It takes an urban village - Parenting networks of urban families

This study examined the extent to which an urban village exists, in a sampl e of 206 African American, European American, and Hispanic American familie s with an elementary school-aged child. The urban village was evident in pa rental social networks with family, friends, and neighbors, although the na ture of these networks varied. Multiple regression analyses indicated that parental social networks have an indirect effect on children's socioemotion al development, mediated by parenting. Parents who received more emotional support and had less homogeneous social networks were more warm and respons ive, provided a more stimulating home environment, and felt more effective as parents. These parenting characteristics, in turn, were associated with fewer behavior problems and more social competence in the children.