C D M H

Project Title:	Flint Study of Maternal Work and Family Processes
Principal Investigator:	Vonnie C. McLoyd
Co-Investigators:
Contact Person and Information:
Vonnie McLoyd, vcmcloyd@umich.edu
STUDY AIMS:
The study examines four issues: (1) the effects of maternal unemployment and work disruption on the mental health of single African American mothers and their adolescent children; (2) the effects of economic hardship on adolescents' achievement behavior, values, and expectations; (3) the role of social support, quality of mother-child relationship, and family decision-making style as moderators of adolescents' response to economic hardship; (4) the relation of adolescents' causal attributions about economic hardship to their achievement behaviors, values, and expectations.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INITIAL SAMPLE:
Selection criteria:
Single African American women with a child in 7th or 8th grade. Women who had lost a job within the past two years were oversampled.
Sample characteristics:
Gender:		100% female
Ethnicity:		100% African American
Socioeconomic Status:		Lower to working class, 61% receiving AFDC, 23% no high school diploma

COMPLETED WAVES:
Wave	Age of Subjects	N:
1	12-16 yrs.	263
2	13-17 yrs.	195
New Waves: None

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES:
Adolescence

MEASURES
Personal:
	Personality:	Educational/occupational expectations and aspirations Sex role attitudes/identity
	Cognitive Compentence:	Academic achievement (grades) Self-perceptions of competence
	Symptoms and Syndromes:	Emotional functioning Behavior problems
Social
	Family:	Mother's mental health Community- and family-level indicators of economic hardship Parent childrearing behavior Quality of mother-child relations Parenting satisfaction
	Stresses and Supports:	Mother and child social support networks Negative life events
	Peers:	Peer relations
REPRESENTATIVE FINDINGS:
Current unemployment predicts higher levels of depressive symptomatology in mothers, which in turn, is associated with more frequent maternal punishment of adolescents. More frequent punishment is associated with more emotional distress in adolescents and this relation is partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of the quality of relations with their mothers. Increased availability of instrumental support predicts fewer depressive symptoms in mothers, less punishment of adolescents, and less negativity about the maternal role. Adolescents who perceive their families as experiencing more severe economic hardship report higher anxiety and lower self-esteem.
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS:
McLoyd, V. C., Jayaratne, T., Ceballo, R., & Borquez, J. (1994). Unemployment and work interruption among African American single mothers: Effects on parenting and adolescent socioemotional functioning. Child Development, 65, 562-589. McLoyd, V. C., & Jozefowicz, D. (1996). Sizing up the future: Predictors of African American adolescent females' expectations about their economic fortunes and family life course. In B. Leadbeater, & N. Way, (Eds.), Urban girls: Resisting stereotypes, creating identities. New York: New York University Press. Ceballo, R., & McLoyd, V. C. (in press). Social support and parenting in poor dangerous neighborhoods. Child Development.

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