Abstract
Academic success is a strong predictor of adolescent adjustment and subsequent adult social, psychological, and economic well-being. Importantly, research has established a negative relationship between family economic hardship and children’s educational outcomes. Despite being disproportionately represented among the most financially disadvantaged, African Americans remain an understudied group. The current study utilizes a longitudinal study design and prospective data from the Family and Community Health Study (n = 422, 52% girls, average age = 10.5 years at Wave 1), an African American sample, to investigate the impact of economic hardship on adolescent academic engagement by testing explanations offered by two commonly employed perspectives: the parental investment model and family stress model. While both models yielded significant results when tested separately, only the processes specified by the family stress model remained significant in a combined model, demonstrating that it is the superior explanation. By addressing many of the deficits of past research on the parental investment model and family stress model, the study was able to shed new light on the specific pathways by which economic disadvantage exerts an effect on youth outcomes. In doing so, the results question whether potentially middle-class, Eurocentric models (e.g., the parental investment model) are applicable when studying economically distressed African American youth.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison, P. D. (2003). Missing data techniques for structural equation modeling. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112(4), 545–557. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.112.4.545.
Benner, A. D., & Kim, S. Y. (2010). Understanding Chinese American adolescents' developmental outcomes: insights from the family stress model. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00629.x.
Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F. X., McNair, L., & Brown, A. C., et al. (2006). The strong African American families program: prevention of youths' high-risk behavior and a test of a model of change. Journal of Family Psychology, 20(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.20.1.1.
Brody, G. H., Yu, T., Chen, E., Miller, G. E., Kogan, S. M., & Beach, S. R. (2013). Is resilience only skin deep? Rural African Americans’ socioeconomic status–related risk and competence in preadolescence. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1285–1293. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612471954.
Caspi, A., Wright, B. R. E., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1998). Early failure in the labor market: childhood and adolescent predictors of unemployment in the transition to adulthood. American Sociological Review, 63(3), 424–451. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657557.
Clark, L., & Watson, D. (1995). The mini mood and anxiety symptom questionnaire (mini-masq). University of Iowa.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., Elder, Jr, G. H., Lorenz, F. O., Simons, R. L., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1992). A family process model of economic hardship and adjustment of early adolescent boys. Child Development, 63(3), 526–541. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01644.x.
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 685–704. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00725x.
Conger, R. D., & Elder, G. H. (1994) Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America. Hillsdale, NY: Routledge.
Conger, R. D., Ge, X., Elder, G. H., Lorenz, F. O., & Simons, R. L. (1994). Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Child Development, 65(2), 541–561. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00768.x.
Conger, R. D., Wallace, L. E., Sun, Y., Simons, R. L., McLoyd, V. C., & Brody, G. H. (2002). Economic pressure in African American families: a replication and extension of the family stress model. Developmental Psychology, 38(2), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.2.179.
Crosnoe, R. (2006). The connection between academic failure and adolescent drinking in secondary school. Sociology of Education, 79(1), 44–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070607900103.
Danziger, S., & Lin, A. C. (2009). Coping with poverty: the social contexts of neighborhood, work, and family in the African-American community. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Davis-Kean, P. E. (2005). The influence of parent education and family income on child achievement: the indirect role of parental expectations and the home environment. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(2), 294–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.19.2.294.
Dearing, E., Wimer, C., Simpkins, S. D., Lund, T., Bouffard, S. M., Caronongan, P., Kreider, H., & Weiss, H. (2009). Do neighborhood and home contexts help explain why low-income children miss opportunities to participate in activities outside of school? Developmental Psychology, 45(6), 1545–1562. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017359.
Diemer, M. A., Marchand, A. D., & Mistry, R. S. (2019). Charting how wealth shapes educational pathways from childhood to early adulthood: a developmental process model. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01162-4.
Elder, G. H. (1974). Children of the great depression: social change in life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Emmen, R. A., Malda, M., Mesman, J., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., Prevoo, M. J., & Yeniad, N. (2013). Socioeconomic status and parenting in ethnic minority families: testing a minority family stress model. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(6), 896–904. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034693.
Engle, P. L., & Black, M. M. (2008). The effect of poverty on child development and educational outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136(1), 243–256. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1425.023.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543074001059.
Garcia-Coll, C., Lamberty, Jenkins, R., McAdoo, H. P., Crnic, K. A., Wasik, B. H., & García, H. V. (1996). An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Development, 67(5), 1891–1914. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01834.x.
Gutman, L. M., McLoyd, V. C., & Tokoyawa, T. (2005). Financial strain, neighborhood stress, parenting behaviors, and adolescent adjustment in urban African American families. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15(4), 425–449. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2005.00106.x.
Hardaway, C. R., & Cornelius, M. D. (2014). Economic hardship and adolescent problem drinking: Family processes as mediating influences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43, 1191–1202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0063-x.
Hardaway, C. R., & McLoyd, V. C. (2009). Escaping poverty and securing middle class status: How race and socioeconomic status shape mobility prospects for African Americans during the transition to adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(2), 242–256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9354-z.
Henry, K. L., Knight, K. E., & Thornberry, T. P. (2012). School disengagement as a predictor of dropout, delinquency, and problem substance use during adolescence and early adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(2), 156–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9665-3.
Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: a meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 740–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015362.
Hirschfield, P. J., & Gasper, J. (2011). The relationship between school engagement and delinquency in late childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9579-5.
Iruka, I. U., Laforett, D. R., & Odom, E. C. (2012). Examining the validity of the family investment and stress models and relationship to children's school readiness across five cultural groups. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(3), 359–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028290.
Kohen, D. E., Leventhal, T., Dahinten, V. S., & McIntosh, C. N. (2008). Neighborhood disadvantage: pathways of effects for young children. Child Development, 79(1), 156–169. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01117.x.
Landers-Potts, M. A., Wickrama, K. A. S., Simons, L. G., Cutrona, C., Gibbons, F. X., & Simons, R. L., et al. (2015). An extension and moderational analysis of the family stress model focusing on African American adolescents. Family Relations, 64(2), 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12117.
Linver, M. R., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Kohen, D. E. (2002). Family processes as pathways from income to young children's development. Developmental Psychology, 38(5), 719–734. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.5.719.
MacKinnon, D. P., Fairchild, A. J., & Fritz, M. S. (2007). Mediation analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 58(1), 593–614. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085542.
Martin, M. J., Conger, R. D., Schofield, T. J., Dogan, S. J., Widaman, K. F., & Donnellan, M. B., et al. (2010). Evaluation of the interactionist model of socioeconomic status and problem behavior: a developmental cascade across generations. Development and Psychopathology, 22(3), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579410000374.
Melby, J. N., & Conger, R. D. (2001). The Iowa family interaction rating scales: instrument summary. In Family observational coding systems: resources for systemic research. (pp. 33–58). Hillsdale, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Melby, J. N., Conger, R. D., Fang, S.-A., Wickrama, K. A. S., & Conger, K. J. (2008). Adolescent family experiences and educational attainment during early adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 44(6), 1519–1536. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013352.
Mennis, J., & Mason, M. J. (2012). Social and geographic contexts of adolescent substance use: the moderating effects of age and gender. Social Networks, 34(1), 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2010.10.003.
Mistry, R. S., Vandewater, E. A., Huston, A. C., & McLoyd, V. C. (2002). Economic well-being and children's social adjustment: the role of family process in an ethnically diverse low-income sample. Child Development, 73(3), 935–951. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00448.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2017). Mplus version 8 user's guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Muthen, L. K., & Muthen, B. O. 2010). Mplus user's guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
National Kids Count Data Center (2019). Retreived from: https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/44-children-in-poverty-by-race-and-ethnicity#detailed/1/any/false/37,871,870,573,869,36,868,867,133,38/10,11,9,12,1,185,13/324,323.
Nievar, M. A., & Luster, T. (2006). Developmental processes in African American families: an application of Mcloyd's theoretical model. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68(2), 320–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00255.x.
Pinderhughes, E. E., Nix, R., Foster, E. M., & Jones, D., The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2001). Parenting in context: Impact of neighborhood poverty, residential stability, public services, social networks, and danger on parental behaviors. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63(4), 941–953. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00941.x.
Quillian, L. (2012). Segregation and poverty concentration: the role of three segregations. American Sociological Review, 77(3), 354–379. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412447793.
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(5328), 918. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5328.918.
Schofield, T. J., Martin, M. J., Conger, K. J., Neppl, T. M., Donnellan, M. B., & Conger, R. D. (2011). Intergenerational transmission of adaptive functioning: a test of the interactionist model of SES and human development. Child Development, 82(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01539.x.
Simons, L. G., & Conger, R. D. (2007). Linking mother–father differences in parenting to a typology of family parenting styles and adolescent outcomes. Journal of Family Issues, 28(2), 212–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X06294593.
Simons, R. L., Simons, L. G., Burt, C. H., Brody, G. H., & Cutrona, C. E. (2005). Collective efficacy, parenting practices, and delinquency: a longitudinal test of a model integrating community‐ and family‐level processes. Criminology, 43(4), 989–1029. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2005.00031.x.
Simons, L. G., Simons, R. L., & Su, X. (2013). Consequences of corporal punishment among African Americans: the importance of context and outcome. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(8), 1273–1285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9853-9.
Simons, R. L., Stewart, E., Gordon, L. C., Conger, R. D., & Elder, Jr, G. H. (2002). A test of life‐course explanations for stability and change in antisocial behavior from adolescence to young adulthood. Criminology, 40(2), 401–434. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00961.x.
Simons, L. G., Wickrama, K. A. S., Lee, T. K., Landers-Potts, M., Cutrona, C., & Conger, R. D. (2016). Testing family stress and family investment explanations for conduct problems among African American adolescents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(2), 498–515. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12278.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Consolidated State Performance Report, 2016–17 (2019). Retreived from: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018070.pdf
Wadsworth, M. E., & Ahlkvist, J. A. (2015). Inequality begins outside the home: putting parental educational investments into context. In Families in an era of increasing inequality, (pp. 95–103). New York, NY: Springer.
Wagmiller, Jr, R. L., Gershoff, E., Veliz, P., & Clements, M. (2010). Does children’s academic achievement improve when single mothers marry? Sociology of Education, 83(3), 201–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040710375686.
Wang, M. T., & Eccles, J. S. (2012). Adolescent behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement trajectories in school and their different relations to educational success. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00753.x.
Wang, M. T., Hill, N. E., & Hofkens, T. (2014). Parental involvement and African American and European American adolescents’ academic, behavioral, and emotional development in secondary school. Child Development, 85(6), 2151–2168. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12284.
Wang, M.-T., & Sheikh-Khalil, S. (2014). Does parental involvement matter for student achievement and mental health in high school? Child Development, 85(2), 610–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12153.
White, R. M., Roosa, M. W., & Zeiders, K. H. (2012). Neighborhood and family intersections: prospective implications for Mexican American adolescents' mental health. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(5), 793–804. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029426.
Wickrama, K. A., & Noh, S. (2010). The long arm of community: the influence of childhood community contexts across the early life course. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(8), 894–910. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9411-2.
Yeung, W. J., Linver, M. R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002). How money matters for young children's development: parental investment and family processes. Child Development, 73(6), 1861–1879. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00511.
Funding
This research was supported by funding from the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute (R01 HL118045) and the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD080749).
Data Sharing and DeclarationThis manuscript's data will not be deposited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
LGS conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript and MES performed the statistical analysis, interpretation of the data and assisted in drafting the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
This project on which this study was based was approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee. This study has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Simons, L.G., Steele, M.E. The Negative Impact of Economic Hardship on Adolescent Academic Engagement: An Examination Parental Investment and Family Stress Processes. J Youth Adolescence 49, 973–990 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01210-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01210-4