Poverty, stress, and support: patterns of parenting behaviour among lower income black and lower income white mothers

Abstract

The relation between parenting behaviour and poverty has been established, with impoverished parents' related experiences of stress and support typically implicated in the development of negative parenting behaviour. Additionally, differences in parenting behaviour have been identified for families with different ethnic backgrounds. However, whether ethnicity continues to effect similar differences in families' parenting behaviour in the face of the challenges associated with poverty or whether poverty leads to greater similarities or differences in parenting behaviour across ethnicity is not clear. Understanding how parenting behaviour is affected by the challenges of poverty is essential for identifying appropriate supportive programmes to enhance the development of children in these families. To better understand the parenting behaviours of lower income African American and European American mothers, this study identified levels of stress, family-and community-based support, and qualitative and quantitative measures of parenting for 30 African American and 30 European American mothers with children between 3 and 5 years of age. Both groups of mothers reported high levels of stress and low levels of support in their role as parents. Few differences in either mothers' ratings of how they parented or their descriptions of their parenting behaviours were identified suggesting similar parenting styles between these two groups of low-income parents. All mothers used less authoritarian parenting than expected based on poverty levels.

Maternal Characteristics and Child Problem Behaviors: A Comparison of Foster and Biological Mothers

“…These findings suggest that foster mothers engage in parenting in the context of a larger community in which immediate and extended family, and their church play an important role in supporting their parenting endeavors, whereas biological mothers appear to be engaged in parenting in a mostly solitary context with occasional support from immediate family. The differences obtained between the maternal groups on community support is consistent with previous research (Soliday et al, 1994;Middlemiss, 2003); however, the current study differs from these previous findings in that the previous literature focused on one maternal group (i.e., foster mothers or biological mothers), whereas the current study focused on both and was able to directly compare differences in perceptions of social support.…”

“…In addition, the authors found that foster mothers reported the importance of community support, particularly church related support, in maintaining parenting satisfaction and decreasing parenting stress. This finding of the importance of community support is in contrast to findings in non-foster mother samples that indicate that these mothers perceived low-levels of support from the community for their parenting (Middlemiss, 2003). A qualitative study on foster parent perceptions of factors influencing successful parenting (Buehler, Cox, & Cuddeback, 2003) sheds additional light on the stressors and supports that impact parenting practices of foster parents.…”

A Longitudinal Study of Family Socioeconomic Status (SES) Variables as Predictors of Socio-Emotional Resilience Among Mentored Youth

“…More specifically, difficult or tenuous parentchild relationships among low SES youth are often linked to parental stress, distress, and depression (Prelow, Weaver, Bowman, & Swenson, 2010;Wadsworth, Raviv, Santiago, & Etter, 2011). Relational problems also arise from parents' perceived isolation and lack of support (Middlemiss, 2003;Raikes & Thompson, 2005). One study (McLeod & Owens, 2004), for example, explored several dimensions of youth well-being among low SES families, using the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth.…”

Coping variables that mediate the relation between intimate partner violence and mental health outcomes among low-income, African American women

“…Whereas general life stresses can include relational and economic factors, parenting stress is relevant only as it relates to the parenting role (e.g., caregiver's thoughts or feelings about her relationship with her child, perception of parenting as negatively affecting social life or partnerships, perception of efficacy in the family caregiver role; Baker, Perilla, & Norris, 2001). Parenting stress, which is influenced by social class, number of children, and relationship satisfaction (Elder, Eccles, Ardelt, & Lord, 1995;Middlemiss, 2003), has been linked to poor parenting practices, child abuse and neglect, poor psychological health (Larson, 2004), and child emotional and behavioral problems (Owen, Thompson, & Kaslow, 2006). Some findings suggest that involvement in an IPV relationship results in higher levels of parenting stress and negatively affects the parenting relationship, while others do not (Holden & Ritchie, 1991;Levendosky & Graham-Bermann, 1998).…”