Transcript Results: Rates of Problems

Family Characteristics
Effect of parental separation on children's behavior
• 13.8% of children born in 1983-84 experienced
parental separation before age 6 years
• 1978-88 increased to 15.9%
Questions
1. Do children who experience parent separation
have more emotional and behavioral problems?
2. Does the type of arrangement (mother only)
affect behavioral and emotional problems?
Used NLSCY data of children 2-11 years of age
• Emotional and behavioral disorders: anxiety,
emotional disorder, hyperactivity, inattention,
conduct disorder, aggression, unsocial.
Results: Rates of Problems
• More behavioral and emotional problems in
children living with parental separation than those
living with both parents.
• Small difference: 32.5% vs 28%
• Majority (2/3rds) of children have no problems
Results: Rates of Problems
• Gender, number of siblings, and SES are better
predictors of behavioral/emotional problems
• Being male increases chance of problems
• Prevalence for girls 38% less than boys
• More siblings increases chance of problems
• Each additional sibling increases chance of
problems by 7%
• Mother’s education, age, and income are strongly
related to problems
• Those with no high school are 42% more likely to
report problems in their children
• Each year older the mother is, the odds of her child
having a problems decrease by 8%
• Higher income associated with less problems
Results: Custody Arrangement
• Custody arrangement did not have an effect on the
rates of problems
Conclusions
• Conclude that behavioral and emotional problems
are the result of a number of processes
• Resiliency in children
• Time since separation is important in healing
Children in Lone-Parent Families
• Almost 16% of Canadian children live in single
parent families
• Research suggests they are at risk for mental and
physical health problems, poorer well being,
competence, and attainment.
• US data indicated they are 2x as likely to drop out
of school and have kids before age 20, and 1.5x
more likely to be out of work and school in late
adolescence and early adulthood.
• But, Canadian data suggests children in single
parent families grow up healthy
• Canadian researchers looked at outcomes of
children from single parent families
• Measured vulnerability (health, behavior, emotional
and academic outcomes) among 2-11 yr olds.
• Found that the majority of children in single parent
families were not vulnerable to poor outcomes
• Differences are due to a small number of children
with extreme scores
• Parenting style was most related to vulnerability
– More than income, parental and community
resources, and family characteristics
Family Characteristics and School
• How do family characteristics affect school success?
• Researchers used NLSCY data of 4300 6-11 yr olds to
see how families affect school achievement.
• Family School Relationships (FSR) Model:
characteristics of the family that are most connected to
school will have the greatest effect on school success
– Child’s personal characteristics have the largest effect, then
what families do at home to promote school success
• SES directly positively related to achievement
– Above and beyond family characteristics
• SES associated with positive attitudes towards
school, which is related to school achievement
• SES associated with more social support, which is
related to less depression, which decreases family
dysfunction and ineffective parenting, which are
associated with more positive school attitudes and
higher achievement.
• Policy implications: improve SES
– Target parents (psychological services, education
programs, parenting classes)
Working Mothers and Learning
• NLSCY: 25% of Canadian preschoolers have some
delays in vocabulary, 10% very low
– At risk for school problems
• Researchers hypothesize that both family labor force
and income both predict vocabulary
– Labor force leads to more income (positive), but
reduces time mothers spends with her children
(negative)
• Used NLSCY data for 3000 4-5 yr olds.
– Vocabulary (PPVT), Labor (weeks a mother works
per year), income (family income).
• Amount a mother works has little effect on vocabulary
• Those who work more have children with higher
vocabulary scores
• Mothers who work more read just as much to their
kids as those who work less
• Reading correlated with vocabulary
• Mother’s education more important predictor of
preschool vocabulary than income
• Mothers with more education may talk more with
their children and also have innate skills that they
pass on to their children
• Income not as strongly related to vocabulary, and
mainly for the very poor, so increasing income for
these individuals may make a difference