Poverty Duration, Maternal Psychological Resources, and Adolescent Socioemotional Outcomes

Authors

Bridget J. Goosby, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

8-2007

Comments

Published in Journal of Family Issues 28:8 (August 2007), pp. 1113–1134; doi: 10.1177/0192513X07300712 Copyright © 2007 Sage Publications. Used by permission. http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/28/8/1113

Abstract

This study seeks to assess the impact of maternal psychological well-being on the depression and anxiety levels and social withdrawal in a sample of young African American and Caucasian adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 (N = 854) using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 child sample. Analyses using structural equation modeling found (a) that the duration of time mothers spend in poverty strongly predicts maternal mastery and depressive symptoms and (b) that the effects of poverty duration on adolescent outcomes are mediated primarily by maternal depression and sense of mastery even after controlling for parenting behavior and other familial background characteristics.