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Title: Child Well-Being in Cohabiting Homes: A Study of Outcomes and Processes
Resulting in 1 citation.
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McGinnis, Sandra L. |
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Child Well-Being in Cohabiting Homes: A Study of Outcomes and Processes Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York At Albany, 2004. DAI-A 64/12, p. 4644, June 2004 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); CESD (Depression Scale); Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Children, Behavioral Development; Cognitive Development; Cohabitation; Depression (see also CESD); Family Characteristics; Family Structure; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Marital Status; Parenting Skills/Styles; Parents, Single; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC); Stepfamilies; Temperament Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79 and Children of the NLSY79), 1992 through 1998, are used to assess the effects of living in a cohabiting home on the emotional, cognitive/scholastic, and behavioral outcomes of children ages 0-22. Children in cohabiting family structures are compared to those in other family structures (married biological families, single-mother families, and married stepfamilies). The effects of living in a biological cohabiting family (where two unmarried, biological parents are present), and living in a cohabiting stepfamily (where a biological parent and the parent's unmarried partner are present) are also compared. Hypotheses are tested about the processes by which cohabiting family structure affects child outcomes, with emphasis on the mediating effects of socioeconomic status, child's experience of family transitions, and quality of the home environment in terms of cognitive stimulation and emotional support. Although many differences appeared between children in cohabiting families and those in married families, most of these differences were explained by controls for socioeconomic and family characteristics. After controlling for these factors, children in biological cohabiting homes typically did not differ from children in biological married homes, and children in cohabiting stepfamilies did not typically differ from children in married stepfamilies. The overall finding is that living in a cohabiting household does not disadvantage children in terms of most outcomes, provided that the family's socioeconomic standing and various aspects of family functioning are comparable to those of other families. Cohabiting families do not appear to be inherently inferior to other families so far as providing for children's levels of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral well-being. Rather, these families are economically disadvantaged, have experienced more instability in the form of the mother's union transitions, and tend to provide less cognitive stimulation and emotional support to children than the traditional biological married family. The results seem to imply that the best way to encourage positive emotional, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes for children is to improve the socioeconomic status of families with children, and to improve the home environments of children by teaching and encouraging sound parenting skills. |
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Bibliography Citation
McGinnis, Sandra L. Child Well-Being in Cohabiting Homes: A Study of Outcomes and Processes. Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York At Albany, 2004. DAI-A 64/12, p. 4644, June 2004. |