Assessing the effects of a work-based antipoverty program for parents on youth's future orientation and employment experiences

Poverty, Caregiving, and HPA-Axis Activity in Early Childhood

The association between poverty and the activity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in early childhood is well established. Both ecological and transactional theories suggest that one way in which poverty may influence children's HPA-axis activity is through its effects on parents' behaviors, and over the past three decades a substantial literature has accumulated indicating that variations in these behaviors are associated with individual differences in young children's HPA-axis activity. More recent research suggests that non-parental caregiving behaviors are associated with HPA-axis activity in early childhood as well. Here we systematically review the literature on the association between both parental and non-parental caregiving behaviors in the context of poverty and the activity of the HPA-axis in early childhood. We conclude by noting commonalities across these two literatures and their implications for future research.

Stakeholder Perspectives on the Social Determinants of Mental Health in Community Coalitions

Objective

Although evidence supports the potential for community coalitions to positively address social determinants of mental health, little is known about the views of stakeholders involved in such efforts. This study sought to understand county leaders' perspectives about social determinants related to the Health Neighborhood Initiative (HNI), a new county effort to support community coalitions.

Design

Descriptive, qualitative study, 2014.

Setting

Community coalitions, located in a large urban city, across eight service planning areas, that serve under-resourced, ethnic minority populations.

Procedures

We conducted key informant interviews with 49 health care and community leaders to understand their perspectives about the HNI. As part of a larger project, this study focused on leaders' views about social determinants of health related to the HNI. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. An inductive approach to coding was used, with text segments grouped by social determinant categories.

Results

County leaders described multiple social determinants of mental health that were relevant to the HNI community coalitions: housing and safety, community violence, and employment and education. Leaders discussed how social determinants were interconnected with each other and the need for efforts to address multiple social determinants simultaneously to effectively improve mental health.

Conclusions

Community coalitions have an opportunity to address multiple social determinants of health to meet social and mental health needs of low-resourced communities. Future research should examine how community coalitions, like those in the HNI, can actively engage with community members to identify needs and then deliver evidence-based care.

Community Violence Exposure and Adolescent Delinquency: Examining a Spectrum of Promotive Factors

This study examined whether promotive factors (future expectations, family warmth, school attachment, and neighborhood cohesion) moderated relationships between community violence exposure and youth delinquency. Analyses were conducted using N = 2,980 sixth to eighth graders (M _age = 12.48; 41.1% males) from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample. After controlling for demographic factors, delinquency was positively associated with community violence exposure and inversely associated with each of the promotive factors. When interaction effects between all promotive factors and community violence exposure were examined simultaneously, only future expectations moderated the relationship between community violence exposure and delinquency. Specifically, community violence exposure had a weaker association with delinquency for youth reporting high versus low levels of future expectations. Results indicate that while promotive factors from family, school, and neighborhood domains are related to lower rates of delinquency, only future expectations served as a protective factor that specifically buffered youth from the risk effects of community violence exposure.

Future orientation: a construct with implications for adolescent health and wellbeing

Multidisciplinary research has supported a relationship between adolescent future orientation (the ability to set future goals and plans) and positive adolescent health and development outcomes. Many preventive strategies - for example, contracepting, exercising - are based on taking actions in the present to avoid unwanted or negative future consequences. However, research has been hampered by unclear and often divergent conceptualizations of the future orientation construct. The present paper aims to integrate previous conceptual and operational definitions into a conceptual framework that can inform programs and services for youth and efforts to evaluate future orientation as a target for intervention. Recommendations focus on furthering the study of the construct through measurement synthesis as well as studies of the normative development of future orientation. Also suggested is the need to pair environmental intervention strategies with individual level efforts to improve future orientation in order to maximize benefits.

Who benefits most from Head Start? Using latent class moderation to examine differential treatment effects

Head Start (HS) is the largest federally funded preschool program for disadvantaged children. Research has shown relatively small impacts on cognitive and social skills; therefore, some have questioned its effectiveness. Using data from the Head Start Impact Study (3-year-old cohort; N = 2,449), latent class analysis was used to (a) identify subgroups of children defined by baseline characteristics of their home environment and caregiver and (b) test whether the effects of HS on cognitive, and behavioral and relationship skills over 2 years differed across subgroups. The results suggest that the effectiveness of HS varies quite substantially. For some children there appears to be a significant, and in some cases, long-term, positive impact. For others there is little to no effect.

Parents' participation in a work-based anti-poverty program can enhance their children's future orientation: understanding pathways of influence

Planning and preparing for life after high school is a central developmental task of American adolescents, and may be even more critical for low-income youth who are less likely to attend a four year college. This study investigates factors that led to the effects of the New Hope Project, a work-based, anti-poverty program directed at parents on youths' career-related thoughts and planning. The New Hope project was implemented in Milwaukee, WI, during the mid-1990s. 745 families participated (52% male children; 56% African American; 30% Latino, and 15% White non-Hispanic) and half were randomly selected to receive New Hope benefits, which included earnings supplements, job search assistance, and child and health care subsidies for 3 years. Importantly, effects on youths' future orientation were found 8 years after the program began (5 years after benefits ended). The present study investigates what factors sustained these positive impacts over time. Results indicate that parental perceptions of reading performance mediate the effects of New Hope on youths' cynicism about work. Additionally, parental perceptions of reading performance and youths' educational expectations mediate the effects of New Hope on boys' pessimism about future employment. These findings highlight the importance of youths' educational development to their career-related thoughts and planning.

The long-term effects on children and adolescents of a policy providing work supports for low-income parents

New Hope, an employment-based poverty-reduction intervention for adults evaluated in a random-assignment experimental design, had positive impacts on children's achievement and social behavior two and five years after random assignment. The question addressed in this paper was the following: Did the positive effects of New Hope on younger children diminish or even reverse when children reached the challenges of adolescence (eight years after random assignment)? Small positive impacts on school progress, school motivation, positive social behavior, child well-being, and parent control endured, but impacts on school achievement and problem behavior were no longer evident. The most likely reasons for lasting impacts were that New Hope families were slightly less likely to be poor, and children had spent more time in center-based child care and structured activities. New Hope represents a model policy that could produce modest improvements in the lives of low-income adults and children.

Context matters in child and family policy

The traditional model of translation from basic laboratory science to efficacy trials to effectiveness trials to community dissemination has flaws that arise from false assumptions that context changes little or matters little. One of the most important findings in developmental science is that context matters, but this fact is not sufficiently taken into account in many translation efforts. Studies reported in this special issue highlight both the potential of systematic interventions in parenting, peer relations, and social-cognitive skills training, and the problems that will be encountered in trying to bring these interventions to a community context. It is advocated that developmental scientists start from within the community context itself so that translation to policy is only a small step. It is also advocated that this research be conducted through rigorous community randomized controlled trials.

Stability and change in rural youths' educational outcomes through the middle and high school years

There is a dearth of literature that examines rural youths' school transition and adaptation over the middle and high school years. Given rural education challenges, this study examines rural youths' developmental trajectories of self-reported grades and affective and behavioral educational outcomes (i.e., school belonging, value of education, school misbehavior, and extracurricular activity participation). The cohort-sequential study consisted of 3,312 African American and White youth (50% female) who were surveyed over three and a half years, including the transition to high school. The results reveal significant changes in the outcomes from sixth to twelfth grade. For example, on average, school misbehavior increased over time while perceived school belonging decreased over time. Gender and race differences emerged; African American youth reported placing higher importance on education and less participation in school activities than White youth. The discussion focuses on the importance of examining rural adolescents' educational pathways during the high school transition.