1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« It remains to be determined whether the parental supervision pathway, in particular, toward disruptive behavior is supported in longitudinal research involving persistently poor families differing in income source. » (p. 44)

Questions/Hypothèses :
« We hypothesize that residing in welfare-dependent, working-poor, and work-and-welfare-dependent families will be prospectively associated with an increase in disruptive behavior at age 12 compared with residing in a never-poor working family, net of control variables. Prospective associations are expected to be most pronounced for children in welfare-dependent families given the greater discrimination and isolation experienced by such families. It is also believed that children from working-poor families might experience financial insecurity and instability, thereby displaying higher levels of disruptiveness than those from work-and-welfare-dependent families when both poverty groups are contrasted with their counterparts from never-poor families. Finally, we hypothesize that these prospective associations will be mediated, in part, by maternal supervision given its importance as an informal social control variable in the parenting process at the beginning of adolescence (Sampson & Laub, 1994). » (p. 46)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
« 1,112 children (503 boys and 609 girls) were retained in the current study. Children were followed from kindergarten (mean age 5.99, SD = .29) through Grade 6 (mean age 11.99, SD = .29). » (p. 47)

Instruments :
- Quebec Longitudinal Study;
- Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ);
- « [D]isruptive behavior scale of the SBq » (p. 51).

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« We examined the influence of income source within the context of persistent poverty on children’s disruptive classroom behavior at age 12 and whether these associations were mediated by maternal supervision at ages 10 and 11. Using a subsample (N = 1,112) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study, we coded four economic circumstances indicating persistent poverty (income-to-needs ratio less than 1.5 times the poverty line) and income source (working poor, welfare dependent, work and welfare dependent, vs. never poor working) from ages 8 through 11. Children in welfare-dependent families showed an increase of 2.23 points on the disruptive scale compared with children in never-poor families, which could not be prospectively explained by maternal supervision. These results are above and beyond the influence of family structure, maternal characteristics, and early childhood disruptiveness. » (p. 40)