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Objective The current study used the family stress model to test the mechanisms by which economic insecurity contributes to mothers' and fathers' mental health and couples' relationship functioning. Background Although low household income has been a focus of poverty research, material hardship—defined as everyday challenges related to making ends meet including difficulties paying for housing, utilities, food, or medical care—is common among American families. Methods Participants were from the Building Strong Families project. Couples were racially diverse (43.52% Black; 28.88% Latinx; 17.29% White; 10.31% Other) and living with low income (N = 2794). Economic insecurity included income poverty and material hardship. Bayesian mediation analysis was employed, taking advantage of the prior evidence base of the family stress model. Results Material hardship, but not income poverty, predicted higher levels of both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms. Only paternal depressive symptoms were linked with higher levels of destructive interparental conflict (i.e., moderate verbal aggression couples use that could be harmful to the partner relationship). Mediation analysis confirmed that material hardship operated primarily through paternal depressive symptoms in its association with destructive interparental conflict. Conclusion The economic stress of meeting the daily material needs of the family sets the stage for parental mental health problems that carry over to destructive interparental conflict, especially through paternal depressive symptoms. Implications Family‐strengthening programs may want to consider interventions to address material hardship (e.g., comprehensive needs assessments, connections to community‐based resources, parents' employment training) as part of their efforts to address parental mental health and couples' destructive conflict behaviors.

Gender inequality perpetuates women’s economic insecurity and a culture of violence. Parental distress caused by economic pressure may increase violence against children. High levels of gender inequality and interpersonal violence may contribute to higher levels of physical abuse. Using an ecological perspective, this study examines the association of country-level gender inequality and household-level parental physical abuse, and the moderating role of child gender in this association in low- and middle-income countries. We used data on over 420,000 households from the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and country-level indicators from the United Nations Development Program Human Development data. We employed multilevel logistic regression to examine the association between gender inequality with the log-odds of physical abuse after accounting for country- and individual-level covariates. In order to more fully explore our results, we calculated predicted probabilities of abuse for several scenarios. The results indicated that higher levels of gender inequality were associated with higher probabilities of physical abuse. This association was stronger for female children than for male children. The probabilities of abuse by child gender were indistinguishable, although rates of physical abuse converged as gender inequality increased, at a statistically marginal level. These findings indicate that macro-level interventions that reduce gender inequality are necessary to prevent and reduce child physical abuse.

ObjectiveThis qualitative study used Twitter to examine stay-at-home parents’ publicly available postings to Twitter about discipline and spanking. Many adults still support the use of spanking despite a substantial body of evidence demonstrating that spanking is linked to a range of negative child outcomes. Little is currently known about how parents think about spanking as a disciplinary practice and how parents express these beliefs online.MethodFive million publicly available tweets were collected from self-identified stay-at-home parents. Tweets were screened for discipline and spanking content. A qualitative analysis was conducted on the final set of tweets (N= 648).ResultsStay-at-home parents were most likely to tweet about information related to discipline and spanking compared to tweets that made up other global themes (e.g., discipline tips). Parents most commonly posted tweets that reflected their anti-spanking beliefs compared to tweets that made up other subthemes (e.g., pro-spanking). Tweets in support of spanking emerged as well, with fathers being more likely than mothers to tweet about pro-spanking beliefs and desires. However, mothers were more likely than fathers to tweet about pro-spanking behaviors.ConclusionOur results provide evidence that stay-at-home parents turn to Twitter to obtain disciplinary information and disclose their anti-spanking and pro-spanking beliefs. Anti-spanking tweets potentially reflect changing social norms and suggest that some stay-at-home parents on Twitter may be engaging in selective self-presentation. Thus, Twitter may be one avenue to use for interventions to set social norms that aim to reduce parental corporal punishment.

Children who witness intimate partner violence (IPV) develop posttraumatic stress disorder at alarmingly high rates. Research suggests that caregivers’ symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSS) often co-occur alongside children’s PTSS, a phenomenon termed “relational posttraumatic stress.” The goal of this study is to use dyad-centered analyses to examine heterogeneity in relational PTSS presentations in mother–child dyads, and to determine factors differentiating relational PTSS profiles. Data were drawn from a sample of 231 IPV-exposed, ethno-racially diverse mother–child dyads, with children ranging from ages 4 to 12. The results of a latent profile analysis indicated that a two-profile model was the best fit with the data. Both profiles indicated similar levels of PTSS across the dyad; however, they differed in overall symptom severity. Parenting and IPV severity significantly predicted profile membership; however, age did not. Results suggest that similarities in PTSS presentation should be expected in mother–child dyads, at least in families who experience IPV.

ObjectivesIntimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant social concern, with high prevalence rates among Latinas and resulting serious negative outcomes, including parenting difficulties. Parenting following exposure to IPV is paramount as IPV can be frightening to children as well as disruptive to their development of emotional and self-regulation abilities. In fact, prior research has found that parents who are accepting of the expression of negative emotion in children may be able to protect them against some of the harmful effects of IPV. However, little is known about the way in which IPV-exposed Latina mothers approach their children’s negative emotions. The aim of this study was to examine factors associated with maternal acceptance of children’s negative emotions in IPV-exposed Spanish-speaking Latinas.MethodsThis study examined predictors of Latinas’ acceptance of their children’s negative emotion, including the amount of IPV experienced, depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and demographic factors.ResultsResults revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with lower levels of maternal emotion acceptance while maternal employment and domestic violence shelter use were associated with greater maternal acceptance of children’s negative emotions.ConclusionsFinding suggest that there are potentially modifiable factors that may be associated with levels of acceptance of child negative emotions among Spanish-speaking Latinas who have experienced IPV. The limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Intimate partner violence remains a pervasive and common social problem. Evidence indicates that children witness many instances of intimate partner violence. However, the structure of children’s thinking about family violence is still not well understood. This research employed latent profile analysis to identify underlying latent profiles of children’s thinking about violence using the Attitudes and Beliefs About Violence Scale. The analysis identified two latent profiles mostly differentiated by children’s beliefs about whether or not victims of violence deserve to have violence inflicted upon them. Several covariates differentiated members of the two profiles. Suggestions for intervention and practice are included.

Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health issue, affecting millions of children each year. IPV-exposed children are at risk for developing behavioral and emotional problems. The Cognitive-Contextual Framework posits that children’s post-conflict appraisals of threat and self-blame mediate these negative outcomes. However, conflict appraisals have primarily been studied in White, school-aged children. This study includes a large, multi-ethnic sample of children ages 5–12 ( N  = 158) who were interviewed regarding their experiences with family violence. The sample included White, Black, Latino/a, and biracial children. Self-blame was equivalent across groups. However, groups differed in threat appraisals, and Latino/a mothers and children reported discrepancies in the level of IPV-exposure. Directions for research and clinical implications are discussed.

Considerable research in the United States has established that adolescent antisocial, aggressive, and attention problem behaviors negatively influence adolescents' ability to become productive members of society. However, little is known about the development of these problems among adolescents in other countries. This study contributes to our understanding of personality and parenting factors associated with adolescent problem behaviors using an international sample.Data are from a National Institute on Drug Abuse—funded study of 884 community-dwelling adolescents in Santiago, Chile, of mid-to-low socioeconomic status. Results reveal that rulebreaking and aggressive behaviors were both associated with greater levels of adolescent drive but lower levels of parental monitoring and positive parenting by both parents. Adolescents who reported more attention problems were more likely to exhibit driven behavior and more behavioral inhibition and to report lower levels of parental monitoring and positive parenting by mother and father. Results of interactions revealed that the influences of positive parenting and parental monitoring on adolescent aggressive behaviors varied as a function of the gender of the adolescent. Helping parents build on their parenting skills may result in important reductions in adolescent problem behaviors among U.S. and international adolescents.

Research on adolescent use of substances has long sought to understand the family factors that may be associated with use of different substances such as alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. However, scant attention has been focused on these questions in Latin American contexts, despite growing concerns about substance use among Latin American youth. Using data from a sample of 866 Chilean youth, we examined the relationship of family and neighborhood factors with youth substance abuse. We found that in a Latin American context access to substances is an important predictor of use, but that neighborhood effects differ for marijuana use as opposed to cigarettes or alcohol. Age of youth, family and peer relationships, and gender all play significant roles of substance use.The study findings provide additional evidence that the use of substances is complex whereby individual, family, and community influences must be considered jointly to prevent or reduce substance use among adolescents.