Found that links among mother-older child relationship quality, father-older child relationship quality, and sibling relationship quality were moderated by the older sibling's temperament. The…

Examined the influence of both peer and adult models who displayed either consistent, conflicting, or inconsistent moral judgments on the moral judgments and explanations of first graders. The influence of rationale provision was also assessed. (Author)

Directives, social conversation, on-task play, and positive, negative, nonsense, and task-related verbalizations of preschool-aged and school-aged peer dyads were observed in a laboratory playroom in the presence or absence of observers. Results revealed that the frequency of all of the behaviors sampled, except positive verbalizations, decreased…