Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

exposure to both acute and chronic stressors (McLoyd, 1998), social-emotional
development in preschool-aged children from families facing socioeconomic hardships is
of pivotal concern.
According to the theory of family stress, the effects of poverty and economic
hardship on less supportive, consistent, and involved parenting is mediated by
psychological distress caused by negative life events, undesirable chronic conditions, and
the absence of marital bonds and marital conflict (McLoyd, 1990). Thus, economic
hardships influence child development indirectly through parenting practices. The
progression from socio-economic hardship to parental mental distress to disrupted
parenting to negative child development outcomes represent the crux of the theory of
family stress (Ryan et al., 2006). Previous research supporting this theory has particularly
implicated maternal depression as a key mediator of socio-economic hardship and
negative social-emotional outcomes for their children. Regarding variable relations,
Linver, Brooks-Gunn, and Kohen (2002) reported that maternal emotional distress was
positively correlated with persistent poverty, authoritarian parenting practices, and
children‘s behavior problems at ages 3 and 5 years. Conversely, maternal emotional
distress was negatively correlated with authoritative parenting practices. Regarding
developmental processes linking socio-economic hardship and children‘s negative social-
emotional outcomes, maternal emotional distress and parenting practices have been found
to mediate relations between income and children‘s behavior problems. More
specifically, previous research has reported that maternal depression was associated with
children‘s externalizing behavior problems both directly and indirectly through punitive
25