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Differences in school behavior and achievement between students from intact, reconstituted, and single-parent families were analyzed. Students from intact two-parent families had fewer absences and tardies, higher grade point averages, and fewer negative and more positive teacher behavioral ratings than did those from reconstituted and single-parent families.
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Some divorced single-parent mothers return home to live with their families of origin. The absence of clear delineation of the roles of grandmother, mother, and child can produce a dysfunctional family unit, identified here as trigenerational enmeshment. Clinical features of this subgroup are discussed, and examples of treatment approaches are presented.
A program that provides comprehensive support services to young schizophrenic adults and their families in Montreal was evaluated after one year to assess the needs of families, especially single-parent families, after the young adult patient left home. Results of the evaluation, which employed a case-control design, showed that compared with families receiving the usual services, families in the program reported feeling less burdened by the patients' personal problems. They also received more services and had more contact with professionals. Patients living away from home spent more than 18 hours a week in face-to-face contact with their families. Single parents of mentally ill young adults spent much less time with their offspring and expressed more need for services and a greater burden of care than married parents.
This longitudinal study assessed the effects of parents' marital transitions and pubertal development on grandparent-grandchild relationships. 9- to 13-year-old children, their mothers, and maternal grandparents from 186 Caucasian, middle-class families including 73 intact families, 64 mother-custody, single-parent families and 49 stepfamilies completed questionnaires focusing on the degree of children's "relationship involvement" (perceived closeness and frequency of contact) with maternal grandparents at 2 time periods 13 months apart. Children also completed questionnaires 9 months later during a third interview. Grandparents, and especially grandfathers, were more involved with grandchildren from single-parent families (supporting the "latent function" hypothesis). The pubertal status results supported the "emotional distancing" hypothesis for grandfather-granddaughter relationships (higher pubertal status, less involvement) and the "stress buffer" hypothesis for grandsons' relationships with both grandparents (greater change in physical development, more involvement and greater perceived closeness).
Homeless children in families are increasing in numbers across the country and have been noted to have frequent health problems. The health status of homeless children was assessed on multiple dimensions through parental report in a survey conducted with 196 homeless families in 10 shelters in Los Angeles and 194 housed poor families after March 1987 through January 1988. During the month before the survey, the homeless and housed poor children experienced high rates of illness symptoms, disability, and bed days. Homeless and housed poor children were frequently rated by their parents to be in fair or poor health (17% vs 13%, P = .14). Homeless children, however, were reported to have more behavior problems and school failure [30% vs 18%, P = .06] than housed poor children. Homeless children also had high rates of other health problems such as developmental delay (9%) and overweight (13%). The diets of homeless children were frequently imbalanced, dependent on food from "fast-food" restaurants, and characterized by repeated periods of deprivation. Family problems were more common among homeless families, especially among single-parent homeless families compared with single-parent housed families (spousal abuse, 68% vs 41%, P less than .01; parental drug and alcohol abuse, 60% vs 39%, P less than .01). It is concluded that homeless children have significant child behavior and developmental problems and disorders of nutrition and growth, which are associated with multiple risk factors in their environment.
In a sample of 55 black infants (age 5-6 months) living in the inner city in lower socioeconomic circumstances, 27 infants were being reared by their mothers in single-parent families. Male infants who had experienced minimal interaction with their fathers were significantly lower on the Bayley Mental Developmental Index and in measures of social responsiveness, secondary circular reactions, and preferences for novel stimuli. Female infants in this sample appeared unaffected by the father's presence or absence. After weighing alternative interpretations of the findings, we conclude that the father is a significant component in the early environment and that both observational studies and conceptual development of the role of the father in infancy are needed.
Data from a randomly selected sample of 1,208 high school-aged adolescents were used to examine the means through which life stress is associated with depressive symptoms. Analyses focus on family structure, socioeconomic status, and gender as background risks which directly and indirectly influence symptoms, as well as vulnerability contexts that shape differential responsiveness to stressful experiences. Findings indicate (1) significant gender differences in aspects of stress exposure and in additive models of stress effects, but stresses and supports do not explain the significant gender difference in depressive symptoms; (2) girls in low education backgrounds have the highest levels of depressive symptoms; (3) there are no gender differences in vulnerability to stress; (4) children in single-parent families have higher symptom levels, effects explained by economic conditions and stress exposure--they are no more vulnerable than others to the depressing effects of these stresses; and (5) both boys and girls in low SES backgrounds are more vulnerable to a wide range of stresses and support deficits.
Risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection exacerbates the already difficult lives of 1.5 million homeless adolescents in the United States. Homeless youths engage in sexual and substance-abuse behaviors that place them at increased risk of contracting HIV, and they demonstrate other problem behaviors that reduce their coping responses. Model HIV prevention programs and interventions for HIV-positive youths, implemented for homeless adolescents, need to be disseminated on a national level. Social policies must recognize adolescents' rights to satisfaction of basic survival needs; comprehensively address the needs of dysfunctional, disenfranchised, and single-parent families; and provide continuity of care for adolescents to facilitate independent living. Special provisions must be made when designing programs for gay, sexually abused, and substance-abusing youths.
A consensus that divorce constitutes a major disruption and disequilibrium in the lives of nearly all children is emerging. Reactions vary at different developmental stages. Divorce poses a very specific hazard to the normal adolescent process of emancipation from primary love objects. The author reviews recent research on the short-and long-term effects of parental divorce on adolescents, with special reference to adolescent developmental tasks. Treatment based on a psychoanalytic developmental perspective combined with a family systems approach is recommended. Careful attention should be paid to the gender of the therapist and the adolescent's developmental stage. Therapeutic modalities include individual and group therapy with the adolescent and conjoint therapy with the custodial parent, the single-parent family, and the noncustodial parent. The major goals of psychotherapeutic intervention with adolescents in divorced families are outlined.
The gathering of family information has numerous advantages in a family practice setting. Methods are described which not only allow description of family structure but permit identification of each individual family member and his/her relationship to the family as a unit. The value of filing individual medical records in family folders is detailed. A functional definition of family is established and certain health-related characteristics are given. Included is comparison of family size and socioeconomic status (SES) of a family practice with census information on the total county population. Health-seeking behavior of two-person families (couples or single-parent plus child) related to SES is presented as one of many applications of recorded family information, potential for future research into the effects of family structure on morbidity is discussed.
Divorce has become one of the most frequent environmental stressors experienced by children. This article reviews present conceptualizations of children's adaptation to divorce. Most notably, researchers have moved away from the view that family structural variables, such as single-parent status, necessitate the development of psychopathology in children. In recent years, investigators have shifted their attention to events that accompany marital dissolution, rather than the event of divorce per se. Such process variables have been identified as more salient correlates of children's adjustment. Additionally, the article examines children's short- and long-term adjustment to divorce, specific problem areas that are common among children from divorced families, and directions for future investigations.
Following a needs assessment, the American Lung Association of the District of Columbia (ALADC) began a 3-year pilot program (1986 to 1989) to improve the health status of 5- to 10-year-old urban black asthmatic children. The authors hypothesized that participation in a 1-day asthma camp curriculum, using a collaborative multidisciplinary team approach between university and community-based staff, would provide an effective educational intervention to teach children and their families daily management strategies for asthma. The 84 participants (mean age: 9.6 years) were predominantly black (93%), male (73%), and from single-parent or single-guardian homes (52.7%). Follow-up interviews suggested that a high percentage of the children were using new techniques such as aerosol/inhalers (78%) and breathing/warm-up exercises (55%). Overall, participation in this novel program was associated with a clinically significant, 36% to 69% reduction in school absences, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations.
This paper deals with social case work of single-parent mothers participating in a 'mother and child' programme in Ulm. The social workers realized that these mothers frequently leave the childrens' fathers immediately after the birth of the baby or soon after. The relationships of the mothers with their partners and their families of origin were studied by questionnaires. The authors find that those women who broke the relationships to the childrens' fathers judge their families of origin as significantly more dysfunctional as those mothers who have been relating to their partners. It is assumed that the single parent mothers suffer from insufficient internalizations with their own fathers in regard to attachment behaviour. Tragically these women repeat the instability of their parents' marriages in their own partnerships.