Objective

We examined (1) the relationship that parental objective social status (OSS) and subjective social status (SSS) have with children's health-related quality of life (HRQOL), (2) whether SSS mediates the association between OSS and HRQOL, and (3) whether these associations differ among Black, Latino, and White children.

Method

Data came from 4,824 Black, Latino, and White 5th graders in the Healthy PassagesTM study. OSS was measured as parent educational attainment and net equivalent household income. SSS was measured by parent rating of community and national standing on the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status. Child HRQOL was measured with child report on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) physical and psychosocial scales. Structural equation modeling path analysis was conducted using Mplus version 7.4.

Results

The data supported the hypothesized measurement and structural models. Whereas parental OSS was positively related to psychosocial HRQOL for all three racial/ethnic groups and to physical HRQOL for Latino children, parental SSS was not related to either for any of the racial/ethnic groups. Therefore, mediation by SSS was not supported for any group.

Conclusion

OSS was confirmed to have stronger association with children's HRQOL than parental SSS. This is in contrast to some research on adults, raising the questions of how best to assess SSS relevant to children and at what point in development SSS may influence children's health and well-being. The persistent relationship found between parental OSS and child health suggests that efforts to improve low socioeconomic resources in families may contribute to improve children's health.

Objective

This study examined how parental general monitoring (PGM), which refers to parental awareness of adolescents' activities in various domains, is associated with adolescents' weight status and related behaviors and whether these relationships differ among racial/ethnic groups.

Methods

Data are from 4,088 Black, Latino, and White youth assessed in seventh grade (mean age = 13.06). BMI percentile based on measured height and weight indicated weight status. PGM was assessed by adolescent report of parents' awareness of money spending, friends, and whereabouts. Adolescents reported both healthy and unhealthy dietary intake (DI), physical activity, and screen time over the past 7 days. Total sample and multigroup structural models were estimated.

Results

PGM was associated with lower weight status for the total sample, as well as being positively associated with healthy DI and physical activity and inversely associated with screen time across racial/ethnic groups. PGM was also inversely associated with unhealthy DI, except for in Black adolescents. There was an indirect effect from PGM to lower weight status via reduced screen time among Latino and White adolescents.

Conclusions

Positive outcomes associated with PGM are extended to weight status and related behaviors. Efforts at improving weight status and related behaviors could benefit from addressing general parenting practices with their children.