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Mothers moving from welfare into the workforce may encounter difficult and unstable work situations that increase stress and decrease maternal availability. This may reduce mothers' monitoring and involvement with their children, weaken mother-youth communication and increase youth risk. The impact of low income, unstable work may be particularly marked when youth reach early adolescence, as their increasing autonomy and mobility bring exposure to new risky contexts, which without parental monitoring, involvement, and effective communication may entice them into deviant peer affiliations, substance use, school misconduct, and risky sexual activity.
This study investigates the influences of mothers' low income work experiences, support, maternal well-being, mother-youth relations, and adolescent outcomes. This research begins to fill a gap in our knowledge about if and how maternal work experiences of low-income mothers living in high-risk urban neighborhoods influence mother-child relationships and the consequent impact of maternal work and the mother-child relationship on the development and adjustment of adolescent offspring.
Research Phases:
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Phase One
In the 1st phase of the research, approximately 300 mothers of
6th grade children in Harrisburg, Pa participated in a telephone
interview to assess mothers' satisfaction with their child's school,
community support, and her involvement in her child's academic
life.
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Phase Two
100 mother-youth dyads were then selected from the pool identified
in phase one to participate in a 2-hour home interview targeted
at collecting self-report data pertaining to maternal work experience,
maternal well-being, support, mother-youth relations, and adolescent
adjustment.
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Phase Three
10 families will be selected from the dyads in phase 2 based
on self-reported work experiences to participate in an ethnographic
investigation to examine the findings from the home interviews
with more depth and detail.
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