The current study had two purposes. The first purpose was to examine the
association between family rules and routines and first grade children's teacher-rated and
peer-rated behavioral competencies (e.g., emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peer
problems, hyperactivity, and prosocial behavior) after controlling for both family
stressors (i.e., single parent home, mobility, socioeconomic status, property ownership)
and child ethnicity (African American, Caucasian, Hispanic). The second purpose was to
determine if child regulatory control abilities mediates the effects of family rules and
routines and children's behavioral competencies.
The parents of 215 ethnically diverse children (38%, Caucasian, 22% African
American, 33% Hispanic, 7% Other) were interviewed in their homes with a modified
and shortened version of Family Routines Inventory (FRI; Jensen, James, Boyce, &
Hartnett, 1983). Teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ;
Goodman, 1997), and peers completed a modified version of the Class Play (Masten,
Morison & Pelligrini, 1985). Scores from the SDQ were standardized and combined
with the standardized scores obtained from the peer nominations to create composites of the behavioral competencies. Additionally, teachers completed a modified version of the
California Child Q-set (CCQ) (Block & Block, 1980) as a measure of these children's
regulatory control abilities.
African American parents' ratings of their family's rules and routines were
higher than those of Hispanic and Caucasian parents' ratings. Additionally, family
stressors were positively associated with higher teacher and peer ratings of conduct
problems and lower ratings of prosocial behavior. Neither ethnicity nor family rules and
routines predicted child competencies. A statistically significant curvilinear relationship
was found between family rules and routines and conduct problems such that children of
parents reporting the highest and lowest levels of family rules and routines have more
conduct problems. No associations were found between family rules and routines and
child competencies or children's regulatory control abilities. Limitations of the study are
discussed in terms of inadequate measurement of family rules and routines, a defensive
response set, self-selection on the part of the parents to participate in the interview, and a
sample that is not representative of the community of parents and children in the
participating schools.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/4142 |
| Date | 30 October 2006 |
| Creators | Hill, Crystal Renee |
| Contributors | Hughes, Jan N. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 290040 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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