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Author: Smith, Judith R.
Resulting in 9 citations.
1. Argys, Laura M.
Peters, H. Elizabeth
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Smith, Judith R.
Contributions of Absent Fathers to Child Well-being: The Impact of Child Support Dollars and Father-Child Contact
Presented: Bethesda, MD, Conference on Father Involvement, October 1996
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Author
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Support; Children, Behavioral Development; Cognitive Development; Family Background and Culture; Family Income; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Involvement; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In this paper we address three questions. First, other than its role in increasing income, does the receipt of child support have additional beneficial effects for children with absent fathers? Second, do the effects of child support differ when child support awards and payments are made cooperatively as opposed to non-cooperatively (eg., court ordered). Third, how do family policies affect the probability of child support awards and payments, and, in particular, the probability of cooperative awards and payments? In regressions that control for family income and other socio-economic family background characteristics, we find that child support receipt has additional positive effects on some measures of children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. The effect varies by the type of outcome, race, and reason for father's absence. Cooperative child support awards and payments appear to be more beneficial than child support that is court ordered. Turning to our policy variables, we see that child support guidelines promote awards that are cooperative, while increases in the paternity establishment rate increases court ordered (i.e. non-cooperative) awards. More generous state welfare benefits reduce court ordered awards, but do not reduce cooperative awards.
Bibliography Citation
Argys, Laura M., H. Elizabeth Peters, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Judith R. Smith. "Contributions of Absent Fathers to Child Well-being: The Impact of Child Support Dollars and Father-Child Contact." Presented: Bethesda, MD, Conference on Father Involvement, October 1996.
2. Argys, Laura M.
Peters, H. Elizabeth
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Smith, Judith R.
The Impact of Child Support on Cognitive Outcomes of Young Children
Demography 35,2 (May 1998): 159-173.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/du641383632n8048/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Child Support; Children, Preschool; Cognitive Development; Fathers and Children; Fathers, Absence; Intelligence; Marital Status; Parental Influences; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Variables, Instrumental; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child data to address three questions. First, does the receipt of child support have beneficial effects for children with absent fathers apart from increasing income? Second, do the effects of child support differ when child-support awards and payments are made cooperatively as opposed to being court ordered? Third, are any positive effects of child support solely a product of unmeasured differences among fathers and families? Controlling for the socioeconomic characteristics of the child and family, we find some evidence that receipt of child support has a positive impact on children's cognitive test scores over and above its contribution to total income. However, the effects vary by test, by race, and by reason for father's absence. Our results also indicate that the distinction between cooperative and noncooperative awards is important. Finally, our instrumental variables estimates show that the effects of child support persist after we control for unobserved characteristics of fathers and families.
Bibliography Citation
Argys, Laura M., H. Elizabeth Peters, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Judith R. Smith. "The Impact of Child Support on Cognitive Outcomes of Young Children." Demography 35,2 (May 1998): 159-173.
3. Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Klebanov, Pamela Kato
Smith, Judith R.
Duncan, Greg J.
Lee, Kyunghee
The Black-White Test Score Gap in Young Children: Contributions of Test and Family Characteristics
Applied Developmental Science 7,4 (2003): 239-252.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S1532480XADS0704_3
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birthweight; Ethnic Differences; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); I.Q.; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

This study examined Black-White test score gaps in young children. Scores from a receptive verbal test (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised [PPVT-R]) and 2 full-scale intelligence tests (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence [WPPSI]) were examined in 2 samples: (a) the Infant Health and Development Program: 315 premature, low birth weight 3- and 5-year olds; and (b) the National Longitudinal Study of Youth-Child Supplement: 2,220 3- to 4-year-olds and 1,354 5- to 6-year-olds. Questions addressed by the study included the following: Would similar test score gaps be seen on both tests and at both ages? Would gaps be reduced by controlling for family conditions and home environment? Would similar gaps be seen for the different tests? Fifteen- to 25-point differences in Black-White test scores were seen at both ages. The addition of demographic conditions reduced the disparities to 9 to 17 points. Including home environment measures further reduced the disparities to 4 to 13 points. Test score gaps were 11/2 to 3 times larger for the PPVT-R than for the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the WPPSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bibliography Citation
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Pamela Kato Klebanov, Judith R. Smith, Greg J. Duncan and Kyunghee Lee. "The Black-White Test Score Gap in Young Children: Contributions of Test and Family Characteristics." Applied Developmental Science 7,4 (2003): 239-252.
4. Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Smith, Judith R.
Berlin, Lisa
Lee, Kyunghee
Implementations of Welfare Changes for Parents of Young Children [Revised June 1998]
Presented: Evanston, IL, Family Process and Child Development in Low Income Families, Joint Center for Poverty Research, May 1998
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Joint Center for Poverty Research
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Care; Children, Preschool; Children, Well-Being; Employment; Family Studies; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Adolescent; Mothers, Health; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Preschool Children; Teenagers; Welfare

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This is a revised edition dated June 15, 1998. Four questions related to welfare and work in the context of the family are addressed: (i) The Newark Young Family Study data set from the TPD is used to ask, "Does participation in a mandatory welfare to work demonstration program that includes mandatory work, sanctioning of the welfare stipend for non-participation, and intensive case management affect teenage mothers and their preschool children?"; (ii) The second issue involves whether or not transitions off of welfare in the first few years of life have any impact upon parenting behavior, maternal emotional health, and child cognitive test scores. The IHDP data set is used, with the focus being on natural transitions (i.e., not those attached with a specific welfare to work program); (iii) The IHPD and the NLSY-CS data sets provide clues as to the benefits (or costs) of combining welfare and work strategies to make ends meet during the early childhood years, which is the third issue discussed; (iv) The final question has to do with the efficacy of family-focused early intervention programs, with a child care component, in influencing the work behavior of mothers. We also ask treatment effects upon children's wellbeing are being mediated by employment of the mother, using the IHDP data set.
Bibliography Citation
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Judith R. Smith, Lisa Berlin and Kyunghee Lee. "Implementations of Welfare Changes for Parents of Young Children [Revised June 1998]." Presented: Evanston, IL, Family Process and Child Development in Low Income Families, Joint Center for Poverty Research, May 1998.
5. Smith, Judith R.
Maternal Employment and the Young Child
Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1994
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Census of Population; Child Care; Childbearing; Children, Behavioral Development; High School Completion/Graduates; Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Poverty

The dramatic increase in the labor force participation rates of women with young children has become a new social reality impacting on childrearing and parenting arrangements. This study investigates the crossover effects of a mother's employment situation on her young child during the first, second and third year of the child's life. This study not only investigates maternal employment from the traditional perspective of the potential negative effects on the child as a result of coping with a separation from mother, but includes a broader investigation of how the various aspects of a working mother's employment situation affect subsequent development, measured when the child is four to six years old.
Bibliography Citation
Smith, Judith R. Maternal Employment and the Young Child. Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1994.
6. Smith, Judith R.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Jackson, Aurora P.
Parental Employment and Children
In: Indicators of Children's Well-Being. R.M. Hauser, B. V. Brown, and W.R. Prosser, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997: 279-308.
Also: http://www.russellsage.org/publications/titles/indicators_children.htm
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Care; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Family Resources; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

Includes bibliographical references and index. Indicators of children's well-being : a review of current indicators based on data from the federal statistical system / Brett V. Brown -- Criteria for indicators of child well- being / Kristin A. Moore -- Population indicators of prenatal and infant health / Paula Lantz and Melissa Partin -- Health indicators for preschool children, ages one to four / Barbara L. Wolfe and James Sears -- Health indicators for preadolescent school-age children / Barbara Starfield -- Adolescent health indicators / Arthur B. Elster -- Indicators for school readiness, schooling, and child care in early to middle childhood / Deborah A. Phillips and John M. Love -- Indicators of high school completion and dropout / Robert M. Hauser -- Postsecondary and vocational education : keeping track of the college track / Thomas J. Kane -- Indicators of educational achievement / Daniel Koretz -- Indicators of children's economic well-being and parental employment / Susan E. Mayer -- Longitudinal indicators of children's poverty and dependence / Greg J. Duncan and Leslie Moscow -- Parental employment and children / Judith R. Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Aurora Jackson -- Demographic change and the population of children : race/ethnicity, immigration, and family size / Dennis P. Hogan and David J. Eggebeen -- Family structure, stability, and the well-being of children / Gary D. Sandefur and Jane Mosley -- The influence of neighborhoods on children's development : a theoretical perspective and a research agenda / Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., and Mary Elizabeth Hughes -- Potential and problems in developing community-level indicators of children's well-being / Claudia J. Coulton -- Indicators of positive development in early childhood : improving concepts and measures / J. Lawrence Aber and Stephanie M. Jones -- Indicators of problem behavior and problems in early childhood / John M. Love -- Positive indicators of adolescent development : redressing the negative image of American adolescents / Ruby Takanishi, Allyn M. Mortimer, and Timothy J. McGourthy -- The status of adolescent problem behavior indicators / Bruce P. Kennedy and Deborah Prothrow-Stith -- Potential and problems in developing indicators on child well-being from administrative data / Robert M. Goerge -- Context and connection in social indicators : enhancing what we measure and monitor / Marc L. Miringoff and Marque-Luisa Miringoff -- Children in dire straits : how do we know whether we are progressing? / William R. Prosser and Matthew Stagner.
Bibliography Citation
Smith, Judith R., Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Aurora P. Jackson. "Parental Employment and Children" In: Indicators of Children's Well-Being. R.M. Hauser, B. V. Brown, and W.R. Prosser, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997: 279-308.
7. Smith, Judith R.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Klebanov, Pamela Kato
Consequences of Living in Poverty for Young Children's Cognitive and Verbal Ability and Early School Achievement
In: Consequences of Growing Up Poor. G.J. Duncan and J. Brooks-Gunn, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997: 132-189
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Keyword(s): Birthweight; Child Development; Children; Children, Academic Development; Children, Poverty; Children, School-Age; Cognitive Ability; Family Income; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Status; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Poverty; Schooling

In Consequences of Growing Up Poor, developmental psychologists, economists, and sociologists revisit a large body of studies to answer specific questions about how low income puts children at risk intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Many of their investigations demonstrate that although income clearly creates disadvantages, it does so selectively and in a wide variety of ways. Low-income preschoolers exhibit poorer cognitive and verbal skills because they are generally exposed to fewer toys, books, and other stimulating experiences in the home. Poor parents also tend to rely on home-based child care, where the quality and amount of attention children receive is inferior to that of professional facilities. In later years, conflict between economically stressed parents increases anxiety and weakens self-esteem in their teenaged children.
Bibliography Citation
Smith, Judith R., Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Pamela Kato Klebanov. "Consequences of Living in Poverty for Young Children's Cognitive and Verbal Ability and Early School Achievement" In: Consequences of Growing Up Poor. G.J. Duncan and J. Brooks-Gunn, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997: 132-189
8. Smith, Judith R.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
Klebanov, Pamela Kato
Lee, Kyunghee
Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies for Low-Income Women?
Journal of Marriage and Family 62,3 (August 2000): 808-821.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566798
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Council on Family Relations
Keyword(s): Behavioral Problems; Children; Cognitive Development; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Income; Maternal Employment; Mothers; Welfare; Women

We examine the effects of mothers' strategies of combining employment and welfare receipt during the first 3 years of their child's life on the child's cognitive development, behavior problems, and home learning environment at ages 5 to 6. We compare the child outcomes of those mothers who were continuously employed and received no welfare with (a) those who worked some or all of the 3 years and also received public assistance and (b) those who were totally dependent on public assistance. We studied children in single-parent families (N=1271) living below 200% of the poverty threshold using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. No negative association was found on most child outcomes with a mother's employment whether or not it was combined with public assistance. However, mothers' not working at all and receiving financial support solely from AFDC was associated with negative child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the possible effects of the new welfare laws on families and young children.
Bibliography Citation
Smith, Judith R., Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Pamela Kato Klebanov and Kyunghee Lee. "Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies for Low-Income Women?" Journal of Marriage and Family 62,3 (August 2000): 808-821.
9. Sugland, Barbara W.
Zaslow, Martha J.
Smith, Judith R.
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
The Early Childhood HOME Inventory and HOME-Short Form in Differing Racial/Ethnic Groups: Are There Differences in Underlying Structure, Internal Consistency of Subscales, and Patterns of Prediction?
Journal of Family Issues 16,5 (September 1995): 632-663.
Also: http://jfi.sagepub.com/content/16/5/632.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Birthweight; Child Health; Children; Children, Home Environment; Cognitive Development; Ethnic Differences; Ethnic Groups; Holland's Typology; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Infants; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Preschool Children; Racial Differences; Racial Studies; Scale Construction

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Examined differences across European-, African-, and Hispanic-American subgroups on the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) Inventory and the HOME-Short Form and the prediction of these 2 versions to cognitive and socioemotional outcomes among preschool children. Data are taken from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement (n = 1,541 children aged 3-5.9 yrs) and the Infant Health and Development Program (n = 985 low birth weight infants assessed at 12, 24, and 36 mo). Findings suggest few racial/ethnic differences in the psychometric properties of either version of the HOME scale. Both versions showed better prediction of cognitive child outcomes for all 3 racial/ethnic groups as well as better prediction of child outcomes generally for European-American than for Hispanic- and African-American families. ((c) 1997 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved).
Bibliography Citation
Sugland, Barbara W., Martha J. Zaslow, Judith R. Smith and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. "The Early Childhood HOME Inventory and HOME-Short Form in Differing Racial/Ethnic Groups: Are There Differences in Underlying Structure, Internal Consistency of Subscales, and Patterns of Prediction?" Journal of Family Issues 16,5 (September 1995): 632-663.