Parenting stress and program support acceptance among Mexican American Head Start mothers Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Sewell, Margaret G. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 20:46:27 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280749 PARENTING STRESS AND PROGRAM SUPPORT ACCEPTANCE AMONG MEXICAN AMERICAN HEAD START MOTHERS by Margaret Gamett Sewell A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES DIVISION OF FAMILY STUDIES AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2004 UMI Number: 3158154 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3158154 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 9 The University of Arizona 'w Graduate College As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Margaret Garnett Sewell entitled Parenting Stress and Program Support Acceptance Among Mexican American Head Start Mothers and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ^Angela K. Taylor/ date <(2_ iO-- JL-Qt-I Donna H. Christensen date 2, -2. - c date date date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Disserfation Director; .ngela R. Taylor date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship, hi all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED; 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the many people who have offered their support, encouragement, and constructive criticism over the years as I have completed this project. First of all, my dissertation advisor and Director of the University of Arizona Child Resilience Project, Angela R. Taylor, has been an invaluable mentor, friend, and colleague since I first arrived at the University of Arizona. The other members of my dissertation committee. Donna Christensen, Wendy Gamble, Brinton Milward, and Mari Wilhelm, have each contributed in unique and important ways to my thinking in terms of theory, content, and methodology in the areas of parenting processes, stress and coping, and social policy analysis. Thanks also go to the administration and staff of Child-Parent Centers, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona, and especially to Maggie Molloy and Teresa Acevedo for their sustained support through the data collection phase of the project. The project would not have been possible without the research staff and parent interviewers of the University of Arizona Child Resilience Project, and especially Suzanne Callor, Violeta Phillips, Amy Chandler, Irma Barragan, Lionor Guerrero, Marina Hinds, Maria Hingtgen, Lourdes Lopez, Teri Martinez, Erica Noymer, Meghan Raymond, and Yolanda Sevillano. Thanks also to all of my colleagues at the Monticello Area Community Action Agency, and other friends and colleagues in the early childhood community in Charlottesville, Virginia. These individuals went out of their way to encourage me to persevere with the dissertation in spite of the demands of my position there as Head Start Director, and in some cases helped make it possible to do so. Special mention goes to Pearl Early, Barbara Smith, Julia Broome, Jeff Sobel, Noah Schwartz, Marion Harden, Sharon Saari, Mary Reese, Gary Yablick, Alice Strang, and Maxine McKinney. As graduate students in the Psychology Department at the University of Virginia who were involved with the Head Start program, Stephanie Curenton, Lori Skibbe provided invaluable peer support, and Kevin Grimm provided services as a statistical consultant. Finally, special acknowledgment goes to my family: my daughter Abby Sewell who came of age during my graduate student years, and my father Richard Gamett, who has offered his support and example over the years. Most especially, I thank my husband, David Sewell, who has been my friend, critic, and in-house computer consultant, and has willingly put up with endless clutter, and endless weekends and evenings devoted to writing and analysis (even if he really just wanted an excuse for another trip to Tucson). 5 DEDICATION This study is dedicated to Head Start parents, past, present and future. Over the past decade, as a researcher and later as a Head Start director, I have been inspired by the dedication of so many of these mothers and fathers who courageously seek out educational opportunities for themselves and their young children, in spite of daunting economic, language, educational, health, and other challenges. They share in common a desire to give their children the positive school experiences that, in many cases, they lacked themselves. In contributing their time and energy to local Head Start programs across the United States, they develop talents and leadership skills that they never knew they had, and they go on to contribute to their communities and advocate for their children for years to come. They deserve the best research-based education and support programs that our communities can offer them. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS UST OF FIGURES 9 UST OF TABLES 10 ABSTRACT 11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE 13 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 19 Overview 19 Introduction to Community-Based Family Support Programs 20 Program Support Acceptance 25 Theoretical Framework: Stress, Support and Coping 31 Contextual Antecedents of Parenting Stress and Support 39 Parenting Stress and Support in Low-Income Mexican American Families 53 Potential Moderating Role of Acculturation 61 Questions and Hypotheses for Present Study 66 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued CHAPTER 3 METHODS 79 Participants 80 Procedure 89 Measures 91 Acculturation 92 Maternal Education 95 Stressful Life Events 96 Partner Status 98 Extended Households 99 Parenting Stress 100 Program Support Acceptance 103 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 106 Preliminary Analyses and Data Reduction 106 Primary Analyses 112 Treatment of Missing Data 128 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION 134 Summary and Conclusions 134 Time I Parenting Stress 134 Program Support Acceptance 138 Change Over Time in Parenting Stress 141 Role of Acculturation in Parenting Stress and Support Processes 143 Role of Maternal Education in Parenting Stress and Support Processes 146 Role of Stressful Life Events in Parenting Stress and Support Processes 147 Role of Partner Status in Parenting Stress and Support Processes 147 Role of Extended Households in Parenting Stress and Support Processes 148 Implications 150 Limitations 158 Future Directions 162 APPENDIX A. MEASURES 165 APPENDIX B. HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL 172 APPENDIX C. CONSENT FORMS 174 REFERENCES 179 9 LIST OF mOURES FIGURE 1. Curvilinear Relationship Between Parenting Stress and Program Support Acceptance 39 FIGURE 2. Negative Linear Relationship Between P8irenting Stress and Program Support Acceptance 39 FIGURE 3. General Heuristic Model (Overview) 40 FIGURE 4. Time 1 Parenting Stress: Antecedents and Relationship to Program Support Acceptance 67 FIGURE 5. Mid-Year Program Support Acceptance: Antecedents and Relationship to Time 2 Parenting Stress 72 FIGURE 6. Change Over Time in Parenting Stress: Contribution of Program Support Acceptance 77 10 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. Demographic Characteristics of Mexican American Participants in Full Sample 86 TABLE 2. Descriptive and Demographic Characteristics of Participants by Generational Status 87 TABLE 3. Descriptive and Demographic Characteristics of Participants by Language of Interview 88 TABLE 4. Bivariate Correlations for All Potential Study Variables 110 TABLE 5. Means, Standard Deviations, and Bivariate Correlations for