Hispanic Parents Research Articles

Actual vs Preferred Sources of Human Papillomavirus Information Among Black, White, and Hispanic Parents

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is widely recognized as the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S.1,2 In June 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an HPV vaccine for use among 9-26 year-old females.3 In recent years, there has been a surge in direct advertising about HPV and the HPV vaccine. In response, parents (who hold the primary responsibility for decision-making for their children's health) have expressed the need for reliable HPV information.4 The purpose of this investigation was to examine the most common sources of HPV information among parents and to compare preferred versus actual HPV information sources.

Socioeconomic status and body mass index among Hispanic children of immigrants and children of natives.

We examined how Hispanic parents' income and education, combined with their nativity status, influenced the body mass index (BMI) of their children, compared with non-Hispanic White children and their parents. We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to estimate linear growth curve models of children's initial BMI in kindergarten and change in BMI through fifth grade. Socioeconomic status was measured by logged household income and parental educational attainment (less than high school, high school graduate, some college, college graduate or higher). Parental education was negatively associated with children's BMI (baseline and growth) for non-Hispanic White children. Among Hispanic children, the association of parental education with growth in BMI was negative but much weaker. The weak effect of parental education was not explained by the presence of immigrants in the Hispanic population. Income was strongly negatively associated with children's BMI in kindergarten among children of Hispanic and White natives, but positively associated among Hispanic immigrant families. The positive income-BMI association among Hispanic immigrant children might reflect cultural differences that immigrant parents carry with them from their countries of origin.

Child–parent relationship training as experienced by Hispanic parents: A phenomenological study.

Child–parent relationship training as experienced by Hispanic parents: A phenomenological study.

Assessing the Private Safety Net: Social Support among Minority Immigrant Parents

Traditional assimilation paradigms argue that immigrants are particularly disadvantaged in feelings of marginality and dislocation. Given these paradigms, we explore how minority and immigrant status are associated with perceptions of social support among parents of young children. We use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative sample of children in kindergarten in 1998 and 1999. Most groups of minority immigrant parents, compared to their native-born white counterparts, report lower levels of perceived social support, and this gap persists even when demographic and socioeconomic characteristics are held constant. Additionally, English language ability, but not years spent in the United States, attenuates the disadvantages that Hispanic immigrant parents face in their perceptions of social support compared with white immigrant parents. Finally, Hispanic parents report substantial variation in their perceptions of social support by ethnicity. As social support is an important predictor of parents' economic stability and children's well-being, these findings have important implications for children of immigrants, an important and increasing demographic group in the United States.

Designing e-Health Interventions for Low-Health-Literate Culturally Diverse Parents: Addressing the Obesity Epidemic

Child and adolescent obesity is a significant problem contributing to long-term trends in adult obesity. Educating parents about strategies for raising healthy children is complicated by the problem of low health literacy. E-health provides new opportunities to educate lowhealth-literate audiences, and this project was intended as formative research to guide design of interventions for low-health-literate parents. Focus groups were conducted with African American, Hispanic, and white parents (n = 43), 18 years of age or older, and at or below median income for the region. Each focus group included the following: a discussion of parents' general use of the Internet for health information, the demonstration of a Web site designed specifically for low-health-literate users, and asking participants about ideas under consideration for future interventions. Participants use search engines to look for health information and use heuristics, such as position in search results, to evaluate Web site quality. Some participants avoid information from .edu and .gov domains due to perceived complexity, and there was an almost-universal lack of trust in the government for health information. University researchers, by contrast, were trusted sources as information providers. Content and usability that meet the needs of extremely low-literate audiences may be perceived as slow and lacking depth by more literate and Internet-savvy users. E-health can be used to educate low-health-literate audiences, but interventions designed for these users must be layered in terms of content and usability to meet varying levels of functional and media literacy.

African American, White and Hispanic child care preferences: A factorial survey analysis of welfare leavers by race and ethnicity

This research investigates the child care preferences of poor White, African American and Hispanic parents. Using the factorial survey method, this research examines the impact of race and ethnicity on child care preferences and definitions of child care quality. The findings do not support the conclusion that race and ethnicity are a major source of division in preferences for child care. Rather there was consensus around desired core care attributes associated with child care quality. Across racial and ethnic lines, parents wanted safe and regulated care that was evaluated by a government agency with warm and trained caregivers. Findings suggest that differences in child care use by race and ethnicity may not be due to different preferences for particular types of care, but for bundles of care characteristics people may believe are associated with particular care situations. Different child care choices may not stem from cultural differences, but more from market constraints and lack of information.

Attrition and retention in clinical trials by ethnic origin

Context Common perceptions exist within the medical community that retention of Hispanics in clinical trials is difficult, albeit little data is available to support this conviction. Methods A total of 541 randomly selected charts from closed clinical trials between 2000 and 2006 were reviewed. Records were from participating institutions in Texas Medical Center, Houston, and targeted diseases of high prevalence, specifically, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma. Findings Overall, 259 participants (48%) completed the trial they were enrolled in (44% whites, 69% Hispanics, 51% blacks; p < .05). Within pediatric trials, whom all were pulmonary patients, retention rates were higher among Hispanics than whites (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 7.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15–58.03, p = .04). Among adults, patient's ethnicity was unrelated to study completion. All associations were adjusted for possible confounders. Reasons for not completing a trial varied by ethnicity: “patient withdrawing consent” was more common among whites (51.4%) than Hispanics (21.7%) or blacks (26.2%) ( p < .05). Hispanics were more inclined to be withdrawn from the trial by the investigator (43.5%) than were whites (24%, p = .04), mostly due to non-compliance with the study protocol. Conclusions Hispanic parents of children with COPD may be more likely to complete a trial than parents of non-Hispanic whites. Among adults, Hispanics had similar completion rates as compared to whites. Culturally sensitive, multi-factorial approaches maybe imperative to increasing patient engagement in clinical trials.

Racial and Gender Differences in Kin Support

This article uses qualitative and quantitative data for a recent birth cohort from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to compare kin support patterns between African Americans and Hispanics. It focuses on financial and housing support from grandparents and other kin during the transition to parenthood. Qualitative analysis ( n = 122 parents) uncovers distinctions in the way African American and Hispanic parents discuss their family networks, with African Americans emphasizing relations with female kin and Hispanics emphasizing a more integrated system. Consistent with these findings, quantitative analysis ( n = 2,472 mothers and n = 2,639 fathers) finds that compared with Hispanic parents, African American parents are more likely to receive financial and housing support from grandmothers and less likely to receive support from both grandparents. Contrary to expectations that fathers would be the primary support recipients in Hispanic households, the authors find that mothers are the more common recipients of support among African Americans and Hispanics.

Communicating with Hispanic Parents of Children with and without Disabilities

Communicating with Hispanic Parents of Children with and without Disabilities

Anencephaly and spina bifida among Hispanics: Maternal, sociodemographic, and acculturation factors in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

We used data from the multisite National Birth Defects Prevention Study for expected delivery dates from October 1997 through 2003, to determine whether the increased risk in anencephaly and spina bifida (neural tube defects (NTDs)) in Hispanics was explained by selected sociodemographic, acculturation, and other maternal characteristics. For each type of defect, we examined the association with selected maternal characteristics stratified by race/ethnicity and the association with Hispanic parents' acculturation level, relative to non-Hispanic whites. We used logistic regression and calculated crude odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Hispanic mothers who reported the highest level of income were 80% less likely to deliver babies with spina bifida. In addition, highly educated Hispanic and white mothers had 76 and 35% lower risk, respectively. Other factors showing differing effects for spina bifida in Hispanics included maternal age, parity, and gestational diabetes. For spina bifida there was no significant elevated risk for U.S.-born Hispanics, relative to whites, but for anencephaly, corresponding ORs ranged from 1.9 to 2.3. The highest risk for spina bifida was observed for recent Hispanic immigrant parents from Mexico or Central America residing in the United States <5 years (OR = 3.28, 95% CI = 1.46-7.37). Less acculturated Hispanic parents seemed to be at highest risk of NTDs. For anencephaly, U.S.-born and English-speaking Hispanic parents were also at increased risk. Finally, from an etiologic standpoint, spina bifida and anencephaly appeared to be etiologically heterogeneous from these analyses.

The moderating effect of parental warmth on the association between spanking and child aggression: a longitudinal approach

AbstractUsing data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study, this study analysed the stability of child aggressive behaviour beginning in infancy and tested whether spanking when the child was 36 months was associated with aggressive child behaviour among three ethnic groups and whether maternal warmth moderated the effect of spanking on aggressive behaviour in each ethnic group at 36 months, after controlling for earlier aggressive behaviour. Participants included 693 Hispanic parent–child dyads, 1013 African‐American dyads and 1086 Caucasian dyads who met qualifications for participation in the Early Head Start programme. Findings suggest that infant temperament was associated with aggressive behaviour at 24 and 36 months and that child aggression remained stable. Among the three ethnic groups, spanking was only associated with aggressive behaviour for children who had Caucasian mothers and maternal warmth did not moderate the effect of spanking on aggressive behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

The role of parent health literacy among urban children with persistent asthma

Health literacy (HL) affects adult asthma management, yet less is known about how parent HL affects child asthma care. Objective To examine associations between parent HL and measures related to child asthma. Methods Parents of 499 school-age urban children with persistent asthma in Rochester, New York completed home interviews. Measures: the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) for parent HL; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) criteria for asthma severity, and validated measures of asthma knowledge, beliefs, and experiences. Analyses: bivariate and multivariate analyses of associations between parent HL measures related to child asthma. Results Response rate: 72%, mean child age: 7.0 years. Thirty-two percent had a Hispanic parent; 88% had public insurance. Thirty-three percent had a parent with limited HL. Low parent HL was independently associated with greater parent worry, parent perception of greater asthma burden, and lower parent-reported quality of life. Measures of health care use (e.g., emergency care and preventive medicines) were not associated with parent HL. Conclusions Parents with limited HL worried more and perceived greater overall burden from the child's asthma, even though reported health care use did not vary. Practice implications Improved parent understanding and provider-parent communication about child asthma could reduce parent-perceived asthma burden, alleviate parent worry, and improve parent quality of life.

Parental Influences on Dairy Intake in Children, and Their Role in Child Calcium-fortified Food Use

Objective To understand how parental influences on dairy food intake relate to early adolescent children's use of calcium-fortified food. Design Content analysis of qualitative interviews to identify parental influences on dairy intake; calcium-fortified food survey to identify children as either calcium-fortified food users or nonusers. Setting and Participants A convenience sample of Asian (n = 56), Hispanic (n = 61), and white (n = 74) parents of children 10-13 years old, including boys (n = 86) and girls (n = 105). Variables Measured and Analysis Cluster analysis to identify groups with similar coded parental influences and chi-square analysis to determine associations between these groups and calcium-fortified food use. Results Two dominant patterns of parental influences: Cluster 1 (n = 128), with positive parental influences related to availability of dairy, milk, and cheese; positive health beliefs for dairy, and child preferences for dairy and cheese, included parents whose children were more likely to use calcium-fortified food. Cluster 2 (n = 63), with positive influences for availability of dairy and milk, included parents whose children were equally likely to be either users or nonusers of calcium-fortified food ( P < .05). Conclusion Strategies to improve parental influence on children's dairy intake might also encourage calcium-fortified food intake and improve calcium nutriture.

Assessing Mothers' and Fathers' Authoritarian Attitudes: The Psychometric Properties of a Brief Survey

This study used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the structure and factor loadings of an authoritarian parenting scale. The study used data from 315 married couples who had toddlers participating in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project located in 14 communities across the United States. The sample was diverse and consisted largely of white, African American, and Hispanic low-income parents. The results indicate that the authoritarian parenting scale was a consistent and accurate measure of authoritarian parenting attitudes with both mothers and fathers. Social work practitioners may find this instrument a valuable assessment tool in cases in which there is a focus on parenting skills and attitudes. KEY WORDS: assessment; authoritative parenting; ethnic minority parents; parenting style ********** Parenting style is important to children's development, and when parents show a more authoritarian parenting style they tend to be more demanding and directive with their children. However, one major obstacle for researchers is the difficulty in assessing parenting style. Although Baumrind's (1971) assessment of parenting styles provided a reliable model, later researchers found it difficult to measure both economically and reliably, particularly with relatively small samples. Recently, research in this field has overcome these challenges by relying on the self-report of adolescents' perceptions of their parents' style of parenting (Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Lamborn Mojnts, Steinberg, & Dornbusch, 1991). However, it is difficult to extend this direct survey method to younger children because self-report by young children is often problematic and likely to result in unreliable data. Therefore, most researchers of very young children have relied on parent self-report of parenting attitudes and values (Reitman, Rhode, Hupp, & Altobello, 2002). Some measures of parenting styles have been examined psychometrically; however, the trend has been for researchers to develop new survey instruments for each study rather than to use an existing instrument (Reitman et al., 2002). This trend has resulted in a major discontinuity in the area of parenting style. An assessment tool that shows promise as a brief assessment of attitudes associated with authoritarian parenting is a five-item Authoritarian Parenting Beliefs Subscale (APBS) of the Parental Modernity Scale (PMS) (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985). Although the development and validation of the original PMS is limited by small samples, the APBS has been used in two national studies of young children; the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of early child care and the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation (EHSRE) project. The PMS was intended to access both progressive democratic and traditional attitudes in parents and was initially used to measure these in southern white American and African American samples (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1981, 1985). Early psychometric work on the development and validation of the original 30-item PMS was accomplished with three separate small samples of mothers. Schaefer and Edgerton's (1985) PMS measure of progressive democratic and traditional attitudes in child rearing has solid psychometric properties. It has an internal consistency reliability of .88 and a .90 split-half reliability with Spearman-Brown correction. In addition, this parenting measure has a test-retest reliability of .84. It should be noted that the reliability scores for the PMS were derived from a small sample of only African American and white American mothers with children in kindergarten in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. In addition, the earlier assessment of the reliability of the PMS failed to include fathers. An often neglected issue when cross-group examinations are conducted is the comparability of the measures across the groups. …

Parental Expectations of Adapted Physical Educators: A Hispanic Perspective

The purpose of this study was to identify the perspectives of Hispanic parents of children with disabilities regarding adapted physical education (APE) professionals in relationship to their child's purposeful play and transition to school programming. Participants (N=11) were Hispanic parents of children with disabilities. Parents participated in one-on-one interviews in their preferred language (Spanish or English). Transcripts were analyzed through a constant comparative analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) qualified APE professionals, (b) challenges for the family, and (c) normalcy. These themes were supported by subthemes. The results indicated that Hispanic families were not as familiar with APE services as Caucasian families were. Parental expectations among Hispanic parents were similar to Caucasian parents, but the preference for modes of communication and information differed.

Seeking Eye Care for Children: Perceptions among Hispanic Immigrant Parents

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions related to seeking eye care for their children among Hispanic immigrant parents. Five focus group discussions with approximately eight Hispanic immigrant parents each were carried out using a designed topic guide to encourage dialogue. Discussion was tape-recorded and transcribed. Qualitative analysis was performed to identify and classify perceived barriers, motivators and possible future interventions. Parents agreed they would take the child to the eye specialist for visible problems, or if recommended by the pediatrician or required for school entry. The most frequently mentioned barriers included cost and the absence of signs, symptoms or a family history of eye problems. Parents identified a need for more information about common pediatric eye conditions, especially non-obvious problems like refractive error. Evaluation of perceptions and barriers is a necessary first step towards developing culturally relevant and effective interventions.

How Parents and Teachers View Their School Communities

ABSTRACT This study examines the perceptions of more than 11,000 parents and 1,500 teachers about their schools, themselves, and their relationships with each other within their school communities. It provides insights into the health of our public schools, their reservoirs of social capital, and the context they provide for student learning. The nature and strength of relationships within school communities is assayed through examination of parents' and teachers' perceptions about their roles, the roles of students, school–home communication, the common experience and climate of the school, and their face-to-face association with one another. Teachers' perceptions are compared with those of parents, and the perceptions of White, non-Hispanic, Black, non-Hispanic, and Hispanic parents are compared with each other.

The Impact of Technology Use on Hispanic Students' Mathematics Achievement Within Family and School Contexts: Subgroup Analysis between English- and Non-English-Speaking Students

This study tested a theoretical model explaining the relationship between technology, family context, and school context variables as predictors of mathematics achievement across two language groups: English-speaking and non-English-speaking Hispanic students. It used data from the base year and first follow-up of the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002/2004). The multigroup analysis of the path model was used to analyze the data. The findings continue to indicate the importance of individual technology usage as a predictor of mathematics performance among non-English-speaking Hispanic students. The study also found that Hispanic parents' direct involvement in their children's schooling has a significant negative effect on their academic achievement.

Race/ethnicity and the start of child care: A multi-level analysis of factors influencing first child care experiences

Abstract Early childhood education and care experiences play an important role in children's development and school readiness with, in general, sustained exposure to high quality, center-based care leading to positive outcomes. Hispanic parents have been shown to be less likely than others to place their children in center-based care, particularly when children are very young—a pattern that contrasts African American parents’ tendency for earlier use of center-based care. This paper examines child care choice from a contextual perspective. Using a multi-level modeling approach, we consider ethnicity and race, at the individual and neighborhood levels, in relation to the age at which children first participate in non-parental care and the type of care they first experience. Using data from the ECLS-K, the 1990 Census and other contextual sources, we demonstrate that Hispanic parents’ later use of care is explainable by economic and work participation factors at the family level, while neighborhood proportion of Hispanic individuals is associated with delayed entry into child care. In contrast, the observed early use of care among African American families persists after accounting for economic and work factors, and appears independent of differences in neighborhood context. Limitations and implications for policy and practice are discussed.

The VERB ™ Campaign's Strategy for Reaching African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian Children and Parents

The VERB™ campaign promoted physical activity to U.S. children aged 9–13 years (tweens) by surrounding them with appealing messages that were associated with the VERB brand and tag line It's what you do! To maximize the impact of the campaign, VERB had a two-level strategy for its marketing. One level was designed to reach a general audience of tweens (i.e., most tweens who use mainstream media). The second level was designed specifically to reach four racial or ethnic audiences: African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians as an augmentation to the first level. This article focuses on VERB's market segmentation strategy and reports how messages for the general audience were adapted to reach specific racial or ethnic segments of the U.S. population. Findings are reported from qualitative studies conducted with tweens and the parents of tweens from these ethnic groups, and the marketing strategies used to reach each ethnic group and the results of evaluations of those strategies are also described.