African American youths’ social cognitive processing: Parental cognitive framing and youth advice-seeking about peer problems

Jimenez, Virnaliz

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114010 Copy

Description

Title

African American youths’ social cognitive processing: Parental cognitive framing and youth advice-seeking about peer problems

Author(s)

Jimenez, Virnaliz

Issue Date

2021-12-07

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Tu, Kelly

Committee Member(s)

McElwain, Nancy

Department of Study

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Discipline

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• social appraisal
• self-efficacy
• cognitive framing
• advice-seeking
• African American youth

Abstract

Research has shown that negative peer experiences are associated with problems in social information processing (van Reemst et al., 2016). Understanding how youth process social cues could help prepare youth to navigate these social challenges and interactions. However, little is known about African American youths’ experiences of day-to-day peer challenges and how African American (AA) families talk about everyday peer experiences (Anderson et al., 2019). Towards identifying pathways that support AA youths’ social cognitive development, we examined the link between parents’ benign cognitive reframing suggestions and youths’ social appraisals and self-efficacy, as well as youth advice-seeking as a moderator of this association. At T1, 90 AA adolescents (Mage = 12.08; SD = 1.10;50.6% boys) and their parents (Mage = 37.19; SD = 7.52; 84.3% biological mothers) participated, and T2 (10–12 months later) included 87 families. Youth reported on their social appraisals, social self-efficacy (T1, T2; Barrett et al., 1996; Muris et al., 2000), and advice-seeking from parents about peer problems (T1; Mounts, 2007). Two trained research assistants coded the quality (i.e., specificity, elaboration) of parents’ open-ended benign reframing suggestions in response to hypothetical peer challenge situations (T1; e.g., peer exclusion, anxiety about new peers; Gregson et al., 2017; Tu et al., 2017). Measures showed good reliability. Results from regression analyses revealed no main effects of parents’ benign reframing and youth advice-seeking, accounting for covariates. But advice-seeking served as a moderator such that parents’ benign reframing was associated with more positive social appraisals one year later when youth reported higher, but not lower, levels of advice-seeking. Compared to higher advice-seeking, youths’ lower advice-seeking might reflect less openness or need for parents’ help. Additional analyses revealed that when parents provided less benign reframing suggestions, youth who reported more advice-seeking, compared to less advice-seeking, had less positive social appraisals, which may reflect a mismatch between parenting behaviors and youths’ needs. No effects emerged for self-efficacy. Findings provide new knowledge about parent-youth processes related to social-cognitive skills among AA youth; implications and future directions will be discussed.

Graduation Semester

2021-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114010

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Virnaliz Jimenez

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