California Family Research Articles

Household Food Insecurity Is Associated with Parental Perceptions of and Student Participation in School Meals.

School meals are an important source of nutrition for children and have been found to help mitigate food insecurity. This study evaluated the association between food insecurity and school meal participation and whether parental perceptions about school meals differ by food security status. In May 2022, 1110 Californian parents of K-12 students shared their perceptions about school meals, including meal quality, healthiness, stigma, and benefits, as well as their child's participation in school meals, in an online survey. Household food security was determined using the USDA 6-item module. Logistic and Poisson regression models were used for analysis. The prevalence of household food insecurity was 56.2% (69.6% in households of students eligible for free meals, 55.9% in reduced-price, and 38.3% in non-eligible). Many of the reported benefits of school meals (saving families money and time) were equally highly endorsed by parents with and without food insecurity (p > 0.05). Parents reporting food insecurity had less favorable perceptions of school meals and perceived more stigma (p < 0.05). Food insecurity was positively associated with breakfast participation, especially among elementary school students and students not eligible for free or reduced-price meals (FRPMs) (p < 0.05). Food insecurity is prevalent among California families with school-age children, even in families not eligible for federal FRPMs. Food-insecure households have more negative perceptions of school meals and experience more stigma, though they also report higher breakfast participation. Improving school meal quality and appeal, ensuring parents are familiar with meal quality and healthfulness, and reducing stigma may ease food insecurity while improving children's health.

Facilitators and Barriers of Implementing Expanded Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Screening in California Family Planning Clinics

Facilitators and Barriers of Implementing Expanded Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Screening in California Family Planning Clinics

Environmental exposures and residential mobility among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White families in California

Environmental exposures and residential mobility among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White families in California

Mate selection and current trends in the prevalence of autism

BackgroundAccording to the most recent U.S. CDC surveillance data, the rise in prevalence of childhood autism spectrum disorder among minority children has begun to outpace that of non-Hispanic white children. Since prior research has identified possible differences in the extent of mate selection for autistic traits across families of different ethnicity, this study examined variation in autism related traits in contemporaneous, epidemiologically ascertained samples of spousal pairs representing Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations. The purpose was to determine whether discrepancies by ethnicity could contribute to differential increases in prevalence in the current generation of young children.MethodsBirth records were used to identify all twin pairs born between 2011 and 2013 in California and Missouri. Families were selected at random from pools of English-speaking Hispanic families in California and Non-Hispanic White families in Missouri. Autistic trait data of parents was obtained using the Adult Report Form of the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2).ResultsWe did not identify a statistically significant difference in the degree of mate selection for autism related traits between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white spousal pairs. However, the degree of spousal correlation observed in this recent cohort was pronounced (on the order of ICC 0.45) and exceeded that typically reported in prior research (on the order of 0.30), surpassing also widely reported estimates for sibling correlation (also on the order of 0.30).LimitationsThe sample did not allow for a direct appraisal of change in the magnitude of spousal correlation over time and the ascertainments of trait burden were derived from spouse report.ConclusionAcross two epidemiologically ascertained samples of spousal pairs representing Hispanic and non-Hispanic white families across two U.S. states (respectively, California and Missouri), the extent of autism-related trait co-variation for parents of the current generation of young children is substantial and exceeds correlations typically observed for siblings. Given the heritability of these traits and their relation to autism risk, societal trends in the degree of mate selection for these traits should be considered as possible contributors to subtle increases in the incidence of autism over time and across generations.

Third-Generation Heritage Spanish Acquisition and Socialization: Word Learning and Overheard Input in an L.A.-Based Mexican Family

This case study examines overheard speech in a third-generation heritage Spanish Mexican family. It presents Spanish use longitudinally and describes overheard Spanish word use in interaction. Transcribed on CLAN to create a plurilingual corpus, ethnographic video data consisted of 24 h across three sampling periods, yielding nearly 30,000 Spanish, English, and language mixed utterances. Quantitative analyses indicate strong Spanish use in the first sample, before dropping. Qualitative descriptions show the third-generation target-child’s attunement to overheard Spanish, and her agency to use Spanish. Overheard input helps her use Spanish words, influencing her social encounters. This paper examines what we coded as overheard input in heritage language acquisition and socialization research. The language practices of one multigenerational Mexican family in California are explored, accounting for how their language practices in multiparty interaction co-create meaning, and how they help a third-generation child use Spanish words grounded in daily experiences. The findings contribute to the discussion of bilingualism in general and definitions of heritage bilingualism in particular. The results underscore the understudied role of overhead speech produced by a diversity of multigenerational family members and word learning. Participation frameworks are dynamically constructed by all participants as permeable, inclusive, and engage the children’s use of inherited bilingual and bicultural practices, suggesting that heritage bilingualism is not just about abstract grammar.

Understanding Multiprogram Take-Up of Safety Net Programs Among California Families

The U.S. safety net, which provides critical aid to households with low income, is composed of a patchwork of separate programs, and many people with low income benefit from accessing <1 program. However, little is known about multiprogram take-up, that is, participation conditioned on eligibility. This study examined individual and multiprogram take-up patterns and sociodemographic factors associated with multiprogram take-up of U.S. safety net programs. The Assessing California Communities' Experiences with Safety Net Supports study interviewed Californians and reviewed their 2019 tax forms between August 2020 and May 2021. Take-up of safety net programs was calculated among eligible participants (n=365), including the Earned Income Tax Credit; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and Medicaid. Multivariable regressions identified sociodemographic factors associated with take-up of multiple programs. Take-up was highest for Medicaid (90.6%) and lowest for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (57.5%). Among people who received benefits from at least 1 other program, take-up ranged from 81.7% to 84.8% for the Earned Income Tax Credit; 54.4%-62.0% for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; 74.3%-80.1% for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and 89.7%-98.1% for Medicaid. Having a lower income and being younger were associated with concurrent take-up of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children recipients, having higher income, being older, and being primarily English speaking were associated with Earned Income Tax Credit take-up. Individual and multiprogram take-up vary between programs and by sociodemographic factors. Findings suggest opportunities to increase take-up of potentially synergistic programs by improving cross-program coordination, data sharing, and targeted recruitment of underenrolled subgroups (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children).

Do temperament trajectories from late childhood through adolescence predict success in school? Findings from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth.

School achievement has long-term consequences for occupational success, mental health, and overall psychological adjustment. The present study examined the association between temperament trajectories from late childhood through adolescence and academic outcomes during late adolescence and young adulthood. Data come from the California Families Project, a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin youth assessed 12 times from Age 10 to 23, and from school records. Results from latent growth curve models indicate that higher levels of Effortful Control (EC) at Age 10 were associated with better academic achievement (i.e., higher high school grade point average and test scores, greater likelihood of high school graduation and college attendance) in late adolescence and young adulthood. Higher levels of Negative Emotionality (NEM) at Age 10 were associated with worse academic achievement, but this effect did not hold for all facets of NEM. Neither the levels nor slopes of Positive Emotionality (Surgency, Affiliation) consistently predicted school achievement. There were no main effects of the EC or NEM slopes; however, statistically significant interactions between these slopes and parental monitoring emerged. When parental monitoring was low, youth who experienced greater increases in EC (vs. flat or decreasing slopes) had better academic achievement, and youth who experienced greater increases in NEM had worse academic achievement; in contrast, when parents closely monitored their children, changes in EC and NEM were only weakly associated with achievement. Overall, these findings demonstrate that temperament in late childhood, and changes in temperament across adolescence, have important prospective effects on academic achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

CONDUCTING A COUNTYWIDE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS CAREGIVER LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

Abstract In Los Angeles County (LAC), approximately 1 in 5 caregivers provide care to older adults with dementia and cognitive impairment. By 2040, a projected 1.5 million Californians will be living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, foreshadowing an unprecedented need for family caregivers across the state. In 2021, the LAC Department of Public Health launched the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded LA BOLD initiative with the intent of developing a strategic plan to address dementia awareness and care in LAC, including improving local infrastructure for supporting unpaid family caregivers. To support this effort, LA BOLD commissioned the University of Southern California Family Caregiver Support Center to conduct a landscape analysis of the caregiver population in LAC. The analysis used a multi-method approach that included: primary analysis of community-based organization surveys, stakeholder interviews, focus groups with family caregivers, and secondary analyses of California Health Interview Survey and California Caregiver Resource Center System CareNav™ data and an environmental scan of best-practice caregiving models in use in other states. Results informed the development of three functional recommendations specific to LAC caregivers: 1) Leverage existing infrastructure to strengthen and build family caregiver services and supports; 2) Promote health care payer, provider, and system recognition of and support for family caregivers; and 3) Increase respite services for caregivers. This presentation highlights the methods and the findings from the landscape analysis, providing insights into the barriers and opportunities that a growing caregiver population of persons with dementia may pose to LAC.

Carabidae and Tenebrionidae diversity in the Great Basin Province of California.

The high desert regions of eastern California within the Great Basin are vast areas of shrub-dominated habitat heavily impacted by invasive exotic grasses and forbs. Trapping efforts within these areas provided distributional information about various surface-active arthropod taxa. Two groups with high species diversity and abundance encountered at our sites were the coleopteran families Carabidae and Tenebrionidae. Here, we report trapping of 45 species of carabids and 46 species of tenebrionids, along with mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequence data for 65 of these 92 species. These results build upon existing distributional information regarding these families in California and further refine our knowledge of the biodiversity of the understudied Great Basin provinces.

Fertility Care Is Healthcare: A Mandate to Cover Fertility Healthcare in California Promotes Reproductive Equity

Infertility is a prevalent disease that causes mental and financial distress for those who suffer from it. For Californians affected by infertility, treatment access is limited by high out-of-pocket costs, as the State does not currently require health insurance plans to cover the cost of fertility services. However, California is currently considering a bill (SB 729) to mandate coverage of fertility care in the large-group insurance market. We recommend the State Assembly pass SB 729 as written to increase the availability of fertility treatments in a politically and economically feasible way. Additionally, we recommend the State amend informed consent procedures to better relay the fertility care options available to patients. Individually and jointly, these measures will alleviate the financial burden of fertility healthcare on California families.

Punishing Disclosure and Silencing Victims: How the California Family Law Courts Retraumatize Abused Children By Labeling Them “Alienated”

Punishing Disclosure and Silencing Victims: How the California Family Law Courts Retraumatize Abused Children By Labeling Them “Alienated”

The biological embedding of adversity and inequity: Examining the physiological impacts of discrimination and poverty on ethnically and economically minoritized youths

Structural and social inequities have long been recognized as major contributors to mental and physical health problems. The biological embedding hypothesis, or the idea of “stress getting under the skin,” suggests that these adverse effects are conveyed through neurobiological mechanisms. Yet, we are in the early stages of empirical examination of the diverse and complex ways in which inequities can affect psychophysiological development. In this presentation, I will review recent and new research by my colleagues, students and I that utilizes the California Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of a large sample of Mexican-origin families in California that began when target youths were in Grade 5 and has followed these youths into emerging adulthood. Although adolescence often is considered a period of prime physical health, these studies document the associations of multiple structural and social determinants of health, including family poverty, peer discrimination, school violence, neighborhood conditions, and pollutant exposure, with the functioning of multiple neurobiological systems, including the brain, adrenocortical system, autonomic nervous system, and immune system. Collectively, this evidence reveals that the pervasive and pernicious influences of structural and social inequities on neurobiological development are evident within adolescence, which may portend and convey risk for a breadth of health problems across adulthood.

Adolescence and Early Adulthood in Context

Adolescence and early adulthood are periods of rapid biological and social change, during which stressors can have large, and long-lasting impacts on stress biology and developmental outcomes. Some have termed adolescence a “second sensitive period” due to rapid changes in biology and increases in stress-sensitivity occurring during this period. Although much early research focused on family and peer stressors and daily life events stress in adolescents and young adults, more recent theory and research has highlighted the important impacts of youth exposure to more structural forms of stress emerging from broader neighborhood, societal, and cultural contexts, such as economic stress, or the stress of discrimination based on race, gender identity and/or sexual orientation, especially among minoritized youth. Recent research has also focused on positive aspects of youth development and youth contexts that may protect youth against the negative impacts of stress or promote positive youth development in the face of high stressor exposure. In this set of four talks, researchers each highlight the impacts of different structural/contextual forms of stressors or supports on multiple stress-sensitive aspects of adolescent or young adult biology, and the implications of stress-related alterations in biology for youth health and wellbeing. In the first presentation, Paul Hastings reviews data from the California Families project, a large longitudinal sample of Mexican-origin families, presenting data on how structural stressors and exposures impact multiple youth neurobiological systems. In the second presentation, Luis Parra presents data from multiple studies on the impacts of heterosexist and racist discrimination and hate violence on the adrenocortical functioning, psychosocial adjustment, and mental health of ethnically/racially diverse LGBQ young adults. In the third presentation, Leah Doane examines the impact of cultural values and cultural contexts on the day-to-day links between sleep and diurnal cortisol patterns among Latino college students. In the final presentation, Lindsay Till-Hoyt presents data from two studies focusing on how macro-level sociopolitical events, the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, differentially affect youth stress (perceived stress and diurnal cortisol patterns) and youth behavior (e.g. civic engagement) depending on their social positions, identities and experiences. Together, these studies highlight the importance of examining diverse samples of youth and considering how broad social, political, economic and cultural contexts intersect to affect youth exposures to stressors and supports, which in turn impact their stress biology and developmental wellbeing.

All hands on deck: exploring how Latinx families in California supported child learning during the initial Covid-19 shutdown

ABSTRACT This study focuses on family perspectives of school and home-based learning during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing both what is lost and gained as a result of families being more intimately involved in the academic training of their children. Through the use of qualitative interviews, researchers found that parents (1) addressed challenges related to virtual learning on their own, (2) actively guided their children’s learning journeys and (3) engaged in collective efforts to ensure the well-being of their children. These findings suggest that as the school systems responded to the pandemic and home became a site of academic learning, the home also became a site of everyday ingenuity as parents applied a kind of pedagogical improvisation and accessed funds of knowledge to design learning spaces and scheduling frameworks.

Examining Child Deprivation Across California and How It Could Be Addressed with Early Childhood Education

Socioeconomic deprivation can create adverse conditions with direct impacts on the development of children. The Early Childhood Deprivation Index (ECDI) shows that there are significant differences in the extent of deprivation of young children (aged 0 to 5 years) among the counties in California. Our research shows that the cost of childcare forms a significant proportion of family income among low- and middle-income families. It indicates that families can pay for a high proportion of such costs if they could access the available federal and state government entitlements. A universal high-quality early childhood education system brings about an efficient way of providing the childcare without the unnecessary cost of employing a means-tested entitlement mechanism. &nbsp;However, even with universal early childhood education, families need support to be able to take advantage of the program, since pre-schooling will be on a voluntary basis. It is therefore important that in addition to providing education universally- communities, and the state make every effort to increase the ability of California families to benefit from this important opportunity.

Indian Time: Temporality, Gender, Mobility

Indian Time: Temporality, Gender, Mobility

Online training for child care providers teaches child nutrition in English and Spanish

Poor nutrition among young children is a national health crisis which contributes to obesity and chronic disease later in life. Since children spend so much time in child care, child care providers can help improve the quality of young children's nutrition and foster lifelong healthy eating habits. However, California's family child care home (FCCH) providers receive little training on what and how to feed young children. To address this problem, we developed a self-paced online training on child nutrition in English and Spanish for FCCH providers. Our feasibility study evaluated providers’ satisfaction with the training and ease of use, using an online survey and a 45-minute interview upon completing the training. Providers rated their training experience as excellent, easy to enroll in, and complete. Most providers reported they were somewhat likely to make changes to what and how they feed infants and toddlers. Many recommended adding printed resources and culturally relevant material for future trainings.

P008Information on medication abortion provided by family planning clinics in california

<h3>Objectives</h3> To assess access to abortion pills offered by clinics providing state-funded family planning services in California. <h3>Methods</h3> We identified a 20% random sample of clinics, stratified by county, participating in both California's Family Planning Access Care and Treatment (FPACT) and Medicaid (Medi-Cal) programs. We attempted to make two scripted calls as an uninsured "secret shopper" to 313 family planning clinics in California from October 2020 to September 2021. After asking about access to emergency contraception, clinic phone staff were asked, "If it turns out I'm pregnant, does your clinic offer the abortion pill?" and "Is it covered [by state funding?]." <h3>Results</h3> Clinic staff responded to 407 calls. Only 50 respondents (12%, 95% CI, 9%-–16%) reported their clinic offered abortion pills; 234 (57%, 95% CI, 53%-–62%) reported their clinic did not offer abortion pills, and 123 (30%, 95% CI, 26%-–35%) reported they were unsure whether the clinic offered abortion pills. Only 23 respondents (6%, 95% CI, 4%-–8%) accurately indicated to callers that abortion pills were available free to low-income individuals in California. Of the 149 clinics that we reached on two occasions, 52 (35%, 95% CI, 27%-–43%) consistently reported that the clinic did not provide abortion pills; however, only 9 (6%, 95% CI, 3%-–11%) consistently reported providing abortion pills. <h3>Conclusions</h3> As delays in accessing time-sensitive healthcare adversely affect health outcomes, efforts are needed to increase the number of family planning clinics providing medication abortion services and accurate information to clients seeking medication abortion.

Views from the trenches: California family physicians’ challenges and resilience factors while providing patient care during the initial wave of COVID-19

This study examined challenges and factors promoting resilience among 20 California family physicians (FPs) during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. A subset of academic, community, and resident FPs who responded to an online survey also participated in a semi-structured interview that explored concerns, moral distress, burnout, resource needs, support systems, coping strategies, and motivation to continue caring for patients. Thematic analysis was used to identify common themes in participant interviews. Interviewees demonstrated adaptability, resilience, and grit (i.e., commitment to completing a valued goal in the face of setbacks and adversity) despite challenges disrupting patient care, fears for family and self, and frustration due to the politicization of the pandemic. Factors promoting well-being and perseverance included professional and personal support, strong coping skills, and focusing on the meaning derived from practicing medicine. A service orientation that permeates family medicine philosophy and values motivated practitioners to continue to provide patient care while dealing with overwhelming personal and structural challenges. FPs drew strength from their internal coping skills, core family medicine values, and external support, notwithstanding demoralizing effects of mixed messages and politicization of the pandemic. FPs demonstrated resilience and grit in the face of challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring adequate resources to promote a physically and psychologically healthy workforce while increasing access to care for all patients is crucial to prepare for the next healthcare crisis.

Moving to greener pastures: Health selection into neighborhood green space among a highly mobile and diverse population in California

Global urbanization has sparked substantial environmental, public health, and social science research on the importance of conserving and propagating natural environments. A large subset of this work focuses on the benefits of green space for health. An often-overlooked methodological concern when examining relations between green space and health, however, involves residential self-selection. The selective movement of individuals into greener neighborhoods on the basis of preexisting health and correlated social factors may bias associations, particularly in cross-sectional studies, which predominate existing green space/health research. To quantify the extent of residential self-selection bias, this study used a longitudinal sibling comparison design with repeated individual and neighborhood measures to estimate associations between pre-move health factors, including maternal body mass index (BMI) and infant birthweight, and post-move neighborhood green space in a residentially mobile sample of mothers in California, 2007 to 2015 (n = 288,333). Results show that better health before moving predicted higher levels of neighborhood green space after moving, providing evidence of health selection. Findings also indicate some support for differential health selection into neighborhood green space by race/ethnicity, including that evidence of selection emerges for white and Hispanic, but not Black, mothers. However, weak relations between pre-move individual factors and post-move neighborhood green space across analyses suggest that potential bias due to residential self-selection appears relatively minimal in a large, diverse, and highly mobile sample of families in California. Findings support calls to increase green space in historically marginalized neighborhoods as a means to promote environmental and health equity.