Margaret Tresch Owens
Biographic Data
| ID | 95819 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Margaret Tresch Owens |
| GIVEN NAMES | Margaret Tresch |
| FAMILY NAME | Owens |
| SIGNATURE | OWENS M T |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Dallas |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0208-3965 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 206 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 42 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
A Prospective Study of Maternal Supportiveness among ADHD and non-ADHD Children and Adolescents
Acculturation stress magnifies child depression effect of stressful life events for Latinx youth 3 years later
Adding to the literature on SLEs within Latinx families, these results indicate that acculturation and socio-political climate stressors need be considered in discussions of the effects of life stress on Latinx youth and their families
Do toys get in the way? The duration of shared emotional experiences is longer when mothers engage their infants without toys
During mother‐infant interaction, shared emotional experiences, defined as reciprocal and synchronous emotional sharing between mother and infant, are an indicator of early relational health. Yet, it is unclear how mothers’ efforts to engage with their infants relate to dyadic‐level shared emotional experiences. Utilizing a sample of 80 randomly selected videos of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we examined how mothers’…
Mothers’ School Readiness Beliefs and Literacy Involvement and Children’s Academic Outcomes in Ethnic Minority Families
This research tested a mediation model, examining whether individual differences in mothers’ school readiness beliefs influenced home literacy practices and children’s later academic achievement among African American (n = 114) and primarily Mexican origin Latina mothers (n = 164) and their children. Mothers of children ages 3–4 years reported school readiness beliefs and home literacy practices. Later (ages 6–7 years), reading and math achieveme…
Stability of parenting profiles in early childhood for African American children in households experiencing poverty
“The Talk” and Parenting While Black in America: Centering Race, Resistance, and Refuge
“The Talk” refers to a specific type of racial socialization message that many Black parents have with their children about how to safely conduct themselves when interacting with police officers and other individuals in positions of power. With the recent increased exposure of racialized violence against Black people at the hands of police and vigilantes in the United States, many parents of young Black children now feel especially compelled to i…
Emergence of ethnic–racial socialization for African American and Latinx families: Evidence for factorial validity and measurement invariance across early childhood
This study provides evidence that ERS strategies commonly used with older children emerge very early on in family experiences and supports the notion that the transition to kindergarten marks a notable ecological shift for ethnic minority children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Self-regulation development among young Spanish-English dual language learners
Responding to racism at school: Ethnic-racial socialization and the academic engagement of Black and Latinx youth
Guided by the Theory of Racial Socialization in Action (TRSA; Smith-Bynum in press), this study examined observed caregiver-provided ethnic-racial socialization in response to a school-based discriminatory dilemma. Forty-five Black and 36 Latinx caregivers (88% mothers) with low-income and their children (Mage = 11.09, SD = 0.29; 46.3% female) participated in Dallas, Texas from 2018 to 2019. Dyads responded to a hypothetical scenario in which a s…
Too Early for Early Education? Effects on Parenting for Mothers and Fathers
Objective To estimate the effect of children's age of entry into early childhood education and care (ECEC) on parenting quality of mothers and fathers in a context of universal access to subsidized ECEC following a 1 year paid parental leave. Background Children entering non‐parental care settings in early childhood may have negative consequences for parenting quality. Yet, current evidence supporting this claim is predominantly from the United S…
Beyond talk: Contributions of quantity and quality of communication to language success across socioeconomic strata
Infants from low‐socioeconomic status (SES) households hear a projected 30 million fewer words than their higher‐SES peers. In a recent study, Hirsh‐Pasek et al. ( Psychological Science , 2015; 26: 1071) found that in a low‐income sample, fluency and connectedness in exchanges between caregivers and toddlers predicted child language a year later over and above quantity of talk (Hirsh‐Pasek et al., Psychological Science , 2015; 26: 1071). Here, we…
The quality of mother-toddler communication predicts language and early literacy in Mexican American children from low-income households
Holding both truths: Early dynamics of ethnic‐racial socialization and children's behavior adjustment in African American and Latinx families
Ethnic‐racial socialization is at the core of ethnic minority families’ adaptive response to a racialized social climate. Protective links between ethnic‐racial socialization and children's adjustment are well documented in the adolescent years; however, very few studies have considered the ethnic‐racial socialization of young children altogether and fewer still have examined the links to adjustment using longitudinal designs. Leveraging unique, …
Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of …
Changes in the Organization of Paternal Behavior during Early and Middle Childhood
SYNOPSISObjective. The focus of this study is on changes in the strength of relations among four types of paternal behaviors (supportive presence, respect for autonomy, stimulation, and hostility) from early childhood through middle childhood. Design. Father-child interaction was observed for 718 dyads at four time periods: 54 months (M = 56 months), 1st grade (M = 7.0 years), 3rd grade (M = 9.0 years), and 5th grade (M = 11.0 years) using simila…
Racism and preparation for bias within African American families
Objectives: Exposure to racism experienced by caregivers poses a threat to child developmental outcomes. The current study examines the effects of caregiver-experienced racism on the development of internalizing behaviors for African American children during a sensitive period in their development of racial awareness. Two aspects of caregiver-provided ethnic racial socialization (ERS), cultural socialization and preparation for bias, were assesse…
Parenting quality from observational ratings at age 2: Validation from Norwegian and U.S. Samples
The practical utility of the Welch Emotional Connection Screen for rating parent–infant relational health
Emotional Connection (EC) measured by the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) was related to the Parent–Infant Interaction Rating System (PIIRS), a 5‐point adaptation of the rating system developed for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (e.g., NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999, Developmental Psychology , 35, 1399). Parent–infant dyads ( n = 49 mothers; 43 f…
Community-Based, Caregiver-Implemented Early Language Intervention in High-Risk Families: Lessons Learned
The CBPR model enhances early language intervention research by facilitating understanding of families in underserved communities and increasing the cultural relevancy of intervention materials
Culture, parenting, and language: Respeto in Latine mother–child interactions
The cultural value of respeto (respect) is central to Latine parenting. Yet, how respeto manifests in the interactions of Latine parents and their young children remains unexamined. Low-income Mexican immigrant Spanish-speaking mothers and their 2.5-year-old toddlers ( N = 128) were video-recorded during play ( M age = 30.2 months, SD = 0.52), and two culturally informed items of respeto were coded: parent calm authority and child affiliative obe…
The developmental landscape of early parent-focused language intervention
Behavioral Self‐Regulation, Early Academic Achievement, and the Effectiveness of Urban Schools for Low‐Income Ethnic Minority Children
The independent and joint associations between child behavioral self‐regulation ability and school effectiveness in relation to academic achievement were examined in a sample of low‐income African American ( n = 132) and Latino ( n = 198) children attending kindergarten and first grade across a large metropolitan area. Child behavioral self‐regulation and school effectiveness were positively associated with both reading and mathematics performanc…
Growth in inhibitory control among low-income, ethnic-minority preschoolers: A group-based modeling approach
Gender differences in the relation between mothering behaviors and child-behavior problems among Hispanic preschoolers
This is a report of an examination of gender differences in behavior problems and a prediction of their changes from 2.5 to 3.5 years from mothering qualities among 209 low-income Hispanic children. Externalizing behaviors declined over this time somewhat more for girls than for boys. Fewer externalizing behavior problems at age 3.5 were correlated with more supportive and less intrusive mothering at 2.5, but only for boys, and increases in exter…
The Contribution of Early Communication Quality to Low-Income Children’s Language Success
The disparity in the amount and quality of language that low-income children hear relative to their more-affluent peers is often referred to as the 30-million-word gap. Here, we expand the literature about this disparity by reporting the relative contributions of the quality of early parent-child communication and the quantity of language input in 60 low-income families. Including both successful and struggling language learners from the National…
Prediction of infant-father and infant-mother attachment
The Ist‐year correlates of infant–father and infant–mother attachment were investigated in a longitudinal study of early family development. Mothers and fathers were observed interacting with their firstborn, 3‐month‐old infants. Parents also were interviewed individually at 3 months child age concerning their time with the infant and their attitudes and reports about the infant and their parental role. Mothers and fathers were seen in the strang…
Testing a series of causal propositions relating time in child care to children’s externalizing behavior
Prior research has documented associations between hours in child care and children's externalizing behavior. A series of longitudinal analyses were conducted to address 5 propositions, each testing the hypothesis that child care hours causes externalizing behavior. Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used in this inve…
Variations in Child Care by Grandparents During the First Three Years
Routine child care by grandparents was examined for 1,229 children who were participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. Four groups were identified: extended full‐time care, extended part‐time care, sporadic care, and no routine care during the first three years. The odds of sporadic child care by grandparents were higher when mothers were relatively young and worked nonstandard …
Interpersonal and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: A longitudinal study from infancy to early adulthood
One of the assumptions of attachment theory is that individual differences in adult attachment styles emerge from individuals' developmental histories. To examine this assumption empirically, the authors report data from an age 18 follow-up (Booth-LaForce & Roisman, 2012) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a longitudinal investigation that tracked a cohort of children a…
Caregiver-mother partnership behavior and the quality of caregiver-child and mother-child interactions
Cultural socialization and school readiness of African American and Latino preschoolers
Cultural socialization practices are common among ethnic minority parents and important for ethnic minority child development. However, little research has examined these practices among parents of very young children. In this study, we report on cultural socialization practices among a sample of parents of low income, African American (n = 179) and Latino (n = 220) preschool-age children in relation to children's school readiness. Cultural socia…
"Child-Care Usage and Mother-Infant "Quality Time
Mothers' time-use patterns were compared in families in which infants spent more than 30 hours per week in child care (In-Care group; n= 143) versus 0 hours per week (At-Home group; n= 183) from birth to 6 months of age. In-Care group mothers spent about 12 fewer hours per week interacting with their infants, for about 32% less time; fathers of these infants were more involved in caregiving. The groups did not differ in the quality of mother-infa…
Parenting and Children's Behavior at 36 Months: Equivalence Between African American and European American Mother - Child Dyads
Objective. This study examines the similarity of parenting and the associations between maternal behavior and child problem and prosocial behavior across two racial groups. Design. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC), analyses included an examination of the comparability of maternal and child behavior between African American (n = 123) and European American (n = 953) families using multiple-group mean and covariance structu…
Parenting quality from observational ratings at age 2: Validation from Norwegian and U.S. Samples
Responding to racism at school: Ethnic-racial socialization and the academic engagement of Black and Latinx youth
Guided by the Theory of Racial Socialization in Action (TRSA; Smith-Bynum in press), this study examined observed caregiver-provided ethnic-racial socialization in response to a school-based discriminatory dilemma. Forty-five Black and 36 Latinx caregivers (88% mothers) with low-income and their children (Mage = 11.09, SD = 0.29; 46.3% female) participated in Dallas, Texas from 2018 to 2019. Dyads responded to a hypothetical scenario in which a s…
Gender differences in the relation between mothering behaviors and child-behavior problems among Hispanic preschoolers
This is a report of an examination of gender differences in behavior problems and a prediction of their changes from 2.5 to 3.5 years from mothering qualities among 209 low-income Hispanic children. Externalizing behaviors declined over this time somewhat more for girls than for boys. Fewer externalizing behavior problems at age 3.5 were correlated with more supportive and less intrusive mothering at 2.5, but only for boys, and increases in exter…
Exploring Actor and Partner Effects in Associations Between Marriage and Parenting for Mothers and Fathers
Objective. The authors assessed positive and negative qualities of mothers' and fathers' marital interaction behavior in relation to each parent's observed parenting sensitivity, applying the actor–partner interdependence model. Marital behaviors expressed (actor effects) and marital behaviors experienced (partner effects) were distinguished to explore spillover processes between marriage and parenting for mothers and fathers. Design. Positive an…
Racism and preparation for bias within African American families
Objectives: Exposure to racism experienced by caregivers poses a threat to child developmental outcomes. The current study examines the effects of caregiver-experienced racism on the development of internalizing behaviors for African American children during a sensitive period in their development of racial awareness. Two aspects of caregiver-provided ethnic racial socialization (ERS), cultural socialization and preparation for bias, were assesse…
The developmental landscape of early parent-focused language intervention
Emergence of ethnic–racial socialization for African American and Latinx families: Evidence for factorial validity and measurement invariance across early childhood
This study provides evidence that ERS strategies commonly used with older children emerge very early on in family experiences and supports the notion that the transition to kindergarten marks a notable ecological shift for ethnic minority children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Culture, parenting, and language: Respeto in Latine mother–child interactions
The cultural value of respeto (respect) is central to Latine parenting. Yet, how respeto manifests in the interactions of Latine parents and their young children remains unexamined. Low-income Mexican immigrant Spanish-speaking mothers and their 2.5-year-old toddlers ( N = 128) were video-recorded during play ( M age = 30.2 months, SD = 0.52), and two culturally informed items of respeto were coded: parent calm authority and child affiliative obe…
Ethnic Differences in Profiles of Mother–Child Interactions and Relations to Emerging School Readiness in African American and Latin American Children
Both similarities and differences were found between African American and Latin American families in observation- based mothering profiles and their linkages with preschoolers' school readiness
Stability in Mother–Child Interactions From Infancy Through Adolescence
OBJECTIVE: The current study examines homotypic stability in mother-child interactions, applying similar rating scales of mother-child interactions at 1 and 4.5 years, and heterotypic stability from 1 to 13 years and 4.5 to 13 years, using conceptually similar but not identical rating scales at age 13. DESIGN: We coded videotaped mother-child interactions in 202 families when children were 1, 4.5, and 13 years of age during age-appropriate and de…
Intergenerational Influences on the Parent-Infant Relationship in the Transition to Parenthood
In this study, questions were addressed concerning the intergenerational transmission of parent-child relationships in couples going through the transition to parenthood. During the second trimester of their first pregnancy, couples provided information concerning experiences of parenting in their family of origin, then were reinterviewed and observed interacting with their infants at 3 months postpartum. It was expected that when these young adu…
Behavioral Self‐Regulation, Early Academic Achievement, and the Effectiveness of Urban Schools for Low‐Income Ethnic Minority Children
The independent and joint associations between child behavioral self‐regulation ability and school effectiveness in relation to academic achievement were examined in a sample of low‐income African American ( n = 132) and Latino ( n = 198) children attending kindergarten and first grade across a large metropolitan area. Child behavioral self‐regulation and school effectiveness were positively associated with both reading and mathematics performanc…
Growth in inhibitory control among low-income, ethnic-minority preschoolers: A group-based modeling approach
Self-regulation development among young Spanish-English dual language learners
The quality of mother-toddler communication predicts language and early literacy in Mexican American children from low-income households
Holding both truths: Early dynamics of ethnic‐racial socialization and children's behavior adjustment in African American and Latinx families
Ethnic‐racial socialization is at the core of ethnic minority families’ adaptive response to a racialized social climate. Protective links between ethnic‐racial socialization and children's adjustment are well documented in the adolescent years; however, very few studies have considered the ethnic‐racial socialization of young children altogether and fewer still have examined the links to adjustment using longitudinal designs. Leveraging unique, …
Early child care experiences and attachment representations at age 18 years: Evidence from the NICHD study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
The role of early child care experiences on the development of the mother-child attachment relationship has been studied extensively. However, no prospective studies of early child care have addressed how these experiences might be reflected in the content of attachment representations during adolescence and beyond. The goal of this study was to estimate relatively precise associations between child care quality, child care quantity, and type of …
Intergenerational Influences on the Parent-Infant Relationship in the Transition to Parenthood
In this study, questions were addressed concerning the intergenerational transmission of parent-child relationships in couples going through the transition to parenthood. During the second trimester of their first pregnancy, couples provided information concerning experiences of parenting in their family of origin, then were reinterviewed and observed interacting with their infants at 3 months postpartum. It was expected that when these young adu…
Marriage, Adult Adjustment, and Early Parenting
Prediction of infant-father and infant-mother attachment
The Ist‐year correlates of infant–father and infant–mother attachment were investigated in a longitudinal study of early family development. Mothers and fathers were observed interacting with their firstborn, 3‐month‐old infants. Parents also were interviewed individually at 3 months child age concerning their time with the infant and their attitudes and reports about the infant and their parental role. Mothers and fathers were seen in the strang…
Prediction of infant^father and infant^mother attachment
A World of Widows
Caregiver-mother partnership behavior and the quality of caregiver-child and mother-child interactions
"Child-Care Usage and Mother-Infant "Quality Time
Mothers' time-use patterns were compared in families in which infants spent more than 30 hours per week in child care (In-Care group; n= 143) versus 0 hours per week (At-Home group; n= 183) from birth to 6 months of age. In-Care group mothers spent about 12 fewer hours per week interacting with their infants, for about 32% less time; fathers of these infants were more involved in caregiving. The groups did not differ in the quality of mother-infa…
Parenting and Children's Behavior at 36 Months: Equivalence Between African American and European American Mother - Child Dyads
Objective. This study examines the similarity of parenting and the associations between maternal behavior and child problem and prosocial behavior across two racial groups. Design. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (SECC), analyses included an examination of the comparability of maternal and child behavior between African American (n = 123) and European American (n = 953) families using multiple-group mean and covariance structu…
Variations in Child Care by Grandparents During the First Three Years
Routine child care by grandparents was examined for 1,229 children who were participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. Four groups were identified: extended full‐time care, extended part‐time care, sporadic care, and no routine care during the first three years. The odds of sporadic child care by grandparents were higher when mothers were relatively young and worked nonstandard …
Are There Long-Term Effects of Early Child Care?
Effects of early child care on children's functioning from 41⁄2 years through the end of 6th grade (M age=12.0 years) were examined in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n=1,364). The results indicated that although parenting was a stronger and more consistent predictor of children's development than early child-care experience, higher quality care predicted higher vocabul…
Testing a series of causal propositions relating time in child care to children’s externalizing behavior
Prior research has documented associations between hours in child care and children's externalizing behavior. A series of longitudinal analyses were conducted to address 5 propositions, each testing the hypothesis that child care hours causes externalizing behavior. Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used in this inve…
Stability in Mother–Child Interactions From Infancy Through Adolescence
OBJECTIVE: The current study examines homotypic stability in mother-child interactions, applying similar rating scales of mother-child interactions at 1 and 4.5 years, and heterotypic stability from 1 to 13 years and 4.5 to 13 years, using conceptually similar but not identical rating scales at age 13. DESIGN: We coded videotaped mother-child interactions in 202 families when children were 1, 4.5, and 13 years of age during age-appropriate and de…
Exploring Actor and Partner Effects in Associations Between Marriage and Parenting for Mothers and Fathers
Objective. The authors assessed positive and negative qualities of mothers' and fathers' marital interaction behavior in relation to each parent's observed parenting sensitivity, applying the actor–partner interdependence model. Marital behaviors expressed (actor effects) and marital behaviors experienced (partner effects) were distinguished to explore spillover processes between marriage and parenting for mothers and fathers. Design. Positive an…
Family income trajectory during childhood is associated with adiposity in adolescence: A latent class growth analysis
Findings suggest that promoting upward socioeconomic mobility among disadvantaged families may have a positive impact on obesity-related outcomes in adolescence
Interpersonal and genetic origins of adult attachment styles: A longitudinal study from infancy to early adulthood
One of the assumptions of attachment theory is that individual differences in adult attachment styles emerge from individuals' developmental histories. To examine this assumption empirically, the authors report data from an age 18 follow-up (Booth-LaForce & Roisman, 2012) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a longitudinal investigation that tracked a cohort of children a…
Ethnic Differences in Profiles of Mother–Child Interactions and Relations to Emerging School Readiness in African American and Latin American Children
Both similarities and differences were found between African American and Latin American families in observation- based mothering profiles and their linkages with preschoolers' school readiness
Cultural socialization and school readiness of African American and Latino preschoolers
Cultural socialization practices are common among ethnic minority parents and important for ethnic minority child development. However, little research has examined these practices among parents of very young children. In this study, we report on cultural socialization practices among a sample of parents of low income, African American (n = 179) and Latino (n = 220) preschool-age children in relation to children's school readiness. Cultural socia…
The Contribution of Early Communication Quality to Low-Income Children’s Language Success
The disparity in the amount and quality of language that low-income children hear relative to their more-affluent peers is often referred to as the 30-million-word gap. Here, we expand the literature about this disparity by reporting the relative contributions of the quality of early parent-child communication and the quantity of language input in 60 low-income families. Including both successful and struggling language learners from the National…
Gender differences in the relation between mothering behaviors and child-behavior problems among Hispanic preschoolers
This is a report of an examination of gender differences in behavior problems and a prediction of their changes from 2.5 to 3.5 years from mothering qualities among 209 low-income Hispanic children. Externalizing behaviors declined over this time somewhat more for girls than for boys. Fewer externalizing behavior problems at age 3.5 were correlated with more supportive and less intrusive mothering at 2.5, but only for boys, and increases in exter…
Growth in inhibitory control among low-income, ethnic-minority preschoolers: A group-based modeling approach
Behavioral Self‐Regulation, Early Academic Achievement, and the Effectiveness of Urban Schools for Low‐Income Ethnic Minority Children
The independent and joint associations between child behavioral self‐regulation ability and school effectiveness in relation to academic achievement were examined in a sample of low‐income African American ( n = 132) and Latino ( n = 198) children attending kindergarten and first grade across a large metropolitan area. Child behavioral self‐regulation and school effectiveness were positively associated with both reading and mathematics performanc…
The practical utility of the Welch Emotional Connection Screen for rating parent–infant relational health
Emotional Connection (EC) measured by the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) was related to the Parent–Infant Interaction Rating System (PIIRS), a 5‐point adaptation of the rating system developed for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (e.g., NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999, Developmental Psychology , 35, 1399). Parent–infant dyads ( n = 49 mothers; 43 f…
Community-Based, Caregiver-Implemented Early Language Intervention in High-Risk Families: Lessons Learned
The CBPR model enhances early language intervention research by facilitating understanding of families in underserved communities and increasing the cultural relevancy of intervention materials
Culture, parenting, and language: Respeto in Latine mother–child interactions
The cultural value of respeto (respect) is central to Latine parenting. Yet, how respeto manifests in the interactions of Latine parents and their young children remains unexamined. Low-income Mexican immigrant Spanish-speaking mothers and their 2.5-year-old toddlers ( N = 128) were video-recorded during play ( M age = 30.2 months, SD = 0.52), and two culturally informed items of respeto were coded: parent calm authority and child affiliative obe…
The developmental landscape of early parent-focused language intervention
Developmental psychology (40 works) · Psychology (40 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (25 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (25 works) · Medicine (15 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Ethnic group (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (10 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (10 works)