| Abstract: | Children aged eight to 13 from mother custody families (n = 22) and two-percent families (n = 44) were compared on measures of risk (mothers' life strains), resistance (enacted support, support satisfaction, and problem-focused coping), and self-esteem (family, peer, scholastic, and general). A longitudinal design was used to gather data at three different times over an 18-month period. In making between group comparisons, income was used as a covariate. It was found that income, not family type, was inversely related to mothers' life strains and children's self-esteem. It was also found that the risk and resistance factors were correlated with various dimensions of children's self-esteem in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The results were discussed in terms of previous research on family stress. |
