Research published in the special section documents how children's and adolescents' awareness and sensitivity to group-level exclusion, inequality of opportunity, and broader patterns of economic inequality in society influence and are associated with moral emotions, moral reasoning, and decisions about resource allocation. It also assesses the…

Planning and preparing for life after high school is a central developmental task of American adolescents, and may be even more critical for low-income youth who are less likely to attend a four year college. This study investigates factors that led to the effects of the New Hope Project, a work-based, anti-poverty program directed at parents on…

Drawing on previous research linking patterns of adolescent employment--defined in terms of duration and intensity--to educational and occupational outcomes later in life (Staff & Mortimer, 2008), the present study (a) examined positive social behavior and academic variables as longitudinal predictors of patterns of adolescent employment…

In this paper, we call attention to the need to expand existing efforts and to develop policies, programs, and best practices in the United States designed to support parents at risk and promote parenting competence. Despite the existence of some services offered to parents of children at risk due to developmental delay or at economic risk, the…

This article draws on extant research from the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and economics to identify linkages between individual, family, community, and structural factors related to social mobility for African Americans during the transition to adulthood. It considers how race and class together affect opportunities for social mobility…

Discusses limitations of using behavioral genetic methods for understanding the environmental effects of poverty. Multiple methods provide strong evidence that poverty and related experiences influence children's development through environmental processes that go beyond genetically transmitted attributes. Socioeconomic status is a function of…

Using African American parents' answers to survey questions, researchers examined variation in management of their children's education within the home, school, and community as a function of child academic achievement. Parents of high- and low-achieving students emphasized the importance of education, recognizing their role in helping them…

Reviews research on family processes that affect the socioemotional functioning of children in poor families and families in economic decline. (PCB)

Interview data from a sample of 262 poor African American single mothers and their 7th-and 8th-grade children were used to investigate the relations between neighborhood conditions and adolescents' educational values and school effort. The model tested incorporates both subjective and objective assessments of neighborhood quality and controls for…

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model linking financial strain, neighborhood stress, parenting behavior, and adolescent adjustment. The sample consisted of 305 African American families living in inner city neighborhoods. Of the families, 40% were living at or below the U.S. poverty threshold. The…

This study investigated how stressful environmental conditions influence the relation between mothers' social support and parenting strategies among poor, African American single mothers and their young adolescent children. Findings indicated that as neighborhood conditions worsened, the positive relation between emotional support and mothers'…

The impacts of New Hope, a program to increase parent employment and reduce poverty, were measured 5 years after parents were randomly assigned to program or control groups. New Hope had positive effects on children's school achievement, motivation, and social behavior, primarily for boys, across the age range 6-16. In comparison to impacts…