Background:

1. Investigating the Relationship between Perceived Maternal Acceptance-Rejection and the Psychological Well-Being of African American Young Adults

2. and roles of African American Mothers… MOTHERS REMAIN IN THE ROLE OF MAIN CAREGIVER CO-PARENT Caregiver + contributor to economy Background: Historical Overview of AA Fatherhood… STERN PATRIARCH BREADWINNER FREEMEN’SBUREAU GENIAL PLAYMATE/ROLE MODEL SEX-ROLE MODEL CO-PARENT

3. Background: Importance of Topic: • Defines the specific contributions mothers have on a child’s psychological Well-Being • Promotes understanding of the impact that “non present” mothers have on child psychological Well-Being • Provides a new way to conceptualize a mother’s behavior in relation to children’s Well-Being. • Recognizes need to increase the number of studies on topic, on this population, and this age group

4. Theory: • PARTheory, personality subtheory which seeks to explain main causes and consequences of parental nurturance as children perceive their relationship with their parent • PARTheory looks at parental acceptance and rejection and how it affect children’s development, and follows them through adulthood. • Parental acceptance-rejection construct the warmth dimension of parenting Theoretical tools used: Rohner’s,1986

5. Study Aims: How does perceived maternal nurturance affect the psychological well-being of African Americans emerging into adulthood?

6. Hypothesis: • There is a positive correlation between perceived maternal acceptance and the psychological well-being of young adults. • As perceived maternal warmth increases, the young adult’s psychological well-being will increase.

7. The Results: Parental Acceptance Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ): Mean score, M=37.1,SD=12.93,n= 228 Findings: Students experienced significantly lower levels of maternal rejection and higher levels of acceptance during adolescence

8. The Results: Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ): Mean score, M= 120.78 , SD= 25.80, n= 189 Findings: Indicate that this sample population experienced a moderate level of self-reported well- being.

9. The Results: Bi-variate correlation: The correlation proves to be moderate, indicating that there is a relationship between perceived maternal acceptance and the psychological well-being ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

10. Results: Scatter Gram: Provides a graphic view of relationship that exist between mother nurturance and psychological well-being

11. Discussion: Hypothesis • Moderate positive relationship Relationship to PARTheory: • Parental relationshipspredictor of child’s well-being (Rohner’s, 1986) Relationship to Theory: • Gecas & Schwalbe • Veneziano (2000) • Brynum and Kotchick, 2006

12. Discussion: Limitations • Generalizing results • Cross-sectional study • Sample of convenience • Not causal relationship • Ambiguity Future Research • Maternal nurturance at different developmental stages and gender differences.

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