About this session

Saturday, 10:20 AM - 11:50 AM

Exploring Investments in Parents to Improve Parent, Child, and Family Outcomes

According to ecological theory, parents are considered the most proximal influence within a child’s environment (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Previous research demonstrates the significant effect of parents’ characteristics and behaviors on children’s outcomes (e.g., Davis-Kean et al., 2021; McLoyd, 1990), especially when children are young (Duncan et al., 1998). Therefore, understanding the effectiveness of investments for parents of young children, which likely have cascading effects, is essential to promoting positive development. This symposium examines the relations between investments in parents and parent, child, and family outcomes across three unique programs.

The first paper examines experimental data from a parenting program focused on promoting responsive parent-child interactions and play. The program demonstrated benefits to children’s abilities, parents’ attitudes, and the home learning environment. The second paper investigates the role of childcare in improving parents’ ability to attain higher education and employment through a federal workforce program. Using experimental data, initial findings show there is a higher likelihood of childcare take-up if the program site offers direct childcare services rather than referrals or community partnerships. The third paper uses long-term quasi-experimental data from a family-centered program offering postsecondary education to parents paired with Head Start. Results suggest that the program continued to demonstrate positive effects on program parents’ education, with some benefits to financial resources. There were no effects on children.

The three papers will be discussed by an interdisciplinary expert who has extensive experience with rigorous evaluations of child and family programs, particularly when investments are made in early childhood.

Paper #1
Title	Integrating an Early Childhood Parenting Program in the Primary-Care Health System in Jamaica
Presenting author	Susan Walker, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica, Jamaica

Paper #2
Title	Exploring the Role of Childcare in Parents’ Education and Employment Success
Presenting author	Julia Honoroff, Northwestern University, United States

Paper #3
Title	The Longer-Term Effects of a Two-Generation Education Program on Parents and Adolescents from Low-Income Families
Presenting author	Dr. Teresa Eckrich Sommer, Ph.D., Northwestern University, United States

View all paper details

Session chair
Dr. Lauren Adams Tighe, Ph.D., Northwestern University, United States

Discussant
Alison W. Baulos, University of Chicago, United States

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