Parents and Youth Study

With funding from the National Institues for Health, Principal Investigators
Scott Coltrane Ph.D. (UCR) and Sanford Braver Ph.D. (ASU) address the lack of scholarship
on how fathers impact the mental health and behavioral problems of their adolescent children.
Particularly understudied, but at high risk, are children with stepfathers and children of Mexican
American heritage. A Conceptual Model is developed that emphasizes the construct of
"meanings" that children give to fathering behaviors. The meanings investigated derive from the
attribution theories and the working models and scripts tradition, which focus on the
adolescent's schema or representation of important social-emotional aspects of the
father-child relationship.

The Model gives rise to 6 Specific Aims: (1) identify father behaviors influencing child mental
health and behavioral problems (net of mothering and other controls); (2) identify
social/contextual variables predicting father behaviors; (3) identify "meanings" fathering holds
for children that influence mental health; (4) identify social/contextual variables predicting
children's meanings; (5) determine how meanings mediate between fathering behaviors
and child mental health; and (6) determine how the above factors and relationships may
differ (or be moderated) by children's genders, and two father-types (birth-father or stepfather).

PAYS is a longitudinal study, at two sites, Phoenix, AZ (ASU site) and
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA (UCR site) that includes 392 families, each to be studied for three
waves over 4 years. Currently we are collecting the second Wave, with the third Wave
scheduled for data collection in 2006. Families are approximately evenly divided into two
ethnicities (Mexican American and European American), two child genders, and two
father -types (birth-father and stepfather). Families were recruited through schools when
the child was in 7th grade. Multi-agent reporting is used, with Spanish-speaking respondents
interviewed in Spanish. The study uses many established, adapted and new measures. Most
of the proposed "meanings" measures have been designed specifically for this study,
successfully pre-tested, and include narrative methods. A 4-cohort sequential design is
employed and the Specific Aims are analyzed with Latent Growth Models.

Families FIRST

Families FIRST is a multi-measure, longitudinal study of the impact of economic hardship on
families of Mexican-American and Euro-American backgrounds funded by the National Institutes
of Mental Health, the Linguistic Minority Research Institute, the College of Humanities and Social
Sciences at UCR, and Iowa State University. Led by Principal Investigator Ross D. Parke, the primary
purpose of the project is to identify how children and families, living in the Inland Empire, are
responding to economic changes.

The study involves 300 families with 5th grade children in San Bernardino and Riverside
counties. Families were interviewed concerning a variety of aspects of their social and
economic lives, including: (A) perceived and objective measures of family economic
well-being, (B) measures of individual well-being (e.g. depression, life satisfaction),
(C) measures of marital satisfaction/dissatisfaction, (D) indices of social network support,
and (E) measures of child functioning. Child outcomes are derived from several sources
including parent reports, child self-reports, and school-based measures (peer sociometric
measures and teacher reports). School records are also used to track children’s
academic progress.

This study is modeled after earlier studies on the effects of economic instability upon
families during the Great Depression and the Midwest Farm Crisis. Ultimately, data and
understandings resulting from Families FIRST will be utilized to develop and enhance
programs, policies and practices which benefit children and families.

1997 Inland Empire Annual Survey

At the invitation of Max Neiman, Director of the Center for the Study of Behavior Science
Research (CSBSR), the Center for Family Studies added several items to this ongoing survey
concerning family and child adjustment. In combination with the existing survey questions,
our goal was to assess some of the same issues that are being addressed in our NIMH
project (Families FIRST), but with a larger and more representative sample of respondents
from the local region. By comparing the pattern of findings from these two methodological
approaches, we can evaluate the generalizability of our findings more accurately.

Fathers and Families

In one of two projects examining the role of fathers and families, Masako Ishii-Kuntz and
Ross Parke developed a cross-national study of the relations between fatherhood and
work in Japan and the United States. In a second project, the Center for Family Studies
has initiated a collaborative relationship with the National Center on Fathers and Families
(NCoFF), which conducts a series of roundtables on research and policy issues related to
fatherhood. Two members of the Center for Family Studies, Scott Coltrane and Ross
Parke have participated in a number of these roundtables since 1996.

UC Links

In the Fall of 1996, the Center for Family Studies, in cooperation with the Department of
Psychology and the School of Education established an after school program at a local
elementary school in Riverside, Highland School. This program, called UC Links, is part
of a statewide network initiated by the Office of the President of the UC System. The
project involves university-community-school partnerships in computer-based
after-school educational activities for K-12 children. UC Links integrates the University’s
three-fold mission of research, teaching, and community service by providing K-12 youth
with access to new instructional technologies after school, while at the same time
affording both academic and community service opportunities to university faculty and
students. Here, undergraduates work with at-risk, disadvantaged students in local
elementary schools, while participating faculty pursue research in the areas of culture,
language and learning through instructional technology, as well as carry out evaluative
research on the program.

At UCR we have adapted the UC Links model to foreground connections to the local
community in a program called the Riverside Trolley. Thematically organized, around a
trolley line similar to the historic transportation system in the city, computer activities in
the Riverside Trolley actively foster children’s understanding of and connection with the
community. Each “station” along the line represents an important place in the
community: the local newspaper office, the botanical gardens, the university, the child’s
home. Computer activities promote exploration of these sites. Fifty sixth-grade students
participate in the Riverside Trolley, which is housed in the library of Highland Elementary
School. It is open two afternoons a week and serves children from lower to lower-middle
income families of diverse linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. Tena Petix, the Principal at
Highland, has been actively involved in the UC Links program and members of the
Highland staff play leading roles in the project.

In 1997-1998, two new sites were added (1) Taft Elementary School with a 2nd grade
program focus and (2) Eastside Cybrary Connection, a project of the Riverside Public
Library for 10-14 year olds and families as a storefront setting. In addition, three
research-oriented projects were initiated as part of the UC Links initiative: (1) 6th
Grade Social Sciences Curriculum Project under the direction of Mary Gauvain,
(2) Special Education Computer-based Reading Project under the direction of
Sharon Duffy, (3) Bilingual Education Project under the direction of Tom Destino.

Professor Carlos Velez-Ibanez (Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences)
and Professor Irving Hendrick (Dean, School of Education) have provided extensive
support for the program.

In 1998, Sigma Xi (the Scientific Research Society for encouragement of
Scientific Research) presented a Recognition Award to UC Links (Sharon Duffy and
Mary Gauvain) for their work with school children at risk.

East Los Angeles Social Network Project

In view of the increasing cultural diversity of the population, it is important to
understand the genrealizability of prior findings on social networks, economic stress
, and family functioning to other ethnic groups, especially Latinos. In the East L.A.
Project we were interested in collecting data on social networks to assess whether
Latinos use an extended kin system to mediate the impact of various stressors on
marital and family relationships. Social network analysis focused on the characteristics
and patterns of ties in a social system rather than on the characteristics of the
individual actors. Ethnic variations in social networks and social support can be large,
and many researchers identify such patterns as being an essential ingredient in
family systems.

The Center for Family Studies, in collaboration with the Families with Disabilities
Study piloted a modified version of Barry Wellman’s social network and support
measures with a sample of Spanish speaking mothers in East L.A. during
1996-1997. Fifty women were interviewed of whom approximately one-third was
comprised of single mothers. In addition to social network data, they also collected
demographic data, household labor data, parenting practices, attitude measures,
and child well-being information.

Economic Downturn Project

In 1992, the Economic Downturn Project was initiated, with the goal of examining
the effects of economic downturn on children and families in Southern California,
and specifically how these effects vary as a function of the ethnic background of
the families. African American, Asian American and Latino families, as well as
Euro American families, have been included in various phases of this project.

A collaborative arrangement was established between Iowa State University’s Center
for Rural Family Studies and the Center for Family Studies at UCR. Iowa State had a
longitudinal project on the effects of economic downturn on farm-families of the
U.S. Midwest. Our goal was to extend this research to the multi-cultural context of
Southern California. Assistance in terms of measures and pilot funds were provided
by Iowa State University.

The first phase of data collection for the Economic Downturn Project involved a
two-pronged approach. First, data was collected in a study of focus groups, under
the direction of Barbara J. Tinsley and Jessica Gomel. The focus groups consisted
of parents of different ethnicities who are experiencing economic distress, sharing
their perceptions and experiences of such economic hardship. The goal was to
better understand the similarities and differences in the perceived stress and coping
mechanisms that are used among parents of different ethnic groups.

The second avenue of data collection for the Economic Downturn Project involved
demographic analyses of data drawn from the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Censuses.
Charles Wetherell, Masako Ishii-Kuntz and Scott Coltrane conducted a preliminary
analysis of the size, composition and economic status of two-parent Euro-American,
African American, Asian American, and Latino households in Orange, Riverside, and
San Bernardino Counties of Southern California, the target counties of the project.
The final analyses provided a new perspective on two-parent households among the
region’s major ethnic groups, and the rationale for selecting specific areas of the
three target counties to sample for a larger study.

In addition, several questionnaire studies that supplement the focus group study have
been completed. One project under the direction of Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Jessica Gomel,
Barbara Tinsley, and Ross Parke concerns Asian American reactions to economic
stress. A parallel project under the direction of Barbara Tinsley and Jessica Gomel
concerns Latino reactions to economic stress.

Childhelp USA

In 1990 under the leadership of Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, a series of collaborative
projects between Childhelp USA and UCR Center for Family Studies was launched. The
initial projects, with assistance of funding from the Borchard Foundation, have focused
on several issues. First, an assessment was made regarding the effectiveness of the
treatment program at the Childhelp Village, a residential treatment center in
Beaumont, California. A second project focused on the use and effects of medications
in the treatment programs for abused children, and a final project focused on
the impact of stressful life events in accounting for variations in abuse.

Subsequent projects included the study of the impact of visitation on children’s
adjustment during their residential treatment, an investigation concerning the role of
familial factors in accounting for the differential success of residential treatment of
abused children, the study of differences between abused and non-abused children
in their emotional understanding, and, in turn, how this is related to their social
adjustment with peers. In a final project, the friendship patterns of abused and
non-abused children were examined to determine the links between friendship and
children’s social adjustment. The project also studied the benefits of friendship for
abused and non-abused children’s loneliness. Together, these projects are providing
us with a better understanding of the etiology of child abuse as well as the
effectiveness of residential treatment programs for assisting abused children.

Another facet of research conducted between the Center for Family Studies and
Childhelp USA concerned the Childhelp USA Telephone Hotline. The Childhelp Hotline
is the largest phone information and referral service for child abuse in the United
States. Trained counselors and social workers conduct intake interviews with clients
but the collected information, prior to the Center’s involvement, had not been
analyzed systematically. Scott Coltrane, Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Ross Parke, and
David Warren worked with the Childhelp staff to assist with three related projects.

The first project concerned inter-coder reliability among intake workers. Center for
Family Studies members provided technical assistance and data analysis to ascertain
the reliability of normal record keeping procedures. Center for Family Studies
members also assisted with the implementation of the routine data collection
procedures at the Childhelp Hotline, advising on the inclusion of social, psychological,
and institutional indicators that might contribute to knowledge about their client
population and about the nature and incidence of child abuse. Finally, Childhelp
developed a System Failure Project which involves giving surveys to individuals and
agencies to determine where and when protections against child abuse fail. Center
for Family Studies members assisted with suggestions about sampling, data
gathering techniques, and assessment measures that might produce generalizable
findings, data analysis and interpretation.