Search results for ""Author Rand D. Conger""
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Family Life Project: An Epidemiological and Developmental Study of Young Children Living in Poor Rural Communities
About 20% of children in the United States live in rural communities, with child poverty rates higher and geographic isolation from resources greater than in urban communities. Yet, there have been surprisingly few studies of children living in rural communities, especially poor rural communities. The Family Life Project helped fill this gap by using an epidemiological design to recruit and study a representative sample of every baby born to a mother who resided in one of six poor rural counties over a one year period, oversampling for poverty and African American. 1,292 children were followed from birth to 36 months of age. This study used a cumulative risk framework to examine the relation between social risk and children's executive functioning, language development, and behavioral competence at 36 months. Using both the Family Process Model of development and the Family Investment Model of development, observed parenting was examined as a mediator and/or moderator of this relationship. Results suggested that cumulative risk predicted all three major domains of child outcomes and that positive and negative parenting and maternal language complexity were mediators of these relations. Maternal positive parenting was found to be a buffer for the most risky families in predicting behavioral competence. In a final model using both family process and investment measures, there was evidence of mediation but with little evidence of the specificity of parenting for particular outcomes. Discussion focused the implications for possible intervention strategies that might be effective in maximizing the early development of these children.
£36.95
The University of Chicago Press Children of the Land: Adversity and Success in Rural America
In Children of the Land, Glen H. Elder Jr. and Rand D. Conger ask whether traditional observations about farm families - strong intergenerational ties, productive roles for youth in work and social leadership, dedicated parents, and a network of positive engagement in church, school, and community life-apply to three hundred Iowa children who grew up with some tie to the land during the agricultural crisis of the 1980s, a time of widespread farm bankruptcies and factory closings. The answer, they show, is a resounding yes. A moving testament to the distinctly positive lifestyle of rural Midwestern families with connections to the land, this uplifting book also suggests important routes to success for youth in other high risk settings.
£31.49