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The focus of this Element is on the environment and how it is implicated in children's development.A very broad array of social and physical features connected to children's home life and to the neighborhoods where children live, including multiple aspects of parenting, housing characteristics and the increased prevalence of media in daily life are addressed.Attention is also given to the broader social, economic, and geographic contexts in which children live, such as neighborhood surroundings and conditions in less developed countries.There is a focus on how various aspects of the home context (e.g., crowding) and key parental characteristics, such as mental illness and substance abuse problems, affect the behavior of parents. Consideration also given to how various forms of chaos and instability present challenges for parents and children and how those circumstances are implicated in both children's development and caregiver behavior.

AbstractObjectiveThe goal of this study is to document connections between the social and physical affordances of home life and development for Cherokee adolescents.BackgroundThe affordances of the home environment have implications for adolescent well‐being. However, research on the connection between most aspects of home life and most components of well‐being for Native American adolescents is limited.MethodThis study of 54 Cherokee adolescents considered five dimensions of home life and the relation of these dimensions with four aspects of competence, three positive attitudes, and three psychological problems.ResultsHaving a rich array of learning materials was related to vocabulary attainment, and having parents who provided productive modeling and encouragement was related to self‐efficacy for academic achievement, social self‐efficacy, and perceived endurance. Family companionship was related to self‐control, social skills, physical strength, and endurance. Native American adolescents living in homes with good household routines and regulations had lower levels of externalizing symptoms.ConclusionHaving a supportive family, good household routines, and a substantial number of learning materials is connected with overall well‐being in Cherokee adolescents.ImplicationsResults attesting to the value of close and supportive connections with family for Cherokee adolescents offer directions for programs aimed at improving both parenting practice and adolescent adaptive functioning.

Measures of the home environment are frequently used in studies of children's development. This review provides information on indices composed of causal and formative indicators (the kind of indicators often used to capture salient aspects of family environments) and to suggest approaches that may be useful in constructing such measures for diverse populations. The HOME Inventory is used to illustrate challenges scholars face in determining what to include in useful measures of family settings. To that end, a cross‐cultural review of research on relations among HOME, family context, and child outcomes is presented. The end of the review offers a plan for how best to further research on relations between the home environment and child development for diverse populations.

Socioeconomic Status, Parenting, and Child Development presents cutting-edge thinking and research on linkages among socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. The contributors represent an array of different disciplines, and approach the issues from a variety of perspectives. Accordingly, their ""take"" on how SES matters in the lives of children varies. This volume is divided into two parts. Part I concerns the constructs and measurement of SES and Part II discusses the functions and effects of SES. Each part presents four substantive chapters on the topic followed by an interp

Sixty-five fathers, the majority of whom were white and middle class, participated in a study of the personal and contextual correlates of socioemotional investment in children. No single factor exerted dominance over all three components of investment examined, acceptance of the parenting role, delight, and knowledge and sensitivity. Work strain and the child's score on the Bayley scales were the strongest predictors of acceptance of the parenting role. Work strain and marital quality predicted knowledge and sensitivity. None of the variables in the model predicted delight.

This study examines the factorial invariance (comparability) of a measure designed to assess four aspects of parents' investment in children for mothers and fathers. Participants were 70 couples, a subset of respondents participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Parenting investment was assessed when the child was 15 months old during a home visit using the Parental Investment in the Child (PIC) questionnaire. Results indicate that the dimensions of PIC were useful for both mothers and fathers (Separation Anxiety, Delight, Acceptance of the Parenting Role, and Knowledge and Sensitivity) based on confirmatory factor analyses that considered the dependent nature of the constructs within couples. However, differences were found in the reliability of specific items between mothers and fathers.

The aim of this study was the validation of the Dutch version of the Middle Childhood Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (MC-HOME), an interview and observation instrument to measure the quality and quantity of stimulation and support available to a child in the home environment. Participants in this cross-sectional study were 134 children from a generally low-risk sample of Dutch families. Children were between the ages 6 and 10 years, including 73 (54.5%) girls and 61 (45.5%) boys. Internal consistencies were low, but good interrater reliabilities were found. Significant associations between the MC-HOME and socioeconomic status, child behavior problems, and parental stress were found. Although the association with language scores was not statistically significant, it was in the expected direction. This study suggests that the MC-HOME is a valid screening instrument, though modernization and cultural adaptation of the instrument are desirable.

We expand our 2007 heuristic model of father involvement using recent research on the dynamic and reciprocal processes by which fathers influence children's development over time. Based on new evidence, our expanded model incorporates more dynamic reciprocity, temporal factors, and nuanced considerations of context in which fathers parent. We identify aspects of context as well as fathers' personality and behavior that are central to the next generation of studies on fathers. We highlight studies related to fathering versus mothering, discuss ecological theory and how it has been used to understand fathering, and present an expanded version of our model.