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Fifty-two 44-month-old children were observed in a nursery school over a period of two weeks with peer and adult oriented behaviors recorded, and data analyzed in terms of the subjects' sex and birth order. Sex effects were as expected, but birth-order effects highlighted the second-born child as representing a distinct category. In particular, second-born children manifested greater dependency behavior than either first- or later-borns. The results are discussed in terms of the relationship between maternal responsiveness to attention-seeking behavior in infancy and later dependency behavior; i.e., parental responsiveness leads to less not more dependency behavior in later childhood. It is suggested that because the second-born child receives less attention in infancy, he later exhibits more dependency behavior. (Author/LH)

Previous research on family structure and child development has largely focused on the disadvantages faced by children who transitioned out of married families. However, we know less about how family structure affects child outcomes for children starting out in single-mother families. In this article, we use the kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to analyse children’s academic outcomes between kindergarten and eighth grade. We found that living in single-mother or step-families was clearly associated with lower test scores for children starting kindergarten in married biological-parent families, but the same disadvantages associated with living outside a married biological-parent family structure were not found for children starting kindergarten in single-mother families. We also found preliminary evidence of a buffering effect of maternal education in the relationship between family structure and children’s academic outcomes.

The article presents theoretical substantiation and empirical research of the problem of the influence of the family structure on the development of creativity of children of preschool age. The relationship between creativity and family type, number of children in the family, birth order, and intervals between births is analyzed. Peculiarities of influence of family structure (by the number of children) for the development of creativity of children of preschool age are researched. The absence of significant differences in partial (productivity, flexibility, originality) and a general indicator of verbal creativity of children with one child, small and large families has been experimentally established. Research of figurative creativity allowed to identify significant differences in partial indicators of productivity and originality, and the general indicator of figurative creativity: the highest arithmetic mean values are determined in the group of children from small families, and the lowest - in the group of children from large families. In children brought up in single children families, the highest arithmetic mean value is revealed by the partial indicator of the name, and the lowest - in children from large families. In children of preschool age from single, small, and large families no significant differences by partial indicators of the development and resistance to the closure were found. The heterogeneity of verbal and figurative creativity structure is determined in children of preschool age in all types of families. Significant differences were found in the general indicators of creativity: the highest arithmetic mean value was determined in the group of children from small families, and the lowest - in children from large families. Conclusions are made that children from small families are the most creative, and children from large families - the least.

Incarceration effects various facets of family structure and the system as a whole. Relationships may suffer immensely due to the consequences of incarceration, particularly the coparenting relatio...

Identifying conditions under which parents thrive is a key concern of family research. Prior research often focused on mothers’ well-being in single life domains, yet it is more likely to be shaped by stressors that stem directly from the parenting role and related stressors emerging from spillover processes into other domains. We therefore examine how stressors concerning mothers’ subjective, relational, and financial well-being accumulate and combine within subgroups of mothers and whether the likelihood to belong to these multidimensional subgroups varies by family structure. Using representative German data ( N = 11,242), latent class analysis revealed four distinct subgroups of maternal well-being with varying exposure to financial, psychological, and relational stressors. Regression models showed that particularly single mothers were at risk to belong to the most vulnerable group with exposure to multiple stressors. Findings are discussed in light of persisting disparities among post-separation families despite demographic trends toward growing family diversity.

Many variables can influence the process of motherhood, including environmental precarity and personal adversity. One about which little is known is the impact of incarceration on women during or after pregnancy. In France, pregnant women or those with children up to 18 months old can be incarcerated with their child in specific units called nurseries. We sought to explore incarcerated women’s experience of motherhood in prison environments and its potential consequences on the construction of their identity as mothers. We conducted semi-structured interviews to collect the experience of the process of motherhood among 25 mothers and 5 pregnant women in 13 different prison nurseries in France and used interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the data. Four different themes emerged: prison conflates their status as inmates and as mothers; it limits their freedom as mothers; it disrupts their family structure; and motherhood may help distinguish them from other inmates. Incarceration of pregnant women or young mothers in prison nurseries might disrupt the process involved in becoming mothers, causing their identities as prisoners to englobe their identities as mothers and resulting in inappropriate parenting support by prison staff. A professional specialized in peripartum issues should help each woman disentangle her identity as inmate and mother and enable her placement at the facility best adapted to her individual needs as a mother. In any case, if prison must continue to be possible, it must always be a last alternative for women with young children.

The present study adopted an ecological perspective, and examined effects of sense of belonging to multiple contexts in relation to adolescent adjustment, as well as possible differences between adolescents from intact and divorced families. Self-report questionnaires were used to investigate perceptions of family, school, peer, and neighborhood belonging among 969 adolescents. Results showed that mean level differences in belonging exist based on family structure, and that levels of family and neighborhood belonging vary between post-divorce maternal and paternal households. For all adolescents, sense of belonging predicted self-reported well-being, internalizing, and externalizing problems. Belonging was found to partly explain the relation between divorce and adjustment. Improving adolescents' belonging could therefore be an important step in ensuring a better adjustment post-divorce.

It has been argued that an increase in the number of siblings means that there are fewer parental investments made per child (resource dilution hypothesis). Yet, these studies are mostly based on biological two-parent families in which it can be assumed that parental resources are distributed more or less equally across siblings. This assumption does not hold in the complex family structure of a stepfamily where not all siblings are biologically related and living in the same household. Since more and more children are growing up in stepfamilies, a distinction between sibling types (full/half/step) is needed. In this study, we focus on the dilution of nonmaterial resources (i.e., parental involvement) and use the OKiN dataset to examine paternal (n = 1,077) and maternal (n = 1,369) resources separately. In this way, this study provides the first comprehensive overview of the dilution of parental resources in stepfamilies. While maternal resources are mostly diluted by full siblings, paternal resources are diluted by all sibling types (full, half, and step). We reflect on the implications of these results for the literature on sibship size as well as the literature on social mobility.

Leaving the parental home is a key step in successful transitions to adulthood. Early home-leaving (HL) is associated with lower educational attainment, but the role of early versus later home-leaving in the intergenerational transmission of education has not been assessed in previous research. We used a longitudinal register-based total sample of families in Finland to examine whether the association between parental and offspring education differs between early (below age 19) and later home-leavers, including a comparison between early and later leaving siblings. We found the lower probability of completing any secondary degree among early leavers to be larger among those with lower-educated than higher-educated parents. In contrast, in continuing to tertiary-level education, the educational disadvantage among early leavers was much larger among offspring of the higher-educated parents. Differences by HL across levels of parental education persisted adjustment for other parental and childhood resources, although only modest evidence of moderation was found when comparing early and later leaving siblings. Our findings on weaker intergenerational transmission of education among early leavers with an advantaged background, and accumulation of disadvantage among early leavers with less advantaged background suggest that timing of HL has an independent role in educational inequalities.

This study evaluates differences in parent–child leisure and parent affect across single- and two-parent families. The Ecology of Family Experiences framework suggests contextual factors such as family structure and the novelty of the activity environment contribute to heterogeneity in how parents experience leisure, partly because constraints may differ across family structures. Using a large, nationally representative data sample of parents from the American Time Use Survey (N = 78,353), this study shows single-parents experience leisure deficits compared to other parents, and leisure deficits are greatest in home-based leisure. Additionally, using a subsample (N = 16,214), we found that at-home leisure is more meaningful for single parents than other parents, suggesting avoidance behaviors do not drive differences. Instead, structural constraints like time and money likely curb leisure in single-parent homes. Findings have policy implications, because many leisure programs target away-from-home leisure which is less restorative to single parents.

To determine how parental guan is related to social-emotional development in adulthood and how demographic controls might influence the prediction of parental guan on social-emotional development, 176 adults completed a series of questionnaires. We expected that both maternal and paternal guan would be positively related to secure attachment in adulthood, emotion regulation, self-esteem, and social self-esteem, but negatively related to avoidance and anxious attachment in adulthood. Pearson correlations largely supported these expectations. Moreover, the results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that paternal guan was positively related to self-esteem but negatively related to anxious attachment in adulthood. Maternal guan, on the other hand, significantly predicted emotion regulation. Both maternal and paternal guan were significantly related to secure adult attachment and social self-esteem. Age, gender, and family structure contributed additional variance in some variables. We discuss our results in terms of the protective role of guan parenting in a child's life.

Research Findings: Since 2011, China has started to loosen its tight on the One-child Policy (OCP), which has impacted parent’s child-rearing beliefs and the provision of home learning environment ...

Social determinants of health frameworks are standard tools in public health. These frameworks for the most part omit a crucial factor: the family. Socioeconomic status moreover is a prominent social determinant of health. Insofar as family functioning is poorer in poor families and family structure and functioning are linked to health, it is critical to consider the pathways between these four constructs. In this correspondence, we reflect on how empirical studies of this conceptual nexus mirror two causal models. We conclude by reflecting on future directions for research in this field.

Background : At present, the existing studies which explore the factors influencing elderly widows to remarry and their achievement towards successful step-parenthood are limited. Remarriage and step-parenthood are integrated into the complexities of the social phenomena in human experiences, which entail coping and adjustments to life changes. Objective: The study explored the lived experiences of elderly widows regarding coping and adjustments to remarriage and step-parenting as new roles. Methods: The study made use of a phenomenological approach, particularly the transcendental approach, to have a better understanding of their lived-experience after remarriage. Self-made open-ended questions were raised in the series of interviews using interview guides. The study was conducted in Iligan City, Philippines, where all the six participants reside. Purposive sampling was used wherein participants are selected based on criteria necessary to answer the objectives of the study: (1) He/ she should be at least 60 years of age; (2) must be remarried after the death of the previous spouse; and, (3) must be a bi-parent. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Result: Three themes emerged in all interviews: (1) adjusting to a new marital role, (2) sharing responsible parenthood, and (3) rewarding new parental role. Results highlighted bi-parenting among elderly widows as an aptly complex lived- experience as widows enter remarriage. Conclusion: It is concluded that the remarried widows view life after remarriage with the new family and children as a positive experience despite the challenges. Remarriage and being with another family can improve the wellbeing of the elderly widows. Having children and a new partner around is an opportunity to bring back a complete family structure together. This research recommends further that the understanding of their experiences and phenomena should be the basis of identifying their status. Researchers and clinicians should provide essential information to elderly remarried widows about the healthy and proper coping and adjustment to this life-changing event.

“Overparenting” refers to an inappropriate parenting style in which parents intervene intrusively in their children’s development and overprotect them from difficulties and challenges. However, there is scant research on the relationship between overparenting and developmental outcomes in early adolescence. Moreover, the moderating roles of parent–child conflict, family intactness, and the adolescent’s gender on the relationship are undetermined. This study examined the associations between overparenting and developmental outcomes (indexed by egocentrism and positive youth development) of a sample of 1,735 Grade 7 students in Hong Kong (mean age = 12.63; 47.4% females). The moderating effects of parent–child conflict, family intactness, and the adolescent’s gender on these relationships were also examined. The results indicated that paternal overparenting and maternal overparenting were positively related to egocentrism and positive developmental outcomes among young Chinese adolescents. Furthermore, father–child conflict moderated the associations of maternal overparenting with egocentrism and positive youth development. At higher levels of father–child conflict, egocentrism and positive youth development increased at higher levels of maternal overparenting. Family intactness and the adolescent’s gender were also found to have moderating effects. The results provide insights into how familial conditions alter the relationship between overparenting and adolescent development. As related studies using adolescent samples are sparse, this study is pioneering in examining the impacts of overparenting on adolescents.

This study investigates the role of divorce and remarriage on cognitive outcomes of children. Using the rich panel data information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSC...

Africa is witnessing rapid changes in family structure with noticeable absence and non-involvement of fathers in child-rearing. This study investigated the influence of father involvement in child care on the emotional well-being of young adult offspring in a cross-sectional survey of 375 students (age: M = 21.05 ± 1.94) at a university in Botswana. The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale and the Perception of Father Involvement Scale were used to assess emotional well-being and fathers’ involvement, respectively. T-tests, analyses of variance, and regression analyses were used to compute subpopulation differences and the influence of father involvement on emotional well-being. Only 38% of the students lived in a household with both parents, 70% indicated that they have a father figure (biological father, stepfather, uncles, and grandfathers), whereas, 30% of the students indicated that they had had no father figure. The female gender (β = .17, 95% CI = [.07, .27]), father availability (β = .23, 95% CI = [.06, .39]), and responsibility (β = .22, 95% CI = [.07, .27]) significantly and independently predicted emotional well-being. Significant differences were observed between biological father figures and no father figures and between other father figures and no father figure regarding emotional well-being. Father involvement, particularly the domains of availability and responsibility and having a father figure during childhood are associated with better emotional well-being in offspring.

Parental divorce has been extensively documented as a risk factor for adolescent psychosocial functions. However, recent empirical findings argue that adolescents following parental divorce are not disadvantaged, indicating that adolescents’ reactions to parental divorce may vary substantially. Given these mixed findings in the existing literature, the current study uses a person-centered approach to explore psychosocial adjustment profiles in Chinese adolescents and compare these emerging profiles between adolescents from divorced and intact families. Likewise, this study investigates the direct and interactive effects of paternal attachment, maternal attachment, adolescent’s gender, and family structure (divorced vs. intact) on these emerging profiles. A total of 681 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years old (M age = 15.64; SD = 1.59) were involved in this study. Of these adolescents, 237 adolescents (59% girls) were from divorced families, and 444 adolescents (66% girls) were from intact families. The results of a latent profile analysis showed four empirically driven adjustment profiles: severely maladaptive, slightly maladaptive, indifferent, and adaptive. Adolescents from divorced families exhibited a higher proportion of the severely maladaptive profile and a lower percentage of the adaptive profile than those from intact families. Moreover, the results of a multinomial logistic regression exhibited that parental divorce enhanced the probability of being members of the maladaptive profile (vs. the adaptive profile) for boys. In addition, girls from divorced families with secure maternal attachment were more likely to be members of the adaptive profile (vs. the slightly maladaptive). The current findings indicate that Chinese adolescents following parental divorce exhibit a maladaptive pattern of psychosocial functions, and this maladjustment pattern is particularly heightened for boys. Secure maternal attachment significantly contributes to girls’ (but not boys’) post-divorce adaptive functions.

Latent class analysis and multigroup mediation were used with 8,860 families in Chile to identify risk groups varying in socioeconomic status, family structure, and maternal depression, to determine whether profiles differed in children's development of externalizing problems (EP) from 35 to 61 months, and maternal parenting that predicted EP. Four groups were identified: one no-risk profile and three risk profiles, impoverished and undereducated, depressed and impoverished, and father-absent and impoverished. All classes differed in EP. Maternal emotional support and harsh parenting were differentially associated with the development of EP across the three risk groups, relative to the low-risk group. Thus, specific constellations of adversities differentially predicted children's EP and socialization processes mediating links between risk and EP. Implications are discussed.

본 연구는 생애과정론(life course theory)에 근거한 접근을 통해 아동기 및 청소년기 가족소득과 가족구조의 변화 추이에 대한 통시적 경험이 학업성취와 정신건강에 미치는 영향을 탐색한다. 기존 연구는 가족소득과 가족구조 요인들을 공시적으로 파악하거나 양 요인들의 시간가변성(time-variability)으로 인한 교란성(confounding)과 과도통제성(overcontrolling)의 문제를 간과하는 경향을 보여 왔다. 이와 같은 기존 연구의 취약성을 극복하기 위해 이 연구는 가족소득 및 가족구조와 관련된 자녀의 경험 지속성과 두 요인 간의 시간적 상호성에 주목한다. 이러한 차원들을 고려하기 위해 본 연구는 아동청소년패널의 초1 패널과 초4 패널 자료를 한계구조모형(marginal structural model)을 통해 분석한다. 분석결과에 따르면, 장기간 저소득 가정에서 자라거나 가족구조의 변화를 경험한 자녀들은 낮은 학업 성취도를 보이며 이러한 효과는 아동기와 청소년기를 아우르는 초기 생애 단계 전반에 걸쳐서 나타난다. 반면 한부모 가정에서 성장한 자녀는 청소년기에 낮은 학업 성취도와 높은 우울 증세를 보인다. 이와 같은 결과는 가족소득과 가족구조라는 아동 및 청소년 발달의 주요 요인들이 서로를 결정짓는 경쟁 관계라기보다는 각각 독립적으로 아동발달에 영향을 미치는 공존 관계임을 시사한다. 또한 이들 요인 각각의 효과는 생애 단계별로 달라질 수 있음을 의미한다.

La violencia filio-parental (VFP) es un tipo de violencia intrafamiliar que ha cobrado visibilidad social y científica en los últimos años. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar distintas formas de VFP y su relación con dos grupos de variables. Por un lado, el género, la edad, la estructura familiar, el curso, el rendimiento académico, el consumo de drogas, la frecuencia de dicho consumo y el diagnóstico de psicopatología. Por otro lado, la exposición a la violencia, el calor parental, el autoconcepto, el sexismo, el narcisismo y la psicopatía. Los participantes fueron 225 estudiantes de instituto, de 14 a 20 años, el 54.7% chicas. Las tasas de VFP fueron inferiores a las de estudios españoles previos pero semejantes a las de otros países. La mayoría de los participantes realizaron una sola conducta, insultar, y la conducta de pegar nunca apareció sola, sino en combinación con al menos otras dos conductas. El análisis de los datos mostró que la capacidad de las variables estudiadas para predecir la VFP varía para cada conducta específica. Los resultados se discuten proponiendo que los estudios futuros consideren la VFP como un problema social que trasciende la relación padres-hijos. Child-to-parent violence (CPV) is a type of domestic violence that has gained social and scientific visibility in recent years. The objective of this study is to analyze different forms of CPV and their relationship with two groups of variables. The first group includes gender, age, family structure, school year, academic performance, drug use, frequency of drug use and diagnosis of psychopathology. The second analyzes exposure to violence, parental warmth, self-concept, sexism, narcissism and psychopathy. The participants were 225 high school students from 14 to 20 years old, 54.7% of them girls. The CPV rates were lower than those of previous Spanish studies but similar to those in other countries. Most participants engaged in only one behavior, insulting, and hitting never appeared alone, but in combination with at least two other behaviors. The analysis of the data showed that the ability of the variables under study to predict CPV varies for each specific behavior. The results are discussed by proposing that future studies consider CPV as a social problem that goes beyond parent-child relations.

The purpose of this study was to examine religious motivation to adopt and how this relates to decisions families made while adopting, firm discipline, attachment, parent stress and affect, and chi...

[eng] Entering adulthood is characterised by different choices. These include choosing whether or not to study, leave the parental home or work. This article examines the potential links between family environment and the choices made by young adults using data from the Enquete nationale sur les ressources des jeunes (ENRJ, National survey on young adults’ resources). The econometric methodology adopted allows us to take into account the quasi-simultaneous nature of these decisions. Aside from family structure, income, geographic location and the socio-professional category of the parents, we include indicators measuring the quality of young people’s relationships with their parents. In particular, we show that the professional and financial situation of the parents is not the only determining factor of the decisions made by young people; the quality of young people’s relationships with their parents also has an influence on their decisions.

This research seeks to contextualise parental involvement in Jamaica based on data collected at the Grade One level from parents, teachers and principals. A sequential explanatory mixed methods des...

In the study reported on here we sought to identify teaching and general stressors, and how they contributed to work-family-conflict among female teachers in urban public schools in Kenya. A total of 375 female teachers with at least their youngest child not yet in primary school completed a survey of closed and open-ended questions. Role theory, stressors, and work-family conflict literature informed the study. The data were analysed using hierarchical regression and content analysis. Findings yielded some contradictory results suggesting that, while the work-family conflict is a universal construct, culture and socioeconomic factors likely influence the nature and the impact of stressors. That is, these teachers identified stressors not mentioned in previous Western literature and not captured by quantitative measures. For instance, the greatest stressor cited was domestic workers not being reliable. The study also indicated that disruptions in the normal flow of work was regarded as a stressor. In addition, a sick child, rather than its age, was regarded as a stressor. Theoretical and practical contributions of the study are provided.

We examined the impact of family structure and family processes on engagement in multiple and co-occurring problem behaviors during adolescence (delinquency, substance use, risky sexual behavior, a...

Maternal marital status may contribute to health disparities among children; marriage often associates with better outcomes. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we teste...

Research suggests that children who live with two biological married parents are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems than children who do not. While research on childhood outcomes often focuses on the nature of the family structure itself, recent studies have pointed to relationship quality between parents, and between parents and children, as important mechanisms through which family structure affects children. However, the independent influence of these two mechanisms—relationship quality between parents and between parents and children—on childhood outcomes has never, to our knowledge, been tested outside of a high-income western environment. Using the Korean Youth Panel Study (KYPS), we use cross-sectional and longitudinal GEE models to examine the influence of family structure, parent–child relationship quality, and parental conflict on internalizing and externalizing behavior problems among 2844 adolescents in South Korea, a high-income, non-western context with relatively little family structure instability. We found that family structure, parental conflict, and parent–child relationship quality were all significantly related to child well-being. Children living in family structures other than with their two married biological parents were more likely to report internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Further, parental conflict was negatively related to child well-being, while parent–child relationship quality was positively related to child well-being. These findings show that interpersonal relationships are important to children across family structures and should be included in studies examining how families impact child well-being. Our study also reinforces the importance of looking at family structures and processes in non-western contexts.

Drawing on immigrant adaptation and life course perspectives, this study explores reasons for differences in the timing of young adults’ departure from the parental home. We extend existing research by examining: (a) associations between home-leaving, and immigrant generation and parental region of origin, and (b) the role of parental language use in the home as a moderator of these associations. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 ( N = 5,994), we used Cox proportional hazard regressions to estimate the risk of home-leaving. Results revealed that 3+ generation immigrants are most likely to leave home, followed by second, 1.75, and 1.5 generation. Youth whose parents were from Latin America were least likely to leave compared with those with parents from other regions. Parental language spoken at home is a moderator such that, net of controls, youth with Latin American parents are less likely to leave the parental home than those with U.S.-born parents when their parents speak a language other than English at home. Findings contribute to the immigration literature by examining nuanced differences among immigrants of different generations and origins, and pointing to multiple factors that contribute to differences in the timing of the transition out of the parental home.

A randomized trial was conducted in rural Uganda in which 112 villages were exposed to video dramatizations about violence against women (VAW) or placebo topics. The treatment videos encouraged viewers to report VAW. Eight months later, surveys showed increased willingness to report in treatment villages as well as lower reported rates of VAW. The present survey experiment suggests a possible causal mechanism: the videos made allegations more credible so that those who come forward with reports are more confident that they will be believed.

ispartof: Family Relations vol:70 issue:3 pages:717-725 status: published

Family belonging is considered as an important need that affects the individual emotionally, mentally and socially in all family structures. The aim of this study was to compare the sense of belonging to a family in university students having either single- or two-biological-parent families. Mixed-method research design were used, combining qualitative (26 participants) and quantitative (766 participants) methods. Results showed that “family belonging” of subjects from two-biological-parent families was higher than those from single-parent families. Among the participants having single-parent families a range of factors were significant in affecting the degree of their sense of family belonging. These included: the type of the single-parent family (either mother-headed or father-headed) and the reason leading to being a single-parent family. Qualitative analysis revealed that a significant portion of both participant groups felt part of a nuclear family; felt similarly about the essence, functions and components of family belonging; and reported that their relationship with their parents influenced their sense of family belonging. Both of the participant groups felt the sense of family belonging most and least on “special days” and during “difficult times”, respectively. These findings imply that family structure is critical indicators of family belonging and the relationships with parents related to family belonging. Improving family belonging in single parent families should be taken into consideration in the area of family welfare.