The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD) is approaching epidemic proportions in the U.S. However, research has inadequately described how a family of a child with ASD functions as a system. Therefore, the hypothesized model examined the predictors of family functioning. A structural equation modeling SEM) approach was used to explore the relationship between childrens sleep problems and family functioning and the extent to which this relationship may be mediated by maternal stress. The model evaluated the strength of a direct relationship between childrens sleep problems and family functioning, as well as an indirect relationship that was mediated by maternal stress. Additionally the two groups, mothers of children with ASD ASD group) and mothers of typically developing children Community group), were analyzed to explore group differences. In both groups, maternal stress was predicted by childrens sleep: as mothers reported that their children exhibited more sleep problems, mothers reports of their stress levels also increased. Maternal stress was also predictive of family functioning. Specifically, there was a decrease in positive family functioning when mothers stress levels increased. Maternal stress mediated the relationship between childrens sleep problems and family functioning. Furthermore, the mediating relationship was stronger in the Community group than in the ASD group. The difference between groups may indicate that mothers of children with ASD are experiencing stress from multiple sources, aside from sleep problems, which may be contributing to their overall stress levels. Overall, findings suggested that childrens sleep problems contributed to the mothers stress levels and also to the overall family functioning. Future research should be designed to further explore families within a contextual framework and use a methodological approach that includes multiple measures of parent and family functioning and of childrens behaviors. In this way, a more comprehensive picture of families of children with ASDs can be developed that will inform the development of empirically based treatment approaches.

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving childrens well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with children that relate to well-being. Purposes of this research were to examine the factor structure of a healthy marriage measurement developed by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation MDRC) and how it varied across a) gender, b) race African American and Caucasian), and c) marital status married and unmarried). An additional purpose was to test a measurement model, developed by Child Trends, Inc., in which healthy marriage is hypothesized to predict parenting and child well-being. This cross-sectional quantitative survey research included 343 Head Start parents 151 males and 189 females) involved in a marriage/relationship. Overall, the unidimensional healthy marriage measurement fit for both males and females and the addition of two marital virtues, namely forgiveness and teamwork, also loaded well on this measurement. The factor loadings were significant for both males and females and results of chi-square difference tests indicated that the factor loadings for the great majority of variables were invariant across gender. However, the factor loading for relationship stability ones assessment that their relationship is not in trouble) was larger for males whereas child commitment ones assessment of their spouse/partners commitment to their child) was larger for females. Path analysis demonstrated that the Child Trends, Inc. healthy marriage measurement model fit differed by gender and this was supported by further SEM analysis. The effect size for the direct path between risk and healthy marriage was significantly larger for females than for males. The effect size of this path tended to be greater for African American women and unmarried women. Results using fit indices showed that the fit of the measurement model was appropriate for the diverse sample. Mediation results revealed that for both males and females, healthy marriage partially mediates the effect that depression and stress have on parenting. For females, parenting partially mediates the effect between risk and childrens social competence as well as between healthy marriage/healthy relationships and childrens social competence. Findings demonstrate support for the Child Trends, Inc. measurement model that healthy marriage/healthy relationships may enhance childrens social competence through positive parenting. Study results may inform federal and state healthy marriage and family initiatives as well as marriage and relationship education in terms of program delivery and evaluation.

Aggression/victimization in school is a problem that is associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors which may develop into long term emotional problems for the child.Sixth grade is a transitional period in a child’s life, whereby a child experiences hormonal changes, enters a new school and establishes social status. Depending on the child’s emotional well-being, these are antecedents that are related to experiencing aggression/victimization. Children develop within a context. Within this context there are parents, adults, siblings, peers and teachers whereby the child learns behaviors through proximal and distal interactions which may impact the child’s life either positively or negatively. Within this context the child develops resilience, which is a protective factor that enables the child to “bounce back” from negative situations. The goal of this study is to establish a connection between the environment in which a child develops and the impact emotional well-being, peers and adults have on a child in relation to experiencing aggression and ultimately becoming a victim. The findings indicate that children who suffer from emotional distress are more likely to become victims and children who have supportive adults in their lives are less likely to become victims. Overall, emotional distress plays a negative role and resilience plays a positive and protective role in a child’s life. This outcome suggests that prevention/interventions should be created whereby a child has more supportive adults in their lives creating a resilient environment.

Expressed emotion, a construct defined by the level of criticism, emotional over-involvement, and warmth in a relationship has been consistently shown to be a significant predictor of relapse and poor disease management across numerous physical and mental health conditions. This study presents an investigation on how expressed emotion may influence diabetes control and management. Diabetes control was measured by the frequency of hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes. Diabetes management was measured through, dietary practices, exercise frequency and intensity, and perceptions of ability to effectively manage illness. This study also sought to understand how attributions made about how the illness developed and is managed from the spouse without diabetes, may influence levels of expressed emotion. One hundred and six heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 79 where one spouse was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes completed questionnaires about living with the illness and relationship quality. Study hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Emerging data revealed that when the partner without diabetes had attributions that suggested the their partner had little control over the development and management of the illness, the partner without diabetes reported lower levels of expressed emotion that is, lower criticism of partner and higher relationship warmth. Results also suggest that when a partner without diabetes had low expressed emotion it had a direct impact on the self-management behaviors of their spouse. Specifically, spouses tended to eat healthier, exercise more, and have a better outlook on their overall diabetes management. Outcomes from this study illustrate the significant influence spouse’s can have on their partner’s disease management behaviors, expand our current understanding of how the construct expressed emotion operates in relationships where chronic illness is present, and highlight the importance of a relational approach to diabetes care, research, education, and intervention.

This study explores Indian culture in second-generation Indian American families. For the most part, this generation was not socialized to Indian culture in India, which raises the question, how do parents maintain and teach culture to their third-generation children? To answer this question, I interviewed 18 second-generation Indian American couples who had at least one child. Rather than focus on how assimilated or Americanized the families were, I examine the maintenance of Indian culture. Instead of envisioning culture as a binary between “Indian” and “American,” second-generation parents often experience “Indianness” and “Americanness” as interwoven in ways that were not always easily articulated. I also explore the co-ethnic matrimonial process of my participants to reveal the salience of Indian-American identity in their lives. A common experience among my participants was the tendency of mainstream American non- Indians to question Indian-Americans about India and Indian culture. My participants frequently were called upon to be “cultural ambassadors” to curious non-Indians. Religion served as a primary conduit for teaching Indian culture to third-generation children. Moreover, religion and ethnic identity were often conflated. Mothers and fathers share the responsibility of teaching religion to third-generation children. However, mothers tend to be the cultural keepers of the more visible cultural objects and experiences, such as, food, clothing, and language. Fathers were more likely to contribute to childcare than housework. The fathers in my study believe they father in a different social context than their fathers did. By negotiating Indian and American culture, fathers parent in a way that capitalizes on what they perceive as the “best of both worlds.” Links to the local and transnational community were critical to maintaining ties to other co-ethnics and raising children within the culture. Furthermore, most of the parents in my study said they would prefer that their children eventually marry co-ethnics in order to maintain the link to the Indian-American community. Ultimately, I found that Indian culture endures across first- and second-generation Indian Americans. However, “culture” is not a fixed or monolithic object； families continue to modify traditions to meet their emotional and cultural needs. INDEX WORDS: Indian Americans, Second-generation Indian Americans, Asian Americans, Ethnic identity, Parenting, Motherhood, Fatherhood

This dissertation is a qualitative ethnography of a big-box bookstore that considers the relationship between book consumption, status, and social reproduction. The study draws from five years of fieldwork starting with three years of participant observation at 45 sessions of the weekly Story Time, where I observed 297 mothers or caregivers and 411 children. In the first three years of this research I also conducted informal interviews with 48 families at the store. Also in this phase of the study I conducted in-depth interviews at the store with nine bookstore workers and three managers. In the last two years of the study, drawing from data collected from participant observation and informal interviews, I conducted in-depth interviews and follow-up interviews with six families. The project analyzes what informants see as the bookstores role as an educative site, a site of consumption, and a site of leisure work. The term “leisure work” reflects how middle-class parents structure family time at the bookstore for the purpose of pleasure associated with pursuing both collective and individualized and interests, and for the education of their children. The big-box bookstore is an informal educative site, where children learn literacies associated with reading, spending money, and socializing. Pierre Bourdieus concepts of habitus and field； social, cultural, and economic capital； and social reproduction provide a theoretical framework for interpreting these perspectives to see how ideas around books come from both subjective and objective influences that are naturalized in ways that reproduce middle-class culture. The dissertation considers how workers, parents, and childrens relationships with books inform the habitus, how informants see books as signs of distinction, and how literacy and books become forms of cultural capital. These relationships affect the processes of identity formation and social reproduction. This project argues that, for workers and middle-class families, book consumption at the big-box bookstore is informed by middle-class desire as interpreted through a systemic corporate structure and fueled by dispositions around middle-class acts of consumption. Workers perform low-status, low-wage jobs that they enjoy for the most part. They struggle for middle-class status when their work is disrespected or they cannot exercise their expertise due to the stores corporate structure. At the same time they sometimes misrecognize their roles because of the status they associate with book work. These dispositions and experiences reproduce middle-class orientations, as they influence meaning around cultural capital and books, and as they reflect and inform what represents status for workers, parents, and children in this study.

Purpose. The purposes of this study were to identify a) to what extent traditional and contemporary African American grandmothers transmit the importance of kinship bonds, spirituality and religion, education, and work ethic to their grandchildren； b) differences in the ways they transmitted these four cultural values； and c) the challenges they faced in transmitting these values to their grandchildren. Methodology. Ninety-four African American grandmothers who lived in the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties comprised the sample for this descriptive study. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive and qualitative methods. The questionnaire response rate was 100%. Findings. Traditional and contemporary grandmothers a) concurred that they frequently transmitted the four family values their grandchildren； b) used home visits, telephone, family outings, and involvement in their grandchildrens activities to transmit these values, and c) worked to overcome challenges that they faced when they were often asked to become full-time grandmothers. Conclusions. a) Continued transmission of the four cultural values is essential to the development of the African American family. b) Learning new technology tools will help African American grandmothers find new ways to transmit these values to their grandchildren in the future. c) “Work ethic” was the least challenging and “spirituality and religion” was the most challenging family cultural value for grandmothers to transmit. d) Traditional grandmothers often faced challenges of physical health and distance, while contemporary grandmothers were challenged with additional stress and role responsibilities in managing careers and families. Recommendations for Future Research. a) Conduct a community-based study to identify specific activities and strategies used by African American grandmothers to transmit these values to their grandchildren. b) Replicate this study with African American grandchildren to determine whether the ways grandmothers reported transmitting the four family values correlate with their grandchildrens responses. c) Conduct a study using focus groups of contemporary African American grandmothers to determine if there are other important family cultural values not included in this study.

Purpose. The purposes of this study were to identify a) to what extent traditional and contemporary African American grandmothers transmit the importance of kinship bonds, spirituality and religion, education, and work ethic to their grandchildren； b) differences in the ways they transmitted these four cultural values； and c) the challenges they faced in transmitting these values to their grandchildren. Methodology. Ninety-four African American grandmothers who lived in the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties comprised the sample for this descriptive study. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive and qualitative methods. The questionnaire response rate was 100%. Findings. Traditional and contemporary grandmothers a) concurred that they frequently transmitted the four family values their grandchildren； b) used home visits, telephone, family outings, and involvement in their grandchildrens activities to transmit these values, and c) worked to overcome challenges that they faced when they were often asked to become full-time grandmothers. Conclusions. a) Continued transmission of the four cultural values is essential to the development of the African American family. b) Learning new technology tools will help African American grandmothers find new ways to transmit these values to their grandchildren in the future. c) “Work ethic” was the least challenging and “spirituality and religion” was the most challenging family cultural value for grandmothers to transmit. d) Traditional grandmothers often faced challenges of physical health and distance, while contemporary grandmothers were challenged with additional stress and role responsibilities in managing careers and families. Recommendations for Future Research. a) Conduct a community-based study to identify specific activities and strategies used by African American grandmothers to transmit these values to their grandchildren. b) Replicate this study with African American grandchildren to determine whether the ways grandmothers reported transmitting the four family values correlate with their grandchildrens responses. c) Conduct a study using focus groups of contemporary African American grandmothers to determine if there are other important family cultural values not included in this study.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship of home parental involvement practices, parental style and student achievement. Dimensions of parental involvement practices are parental instruction, parental reinforcement, parental modeling, and parental encouragement. Dimensions of parental style are authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Demographic information included childs ethnicity/race, economic status, gender, and low and high performance scale score on the New York State Grade 4 English Language Arts and Math tests. This study was based on a modified survey from the work of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler 2005). Baumrind 1966) parental styles of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative were used to investigate parent attitudes toward home parental involvement practices, styles, and their relationship to student achievement. For the purpose of this study, economic status was categorized by eligibility for free or reduced lunch status. Students who were eligible for free or reduced lunch were classified as living in poverty, and students not eligible for free or reduced lunch were classified as not living in poverty. This study was performed in a suburban Long Island, New York, school district. Parents whose children took the New York State Grade 4 English Language Art and Math tests were sent a survey to investigate their attitude about research-based home parental involvement practices, parental styles, and the relationship to student achievement. The findings from this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between authoritarian parental style and English Language Arts test.

Adoptive families are inherently discursive, with communication acting as the lifeblood connecting the child to his or her adoptive parents. Adoptive families rely upon communication to create and maintain their relational bond. Communication is also the basis of our understanding of self as our identities are rooted in social interaction. Identity development for the adoptees is a unique process in which adoptees construct both a cohesive definition of the self and an understanding of what it means to be an adopted person. In the current study, I examined the communicative pathways through which adoptive identities are formed. I specifically focused on developed adoptive identity, or identities in which adoptees incorporate both positive and negative aspects of their adoption into a sense of self that includes, but is not overly preoccupied with, their adopted status. Guided by adoption, identity, and communication literature, I set out to develop a holistic understanding of the process of adoptive identity development from a communication perspective. In researching this adoptive identity formation process, I first examined the role of parental communication in facilitating the formation of developed adoptive identities. Second, I explored the association between developed adoptive identity and adoptee adjustment as indicated by individual well-being and relational well-being with the adoptive and birth parents. Participants included 220 adult adoptees who completed a questionnaire assessing their adoptive identity, contact with their birth parents, adoptive parent communication, and individual well-being as well as their affect about their adoption, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Findings from the present study reveal that adoptive parents communication openness, parental confirmation, and acknowledgement of difference as well as the level of structural openness in the birth parent relationship influence the adoptive identity development process. Adoptive identity in turn was related to individuals affect for their birth parents and affect about adoption. The results are discussed in terms of implications for adoptive parent communication, conclusions about adoptive identity, and limitations and future directions for research.