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Abstract A substantial body of work has established that mothers’ internalizing distress can negatively affect children’s socioemotional development. Yet few studies have examined how distinct patterns of mothers’ distress over time differentially impact child behaviors across early childhood. To address this gap, the current study explored developmental trajectories of mothers’ internalizing distress and examined the associations of these patterns with child adjustment outcomes. Mexican immigrant, Dominican immigrant, and African American mothers (N= 272) were annually assessed for internalizing distress over the first 6 years following childbirth. Children’s psychological adjustment (internalizing, externalizing, and hyperactivity behaviors) was measured at the last yearly assessment in first grade. A growth mixture model revealed two distinct classes of distress where mothers were classified as having low stable distress (82.4%) or moderate distress that began as stable then declined when their children were 64 months old (17.6%). Children of mothers in themoderate, late declineclass showed greater internalizing, externalizing, and hyperactivity behaviors in the first grade compared to children of mothers in thelow stableclass. Findings highlight the necessity of supporting the mental health of ethnic minoritized mothers following childbirth and further expand our knowledge of family psychopathology to promote healthy psychological adjustment in children.
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Understanding how family demands impair health behaviors in working sole mothers: The role of perceived control over leisure time
Working sole mothers (i.e., non-partnered women who work) may experience elevated family demands that impose barriers to pursuing health behaviors during their daily leisure time. We aimed to map the process through which evening family demands influence leisure-time health behaviors in this priority population of employees, in an effort to identify targets for intervention development and health disparity reduction. Conducting a seven-day daily survey study in a sample of 102 working sole mothers, we supported perceptions of control over leisure time as a key mechanism linking evening family demands to leisure-time exercise. Furthermore, we identified the individual difference of present-focus (i.e., a tendency to focus on current experiences) as a key factor that alters how evening family demands affect control over leisure time, which ultimately mitigates the detrimental influence of these demands on evening exercise engagement. In contrast, we did not find evidence to support relationships of evening family demands with the health behaviors of leisure time consumption of alcohol or high sugar, high fat foods via control over leisure time. We discuss how our findings advance theory regarding how family demands influence health and inform practical efforts to reduce health disparities that working sole mothers face.
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- PAR ID:
- 10293703
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being
- ISSN:
- 1758-0846
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12307
