Researchers have known for years that one of the reasons poverty is bad for children's development is because low-income mothers are less responsive to their children.
A Human Ecology researcher has recently uncovered some of the reasons for that difference.
"We show for the first time that poverty erodes maternal responsiveness because low-income mothers face a daunting array of psychosocial and physical stressors that diminishes their capacity to be a responsive parent," said Gary Evans, a Cornell environmental psychologist and lead author of a paper in a recent issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Development.
"Secondly, mothers living in poverty may also be less attuned to the needs of their children because they themselves lack adequate social networks."
Evans, professor of design and environmental analysis and of human development, added that his study, which was conducted with two Cornell undergraduate students who have since graduated, examined the link between poverty and maternal responsiveness among rural whites, an understudied population. Almost all the data available focusing on poverty and parenting stems from studies with urban, minority families.
Although previous studies have linked poverty to stress, poverty to smaller social networks (social networks buffer the effects of stress) and parental stress to reduced parental responsiveness, researchers had not examined directly why poverty leads to unresponsive parenting.
To sort that out, Evans, Louise Boxill '03 and Michael Pinkava '05 evaluated 223 mothers and their seventh- to eighth-grade children in their homes, using validated instruments to measure maternal stress, social networks and children's perceptions of maternal responsiveness.
"Our findings contrast with the view that inherent, personal qualities of low-income parents are the root cause of deficient parenting," said Evans. "They also have implications for policy: well-meaning programs to enhance parenting practices among low-income families at risk need to consider more carefully the ecological context of poverty."
The study was funded in part by the W.T. Grant Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health.
When people hear about elder abuse in nursing homes, they usually think of staff members victimizing residents. However, research by Professor Karl Pillemer suggests that a more prevalent and serious problem may be aggression and violence that occurs between residents themselves.
Such “resident-to-resident mistreatment” can have serious consequences for both aggressors and victims. However, the issue has received little attention from researchers to date and few proven solutions exist to prevent resident altercations.
Pillemer, Director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging at the College of Human Ecology, has co-authored two articles in Aggression and Violent Behavior and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on the subject with Weill Cornell Medical College collaborators Mark S. Lachs and Tony Rosen. Both find that verbal and physical aggression between residents is common and problematic and that more research is necessary to identify risk factors and preventative measures.
“Anyone who spends much time in a nursing home will observe arguments, threats, and shouting matches among residents, as well as behaviors like pushing, shoving, and hitting,” Pillemer said.
“Given that nursing homes are environments where people live close together and many residents have lowered inhibitions because of dementia, such incidents are not surprising,” he said. “Because of the nature of nursing home life, it is impossible to eliminate these abusive behaviors entirely, but we need better scientific evidence about what works to prevent this problem.”
The joint research project found 35 different types of physical and verbal abuse between residents at a large urban nursing home Screaming was the most common form of aggression, followed by physical violence such as pushing and punching or fighting. In related work, the authors found that 2.4 percent of residents reported personally experiencing physical aggression from another resident and 7.3 percent reported experiencing verbal aggression over just a two-week period.
Most respondents rated the events as moderately or extremely disruptive to daily activities. In another study, 12 nurse-observers identified 30 episodes of resident-to-resident aggression on a just a single eight-hour shift, 17 of which were physical.
Research also indicates that residents who are victims of aggression are more likely to be male, have behavioral problems like wandering, and be cognitively impaired. However, they tend to be more physically independent.
While such incidents are difficult to prevent, these types of studies will help nursing home staff manage aggression among patients, Pillemer said.
Dr. Lachs, co-Chief of Geriatrics at Weill, added: “At present, staff have few solutions available to them and typical interventions in the nursing home may have negative consequences for aggressive residents, including the use of psychotropic medications or isolation of the resident. We hope our work will help inspire a vigorous search for programs that work to prevent aggression and violence among residents in long-term care.”
NEW UNIONISM: Delivering the Promise of a Fair Economy is the topic of this year’s Iscol Family Program for Leadership Development in Public Service. The talk by Sara Horowitz will be on September 8th at 7:30 PM in the Call Auditorium in Kennedy Hall at Cornell University. A reception will follow. The lecture is open to the public.
Sara Horowitz (ILR'84) is Founder and Executive Director of Working Today Freelancers Union. She has done exemplary work in establishing and sustaining Working Today -- a model of social entrepreneurship -- affecting the lives of the independent work force so that all working people can access affordable benefits, regardless of their job arrangements.
The Program is supported by an endowment from the Iscol Family Foundation and is in collaboration with the Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Speaker Series.
Karl Pillemer and Elaine Wethington have received an award of $374,000 from the National Institute on Aging to continue the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA) for an additional year, with Co-Principal Investigators Cary Reid and Mark Lachs (Weill Cornell Medical College).
National 4-H Council recently announced that the Community Improvement Through Youth (CITY) Project has won one of the 2008 4-H Families Count: Family Strengthening Awards, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. National 4-H Council will recognize the CITY Project and four other exemplary 4-H programs with awards of $15,000 each at Galaxy III in Indianapolis on September 17.
In addition to the 4-H Families Count: Family Strengthening Award, the CITY Project was recently honored as a 2007 Successful Urban 4-H Program by the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA) Urban 4-H Programs Task Force and was selected as a National 4-H Headquarters Program of Distinction. The Program of Distinction designation is coordinated through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).
As part of the award process, the CITY Project will develop a replication plan to teach others about program with the intent that they will begin to use the CITY program model in their work. According to June P. Mead, CITY Project Director and Evaluator, “Winning this award will allow us to conduct a series of regional trainings and produce a toolkit on how to replicate our Youth Community Action (YCA) program. The focus of the toolkit would be on the strategies and mechanisms youth-serving organizations can use to foster successful family and community strengthening program outcomes.”
The CITY Project http://nys4h.cce.cornell.edu/city/ is part of the Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Program. It uses one of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s (CCE) 4-H Signature Programs, Youth Community Action (YCA), as a model for promoting civic engagement, workforce preparation, and asset development among youth (13-18 years old). In Broome County, the CITY Project is partnered with CCE Broome County, the Broome County Urban League and Binghamton Housing Authority, Broome County Gang Prevention Program. In New York City, the CITY project is partnered with Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City and with Henry Street Settlement and the Police Athletic League Wynn Center.
CITY Project Team
Cornell University
June P. Mead, Project Director and Evaluator, Dept. of Human Development
Steve Goggin, Principal Investigator, Dept. of Human Development
Celeste Carmichael, Technology Coordinator, State 4-H Office
Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome County
Kay C. Telfer, Community Project Director
Vicki Giarratano, Community Project Coordinator
Kelly Mabee, Summer Employment Coordinator
Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City
Jackie Davis-Manigaulte, Community Project Director
Jamila Simon, Community Project Coordinator
Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) had a strong presence at this year's Children, Youth and Families At Risk (CYFAR) Conference in San Antonio, Texas. June P. Mead, Dept. of Human Development, served as the CYFAR Conference Program Coordinator and chaired the Program Committee. Steve Goggin, Dept. of Human Development, chaired the Research Committee and co-chaired the Program Committee. Cornell and CCE faculty and staff presented workshops, computer labs and an Interact Session at CYFAR 2008.
Over 100 CYFAR volunteers participated in building a KaBOOM! playground as part of the CYFAR Pre-conference.
June Mead, Steve Goggin, and Judy Briggs, Dept. of Human Development, and Celeste Carmichael, State 4-H Office represented the Community Improvement Through Youth (CITY) Project state team. Broome County's CITY Project was represented by Kay Telfer, Vicki Giarratano, and Kelly Mabee, and community partners, Dorian Lans and Jurell Spivey, Broome County Gang Prevention; Shannon Davis, Broome County Urban League; Donald Cole, Liberty Partnership, Binghamton University; and Holly Welfel, Oasis. New York City's CITY Project was represented by Jackie Davis-Manigaulte and Jamila Simon, and community partner, Diane Shirley, Police Althetic League, New York City.
The CITY Project team, Kay Telfer and Vicki Giarratano, CCE Broome, Jackie Davis-Manigaulte and Jamila Simon, CUCE New York City, June Mead, Dept. of Human Development; and Celeste Carmichael, CCE–NYS 4-H Office, presented a workshop on strategies for building collaborations to promote sustainability entitled, Building Bridges in the CITY Project: Strategies for Intentional Collaborations. Four CITY Teen Leaders, Asia Ambler and Calya Perricelli, CCE-Broome County and Sherrye Safford and Kimani Lewis-Ashley, CUCE-New York City presented highlights of their completed community improvement projects and spoke about what they have gained from their participation in the CITY Project and related 4-H activities and events. The CITY Leaders fielded questions from the audience and skillfully handled a spirited discussion of the benefits of youth-adult partnerships. These young people spoke in moving terms about the difference the project has made in their lives.
The CITY Project uses one of Cornell Cooperative Extension's Signature Programs, Youth Community Action (YCA) as a model for promoting civic engagement, workforce preparation, and asset development among youth (13-18 years old) in New York State's CYFAR Project. The CITY Project was designated as a 2007 Successful Urban 4-H Program by the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA) Urban 4-H Programs Task Force. Using Public Adventures: An Active Citizenship Curriculum for Youth and a broad-based community collaboration approach, the CITY Project is working to empower at-risk youth to become community change agents. CITY Teen Leaders are identifying issues in their community through community mapping and the use technology to set achievable goals and work with caring adults to create lasting, sustainable changes in their communities. During summers, the CITY Teen Leaders gain job skills through paid employment as they carry out planned community improvement projects.
In Broome County, the CITY Project is partnering with the Broome County Urban League and Binghamton Housing Authority, Broome County Gang Prevention Program. In New York City, the CITY project is partnering with Henry Street Settlement, Manhattan, and the Police Athletic League Wynn Center, Brooklyn.
CYFAR 2008 Conference Presentations by Cornell Faculty and Staff
Advancing Youth Development: A Curriculum for Youth Worker and Youth- Serving Organizations
Eduardo González, Jr., and Lucinda Randolph-Benjamin, Cornell University Cooperative Extension–New York City
Building Bridges in the CITY Project: Strategies for Intentional Collaborations
Kay Telfer and Vicki Giarratano, Cornell Cooperative Extension–Broome County
Jackie Davis Manigaulte and Jamila Simon, Cornell University Cooperative Extension–New York City
June P. Mead, Cornell University
Celeste Carmichael, Cornell Cooperative Extension–NYS 4-H Office
Asia Ambler and Calya Perricelli, CITY Teen Leaders, Broome County
Sherrye Safford and Kimani Lewis-Ashley, CITY Teen Leaders, New York City
The Cornell Family Development Training and Credentialing Program: Transforming the Way Agencies Work with Families
Nancy Olsen-Harbich, Cornell University Cooperative Extension
Roberta Karant, Family Service League, Inc.
Creative Communication Tools—Simply Done
Celeste Carmichael, Cornell Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development
Jamila Simon, Cornell Cooperative Extension–New York City
Exploring Promising Practices: How to Make a Difference in Teen-Focused Programs Addressing Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting, and Sexuality (APPS)
Jackie Davis-Manigaulte, Cornell University Cooperative Extension, New York City
Finding a Way Through the Maze: A Day in the Life of Children and Teenagers
June P. Mead, Cornell University
Jackie Davis Manigaulte and Jamila Simon, Cornell University Cooperative Extension–New York City
Community Improvement Through Youth (CITY) Teen Leaders from Broome County recently presented a workshop titled "R U RDY 2 get 2gether?” at the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Conference in Albany. The CITY Teen Leaders spoke about Cornell Cooperative Extension’s 4-H Signature Program, Youth Community Action (YCA), and described the process they use for deciding on projects they undertake to improve their community. The CITY Leaders ended their workshop with a panel question and answer session and soon realized that there were many youth-serving programs throughout New York interested in the CITY Project approach.
ACT for Youth is an innovative youth development initiative that promotes social change to help young people thrive. Now in its eighth year, the ACT for Youth Center of Excellence at Cornell University connects positive youth development research to practice, providing technical support to twelve ACT for Youth Collaborations for Community Change as well as to youth-serving programs across New York State.
The CITY Project, a project in the Department of Human Development, uses one of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Signature Programs, Youth Community Action (YCA) as a model for promoting civic engagement, workforce preparation, and asset development among youth (13-18 years old) in New York State’s Children, Youth and Families At Risk (CYFAR) Project. The CITY Project was designated as a 2007 Successful Urban 4-H Program by the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA) Urban 4-H Programs Task Force and is a National 4-H Headquarters Program of Distinction. Programs of Distinction reflect the high quality of 4-H youth development programs occurring in communities across the U.S. The Program of Distinction designation is coordinated through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).
National 4-H Headquarters, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the US Department of Agriculture held its annual Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Conference—CYFAR 2008, May 6-9 in San Antonio, Texas. The well attended CYFAR 2008 conference was hosted by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service/ Texas A&M System. June Mead chairs the Program Committee; Steve Goggin chairs the Keynote and Research Committee.
This year’s conference featured three inspiring keynote speakers, four youth and family research presenters, 85 interactive workshops and computer labs, and the Program Showcase and Learning Games Arcade, spotlighting the most successful CYFAR community programs and latest technology. The CYFAR Pre-conference offered in-depth professional development on a diverse set of topics ranging from working with Native Americans to Web 2.0 technology. The third CYFAR/KaBOOM! Playground Build took place at El Carmen Society for Community Advancement. In a one-day building blitz, about 250 volunteers from the CYFAR Conference and the local community transformed an empty lot into a safe and healthy playspace for children and their families, as a lasting contribution to the San Antonio community.
In the opening keynote, Dr. Donna M. Beegle, President, Communication Across Barriers, shared her personal experiences of growing up in poverty, her research, and development of curriculum for improving communication across poverty, race, gender and generational barriers. The third annual 4-H Family Strengthening Distinguished Lecture sponsored by National 4-H Headquarters, National 4-H Council, and Annie E. Casey Foundation featured Don Bower, Professor, Dept. of Child and Family Development, University of Georgia. James P. Comer, Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale University, presented the closing keynote and discussed a model that enables parents, educators, and communities to collaborate and promote good child development and learning.
Further Information
Check back for the online event presentations on the CYFERnet website.
Cornell researchers have identified a need for older adult research subjects and have consistently reported challenges in recruiting subjects in an efficient and productive manner. In response, Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA) has maintained a vigorous program to address the challenges of subject recruitment for translational research projects by forging successful relationships with community agencies and organizations in the New York City area. The NYC senior centers have come to constitute a very large respondent pool that has led to many successful community-research partnerships.
In October, 2007, CITRA launched a small, yet fruitful, initiative to extend the older adult respondent pool concept to Tompkins County, NY. The project leaders began this effort by recruiting adults from Tompkins County, age 60 or older. Subjects were recruited by telephone, leading to an initial pool of 200 potential subjects. Telephone recruitments are currently being conducted to double the size of the pool. In addition to recruiting subjects, staff collected basic information from respondents including previous research study experience, availability, mobility, and demographics including race, age, education, income, occupation, marital status, and language.
Researchers at Cornell interested in recruiting older respondents into their studies have access to this pool by applying to CITRA. In the first six months of operation, three researchers at Cornell-Ithaca have applied and received samples from the CITRA Older Adult Research Subject Pool for use in their individual research projects. They have reported rates of participation as high as 95%. The availability of a subject pool is a major incentive to new researchers to attempt translational research studies. Project leaders have submitted an abstract for a scientific presentation on the subject pool and anticipate publishing at least one article on this model.
CITRA is one of ten Edward R. Roybal Centers on Applied Gerontology nationwide. CITRA promotes evidence-based practice, systematic dissemination of information, and intervention studies involving the aging population. CITRA's on-line resources include downloadable publications on translating research to practice, research-community partnerships, conference summaries, trusted websites for information on aging, and much more.
For Further Information contact Leslie Schultz, ls30@cornell.edu.
The CITY Teen Leaders from the Community Improvement Through Youth Project in Broome County recently kicked off the start of an exciting new project and collaboration with Binghamton University (BU) called the Binghamton Story Project. The CITY teens will begin working with BU graduate students to create and publish an archive of stories about life in Binghamton and the surrounding area. The stories will become part of a permanent collection that will be used for scholarly and historical purposes.
The project kicked off with a Spring Fling at Binghamton Housing Authority’s senior housing facility in downtown Binghamton. The CITY teens planned, catered and carried out an afternoon of events to improve relationships between young people and older adults. The teens sent out invitations to the public housing residents and encouraged them to bring photographs of themselves when they were young. The photos were then used at the Spring Fling to stimulate discussions between the youth and the seniors and kick off the storytelling project.
The Binghamton Story Project is part of BU’s Binghamton Neighborhood Project (BNP), which seeks to understand and improve the quality of life in Broome County through scientific research. The BNP is associated with EvoS, BU’s campus-wide evolutionary studies program, headed by David Sloan Wilson, Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology and Director of EvoS. Other academic units associated with the BNP include BU's GIS (Geographical Information Systems) Center and the Center for Applied Community Research and Development (CACRD).
A Human Ecology researcher has recently uncovered some of the reasons for that difference.
