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This study examined parent characteristics and barriers to participation in a community-based preventive intervention with a sample of 201 parents from low-income and predominantly ethnic minority backgrounds. Person-centered analyses revealed five subgroups of parents who demonstrated variability in their parent characteristics, which included psychological resources and level of parental involvement in education. Group membership was associated with differences in school involvement and use of the psychoeducational intervention at home, after accounting for the number of barriers to engagement. For the intervention attendance variable, greater number of barriers was associated with decreased attendance only for parents in the resilient subgroup and the psychologically distressed subgroup. Attendance remained constant across levels of barriers for the other three subgroups of parents. The results of the study inform theory and practice regarding how to tailor preventive interventions to accommodate subgroups of parents within populations that experience barriers to accessing mental health services.

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) dataset, this study examined whether the family investment and the family stress models generalized to non-European American (EA) families. Specifically, we examined whether parenting processes mediated the association between family demographics and children's school readiness, and whether the pathways vary across cultural groups. Both models were most salient for EAs followed by African Americans (AAs) and Spanish-speaking Hispanics, but less so for English-speaking Hispanics (EHs) and Asian Americans. Findings indicated that sensitive parenting was a salient mediator between family demographics and children's school readiness for all groups except EHs; negative parenting and parent-child activities were salient mediators for EAs only.

Abstract:Research Findings: This study simultaneously examined parental depression and parent involvement as predictors of satisfaction with an early childhood intervention program. Parents (N = 203) of Head Start children participated in this short-term longitudinal study. Measures of parent involvement and satisfaction assessed multiple dimensions of these constructs. Nearly 40% of low-income mothers reported being sometimes or chronically depressed over the course of 1 year of the Head Start program. Compared with mothers who were never depressed, those who were sometimes depressed reported less involvement in home-and school-based activities as well as fewer interactions with their child's teacher. Never depressed parents were more likely to be satisfied with their child's teacher compared with either group of depressed mothers. Higher levels of parent involvement and parent-teacher interaction predicted optimal satisfaction with Head Start services. Practice or Policy: Implications of results for practice are considered in terms of teacher training to recognize unique needs involved in working to establish a homeschool connection with mothers experiencing depression. Strategies for building community partnerships to assist with mental health needs are discussed.parenting | depression | low income parents | parental involvement | early childhood

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Objective A higher rate of depressive symptoms is found among mothers of children with disabilities compared to other parents. However, there is a lack of study of mothers with children <3 years of age participating in Early Intervention (EI) programs. This study aims to more fully describe the extent of mood disorders in these mothers including estimated prevalence, severity and factors associated with maternal mental health, using gold standard clinical diagnostic and symptom measures, and test models associating depressive symptoms with contextual factors and child behavior. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 106 women who had at least one child enrolled in EI. Mothers were interviewed and completed reliable, valid measures to evaluate mental health, health status, family conflict, parent-child interaction, self-efficacy, social support, child behavioral problems, hardship, endangerment, and child disability. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses were performed. Results We found 8 % of participants met all criteria for a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) with 44 % of the sample reporting a past episode and 43 % endorsing recurrent episodes. Using the CES-D to assess depressive symptom severity approximately 34 % of mothers screened in a clinically significant range. Using linear regression to predict severity of current depressive symptoms demonstrated that current depression severity was primarily predicted by poorer maternal health status, lower self-efficacy and past MDE (p < 0.05). Conclusions for practice A brief assessment of maternal mood, health and self-efficacy are important factors to assess when evaluating how to support mothers of children in EI.

J.L. (2016). Children's engagement in play at home: A parent's role in supporting play opportunities during early childhood. Early Child Development and Care, 187(5-6).

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