Parent-child relationship qualities and child adjustment in highly stressed urban black and white families

Compared poor, highly stressed African-American and White, 2nd–6th grade urban parents and their children on: a) three parent–child relationship clusters (i.e., positive attitudes, involvement, and discipline practices); b) nine child adjustment variables; and c) patterns of relationships between these two sets of variables. There were no significant racial group differences on any parent–child relationship cluster. Although White children exceeded African-American children on social problem solving and realistic control variables, few group differences were found in the relationships between parenting- and child test-variables. In both groups, the parent attitude cluster, reflecting overall warmth and soundness of the parent–child relationship, was the strongest predictor of positive child outcomes on teacher and child self-ratings of adjustment.