Natasha Cabrera
Biographic Data
| ID | 4004401 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Natasha Cabrera |
| GIVEN NAMES | Natasha |
| FAMILY NAME | Cabrera |
| SIGNATURE | CABRERA N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Maryland, College Park |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1558-7356 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 69 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 606 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 69 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Bidirectional relationships of parenting stress, media use for behavior management, and children’s behavior problems from 9 to 30 months
As digital devices permeate the environments of young children, there is growing concern that media use might be displacing very young children's opportunities to cultivate important developmental skills, such as controlling their emotions and behaviors. Further, given the power of devices to capture children's attention, even when emotionally upset, parents might utilize media to both calm and distract their children, even when such use is count…
Screen-Related Parenting Practices in Mexican American Families with Toddlers: Development of Culturally- and Contextually-Relevant Scales
The measures developed in this study offer a way to evaluate the use and impact of screen-related parenting practices in Mexican American families with toddlers. The use of these measures will enable investigators to identify relationships among parenting practices, screen use, and child well-being, which could inform the design of early childhood interventions promoting healthy screen use in this population
Maternal and Paternal Sensitive Parenting at 9 Months and Children’s Socioemotional Competence and Executive Function at Age 3
Fathers’ and Mothers’ Socialization Goals for Their Young Children: Similarities, Differences, and Couple Agreement
How New Mothers' and Fathers' Allocation of Tasks Relate to Their Coparenting Relationship
New parents must decide how to divide household, childcare, and financial responsibilities. These divisions can be difficult, especially when couples' wants do not align. Interviewing ethnically and racially diverse new parents ( n = 198 couples), we explore how parents' desired allocation of childcare, household, and financial tasks differ from perceived distribution and whether discrepancies relate to coparenting relationship quality. All paren…
Applying a family stress model to understand U.S. families’ patterns of stress, media use, and child behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly altered family life, and research among adults and families is finding increases in financial stress, mental health problems, screen time, parental conflict, and child behavior problems. Given these patterns, we sought to replicate these findings with a younger and largely non-white sample and consider how these constructs might relate to each other by using the Family Stress Model. From surveys of 247 predominat…
Caregivers' Experiences During the Covid-19 Pandemic and Their Children's Behavior
The COVID-19 pandemic has financial and emotional impacts on families. We explored how caregivers' financial strain and mental health are associated with changes in their young children's behavior during the pandemic. We additionally considered whether having a sense of purpose moderated these associations. Caregivers ( n = 300) in the emergency department of a children's hospital were surveyed anonymously about changes to their employment (e.g.,…
Refugee Children’s Early Development during Attendance of Specialized Preschool Programs and Transition into First Grade in Germany
Research Findings: We assessed socio-emotional behavior, nonverbal reasoning, German receptive language, and motor skills of refugee children attending early childhood development [ECD] programs and of those who did not (N = 207, mean age = 69.4 months). Young refugee children overall demonstrated lower levels of development and more socio-emotional behavior problems. Attendance of preschool-based ECD programs was inconsistently linked to better …
Commentary: Recognizing our similarities and celebrating our differences – parenting across cultures as a lens toward social justice and equity
Lansford (2022) has aptly and eloquently reviewed the vast scholarly research on cross‐cultural parenting and concludes that similarities in parenting norms and behaviors across cultures reflect universally adaptive behaviors for children’s development. Culture‐specific differences are due largely to environmental constraints and affordances as well as cultural norms for expected behavior. This is an exemplar review that tells a clear story of wh…
A meta-analysis on observed paternal and maternal sensitivity
Two meta-analyses were conducted (N = 10,980 child–father dyads) with 93 studies published between 1983–2020, primarily in North America and Europe, on observed parental sensitivity to children (3–180 months; 48% girls; 14% non-White) in partnered mothers and fathers. The first meta-analysis found higher maternal mean levels of observed sensitivity, with a small effect size (d = −.27). Differences between parents were larger with micro coding and…
Risks and Protective Factors of Hispanic Families and Their Young Children during the Covid-19 Pandemic
This study examines the risk-related factors during the pandemic and protective factors that might reduce its effects on family functioning in a sample of 161 low-income Hispanic parents in the United States, recruited from an ongoing longitudinal intervention study. They were surveyed about family functioning six months into the pandemic. We focused on the associations between social (e.g., exposure to the virus) and economic (e.g., job loss) pa…
Trajectories of low‐income mothers’ and fathers’ engagement in learning activities and child socioemotional skills in middle childhood
Using Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data ( N = 3259), the current study examined Black and Latinx mothers’ and fathers’ trajectories of engagement in learning activities (e.g., storytelling) from infancy to age 5, and whether those trajectories predicted socioemotional skills at age 9, predictors of the trajectories (poverty, mother‐father nonresidence, temperament, race/ethnicity), and moderators of the trajectories. Mothers’ and fathers’…
Introduction to Special Issue Contributions of father-child relationship to children's development within the larger family system: A focus on observational measures
Supporting and engaging with diverse families during the early years: Emerging approaches that matter for children and families
Explaining the long reach of prenatal behaviors and attitudes in unmarried men at birth on father engagement in early and middle childhood and adolescence
The current study examined three research questions: (a) Are unmarried at birth fathers' prenatal and birth-related behavioral, attitudinal, and identity adjustments directly related to father engagement in child-related activities during early childhood and father-child closeness in middle childhood and adolescence? (b) Do father engagement in child-related activities during early childhood, coresidence, and coparenting at age 5 mediate the asso…
Teaching Mothers and Fathers About How Children Develop: Parenting Knowledge and Practices
A Strength-Based Framework for Realizing Latino Young Children’s Potential
Hispanic children experience poverty at rates two to three times higher than white children. Latino households with children, in general, have high parental employment coupled with low levels of parental education and stagnant parental earnings relative to non-Latino peers. While many Latino children live in neighborhoods that do not have access to high-quality early education, Latino children, on average, are raised in a home environment that of…
Challenging parenting behavior in ethnically diverse two-parent families in the United States: Association with infants’ social competence and behavior problems
Parenting Contributions to Latinx Children's Development in the Early Years
Despite comparatively high levels of poverty, Latinx parents, on average, provide their children with early home experiences that promote development at rates that at least equal that of other demographic groups. From a strength-based perspective, we describe the demographic heterogeneity among Latinx children during early childhood (zero to eight years), given that these years are critical for later development. We then discuss the individual- a…
Father involvement, father-child relationship, and attachment in the early years
Over the last few decades fathers have become an increasing presence in research, yet research on fathers still lags behind that on mothers. In fact, most research on parents still includes the mother. Consequently, there is still much to learn about fathers. This is particularly true for understanding how parent-child relationship functioning in the early years can serve as a source of emotional security that promotes healthy development across …
Cognitive Stimulation at Home and in Child Care and Children’s Preacademic Skills in Two-Parent Families
This paper used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N = 1,258) to examine the influence of hilevels of cognitive stimulation from mothers, fathers, and childcare providers at 24 months and children’s pre-academic skills at 48 and 60 months in two parent families. Results from path analysis showed direct positive effects of fathers’ early cognitive stimulation on early reading and math skills at 48 and 60 months. There were also t…
Determinants of fathers’ and mothers’ involvement in a parenting intervention
Families Offering Children Unfailing Support (Focus) Fatherhood Program: Changing child welfare through child support and parenting skills
Children's Adjustment to Parents' Breakup: The Mediational Effects of Parenting and Coparenting
Although past studies have shown an association between union instability (i.e., change in family structure) and children's aggressive behaviors, the mechanism by which this occurs is less understood. This study ( N = 3,387) examined whether father and mother involvement, coparenting support, and maternal responsiveness explained the association between union instability in early life and children's aggressive behaviors at 9 years, and whether re…
Advancing Research and Measurement on Fathering and Children’s Development
Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children’s development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father–child relationships. The current monograph is the result of an SRCD-sponsored meeting of fatherhood scholars brought together to discuss these challenges and make recommendations for best practices for incorporating fathers in studies…
Fatherhood in the Twenty-First Century
The twentieth century has been characterized by four important social trends that have fundamentally changed the social cultural context in which children develop: women's increased labor force participation, increased absence of nonresidential fathers in the lives of their children, increased involvement of fathers in intact families, and increased cultural diversity in the U.S.. In this essay, we discuss how these trends are changing the nature…
The Ecology of Father‐Child Relationships: An Expanded Model
We expand our 2007 heuristic model of father involvement using recent research on the dynamic and reciprocal processes by which fathers influence children's development over time. Based on new evidence, our expanded model incorporates more dynamic reciprocity, temporal factors, and nuanced considerations of context in which fathers parent. We identify aspects of context as well as fathers' personality and behavior that are central to the next gen…
Should Researchers Conceptualize Differently the Dimensions of Parenting for Fathers and Mothers
This article asks whether researchers should seek separate conceptualizations of fathers' and mothers' parenting behaviors. We posit that there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the constructs of fathering and mothering are unique. Our argument is based on 3 sets of findings. First, there have been a number of studies showing that fathering and mothering constructs are the same. Second, there is evidence that fathers' parenting behavior…
Patterns and predictors of father–infant engagement across race/ethnic groups
Explaining the Long Reach of Fathers' Prenatal Involvement on Later Paternal Engagement
The present study examined the association between unmarried fathers' prenatal involvement and fathers' engagement later in the child's life. The study sample consisted of 1,686 fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings using multiple regressions revealed that fathers' prenatal involvement is significantly and positively associated with levels of fathers' engagement at Years 1 and 3. This association was partially expl…
Beyond Rough and Tumble: Low-Income Fathers' Interactions and Children's Cognitive Development at 24 Months
Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to explore associations between father-child interactions and children's cognitive status in an underrepresented group of low-income, ethnically diverse families. Design. Participants were 65 inner-city fathers and their 24-month-old children (34 boys, 31 girls). Father-child interactions were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and mental scale scores on the Bayley Scale…
African American, White and Latino Fathers’ Activities with their Sons and Daughters in Early Childhood
Public Policies and Father Involvement
The last two decades have been marked by a series of social and policy developments that are changing both how men see themselves as fathers and how policies conceptualize and encourage their involvement in the lives of children and families. This paper focuses on several areas of intersection between research on fathers and policy. The paper first summarizes the research that led to the current political and social interest in fathers. The paper…
Mexican American Mothers and Fathers’ Prenatal Attitudes and Father Prenatal Involvement: Links to Mother–Infant Interaction and Father Engagement
Who Stays and Who Leaves? Father Accessibility Across Children's First 5 Years
OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal investigation examines whether fathers' prenatal involvement (e.g., attending doctor appointments and discussing pregnancy with mother) and residence status at infant's birth predict the first time a father becomes inaccessible to his child (defined as seeing child fewer than a few times per month) at six developmental time points in children's first 5 years. DESIGN: Data were gathered from 2,160 ethnically diverse mo…
Predictors of coparenting in Mexican American families and links to parenting and child social emotional development
The present study examined associations between parents' levels of acculturation depressive symptoms, family support, and couple relationship quality with coparenting conflict. We also explored the effects of coparenting conflict on parenting and infant social development in a sample of low‐income Mexican American ( n = 735) infants (age 9 months) and their parents. Results indicated that couple conflict was the strongest predictor of coparenting…
Predictors of Father Investment of Time and Finances: The Specificity of Resources, Relationships, and Parenting Beliefs
The present study examined multiple domains of father involvement and their correlates in a sample of 478 ethnically and racially diverse low-income fathers of 24-month-old children. Regression analyses revealed that paternal resources related to most forms of involvement: Education was related to caregiving and cognitive activities, and income was associated with financial provision. Resident fathers spent more time with their children across se…
Low-income minority mothers’ and fathers’ reading and children's interest: Longitudinal contributions to children's receptive vocabulary skills
Patterns of Maternal Directiveness by Ethnicity Among Early Head Start Research Participants
SYNOPSIS Objective . Using the Early Head Start dataset, this study examined change over time in European American, African American, and Mexican American mothers' directiveness during play with their young children and associations between these patterns and their children's engagement with and negativity toward them. The influences of maternal positive and negative regard were also investigated. Design . Mother–child dyads (938 European America…
The Early Head Start Father Studies: Design, Data Collection, and Summary of Father Presence in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers
The Early Home Environment of Latino Boys and Their Peers: A Developmental Perspective
Using a sample ( N = 5,200) drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort, we examined Latino boys’ developmental profiles and their early home experiences from 9 months to kindergarten entry in comparison to their peers—Latina girls and White boys. We also examined how children's early home experiences related to outcomes at kindergarten entry and whether these varied by gender and ethnicity. Controlling for socioeconomic indica…
The Magic of Play: Low‐income Mothers’ and Fathers’ Playfulness and Children's Emotion Regulation and Vocabulary Skills
Using data from a diverse sample of low‐income families who participated in the Early Head Start Research Evaluation Project ( n = 73), we explored the association between mothers’ and fathers’ playfulness with toddlers, toddler's affect during play, and children's language and emotion regulation at prekindergarten. There were two main findings. First, fathers’ playfulness in toddlerhood was associated with children's vocabulary skills in prekind…
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (Home) Inventory: The Derivation of Conceptually Designed Subscales
Father Play: Is It Special
Both mothers and fathers play with their children, but research on parent–child play interactions is conducted with mothers three times more often than it is with fathers. The articles in this special issue address this gap by focusing on the nature and quality of father–child play, across cultural contexts, and considering whether father play offers something unique and special for early human development, in infancy or early childhood. The stud…
Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability Between 8 and 16 Months
The Early Head Start Father Studies: Design, Data Collection, and Summary of Father Presence in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers
In this introductory article to the Special Issue, we provide an overview of the research and policy context for the Early Head Start Father Studies. We describe the methods used to conduct the father studies, which began in 1997 and were designed to complement the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a random assignment evaluation of 3,001 families - half who received Early Head Start services and half who did not. The Early Head St…
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (Home) Inventory: The Derivation of Conceptually Designed Subscales
Objective. Our goals for this Special Issue are threefold. First, we report on the development of conceptually meaningful subscales that assess specific domains of the home environment for the 3 youngest age versions of the HOME Inventory (infants/toddlers, early childhood, and middle childhood). Second, we address the problems inherent to the items relying on caregiver (typically maternal) self-report. Third, we assess the predictive validity of…
Determinants of fathers’ and mothers’ involvement in a parenting intervention
Families Offering Children Unfailing Support (Focus) Fatherhood Program: Changing child welfare through child support and parenting skills
Low‐income, Minority Fathers’ Control Strategies and Their Children's Regulatory Skills
The current study explored the bidirectional association of children's individual characteristics, fathers’ control strategies at 24 months, and children's regulatory skills at prekindergarten (pre‐K). Using a sample of low‐income, minority families with 2‐year‐olds from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project ( n = 71), we assessed the association between child gender and vocabulary skills, fathers’ control strategies at 24 months (…
Public Policies and Father Involvement
The last two decades have been marked by a series of social and policy developments that are changing both how men see themselves as fathers and how policies conceptualize and encourage their involvement in the lives of children and families. This paper focuses on several areas of intersection between research on fathers and policy. The paper first summarizes the research that led to the current political and social interest in fathers. The paper…
Fatherhood in the Twenty-First Century
The twentieth century has been characterized by four important social trends that have fundamentally changed the social cultural context in which children develop: women's increased labor force participation, increased absence of nonresidential fathers in the lives of their children, increased involvement of fathers in intact families, and increased cultural diversity in the U.S.. In this essay, we discuss how these trends are changing the nature…
Beyond Rough and Tumble: Low-Income Fathers' Interactions and Children's Cognitive Development at 24 Months
Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to explore associations between father-child interactions and children's cognitive status in an underrepresented group of low-income, ethnically diverse families. Design. Participants were 65 inner-city fathers and their 24-month-old children (34 boys, 31 girls). Father-child interactions were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and mental scale scores on the Bayley Scale…
In Their Own Voices: How Men Become Fathers
Review Articles| June 13 2003 In Their Own Voices: How Men Become Fathers: Essay Review of Involved Fathering and Men's Adult Development: Provisional Balances by Rob Palkovitz1 Subject Area: Psychiatry and Psychology , Women's and Children's Health Natasha J. Cabrera Natasha J. Cabrera University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Md., USA Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Human Development (2003) …
Fathers and Mothers at Play With Their 2- and 3-Year-Olds: Contributions to Language and Cognitive Development
Father–child and mother–child engagements were examined longitudinally in relation to children's language and cognitive development at 24 and 36 months. The study involved a racially/ethnically diverse sample of low-income, resident fathers (and their partners) from the National Early Head Start evaluation study (n=290). Father–child and mother–child engagements were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and children's la…
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (Home) Inventory: The Derivation of Conceptually Designed Subscales
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (Home) Inventory: The Derivation of Conceptually Designed Subscales
Objective. Our goals for this Special Issue are threefold. First, we report on the development of conceptually meaningful subscales that assess specific domains of the home environment for the 3 youngest age versions of the HOME Inventory (infants/toddlers, early childhood, and middle childhood). Second, we address the problems inherent to the items relying on caregiver (typically maternal) self-report. Third, we assess the predictive validity of…
Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability Between 8 and 16 Months
The Early Head Start Father Studies: Design, Data Collection, and Summary of Father Presence in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers
In this introductory article to the Special Issue, we provide an overview of the research and policy context for the Early Head Start Father Studies. We describe the methods used to conduct the father studies, which began in 1997 and were designed to complement the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a random assignment evaluation of 3,001 families - half who received Early Head Start services and half who did not. The Early Head St…
Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability Between 8 and 16 Months
Objective. This longitudinal investigation explores how fathers engage with their infants, how their behaviors matter within and across developmental time, and how demographic and social factors affect the quality of the father – infant relationship. Design. Participants were 74 racially and ethnically diverse, low-income fathers from the Father and Newborn Study (FANS) and their 8-and 16-month-old infants (36 boys, 38 girls). Father – infant int…
The Early Head Start Father Studies: Design, Data Collection, and Summary of Father Presence in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers
Modeling the Dynamics of Paternal Influences on Children Over the Life Course
a heuristic model, which identifies sets of variables that predict father involvement, variables that interact to predict involvement, and variables that influence father characteristics and thereby influence involvement. It also suggests moderators and mediators of pathways from predictors to father involvement and from father involvement to child outcomes. It is a dynamic model, assuming change over the life course, while retaining paternal inf…
Conducting Studies with Fathers: Challenges and Opportunities
Traditionally, researchers interested in understanding father involvement in the lives of young children have relied on mothers as proxy respondents for fathers, yet recent research has made noteworthy strides in collecting data from fathers themselves yielding an unprecedented wealth of data on fathers' involvement in their children's lives. Despite this progress, there remain many methodological challenges in conducting studies with fathers and…
Fathers' Influence on Their Children's Cognitive and Emotional Development: From Toddlers to Pre-K
We present findings based on several of our recent studies that have shown that father engagement has significant effects on children’s cognition and language at 24 and 36 months and their social and emotional development at 24, 36 months, and pre-Kindergarten. These studies are guided by the Dynamics of Paternal Influences on Children over the Life Course Model that stipulates the important contribution of parent characteristics, child and conte…
New directions in measuring young children's emotional development
Why Should We Encourage Unmarried Fathers to Be Prenatally Involved
Explaining the Long Reach of Fathers' Prenatal Involvement on Later Paternal Engagement
The present study examined the association between unmarried fathers' prenatal involvement and fathers' engagement later in the child's life. The study sample consisted of 1,686 fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings using multiple regressions revealed that fathers' prenatal involvement is significantly and positively associated with levels of fathers' engagement at Years 1 and 3. This association was partially expl…
Who Stays and Who Leaves? Father Accessibility Across Children's First 5 Years
OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal investigation examines whether fathers' prenatal involvement (e.g., attending doctor appointments and discussing pregnancy with mother) and residence status at infant's birth predict the first time a father becomes inaccessible to his child (defined as seeing child fewer than a few times per month) at six developmental time points in children's first 5 years. DESIGN: Data were gathered from 2,160 ethnically diverse mo…
Mexican American Mothers and Fathers’ Prenatal Attitudes and Father Prenatal Involvement: Links to Mother–Infant Interaction and Father Engagement
Development of infants and toddlers in ethnoracial families
Predictors of coparenting in Mexican American families and links to parenting and child social emotional development
The present study examined associations between parents' levels of acculturation depressive symptoms, family support, and couple relationship quality with coparenting conflict. We also explored the effects of coparenting conflict on parenting and infant social development in a sample of low‐income Mexican American ( n = 735) infants (age 9 months) and their parents. Results indicated that couple conflict was the strongest predictor of coparenting…
Influence of Mother, Father, and Child Risk on Parenting and Children’s Cognitive and Social Behaviors
The association among mothers’, fathers’, and infants’ risk and cognitive and social behaviors at 24 months was examined using structual equation modeling and data on 4,200 on toddlers and their parents from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort. There were 3 main findings. First, for cognitive outcomes, maternal risk was directly and indirectly linked to it through maternal sensitivity whereas paternal risk was only indirectly rel…
Patterns and predictors of father–infant engagement across race/ethnic groups
African American, White and Latino Fathers’ Activities with their Sons and Daughters in Early Childhood
Mediators of the Relationship Between Stable Nonresident Households and Toddler Outcomes
The present study examined the associations between stable nonresidence among never married parents (compared with coresident parents) and outcomes for toddlers using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Birth Cohort. The authors found small to medium negative associations between stable nonresidence and toddlers' positive social behavior and small negative associations between stable nonresidence and toddlers' cognition. The associations betw…
Psychology (59 works) · Developmental psychology (53 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (36 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (33 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (29 works) · Medicine (17 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (16 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (15 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Child development (13 works)