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Childhood abuse has been widely associated with mental health problems in adulthood and marital quality may be one possible mediator. We examine marital quality as a mediator linking childhood abuse to positive affect, negative affect, emotionally reactivity, and aggression. Using data from Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), results of structural equation modeling indicate that the indirect effects from childhood abuse to each of the mental health outcomes were significant. Marital quality may be a source of resilience among adults who were abused in childhood and could be a point of intervention for clinicians.

We thank the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and the Utah Office of Childcare for their support of this work.We are grateful to the parents, providers, and little children who participated so cheerfully in this study. 2 AbstractThis longitudinal study, with urban and rural preschool children, examines the relationship between executive function (EF) and mathematics. A panel of direct and indirect measures of EF were used to determine which EF measures were most predictive and a measure of mathematics assessed both numeracy and geometry skill. One hundred eighteen children, ages 39 to 68 months, and their preschool teachers were included, with assessments given twice, about six months apart. EF measures were compared by the amount of variance in mathematics skill each claimed, including the influence of a child's age, gender, and rural-urban context.Results suggest the child's age determines if a panel of direct EF measures is a better predictor of numeracy and geometry skills than the use of a single EF measure. Different EF measures were more strongly related to numeracy versus geometry at Time 1 and Time 2. Differences unrelated to income were found between rural and urban children on numeracy skill but not geometry skill.These results are particularly important to state and regional early childhood directors who work across urban and rural areas, legislators and policymakers, teachers and parents.

The purpose of the current research was: (1) To assess differences in early numeracy, phonological awareness, receptive language, executive functioning, and working memory for children in two childcare settings (family and center); (2) To determine whether applied measures of phonological awareness and executive functioning could serve as predictors of numeracy performance. Children (N = 89) ranging in age from 39 to 75 months were recruited from state-licensed childcare centers and family childcare homes. Teacher ratings of executive functioning were significantly related to early number skills, phonological awareness, and receptive language, but none of the parent ratings were significantly related to the child scores. The overall model did not differ between center and family childcare children. Phonological awareness was a significant predictor of number skills for both younger and older children. Receptive language skills were the best predictor of early numeracy performance for younger children and the best predictor for older children was phonological working memory measured by a non-words repetition task. These results suggest a connection between children's numeracy skills and a developmental change from receptive language skills to phonological working memory skills.

Although the principles and strategies outlined in Cline and Fay’s (1990) Parenting with Love and Logic have been the foundation for several parent and educator training curricula over the last 30 years, there has been a dearth of empirical research to evaluate these programs (Fay, 2012). Prior research has documented the impact of cumulative family risk factors on parenting skills and child outcomes (Repetti et al., 2002, 2012), but few studies have examined the impact of parenting education courses within unemployed, low-income families. This study investigates perceived parental efficacy across the four program domains of connection, autonomy, regulation, and parental stress management within a sample (n = 267) of unemployed parents from several counties across a western state. Analyses show consistent retrospective-pre to post improvement across all four domains. Additionally, reported gains did not vary significantly by gender, age, ethnicity, education level, prior divorce, or financial strain. Small group differences were found according to income level, the age of the participants’ oldest child, and dosage (amount of prior relationship education exposure as well as the number of class sessions attended). Qualitative results are included to illustrate further the thoughts and experiences of program participants.