Community Context: The Perspectives and Adaptations of Working Parents

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Community Context The Perspectives and
Adaptations of Working Parents

• Principal Investigators Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes,
  Ph.D. Shelley MacDermid, Ph.D.
• Summary Presentation by Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes,
  Boston College
• March 17, 2005

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Presentation Topics Bringing Community Out of
the Shadows

• Conceptual Framework
• Measuring the Anchor Concepts
• Preliminary Findings Community Context
  Matters

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Why Study Community?

• Community muted in existing paradigms
• Employees expect community-based support
• Carework conducted in community
• Dependents spend their days in the community

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At Work
At Home
At School
In the Community
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The Nurturing Families Study Research Questions

• What resources do parents use at home, at work,
  and in the community to manage work and family
  responsibilities?
• What outcomes are associated with parents use of
  the strategies that they use?
• To what extent does a family-friendly workplace
  or a family-friendly community affect the
  health and well-being of working parents and
  their children?

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Study Highlights

• 6 communities
• 199 families
• 357 parents, 199 middle school age children
• Approximately 90 of participating families were
  Euro-American or white

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Communities at a Glance (Census Data)
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Data Collection

• In-person interviews with working mothers and
  working fathers plus middle school age child
• Pre-Interview questionnaire
• Short experience sampling sub study
• With permission, information gathered from HR at
  place of employment
• Survey of relevant human service organizations

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Types of Information

• Demographics
• Health and Well-Being
• Schools
• Communities
• Work and Work Environment
• Parents Roles at Home and at Work
• Parenting Experiences
• Work-Family Strategies and Tactics
• Interface of Work and Family
• Social Supports

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What is a family-friendly place?

• Workplace Construct
• Programs and services
• Relationships
• Attitudes and values culture
• Policies and Strategy
• Design of work

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Four Dimensions of Community

• Policies and Programs Schools, Family and
  Childrens Services, Accessibility
• Neighborhood Relationships
• Attitudes and Values culture
• Family Supportive Policies

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Comparing Communities
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Overall Assessment of Community
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Understanding Variance in Perceptions of Community

• Months in community not related nor a predictor
• Extent of community involvement not related nor a
  predictor
• Use of community-based resources was related to
  overall perception.
• Pessimism scores were related to overall
  perception.
• Community-based resources and pessimism explain
  22 of variance.

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Perceptions of Community and Outcomes
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Future Inquiries

• Overall Assessments of Community, Use of
  Community-based Resources, and Community
  Involvement Possible Resilience Factors
• Relationships between Perceptions of Parents and
  Children
• Relationships between Parents Overall
  Assessments and Ideal Community for Working
  Families