A Strength-Based Framework for Realizing Latino Young Children’s Potential

Hispanic children experience poverty at rates two to three times higher than white children. Latino households with children, in general, have high parental employment coupled with low levels of parental education and stagnant parental earnings relative to non-Latino peers. While many Latino children live in neighborhoods that do not have access to high-quality early education, Latino children, on average, are raised in a home environment that offers economic stability and security, the presence of two parents, and socially supported family and community networks. Furthermore, though Hispanic children’s school achievement outcomes lag behind those of their peers, their socio-emotional developmental outcomes are on the same level or better. Latino children are raised in environments with the ingredients needed to achieve their potential. We use this foundation to propose a strength-based framework for guiding policy investment on Latino children and families.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Antecedents of Cyberbullying Victimization in Early Adolescence: An Ecological Systems Framework

This study investigates multiple-level antecedents of cyberbullying victimization among early adolescents. Data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, 2009 to 2010 cohort study in the United States were used. The sample included White, Black, Latino, and Asian adolescents, ages 10–14 ( N = 8481). Bivariate analysis, logistic regression, and subgroup analysis were conducted. Among White adolescents, female sex, older age, and bullying victimization were positively associated with cyberbullying victimization, whereas parental awareness was negatively associated. Among Black adolescents, bullying victimization was positively associated with cyberbullying victimization, but parental employment was negatively associated. Among Latino adolescents, older age was positively related to cyberbullying victimization, whereas “other” family structures were negatively related. Among Asian adolescents, “other” family structure and bullying victimization were positively related to cyberbullying victimization, whereas parental awareness, parental employment, and “quite well off” family socioeconomic status were negatively related. Parental awareness moderated the association between parental employment and cyberbullying victimization.

Parenting Sense of Competence in Parents of Children with and without Intellectual Disability

Our study aims to examine the relationship of child’s intellectual disability, parental education, employment and perceived stress with parenting sense of competence (satisfaction and self-efficacy). Three groups of parents (children without intellectual disability, children with mild intellectual disabilities, and children with moderate/severe intellectual disability) completed measures of perceived stress, parenting sense of competence and socio-demographic questions. Results show that child’s intellectual disability affects parenting satisfaction but not parenting self-efficacy. Parental employment predicted parenting satisfaction, but not parenting self-efficacy, while perceived stress predicted parenting satisfaction and self-efficacy. Results further suggest that parental employment moderates the relationship of child's disability with parenting satisfaction and perceived stress. Result suggest a need for interventions aimed at supporting parents in dealing with emotional consequences of their child’s disability.

The temporal dimension of parental employment: Fixed-term contracts, non-standard work schedules and children’s education in Germany

The increasing prevalence of non-standard employment and its adverse consequences are well documented. However, we still know little about how prevalent non-standard employment is amongst parents, and whether its negative consequences are further transmitted to their children. Using data from the German Microcensus, we provide a detailed account of the prevalence of fixed-term employment and non-standard work schedules in households with children in Germany. Second, we examine the extent to which variation in this temporal dimension of parents’ employment is associated with their children’s educational attainment. We find that fixed-term contracts and non-standard work schedules have become a prominent feature of households with children in Germany, reflecting the country’s dualized labor market. In about half of all German households with children in lower secondary education, at least one parent has a short fixed-term contract or regularly works on evenings or Saturdays. Moreover, the educational disadvantage of children in these families is alarmingly high. Depending on the concentration of parental non-standard employment in the household, children of parents with fixed-term contracts or non-standard work schedules have a 5 to 16 percent lower probability of entering the academic educational track than children with parents in standard employment, net of parents’ social class, income and education. Based on these results, we argue that the temporal dimension of parental employment is key to understanding how changing labor markets reshape the opportunity structure for children from disadvantaged parental backgrounds and the intergenerational transmission of inequality.

Income poverty among children with a disability in Belgium: the interplay between parental employment, social background and targeted cash support

Previous research has shown a clear link between childhood disability and child poverty. This is related to the fact that parents of disabled children (1) need to provide more care, which impedes their employment participation; and (2) more often belong to disadvantaged social categories. However, the adverse relationship between childhood disability and child poverty can be cushioned by cash support systems. Hitherto, the literature lacks insight into how the receipt of different cash support systems is related to parental employment and social background, and what joint role these three factors play in understanding the poverty risk of these children. To fill this gap, a case study on Belgium is performed using unique and large-scale register data. The results show that disabled children have a lower income poverty risk than non-disabled children, even when parental employment and social background are taken into account. This can be explained by the targeted cash support disabled children receive. However, previous research showed that a substantial group of disabled children does not receive the benefit. Hence, more could be achieved if the non-take-up would be addressed, in particular among the most vulnerable children.

Public School Operating Status During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications for Parental Employment

Parents rely on public schools to maintain paid work outside the home. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented closures of this critical resource in spring 2020. In the fall of 2020, school districts across the country reopened under varied instructional modes. Some school districts returned to in-person instruction; some operated remotely. Others reopened under hybrid models, wherein students alternated times, days, or weeks of in-person instruction. To capture this variation, we developed the Elementary School Operating Status (ESOS) database. ESOS provides data on elementary school districts’ primary operating status in the first grading period of the 2020-2021 school year, covering 25 million students in over 9,000 school districts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In this research note, we introduce these data and show extensive variation in school operating status at the state and school district levels. We show that school districts with greater representation of Black and Hispanic students were less likely to offer in-person instruction. We also show that fewer in-person elementary school instruction days was associated with reductions in maternal employment. ESOS is a critical source of information to support plans to address long-term implications for students who experienced less in-person learning over the past year, and reentry support for mothers who exited employment in the absence of in-person instruction and care.

Precarious Parental Employment, Economic Hardship, and Parenting and Child Happiness Amidst Pandemic

As labor markets in recent decades have become increasingly volatile and precarious, more workers are susceptible to working conditions threatening their economic security. We examined the association between precarious parental employment, income or job loss, and parenting and child happiness during COVID-19 pandemic. We collected an online cross-sectional dataset collected in May 2020 in the United States to examine parental views on childrearing and child happiness, controlling for a rich set of sociodemographic characteristics. Our multivariate regression analysis indicate that two aspects of job precarity related to feeling vulnerable at work and receiving low material rewards from work, and losing job or income due to COVID-19 were significantly associated with a less positive view on childrearing and lower degree of child happiness reported by parents. Our analysis underscores the vulnerability faced by our parents at workforce and how a public health crisis magnified the dire consequences of a precarious job on parenting and child happiness.