title: Grandmother and parent influences on child self-esteem.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study tests a model of intergenerational influences on childhood self-esteem that proposes paths from grandmothers' drug problems to grandchildren's self-esteem via parents' drug problems and parental adaptive child rearing and from grandmothers' maternal acceptance to grandchildren's self-esteem via parents' unconventionality and adaptive child rearing.
  
  
  METHODS
  This longitudinal study uses data obtained from interviews with a New York City sample of black and Puerto Rican children (N = 149) and 1 of their parents and from mailed questionnaires or comparable interviews with those parents' mothers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The LISREL analysis found that, with 3 exceptions, all of the hypothesized paths were significant. The total effects analysis indicated that parents' adaptive child rearing was the strongest latent construct, a finding that was consistent with this construct's proximal position in the model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that mothers' drug problems are not just near-term risks for their children, but also pose long-term risks for their children's future functioning as parents and thereby for their grandchildren. The relative strength of parents' adaptive child rearing in this intergenerational model indicates that this area should be the focus of therapeutic intervention efforts, but addressing future grandmothers' drug problems may have positive effects on multiple generations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, 215 Lexington Ave, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA. judith.brook@med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Judith S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Brook
authors.forename: Yuming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ning
authors.forename: Elinor B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Balka
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Brook
authors.forename: Erika H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Lubliner
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012649:Self Concept; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders