title: Parenting predictors of early-adolescents' health behaviors: simultaneous group comparisons across sex and ethnic groups.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the invariance of predictive relations across early-adolescent sex and ethnic groups regarding parenting factors and externalizing and internalizing problems and victimization. Data (n = 598; 54% female) from a triethnic (Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black) probability sample of fifth graders collected from three sites (Birmingham, AL, Houston, TX, and Los Angeles, CA) were used in the analyses. Simultaneous group structural equation modeling supported the invariance of parenting-early adolescent outcomes across sex and ethnic groups. Parental monitoring and parental norms were relatively robust predictors of early-adolescent externalizing problems and victimization, and to a lesser extent, of internalizing problems. A maternal nurturance by parental monitoring interaction was statistically significant for all outcome behaviors, indicating that higher monitoring in conjunction with higher maternal nurturance was associated with lower levels of early-adolescent problem behaviors. The findings suggest that core parenting factors such as nurturance, monitoring, and normative expectations for early adolescent problem behaviors may serve as a foundation for parenting components of multi-component intervention studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Rm 520, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. mwindle@emory.edu
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Windle
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brener
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cuccaro
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dittus
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Kanouse
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wallander
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000374:Aggression; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D019548:Crime Victims; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology