Family structure and child wellbeing: Economic resources versus parent socialization. Social Forces

We used data from the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate economic resources and parental behavior explanations for family structure effects on children. The economic explanation received considerable support in terms of single-mother disadvantage and accounted for a smaller proportion of disadvantage associated with mother-partner families. Parental behaviors, particularly maternal and paternal support, accounted for much smaller proportions of disadvantages found in mother-stepfather as well as mother-partner families. Parental behaviors did not appear to mediate any of the economic resource effects on children. During the past decade, a considerable body of research has shown that (1) children raised by both original parents are advantaged in several domains of well-being compared to children whose parents divorce or who are born to single mothers; and (2) parents ' marriage or remarriage does not eliminate the disadvantages. These findings have been replicated with different data sets, for different ages of children, and across race/ethnic groups. (See reviews b