title: Risk for maternal harsh parenting in high-risk families from birth to age three: does ethnicity matter?
abstract: Child maltreatment prevention programs typically identify at-risk families by screening for risk with limited consideration of how risk might vary by ethnicity. In this study, longitudinal data from mothers who participated in a randomized clinical trial of a home-visitation, child maltreatment prevention program (N = 262) were examined to determine whether risk for harsh parenting differed among mothers who identified themselves as Spanish-speaking Latinas (n = 64), English-speaking Latinas (n = 102), or non-Latina Caucasians (n = 96). The majority of the participants were first-time mothers (58.4%), and the average age of all participants was 23.55 years (SD = 6.04). At the time of their infants' births, the Spanish-speaking Latina mothers demonstrated higher SES risk, whereas the English-speaking Latina and non-Latina Caucasian mothers demonstrated higher psychosocial risk. Three years later, the English-speaking Latina and non-Latina Caucasian mothers reported harsher parenting behaviors than the Spanish-speaking Latina mothers. The need for prevention programs to consider how risk and protective factors differ by ethnic group membership when identifying at-risk mothers is discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon and Oregon Social Learning Center, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1227, USA. gamachem@uoregon.edu
authors.forename: Christina Gamache
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Hyoun K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult