Drawing from a person‐environment fit framework, we identified profiles of youth in gay–straight alliances (GSAs) based on the extent to which they received information/resources, socializing/support, and advocacy opportunities in their GSAs and the extent to which this matched what they desired from their GSA along these three functions. Further, we examined profile differences in positive developmental competencies while accounting for community‐contextual factors. In a sample of 290 youth from 42 Massachusetts GSAs, latent profile analyses identified five subgroups. Overall, youth receiving less from their GSAs than they desired, particularly regarding opportunities for advocacy, reported lower levels of self‐reflection, bravery, civic engagement, and agency than youth who received information, socializing/support, and advocacy that matched or exceeded what they desired.
AbstractWe examined gestural and verbal interactions in 226 mother–infant pairs from Mexican, Dominican, and African American backgrounds when infants were 14 months and 2 years of age, and related these interactions to infants' emerging skills. At both ages, dyads were video‐recorded as they shared a wordless number book, a wordless emotion book, and beads and string. We coded mothers' and infants' gestures and language/vocalizations. Each maternal utterance was coded as referential (e.g. 'That's a bead') or regulatory (e.g. 'Put it there'). Mothers reported on infants' gestural, receptive, and productive vocabularies at 14 months, and infants were assessed on receptive language, expressive language, and action sequencing and imitation at 2 years of age. Mothers of the three ethnicities differed in their gesturing, distributions of the two types of language, and coupling of language and gestures. Mothers' ethnicity, language, and gestures were differentially associated with infants' 2‐year skills. Mother–infant communicative interactions are foundational to infant learning and development, and ethnic differences in modes of early communication portend divergent pathways in the development of specific skills.
Drawing on survey and interview data from mothers of 14-month infants in Nanjing, China, we explore women's job trajectories as they juggle work and family responsibilities. Four profiles that emerge among our sample of 371 mothers (high stability, rapid cyclers, high-paid wage-growth, and intermittent) reflected not only their work career trajectories but also their different strategies of managing work-family balance. High-stability mothers were more likely than the other three groups to work in state-owned enterprises and experience a negative work climate. They illustrate how China's changing economy shape work preferences of mothers who value interest and self-fulfillment, but pursue stability to accommodate their childrearing responsibilities.
In: D. Soman, J. Zhao, & S. Datta (Eds.), Using Cash Transfers to Build an Inclusive Society: A Behaviorally Informed Approach, University of Toronto Press, Forthcoming
AbstractParents' socialization goals are important for cultural transmission across generations, but whether such goals vary by ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and change over children's first years of life remains unexamined. In Study 1, African‐American, Dominican immigrant, and Mexican immigrant mothers (N = 300) reported on the qualities deemed as desirable or undesirable when children were aged 1 month, 14 months, and 2 years. Mothers spontaneously referred to a common set of qualities, including achievement, self‐maximization, proper demeanor, and connectedness. Most mothers emphasized achievement (desirable qualities) and disapproved of improper demeanor (undesirable qualities). Desirable qualities varied by age and socioeconomic factors more than did undesirable qualities. Mothers (N = 185) were followed up in Study 2 when children were aged three years, and ranked 21 qualities using a Q‐sort instrument. Ethnic differences were revealed at this more specific level, with Latina mothers being more similar in their rankings than African‐American mothers.
AbstractThis article explores the relationship between gender and income inequality within and across households in an urban Chinese sample by looking at survey data from 381 married couples with infants born in a Nanjing hospital between 2006 and 2007 and in-depth interviews with a subsample of 80 of these couples. We explore the relationship between family income and differences between husbands' and wives' work preferences. A couple-level quantitative analysis shows that in lower-income families, husbands were more likely than their wives to prefer career advancement and low stress at work, and wives were more likely than their husbands to prefer state jobs. Our analyses of the qualitative subsample show that, even though high-income husbands and wives are more likely to share similar work preferences, the household division of roles within their marriages is still gendered along traditional lines, as it is in the marriages of low-income couples.
AbstractCurrent scholarship on the cultural value systems of individualism and collectivism, and the associated developmental goals of autonomy and relatedness, has moved beyond grand divide theories to emphasize variation within individuals and cultures. We present a theoretical model on the dynamic coexistence of cultural value systems (at the macro level) and parents' developmental goals (at the micro level). We contend that cultural values and developmental goals that have largely been classified as polar opposites may be viewed as conflicting, additive, or functionally dependent. Parents may view the developmental goal of autonomy as interfering with the goal of relatedness (and vice versa); parents may endorse both autonomy and relatedness; and parents may consider the developmental goal of relatedness to be a path to the goal of autonomy and/or autonomy to be a path to relatedness. These forms of coexistence are themselves dynamic, changing across situations, developmental time, and in response to social, political, and economic contexts.
AbstractGender sexuality alliances (GSAs) represent consciousness‐raisings that hold potential for critical consciousness development in youth. In this study, we focus on critical reflection—the understanding that oppression is structured and maintained by human action. We engage intersectionality as our analytical framework and analyze both student interview data (n = 38) and advisor closed‐ended and open‐ended survey data (n = 58) to examine: (1) the nature/content of critically reflective discussions in GSAs and (2) how advisors support critically reflective discussions in GSAs and their role in these discussions. Our findings suggest that (1) conversations centering race and its intersections with other socio‐structural axes occur, albeit infrequently; (2) youth recognize and understand the concept of intersectionality in nuanced ways, desire to have critical intersectional conversations, and experience fragmentation from conversations around race, sexuality, and gender if they are situated at privileged locations on those axes; and (3) students want advisors to engage in critically reflective discussions in GSAs. The findings suggest that interventions and programming are needed that could cultivate advisors' and youth leaders' skills in facilitating intersectional dialogues for critical reflection among members.