Comparison of Role Demands,Relationships, and Child Functioning in Single-Mother,Single-Father,and Intact Families

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the impact of divorce on parents and children, but most of these studies have been restricted to single-mother families. This study compared differences in role demands, relationships, and child functioning using the responses of parents and children in 30 single-mother, 30 single-father, and 30 intact families. Single fathers had better resources than single mothers, more positive parenting than married fathers, and relied more on friends than the married parents. Single mothers had less education, less prestigious jobs, lower incomes, and more economic strain than the other parents. They also had fewer social resources and more difficulty than married parents with the parenting role. Despite these disadvantages of single mother families, children in these families were no different than children in other families on most measures of well-being. The only problem that was identified in the functioning of children from single-parent families was with their behavior. These findings can be used to develop strategies to reduce risks and enhance the existing resources and strengths of single-parent families.     

A Comparison of Children Living in Single-Mother and Single-Father Families

Research comparing children living in single-mother and single-father families has become important due to the increase in the number of parents contesting custody in divorce cases and as the number of single custodial fathers increases. The present study was designed to investigate a number of characteristics relating to children living in single-father families (SFFs) and in single-mother families (SMFs). Previous research has suggested that in the case of separation and/or divorce the mother is the more competent parent to raise the children. However, recent studies have provided some support for the idea that single fathers can be effective single parents. The subject sample included 42 single divorced custodial parents (21 single mothers and 21 single fathers) and their 62 (6- to 16-year-old) children. The measures employed were The Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC; Harter, 1985) and The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). One-way MANCOVA and ANCOVA procedures were performed and it was found that the overall scores of children from single-father families (SFFs) did not differ significantly from children in single-mother families (SMFs) on the SPPC and the CBCL. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

The Role of Grandparents in Single-Parent Families in Taiwan

Using data from the Taiwan Education Panel Survey, this study explored the role of co-resident grandparents in Taiwan's single-parent families. Single fathers were more likely to settle in multigenerational living arrangements than single mothers. Grandparent co-residence was positively associated with adolescents’ cognitive scores, but the benefit was even larger for youths from single-father families. Grandparent co-residence was correlated with greater parental investment, although in different ways for different types of single families. Single fathers interacted more with the child and had higher educational expectations if living with a grandparent. Single mothers in three-generation families spent more tutorial expense than other single mothers. These results suggest that the grandparent role may be supplementary to weak family functioning.     

Single Parenthood,Parental Involvement and Students’ Educational Outcomes in Hong Kong

Analyzing data from the Programme for International Student Assessment Hong Kong 2009 and 2012 (n = 7,669), we examined the differences in socioeconomic characteristics of fathers and mothers and levels of parental involvement between two-parent, single-mother, and single-father families in Hong Kong. We found that parents from single-mother and single-father families fare differently in terms of sociodemographic background and parental involvement at home. We also investigated the differences in students’ academic performance among these families. Past studies failed to find any significant effect of single parenthood on students’ academic performance in Hong Kong. We found negative effects of single fatherhood, but not single motherhood, on educational outcomes. The disadvantages of single fatherhood are partially explained by the poorer sociodemographic background and lower levels of parental involvement.     

Young Children's Negative Stereotyping of Peers from Divorced Families

Abstract

Five to 7-year-olds assigned the negative item, on 6 of 7 bipolar pairs of items representing divorce stereotypes in simplified form, more frequently to a child stimulus presented as from a divorced family than to a child described as from an intact family. Negative stereotyping of young children from divorced families was evidenced most clearly by female participants. Gender effects were indicated for participants, child stimulus pairs, and for treatment conditions where participants responded to children from single-mother or single-father versus intact families.     

The Single-Father Family

SUMMARY

This paper examines the demographic and economic characteristics of single-father families, with particular attention to public transfer receipt. Cohabiting and non-cohabiting single fathers are examined and compared to fathers in married-couple families. Estimates from the 1997 March, Current Population Survey (CPS) are featured. Selected trend data for 1984, 1989, and 1996 are also presented. The analyses show that single fathers earn substantially less than married fathers, have lower household incomes, are less educated, and are substantially more likely to be receiving public transfers. Further, the socioeconomic gap between single and married fathers has been increasing since 1984.     

The Effect of Parental Presence, Parents’ Education, and Household Headship on Adolescents’ Schooling and Work in Latin America

We investigate how the presence and education of parents affect adolescents’ school attendance, work participation, and school attainment in Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama. Across the four countries, approximately 20% of adolescents live in single-mother families and 4% in single-father families. Adolescents who live in single-mother families have significantly lower school attendance and attainment than adolescents who live with both parents. However, the effects of living in a single-mother family are small relative to the effects of parents’ education. Adolescents who live in single-mother families are not more likely to work than adolescents in two-parent families. Finally, targeting benefits to children in single-mother families would reach more children at risk of poor school outcomes than targeting children in female-headed households.Mary Arends-Kuenning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 408 Mumford Hall, MC-710, 1301 W. Gregory, Urbana, IL 61801; e-mail: marends@uiuc.edu.Suzanne Duryea, Inter-American Development Bank, 1300 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20577, USA; e-mail: suzanned@iadb.org.     

The Family Economic Strain Scale: Development and Evaluation of the Instrument with Single- and Two-Parent Families

The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument to measure economic strain in single-parent and two-parent families. The Family Economic Strain Scale (FESS) originally contains 25 items. Thirteen items is adapted from previous research and 12 are developed for the study. The FESS is pilot tested using data from a sample of 59 single-mother, 12 single-father, and 164 two-parent families. Factor analysis reveals that the instrument contained one 13-itein dimension that is highly reliable (.92). The construct validity of the measure is evaluated using three hypotheses and data from a second study involving 30 single-mother, 30 single-father, and 30 two-parent families. ANOVA and standard multiple regression are used for the analyses. All three hypotheses are supported and variance accounted for is substantial. The FESS is a highly reliable and valid instrument that will be of value to researchers examining perceived economic strain in single-parent and two-parent families.     

Living Arrangements of Single Parents and Their Children in South Korea

As the divorce rate in South Korea increases, an increasing proportion of children are growing up in single-parent families. Given the limited public support and disadvantages for women in the labor market, it is expected that single parents in Korea, single mothers in particular, are more likely to use family ties to mitigate economic and social difficulties, including the option to live with their parents. We assessed the living arrangements of single parents and their children with respect to co-residence with the grandparents of the children using samples from the 2010 Korean Census and the Program for International Student Assessment conducted in 2009. We found that a fairly small proportion of single mothers live with their parents and that the prevalence of co-residence with parents among both single mothers and single fathers was relatively low in Korea compared with Japan and Taiwan. We also found that single parents with a higher level of education are more likely to live with their parents than those with less education, which contrasts with the pattern found in the United States. We discuss the implications of our findings in contemporary Korea, which has traditionally been regarded as a country with strong family ties.     

Dropping Out of High School: The Effects of Family Structure and Family Transitions

We use the 1988, 1990, and 1992 waves of data from the National Education Longitudinal Study to examine the effects of family structure and family transitions on adolescent high school dropout. Our study differs from previous studies by using a large longitudinal sample (N?=?21,420) and applying event history analysis with standard errors corrected for clustered sampling. Our study has two major contributions. First, we examine single-mother, single-father, stepmother, and stepfather families separately. Controlling for socioeconomic status, children from single-mother families are doing better than children from single-father and stepparent families. Second, using event history we can determine the causal order between family transitions and high school dropout rates. We find high school students are not hurt by their parents marrying, remarrying, or starting a cohabiting relationship, but are negatively affected by a parental divorce or separation during the high school years.     

Are Mothers and Fathers Interchangeable Caregivers?

Abstract

Recent debates about same-sex marriage have raised questions concerning the interchangeability of mothers and fathers. This paper provides three pieces of empirical evidence that highlight the distinct role that fathers and mothers play in the home. First, we use time-use data to show that fathers and mothers provide different amounts of time to their children regardless of who is the breadwinner in the household. Second, we show that men and women choose different occupations, with men more likely to choose occupations that have a protective role and mothers more likely to choose an occupation with a nurturing role. Third, we find that children are much less likely to experience domestic violence and neighborhood violence when there is a father in the home.     

Scaling Back and Finding Flexibility: Gender Differences in Parents' Strategies to Manage Work–Family Conflict

Studies show that fathers report work–family conflict levels comparable to mothers. The authors examine gender differences in work‐related strategies used to ease such conflicts. The authors also test whether the presence of young children at home shapes parents' use of different strategies. They address these focal questions using panel data from the Canadian Work, Stress, and Health study (N = 306 fathers, 474 mothers). The authors find that mothers with young children are more likely to scale back on work demands when compared with fathers with young children, but mothers and fathers with older children are equally likely to pursue these strategies. Furthermore, women with young children and men with older children are more likely to seek increased schedule control as a result of work–family conflict when compared with their parent counterparts. The authors situate these findings in the vast literature on the consequences of work–family conflict.     

Do Young Mothers and Fathers Differ in the Likelihood of Returning Home?

Building on research examining “boomerang” adult children, the author examines multigenerational living among young parents. Returning home likely differs between young mothers and fathers given variation in socioeconomic characteristics, health and risk taking, their own children's coresidence, and union stability. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), the author finds that more than 40% of young parents (n = 2,721) live with their own parents at their first child's birth or subsequently. Mothers are generally less likely to move home than fathers but only when not controlling for child coresidence and union stability. Individuals who live with all their children are less likely to return home, and controlling for child coresidence reverses gender differences, though this association disappears in the full model. Young parents who are stably single and those who experience dissolution are highly likely to return home compared to the stably partnered, with the association significantly stronger for fathers than mothers.     

Growing Up in A Single Mother Family and Student’s Tardiness: A Cross-National Study Exploring the Moderating Role of Family Resources

Research shows that growing up in a single-parent family has a negative effect on children’s educational level, whereas the relationship between family structure and test scores is less consistent or even nonexistent in some countries. Some authors suggested that something besides cognitive ability is responsible for the poorer school outcomes of children from nonintact families. In this study, we focus on a noncognitive outcome, in this case student tardiness, which is one of the components of problematic absenteeism. Using PISA 2003 data from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we find that children who grow up in a single-mother family have greater chances of arriving late for school in 16 of the 17 countries analyzed. Some studies have analyzed the extent to which the effect of growing up in a single-mother family is compensated by a high level of family resources. However, these yield mixed findings, which can be attributed to the differences between the countries studied. With the exception of Bernardi and Radl (2014), to our knowledge no study analyzes the heterogeneity of family structure effects using a cross-national approach. We find that in most of the 17 countries analyzed, a high level of family resources, such as home possessions, cultural resources, mother’s occupational and educational level, and mother’s type of work, do not compensate for the harmful effects of growing up in a single-mother family on children’s school tardiness.     

The Relationship of Current Family Structures to Young Adults' Perceptions of Stepparents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of young adults regarding stepparents and parents and to determine whether the family status (intact, single-parent, stepparent) and family satisfaction of the evaluating individuals influenced those perceptions. The 112 college student participants, 79 from intact families, 20 from single-parent families and 13 from stepparent families, rated four family positions on nine bipolar evaluative adjectives. Consistent with the findings of other studies, mothers were perceived more positively than stepmothers and fathers more positively than stepfathers. However, no differences were found between students' perceptions of stepfather and stepmother. Satisfaction influenced perceptions across all status groups and as expected, the satisfied intact family group rated stepmother more negatively than the other two status groups. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The psychosocial well-being of children from Australian military and fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) mining families

This study investigates the effects of employment-related father absence on children's psychological well-being and home based mothers’ perceptions of family functioning. Ninety primary school aged children and their mothers residing in Perth in Western Australia participated in this study. The sample consisted of three groups: children whose fathers were employed in fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) mining (n =30), children whose fathers were in the military (n =30) and a community sample (n =30) of children, whose fathers’ employment was not military or mining based and who did not have extended periods of absence from home. Children's psychosocial well-being was measured by the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). Children's and mothers’ perceptions of family function were assessed with the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Results indicated that there were no significant differences between the groups on all measures of child well-being, and all groups were functioning at healthy levels. However, mothers from the FIFO families reported significantly more stress than the military and community groups with respect to communication, support and behaviour control within the family. It was concluded that despite mothers’ perceptions of disruption to family routine, the well-being of children in this small sample was not affected.     

Single Motherhood and Children's Health and School Performance in Japan

This article examines the well-being of Japanese children in single-mother families relative to children living with both parents. Using data from three rounds of the National Survey of Households with Children, I first demonstrate that single mothers report their children to have significantly worse health and lower academic performance. I then estimate regression models to assess the extent to which these differences reflect single mothers’ economic disadvantage, difficult work circumstances, and worse health and experience of stressful life events. Results indicate that economic disadvantage is particularly important for understanding lower levels of well-being among the children of single mothers. I conclude by discussing potential implications of these results for linkages between family behavior and inequality in Japan and for the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Housing Hardships Among Urban Fathers

Stable housing is widely recognized as a prerequisite for the functioning of individuals and families. However, the housing stability of fathers is understudied, particularly for fathers living apart from their children. This analysis measures the extent and nature of fathers' housing insecurity using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national longitudinal survey of urban families. Housing insecurity affects a substantial portion of fathers, with 25% experiencing insecurity at least once in their child's first 9 years. However, few fathers report persistent insecurity that spans consecutive waves. Data also indicate significant differences in rates of housing insecurity between fathers living with, and apart from, the mothers of their children, with nonresident fathers far less likely to report secure housing and more likely to experience incarceration. The nature of insecurity experienced by nonresident fathers is also qualitatively different than that experienced by their coresident counterparts.     

Expenditure Patterns of Divorced Single-Mother Families and Two-Parent Families in South Korea

This study examines differences in expenditure patterns between divorced single-mother families and two-parent families in South Korea. Data were obtained from 353 families living in Seoul: 51 divorced single-mother families and 302 two-parent families.Expenditure patterns are considered as the budget share of each given expenditure in addition to the elasticities of those expenditures. The budget shares for food consumed at home, shelter, and education of divorced single-mother families are substantially higher than those of two-parent families. Income elasticities of expenditures of divorced single-mother families for education and for apparel and shoes are more elastic than for two-parent families, while food eaten at home and entertainment are less elastic. The results of this study indicate that there are significant differences in the patterns of consumption expenditures between divorced single-mother families and two-parent families.     

Sex Differences in Parenting Behaviors in Single‐Mother and Single‐Father Households

Research on family structure has led some to claim that sex‐based parenting differences exist. But if such differences exist in single‐parent families, the absence of a second parent rather than specific sex‐typed parenting might explain them. We examine differences in mothering and fathering behavior in single‐parent households, where number of parents is held constant, and we describe individualist and structuralist perspectives for potential sex‐based parenting behaviors. We compare 3,202 single mothers and 307 single fathers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Kindergarten Cohort). Results suggest that, although there are small differences in the parenting behaviors of single mothers and single fathers, differences are sensitive to demographic disparities and do not translate to academic deficits for children in either family type.