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Transmission of Work Ethic in African-American Families and Its Links with Adolescent Adjustment

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Abstract

A strong work ethic generally has positive implications for achievements in work and school settings, but we know little about how it develops. This study aimed to describe the intra-familial transmission of work ethic and the associations between work ethic and adjustment in African American youth. Mothers, fathers, and two adolescent siblings (M age = 14.1 years) in 158 families were interviewed on two occasions. Path models revealed that fathers’ work ethic was positively linked with older siblings’ work ethic, which in turn was linked with more positive youth adjustment in the domains of school functioning and externalizing and internalizing problems. Moreover, the results indicated that the work ethics of older siblings, but not parents, was linked to those of younger siblings. The discussion focuses on the importance of African American fathers and siblings in youth adjustment and how work ethic may promote positive development.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD32336) to Susan M. McHale and Ann C. Crouter, Co-Principal Investigators. A portion of this paper was presented at the 2015 Biennial Meeting of Society for Research on Child Development in Philadelphia, PA.

Authors’ Contributions

BL conceived of the study, performed the statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript; JP participated in the interpretation of the data and helped to draft the manuscript; SM participated in the design of the study and interpretation of the data and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea University, 715 Uncho-Useon Education Building, Seoul, 02841, Korea

    Bora Lee

  2. Pennsylvania State University, 16 Henderson, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Jenny Padilla

  3. Pennsylvania State University, 114 Henderson, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Susan M. McHale

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  1. Bora Lee
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Correspondence to Bora Lee.

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Lee, B., Padilla, J. & McHale, S.M. Transmission of Work Ethic in African-American Families and Its Links with Adolescent Adjustment. J Youth Adolescence 45, 2278–2291 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0391-0

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