Showing papers by "Jeanne Brooks-Gunn published in 1988"

Information-seeking and maternal self-definition during the transition to motherhood.

Abstract: The self-definitional processes accompanying the transition to motherhood were examined in this study. A cross-sectional sample of more than 600 women who were planning to get pregnant within 2 years, pregnant, or in the postpartum stage completed extensive questionnaires pertaining to their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. On the basis of the assumption of the "self-socialization" perspective that individuals actively construct their identities in response to life transitions, our analyses focused on the role of information-seeking in the developing self-definitions of women becoming mothers. As predicted, (a) women actively sought information in anticipation of a first birth, (b) they used this information to construct identities incorporating motherhood, and (c) after the birth the determinants of their self-definitions shifted from indirect sources of information to direct experiences with child care. Hence, consistent with the self-socialization perspective, information-seeking did play an important role in the women's developing self-conceptions during this life transition. Mechanisms by which information gathered may alter self-conception are discussed.

Does Head Start work? A 1-year follow-up comparison of disadvantaged children attending Head Start, no preschool, and other preschool programs.

Abstract: Etude des effets apres une annee de l'implantation d'un programme destine a developper le niveau cognitif de 969 enfants economiquement desavantages

Attitudes toward eating and body weight in different groups of female adolescent athletes

Abstract: Although many elite athletic groups have relatively low weights, variations across sports occur. Adolescents were compared who engaged in three sports which varied on two dimensions, weight standards and energy expenditure, possibly associated with the physical characteristics of these three sports. Regional and national athletes aged 14–18 were surveyed: 25 figure skaters, 64 ballet dancers, and 72 swimmers. Adolescents who were not athletes served as a comparison group (N = 424). Height, weight, menarcheal age, sports activity, and attitudes toward eating were measured. Dancers and skaters were lighter and leaner than swimmers and nonathletes in accordance with the weight requirements expected of the former two groups. They also were more likely to have delayed menarche. Dancers and skaters also had more negative eating attitude scores than swimmers. At the same time, dancers exhibited more restraint eating than skaters, suggesting that low weights may be difficult to maintain given the fairly low energy demands required for dance.

Mother-daughter differences in menarcheal age in adolescent girls attending national dance company schools and non-dancers.

Abstract: SummaryA combination of genetic and environmental factors is thought to contribute to age of menarche. Adolescent athletes and dancers are much more likely to have a delayed menarche than are non-athletes. To examine the possible differential influence of heredity and environmental factors on menarcheal age, 350 adolescent dancers and non-dancers and their mothers were surveyed. The dancers had a later age of menarche than did the comparison group; their mothers did not differ with respect to menarcheal age, suggesting that delayed menarche in athletes is not solely due to genetic selection as inferred by maternal menarcheal age. Maternal menarcheal age was the best predictor of menarcheal age in the comparison sample, while leanness was in the dance sample.

The role of selectivity in the pathogenesis of eating problems in ballet dancers

Abstract: Forty-nine dancers from four national ballet companies in America (N = 32) and the People's Republic of China (N = 17) were surveyed (mean age, 24.6 +/- 4.18) from highly and moderately selective dance companies. The less selected American dancers reported significantly more eating problems (46% vs 11%; P less than 0.05), anorectic behaviors (2.77 vs 1.11; P less than 0.05), and familial obesity (42% vs 5%; P less than 0.05) than the Americans chosen from a company school. Differences were not found on these variables between the highly selected American and Chinese dancers. All of the groups reported a delay in menarche and weighed approximately 14% below their ideal weight for height. These data suggest that dancers who have survived a stringent process of early selection may be more naturally suited to the thin body image demanded by ballet and so less at risk for the development of eating problems. In addition, delayed menarche is typical of the majority of national dancers and probably is reflective of genetic and environmental factors.

The Psychological Significance of Secondary Sexual Characteristics in Nine- to Eleven-Year-Old Girls.

Abstract: 82 9-11-year-old girls were seen in order to study the onset of puberty as represented by breast and pubic hair growth. Girls filled out self-report scales, mothers rated their daughters' breast and pubic hair development using schematic representations of the Tanner stages, and height was measured by a nurse practitioner. Breast growth, but not pubic hair growth, was expected to be associated with a positive body image, positive peer relationships, superior adjustment, and the rating of adult roles as important (marriage, children, and careers). These expectations were confirmed for all but the adult role measures. Controlling for pubic hair growth did not alter the findings for breast development. Associations with height also were examined. Height was linked to superior adjustment and career importance. These findings are discussed in terms of possible roles that different pubertal events may play in the self-definitions of young adolescents as well as the meaning of various physical changes to the girl and to others.

Adolescent Mothers in Later Life

Abstract: This study explains differences in the life courses of teenage mothers and studies the lives of their adolescent children. Data come from a longitudinal study of about 300 Baltimore women and their children. The women were first interviewed in the mid-1960s when they became pregnant; evidence clearly demonstrated that early childbearing affected some women more negatively than others. This 17-year followup study was conducted in 1983-1984; a number of potential determinants were studied to define those accountable for differences in life-course trajectories. Analysis focuses on whether the mother was currently on Welfare and whether she had limited her fertility to fewer than 3 children. Some of the determinants found to be linked to a womens recovery from early motherhood follow. 1) If a woman was on Welfare during childhood there is a greater risk that she will have 3+ children and remain on Welfare. 2) Women from large families are less able to recover economically from premature parenthood compared to those from average and small families. 3) 42% of women from families in which neither parent had reached 10th grade were likely to be on welfare compared to 16% of women whose parents had completed 10th grade. 4) School aspirations have a large indirect effect and strongly influence an adolescents chances of remaining in school of receiving special education and of using birth control. 5) Women who had 2+ additional children by the 5-year followup were almost 4 times more likely to be on Welfare and 72% less likely to become economically secure at the 17-year followup. 6) Attending the Poe School for pregnant teens significantly reduced the proportion of women on Welfare in adulthood. 7) Teens enrolled in the Sinai Hospital comprehensive perinatal care program were also more likely to avoid economic dependency in later life largely because they practiced birth control the year after the delivery of their first child. 8) Stable marriage leading to economic security and independence from the family of origin contributes to the adolescent mothers long-term economic success. Few mothers were found to have neglected their children though the mothers struggles to avoid poverty may have contributed to their childrens problems with academic achievement maladjustment misbehavior and may contribute to their possible early parenthood.

Preventing infant mortality and morbidity: developmental perspectives.

Abstract: Developmental approaches to the etiology of low birthweight and to the design and evaluation of antenatal programs are reviewed. Examples are presented of interventions focusing on family planning, educational program content, modification of health-related behavior, and improvement of access to antenatal care. A Harlem Hospital program, designed to alter pregnant women's behavior, is discussed as an exemplar of possible collaboration among pediatricians, obstetricians, and developmentally oriented mental health professionals.

Young children's social networks as a function of age and dysfunction

Abstract: Social networks provide a larger context than that of the nuclear family in which the child develops. In order to examine the networks of young children, mothers of 75 handicapped children, aged 3 to 6 years, and a matched sample of normal children were surveyed in terms of people in the child's network and frequency of daily contact. The effects of age of subject and handicapping condition on social network composition and contact were of interest. Handicapping condition played a much greater role in the network composition than did chronological age. Handicapped children had larger networks, although they did not have daily contact with network members compared to normal children. Handicapped children thus were not isolated, but appeared to have a large network composed of relatives and adults and, to a lesser extent, peers. Normal children showed a developmental shift, in terms of an increase in the proportion of peers to adults, from 3 to 6 years, whereas handicapped children did not show this change. It is suggested that the handicapped child's developmental delay and caregiving demands may necessitate greater and more prolonged adult contact, which, consequently, constrains the nature of the social network in terms of adult and peer composition. Insufficient peer contact may restrict the handicapped child's opportunity to learn important social skills. Les reseaux sociaux offrent un contexte plus large ou se developpe l'enfant que celui de la famille. De maniere a examiner les reseaux des jeunes enfants, des meres de 75 enfants handicappes, ǎges de trois a six ans, et un echantillon assorti d'enfants normaux ont ete examines en termes de personnes evoluant dans le milieu social de I'enfant et de frequence du contact social. Les effets de I'age du sujet et des conditions du handicap sur la composition du reseau social et le contact etaient du plus grand interět. Les conditions de handicap ont joue un rǒle beaucoup plus important que l'ǎge chronologique dans la composition du reseau social. Les enfants handicappes avaient de bien plus grand reseaux bien que, en comparaison avec les enfants normaux, ils n'eussent pas eu plus de contact journalier avec les membres du reseau. Les enfants handicappes n'etaient donc pas isoles mais semblaient avoid un large reseau compose de parents et d'adultes, et a un moindre degre, de pairs. On a pu constater chez les enfants normaux, entre trois et six ans, un changement dans leur developpement, en termes d'augmentation dans la proportion de pairs par rapport a celle d'adultes, alors que ce changement n'a pas eu lieu chez les enfants handicappes. II est suggere que le retard dans le developpement de I'enfant handicappe et ses demandes d'attention peu-vent necessiter des contacts plus grands et plus prolonges avec les adultes, ce qui, en consequence con-traint la nature de reseau social en termes de composition d'adultes et de pairs. Un contact insuffisant avec les pairs peut restreindre l'opportunite d'appentissage de techniques sociales importantes pour I'enfant handicappe.