Rand D Conger

University of California, Davis | UCD · Department of Human Ecology

Building on recommendations from several of the articles in the special section on conscientiousness in the June 2014 issue of Developmental Psychology, the present study tested predictions from the interactionist model (IM) of socioeconomic influences on individual development. In an approach consistent with the idea of cumulative advantage, the m...

Some of the most widely studied variants in psychiatric genetics include variable number tandem repeat variants (VNTRs) in SLC6A3, DRD4, SLC6A4, and MAOA. While initial findings suggested large effects, their importance with respect to psychiatric phenotypes is the subject of much debate with broadly conflicting results. Despite broad interest, the...

The present study examines the influence of economic and family stress processes on change in drug and alcohol use in a cohort of 478 Mexican American youth (50.8% female) followed longitudinally beginning in Grade 5 when the youth averaged 10.4 years of age. Adolescents, their mothers (median age 36 at Grade 5), and their fathers (median age 39 at...

Some of the most widely studied polymorphisms in psychiatric genetics include variable number tandem repeat polymorphisms (VNTRs) in SLC6A3, DRD4, SLC6A4, and MAOA. While initial findings suggested large effects, their importance with respect to psychiatric phenotypes is the subject of much debate with broadly conflicting results. Despite broad int...

Guided by the integrative model (García Coll et al., 1996), this study examines prospective associations between perceived ethnic discrimination by peers, parental support, and substance use from 7th to 11th grades (Mage = 12.3–16.3 years) in a community sample of 674 Mexican‐American adolescents. Results from a cross‐lagged panel model indicate th...

Poster presented at SRA about sources of support and how these influence youth's intrinsic motivation and academic competence/

The present study examined adolescents’ neural responses to social exclusion as a mediator of past exposure to a hostile school environment (HSE) and later social deviance, and whether family connectedness buffered these associations. Participants (166 Mexican-origin adolescents, 54.4% female) reported on their HSE exposure and family connectedness...

We examine the pathways by which parents influence adolescents’ close friendships, focusing on three types of behavioral styles: hostile, warm, and problem solving. Structural equation models are estimated using data at two time points from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (N = 227 friendship pairs). Results suggest that the lives of adolescents...

Experiencing poverty during childhood and adolescence may affect brain function. However, income is dynamic, and studies have not addressed whether income change relates to brain function. In the present study, we investigated whether intrinsic functional connectivity of default mode network (DMN) regions was influenced by mean family income and fa...

Research in family psychology often focuses on understanding how multiple familial constructs develop over time. To examine these developmental processes, researchers frequently use a multivariate latent growth model (LGM) in which univariate LGMs are specified for each individual construct and then correlations are examined between the slopes and...

School belonging (i.e., social connectedness to school) has positive implications for academic achievement and well-being. However, few studies have examined the developmental antecedents of school belonging, particularly for students of Mexican origin. To address this gap in the research literature, the present study examined reciprocal relations...

Models of the etiology of adolescent antisocial behavior suggest that externalizing problems may reflect a susceptibility to crime exposure and a diminished capacity for emotion introspection. In this study, adolescents of Mexican origin completed a neuroimaging task that involved rating their subjective feelings of sadness in response to emotional...

Recent models have focused on how brain-based individual differences in social sensitivity shape affective development in adolescence, when rates of depression escalate. Given the importance of the hippocampus in binding contextual and affective elements of experience, as well as its putative role in depression, we examined hippocampal volume as a...

Mothering can be particularly demanding for single women who are more vulnerable to a variety of risks ranging from economic hardship to poor psychological functioning. These risks place their children at higher risk of experiencing maladjustment. Examining factors that contribute to the well-being of single mothers and, in turn, their parenting ma...

Cultural adaptation may influence Latino youth substance use (SU) development, yet few longitudinal studies have examined cultural change over time and adolescent SU outcomes. Using longitudinal data collected annually across ages 10–16 from 674 Mexican-origin youth (50% female), the authors characterized cultural adaptation patterns for language u...

Harsh, abusive, and rejecting behavior by parents toward their children is associated with increased risk for many developmental problems for youth. Children raised by harsh parents are also more likely to treat their own children harshly. The present study addresses conditions that would break this intergenerational cycle of harsh parenting. Data...

We used a longitudinal community study of 674 grade school children (Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8; 337 males, 337 females) of Mexican origin to examine outcomes of school attachment. Attachment to school is important in this population given the high level of school dropout rates of Mexican-origin students. Results indicated that, on average, school attac...

In the present study we examined changes in substance use and intentions to use substances for over 300 Mexican origin youth during the period from fifth to seventh grade. Consistent with the Family Stress Model, the findings showed that external stressors like economic pressure and ethnic discrimination increased maternal emotional distress which,...

This study examined factors that relate to academic competence and expectations from elementary to middle school for 674 fifth-grade students (50% boys; Mage = 10.86 years) of Mexican origin. Models predicting academic competence and expectations were estimated using a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework, with longitudinal data from fifth...

The primary goal of this study was to test how mother and adolescent proficiency in a common language moderates the link from parenting to adolescent development. A sample of Mexican-origin fifth-grade adolescents (N = 674, 50% female) was measured longitudinally on self-control and aggression. Mothers were rated on observed positive discipline, wa...

We examine the dynamics of substance use and psychiatric symptoms from childhood to adolescence using a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin families (N = 674). We present a longitudinal model capturing the trajectories of substance use and psychiatric symptoms (depression, conduct disorder), as well as the interrelations between these trajectories...

The recent U.S. recession has resulted in higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and child poverty, with African Americans disproportionately represented among the financially disadvantaged. Although past research has established the relationship between family financial hardship and various child adjustment problems, African Americans rema...

Despite widespread speculation about the detrimental effect of unsupervised self-care on adolescent outcomes, little is known about which children are particularly prone to problem behaviors when left at home without adult supervision. The present research used data from a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin children residing in the United Sta...

Rationale: Harsh, abusive and rejecting behavior by parents toward their adolescents is associated with increased risk of many developmental problems for youth. Objective: In the present study we address behaviors of co-parents that might help disrupt the hypothesized health risk of harsh parenting. Method: Data come from a community study of...

Aims: Alcohol consumption and internalizing symptoms, which often co-occur, pose considerable risk to the developing adolescent and have lasting public health consequences. Previous research has documented concurrent associations between alcohol use and symptoms of anxiety and depression, but the dearth of longitudinal research, particularly for et...

Research suggests that economic stress disrupts perceived romantic relationship quality; yet less is known regarding economic stress’s direct influence on negative behavioral exchanges between partners over time. Another intriguing question concerns the degree to which effective problem solving might protect against this hypothesized association. T...

A growing body of research supports the vulnerability model of low self-esteem and depression, which states that low self-esteem is a risk factor for depression. The goal of the present research was to refine the vulnerability model, by testing whether the self-esteem effect is truly due to a lack of genuine self-esteem or due to a lack of narcissi...

Los vínculos sociales y relaciones de apoyo son ampliamente reconocidos como indispensables para el funcionamiento psicológico saludable y el bienestar. El apoyo social es un recurso psicológico que se espera que contribuya también de manera positiva a las prácticas de crianza. El presente estudio examino longitudinalmente las relaciones entre el a...

Substance use initiation in adolescence is a critical issue, given its association with substance dependency and associated problems in adulthood. However, due to the dearth of fine-grained longitudinal studies, the factors associated with early initiation are poorly understood, especially in minority youth. The present study examined substance use...

The present study examined the development of a cohort of 279 early adolescents (52% female) from 1990 to 2005. Guided by the interactionist model of socioeconomic status and human development, we proposed that parent aggressive personality, economic circumstances, interparental conflict, and parenting characteristics would affect the development o...

Using prospective, longitudinal data spanning 10 years (age = 10-20) from a study of 295 economically disadvantaged males, the current investigation evaluated a developmental model that links early family environment and later educational aspirations, extracurricular activities, and educational attainment to substance use in early adulthood. The re...

This study focuses on 422 African American families with two caregivers as children transition into adolescence. The family stress model was tested longitudinally using structural equation modeling. Results showed that economic stress was associated with economic pressure and depressive symptoms among caregivers, which in turn was related to caregi...

Previous studies suggest that temperamental dispositions are associated with substance use. However, most research supporting this association has relied on European American samples (Stautz & Cooper, 2013). We addressed this gap by evaluating the prospective relations between 5th grade temperament and 9th grade substance use in a longitudinal samp...

Close parent-child relationships are viewed as important for the development of global self-esteem. Cross-sectional research supports this hypothesis, but longitudinal studies provide inconsistent prospective effects. The current study uses data from Germany (N = 982) and the United States (N = 451) to test longitudinal relations between parent-chi...

Genetic differences between populations are potentially an important contributor to health disparities around the globe. As differences in gene frequencies influence study design, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the natural variation of the genetic variant(s) of interest. Along these lines, we characterized the variation of the...

We argue that adolescent friendships flourish, or wither, within the “linked lives” of other salient social network ties. Based on structural equation modeling with data from two time points, we find that young people tend to be in high-quality friendships when they are tightly embedded in their social network and receive social support from their...

We model synchronized emotional responses (SERs) over time as random effects and test for intergenerational continuity. Using this novel specification, we correlate SERs with several variables shown in prior work to predict family functioning, and identify significant intergenerational continuity in SERs for parents and children, several theoretica...

Prior research suggests that acculturation may influence relationship outcomes among Mexican-origin married couples, including marital adjustment and distress. Despite much theory and research on parent-child cultural differences and disruptions in the parent-child relationship, no previous research has investigated possible associations between hu...

Prior research involving parents (G1) and their adult children (G2) shows intergenerational continuity in positive parenting. Previous research, however, has not shown circumstances under which the typically modest effect size for intergenerational continuity is augmented or attenuated. Using a multigenerational data set involving 290 families, we...

This study of a cohort of 451 adolescents examined associations between trajectories of problem behaviors and the timing of entry into work, marriage, and parenthood. We used data from 12 assessments across adolescence, through emerging adulthood and into young adulthood. We employed 2-phase mixed-effects models to estimate growth in substance use...

The authors examined the hypothesized influence of maternal and paternal hostility on youth delinquency over time. The investigation addressed significant gaps in earlier research on parental hostility, including the neglect of father effects, especially in African American families. Using prospective, longitudinal data from community samples of Eu...

Introduction: Economic stress is associated with marital instability, couple conflict, and lower relationship quality. Furthermore, economic hardship in the family of origin places youth at risk for economic hardship in adulthood and inter-parental discord is associated with romantic relationship difficulties in adulthood. To date, however, we know...

We tested the differential susceptibility hypothesis with respect to connections between interactions in the family of origin and subsequent behaviors with romantic partners. Focal or target participants (G2) in an ongoing longitudinal study (N = 352) were observed interacting with their parents (G1) during adolescence and again with their romantic...

There is increasing interest in identifying the personality traits correlated with the propensity to engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). The current study contributes to this literature by conceptually replicating and extending previous research documenting associations between personality traits and CWBs. Adolescent reports of Agree...

The relation between cultural socialization and ethnic pride during the transition to middle school was examined for 674 fifth-grade students (50% boys; Mage = 10.4 years) of Mexican origin. The theoretical model guiding the study proposes that parent-child relationship quality is a resource in the transmission of cultural values from parent to chi...

The developmental consequences of economic hardship and poverty for family functioning and child and adolescent adjustment continue to be of concern to developmentalists and policy makers. Economic changes in the United States during the past two decades, such as increasing income inequality, have renewed interest in how social position and economi...

Harsh, abusive, and rejecting behavior by parents toward their children is associated with increased risk for many developmental problems for youth. Earlier research also shows that children raised by harsh parents are more likely to treat their own children harshly. The present study evaluated nurturing and supportive behaviors of spouses or cohab...

The Family Life Project (FLP) is the most ambitious study ever launched to chart the course of social, emotional, and cognitive development of young, rural children-beginning at birth. The present monograph describes important findings from the research through three years of age. This commentary addresses several issues raised by the authors inclu...

According to the Development of Early Adult Romantic Relationships (DEARR) model (Bryant, C. M., & Conger, R. D. [2002]. Conger, R. D., Cui, M., Bryant, C. M., & Elder, G. H., Jr. [2000] interactional characteristics in the family of origin influence early adult romantic relationships by promoting or inhibiting the development of interpersonal comp...

There is evidence that seasonal variation in depressive symptoms is common in the population. However, research is limited by a reliance on longterm retrospective methods. Seasonal patterns were tested in two samples of community participants recruited in separate prospective studies in the Midwestern (n=556 males/females) and Pacific Northwestern...

We examined the relation between low self-esteem and depression using longitudinal data from a sample of 674 Mexican-origin early adolescents who were assessed at age 10 and 12 years. Results supported the vulnerability model, which states that low self-esteem is a prospective risk factor for depression. Moreover, results suggested that the vulnera...

Difficulties arise in multiple-group evaluations of factorial invariance if particular manifest variables are missing completely in certain groups. Ad hoc analytic alternatives can be used in such situations (e.g., deleting manifest variables), but some common approaches, such as multiple imputation, are not viable. At least 3 solutions to this pro...

Although studies have established associations between parenting characteristics and adolescent suicidality, the strength of the evidence for these links remains unclear, largely because of methodological limitations, including lack of accounting for possible child effects on parenting. This study addresses these issues by using autoregressive cros...

Two hundred and sixty-five participants and their romantic partners were involved in a prospective, longitudinal, and multimethod study during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Guided by the development of the early adult romantic relationships (DEARR) model (Bryant & Conger, 2002), the research (a) investigated mid-adolescent family ex...

Introduction: Economic distress undermines romantic relationship functioning and well-being (e.g., Conger & Conger, 2002); yet, positive interpersonal characteristics (e.g., planfulness, optimism, effective problem solving skills) may promote couple resilience during tough economic times (e.g., Donnellan et al., 2009; Masten, 2001). Given that: (a)...

This study examined how parents' optimism influences positive parenting and child peer competence in Mexican-origin families. A sample of 521 families (521 mothers, 438 fathers, and 521 11-year-olds) participated in the cross-sectional study. We used structural equation modeling to assess whether effective parenting would mediate the effect of pare...

OBJECTIVE: Investigations concerning adult personality development have increasingly focused on factors that are associated with apparent personality trait changes. The current study contributes to this literature by replicating and extending previous research concerning personality trait development in young adulthood and perceptions of workplace...

In this research, we evaluated how well overall levels of positive engagement in adolescents' families of origin, as well as adolescents' unique expressions of positive engagement in observed family interactions, statistically predicted marital outcomes approximately 20 years later. The sample consisted of 288 focal individuals and their spouses, d...

The present research used a latent variable trait-state model to evaluate the longitudinal consistency of self-esteem during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Analyses were based on ten administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) spanning the ages of approximately 13 to 32 for a sample of 451 participants. Resul...

The current study tested elements of the theoretical model of Portes and Rumbaut (1996), which proposes that parent-child differences in English fluency in immigrant families affect various family processes that, in turn, relate to changes in academic success. The current study of 674 Mexican- origin families provided support for the model in that...

Reports an error in "Positive-engagement behaviors in observed family interactions: A social relations perspective" by Robert A. Ackerman, Deborah A. Kashy, M. Brent Donnellan and Rand D. Conger (Journal of Family Psychology, 2011[Oct], Vol 25[5], 719-730). This article contained several errors. When specifying the over-time social relations model...

This third-generation, longitudinal study evaluated a family investment perspective on family socioeconomic status (SES), parental investments in children, and child development. The theoretical framework was tested for first-generation parents (G1), their children (G2), and the children of the second generation (G3). G1 SES was expected to predict...

In an effort to better understand possible pathways that lead to a relatively high incidence of depressive symptoms among Mexican American youth, an interpersonal stress model of depression was tested using a community sample of 674 Mexican American mothers and their 5th grade children. Structural equation analyses revealed that maternal depression...

This chapter presents research from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP), a longitudinal study of Iowa families who were living in small towns and on farms during the farm crisis of the 1980s. The research was designed to assess how the macrosocial change and economic upheaval that occurred across the US during the 1980s influenced family fun...

Past studies have correlated observer ratings with questionnaire self- and partn