More from the JITP Board!

Reviews and Reports

Our reviews of current trends, books, or topics will focus on what we can learn, how what is “new” might connect to what is “old”, and how to find out more about the topic that is featured.

Understanding and Navigating Temper Tantrums 

Recent Research

We review our visitor and subscriber feedback every year and use it to improve JITP. Our analysis is presented to peers for feedback and validation. Thank you for helping JITP!

Together Time Meant Listening to Each More During the Pandemic

Every year we invite our subscribers to fill out an annual survey. Two years ago, we reviewed the results to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted our subscribers and their families. The full article is linked below. Although we do not collect personal information, we do have an identifier, which is the e-mail address. Using this, we compared responses before the pandemic with responses after the pandemic. Three important ratings did not change. Subscribers still rated the newsletter as very useful compared to other sources and they said that they valued the new knowledge they gained. No difference was found in self-reported stress, which we were pleased to see. However, there were some differences. First, the subscribers who filled out the survey pre- and post-pandemic reported using parenting tips less, but at the same time, the results showed that they increased their use of all parenting websites. They also showed a rise in a positive outlook for their family and from before the pandemic to after, the results showed that their families took more time to listen to each other. Some of these findings are not surprising: we were all on-line more while we were locked down at home, so we spent more time on the internet. It is possible that using more websites meant that JITP tips were not as important. However, being locked down at home also seems to have resulted in listening more, which is very positive.

However, we were curious about a trend showing up in other research at the time, which showed two types of impacts emerging during the pandemic. One group of families, typically better off, reported feeling minimally affected by the pandemic and optimistic about the future. However, families with fewer resources and more economic vulnerability were strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and faced increased emotional and fiscal stress. The respondents to our survey (of those who could be matched pre- and post-pandemic) belonged to the more affluent group. They were better educated, mostly female, mostly White, and more financially secure. The findings we report, that families were at home, listening more, and on the internet more, with fewer needs for tips, need to be understood as reflecting more financially secure families. We are recommending further research with less financially secure parents, who also subscribe to JITP, but who were not part of the set of subscribers who responded answered the survey both pre- and post-pandemic.  

We sincerely thank all our subscribers for responding to our annual call for feedback. The insights help us improve JITP for the needs of families.

Links to PDFS of the article and the journal of the National Association of Family and Consumer Science

[Link] Journal of the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Science