Parent-teacher communication as a moderator of acculturative stressors and psychological well-being among ethnic minority elementary school students

Amber J Landers, Purdue University

Abstract

Utilizing a cultural ecological framework, this study examined internalizing/externalizing and interpersonal problems among 1,584 African American, 2,325 Latino, and 751 Asian students from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Third Grade wave (ECLS-Third grade) in relation to acculturative stressors and parent-teacher communication. It was predicted that acculturative stressors would mediate relationships between ethnicity and problem behavior; and that parent-teacher communication would moderate the relationship between acculturative stressors and levels of problem behavior among students. Multiple mediation analyses showed that across ethnicity, acculturative stressors mediated relationships for internalizing/externalizing problems, but not interpersonal competence. SES demonstrated individual mediation effects. Multilevel analyses demonstrated that parent-teacher communication moderated relationships, but not in the hypothesized directions: Communication was related to decreased problem behavior for higher SES students and had no effect or reversed effects for less advantaged students. The cultural-ecological impact of social and cultural capital and the need to be specific about parent-teacher involvement practices to better understand socio-emotional outcomes and inform interventions and practices for ethnic minority youth are discussed.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Rollock, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Psychology|Clinical psychology

COinS