Using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the objective of this article is to examine which factors over the life course contribute to African American males'personal sense of mastery. Although adolescent poverty does not appear to hamper the adult mastery of African American men, results show that consequential adolescent variables are parental educational attainment, region of origin, self-esteem, and educational aspirations. The analysis also suggests that current adult achievement (e.g., educational attainment and earnings) is also a significant determinant of adult mastery in African American males. This finding indicates that, despite the absence of economic and interpersonal resources in adolescence, African American males may be able to compensate for such deprivation through individual achievement-which directly affects personal mastery.An individual's sense of control or mastery over the environment has been linked to many positive outcomes such as life satisfaction, educational attainment, occupational status, and better mental health (

In this research, we investigate how children shape maternal marital happiness. The findings reveal that the otherwise negative effects of sibship size are altered by the gender composition of the sibling group. Having sons tends to reduce the negative impact of sibling group size. Solving for main effects in the interactions that include sibship size by the gender composition of the sibling group, we find that having all sons affords the most beneficial consequences for marital happiness. The daughter-only groups have nonsignificant effects, and the mixed-gender sibships have the most deleterious influence on maternal marital happiness. Within a subsample of mixed-gender sibships only, we further find that mothers who have more boys than girls are more likely to report higher marital gratification. Generally speaking, our research demonstrates the need to examine both main and interaction effects of family structure on marital happiness.

Abstract. Influencers are semi-professional microcelebrities on social media platforms such as YouTube, often sponsored by brands to promote lifestyle products to followers. Influencers navigate opposing tensions of their authenticity and relatability with their carefully crafted personas and commercial interests. We draw from warranting theory to propose that influencer trustworthiness and expertise would be differentially affected by several key message cues: production modification, self-disclosure, and sponsorship disclosure. A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with original influencer videos tested effects on trustworthiness and expertise, as well as downstream effects on attitudes and intentions. Video modification had a positive effect on expertise, but no effect on trustworthiness. Self-disclosure had a surprisingly negative effect on trustworthiness. Sponsorship disclosure only had an effect on perceived sponsorship. However, modification and sponsorship disclosure interacted, so that modification boosted both expertise and trust when videos were unsponsored. Finally, expertise mediated effects of modification on attitudes, and trustworthiness mediated effects of self-disclosure. Findings illustrate distinct roles for expertise, trustworthiness, and sponsorship perceptions in the influencer context.

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