these families

CUMULATIVE DISADVANTAGE AND PARENTING Cumulative disadvantage perspectives highlight the implications of sequential stresses and deficits for human and social development (Hagan & Foster, 2003). Hagan's (1991) analysis of longitudinal data specifies the process of cumulative disadvantage as one in which earlier difficulties and setbacks amplify the implications (and deleterious effects) of current ones. Put simply, a cumulative disadvantage perspective implies "there is less room for mistakes when opportunities are scarce" (Hannon, 2003, p. 576). The accumulation of disadvantage is best conceptualized as dynamic, in that it occurs over time and is multidimensional rather than fixed and static (Sampson & Laub, 1997). Such a conceptualization also acknowledges the potentially negative consequences of being "labeled" and subsequently stigmatized for understanding behavior. Here, relevant labels would include those connected with criminal justice involvement (e.g., felon, ex-con), and the necklaces for public assistance (e.g., welfare mother, lazy).

Cumulative disadvantage is characterized by multiple contextual risk factors relevant for parenting such as residing in poor neighborhoods, parental unemployment, single-parent households with three or more children, chronic mental and physical health problems, and being a member of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically disadvantaged group (Ceballo & Hurd, 2008; Puckering, 2004; Williams & Collins, 1995). Parental incarceration is also a well-known feature of cumulative disadvantage (Foster & Hagan, 2007; Sampson & Laub, 1997) and has a demonstrated impact on parenting practices (Beck, Cooper, McLanahan, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009). Sharlin and Shamai (2000) characterize such families as "multiproblem" and note that mothers in these families are particularly overloaded and tiffany jewellery due in part to the lack of parenting support from the men in their lives. It is no surprise that contextual cumulative disadvantage factors are linked to childhood adversity and maladjustment (Beyers, Bates, Pettit, & Dodge, 2003; Kaplan & Owens, 2004; Puckering, 2004) as well as compromised parenting (Bank, Forgatch, Patterson, & Fetrow, 1993; Ceballo & Hurd, 2008; Hanson, McLanahan, & Thomson, 1999). The parenting practices in contexts of persistent disadvantage have been characterized as inconsistent, harsh, and largely shaped by mother's mood, her level of preoccupation, and her response to crisis events (Bank et al., 1993; Hanson et al., 1999; McLoyd, 1990; Puckering, 2004). Hoghughi (2004) described the context of cumulative disadvantage as "a culture of daily struggle and fatalism with low expectations and erosions of hope, which in turn lead to poor care and control of children" (p. 14). Contexts of poverty seem to magnify vulnerabilities in parents, burden parents beyond their coping resources, and make it difficult for mothers to invest the necessary time and energy in their children (Sharlin & Shamai, 2000).MATERNAL DISTRESS

In thinking about the question of how the accumulation of disadvantage is experienced by low-income mothers, we consulted family stress theory, which posits that "the primary mechanism through which contextual stressors impair parenting is money clips psychological distress" (Kotchick, Dorsey, & Heller, 2005, p. 449). A rich body of empirical literature has demonstrated that psychological distress mediates the link between cumulative disadvantage and harsh, inconsistent parenting (McLoyd et al., 2006). We expand on the theoretical and empirical conceptualization of psychological distress by broadening the notion of parental distress to include relational and situational elements as well. We distinguish this combination of factors as maternal distress. Our conceptualization of maternal distress is based on grounded theorizing resulting from the first author's analysis of mothers' experience after a period of incarceration (Arditti & Few, 2008).