A Prospective Study of the Effects of Marital Status and Family Relations on Young Children's Adjustment among African American and European American Families |
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| Authors: | Daniel S Shaw Emily B Winslow & Clare Flanagan |
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| Institution: | Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15260-0001, USA. casey@pop.pitt.edu |
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| Abstract: | The present study investigated the effects of divorce and family relations on young children's development prospectively, using an ethnically diverse sample of approximately 300 low-income families. We also were able to examine the moderating effects of ethnicity on child adjustment in always two-parent, to-be-divorced, already-divorced, and always single-parent families. Results indicated that to-be-divorced European American and African American families demonstrated higher rates of preschool-age behavior problems, and already-divorced families showed similar trends. Parental conflict and behavior problems accounted for predivorce differences in child behavior problems, whereas rejecting parenting accounted for differences in problem behavior between always single-parent and always two-parent families. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of ethnicity in influencing young, low-income children's adjustment to different family structures. |
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