Family Structure and Adolescent Physical Health, Behavior, and Emotional Well-Being

Langton, Callie E.; Berger, Lawrence M.

doi:10.1086/661922

Cited by 81 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…While family structure instability in early and middle childhood has been associated with negative outcomes, the present study finds baseline composition but not composition instability to be detrimental for adolescents. This distinction may be explained by patterns of prior family instability leading to specific family structures in adolescents’ homes (Fomby and Bosick, 2013), or by caregiving practices, family dynamics, and attachment patterns that may differ by family structure type irrespective of subsequent transitions (Dolbin-MacNab and Keiley, 2009; Langton and Berger, 2011; Shin et al, 2010). The lack of significant findings associated with household composition change may reflect variation in family processes and dynamics implicated in healthy child and youth development that differ by family structure (Morrissey, 2008; Vanassche et al, 2014; Zito, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family and housing instability: Longitudinal impact on adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being

Fowler

Henry

Marçal

2015

Social Science Research

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This study investigated the longitudinal effects of family structure changes and housing instability in adolescence on functioning in the transition to adulthood. A model examined the influence of household composition changes and mobility in context of ethnic differences and sociodemographic risks. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health measured household and residential changes over a 12-month period among a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Assessments in young adulthood measured rates of depression, criminal activity, and smoking. Findings suggested housing mobility in adolescence predicted poorer functioning across outcomes in young adulthood, and youth living in multigenerational homes exhibited greater likelihood to be arrested than adolescents in single-generation homes. However, neither family structure changes nor its interaction with residential instability or ethnicity related to young adult outcomes. Findings emphasized the unique influence of housing mobility in the context of dynamic household compositions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family and housing instability: Longitudinal impact on adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being

Fowler

Henry

Marçal

2015

Social Science Research

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“…Decades of research have shown that children’s developmental outcomes (e.g., cognitive skills, academic achievement, and socioemotional functioning) are heavily stratified by whether their parents are married or cohabiting (for reviews, see Amato 2005; Langton and Berger 2011; Manning and Lamb 2003). Because of long-standing heteronormative assumptions that a two-parent family consists of one man and one woman, family scholars are only now beginning to conceptualize the sex composition of the parental couple as a dimension of family structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Structure and Child Health: Does the Sex Composition of Parents Matter?

et al. 2016

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The children of different-sex married couples appear to be advantaged on a range of outcomes relative to the children of different-sex cohabiting couples. Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, whether and how this general pattern extends to the children of same-sex married and cohabiting couples is unknown. This study examines this question with nationally representative data from the 2004–2013 pooled National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Results reveal that children in cohabiting households have poorer health outcomes than children in married households regardless of the sex composition of their parents. Children in same-sex and different-sex married households are relatively similar to each other on health outcomes, as are children in same-sex and different-sex cohabiting households. These patterns are not fully explained by socioeconomic differences among the four different types of families. This evidence can inform general debates about family structure and child health as well as and policy interventions aiming to reduce child health disparities.

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“…47 However, one recent study found more depressive symptoms among adolescents living in cohabiting stepparent families than among those in married stepfamilies. 48 Most indicators of behavior, relationships, and academic achievement are similar among adolescents in cohabiting and married stepparent families (table 1). 49 Adolescents in cohabiting and married stepparent families are comparable across a range of problem behaviors: drinking, marijuana use, delinquency, smoking, and externalizing behaviors.…”

Section: Adolescentsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Cohabitation and Child Well-Being

Manning¹

2017

Family and Child Well-Being After Welfare Reform

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SummaryIn recent decades, writes Wendy Manning, cohabitation has become a central part of the family landscape in the United States-so much so that by age 12, 40 percent of American children will have spent at least part of their lives in a cohabiting household. Although many children are born to cohabiting parents, and cohabiting families come in other forms as well, the most common cohabiting arrangement is a biological mother and a male partner.Cohabitation, Manning notes, is associated with several factors that have the potential to reduce children's wellbeing. Cohabiting families are more likely than married families to be poor, and poverty harms children in many ways. Cohabiting parents also tend to have less formal education -a key indicator of both economic and social resources-than married parents do. And cohabiting parent families don't have the same legal protections that married parent families have.Most importantly, cohabitation is often a marker of family instability, and family instability is strongly associated with poorer outcomes for children. Children born to cohabiting parents see their parents break up more often than do children born to married parents. In this way, being born into a cohabiting family sets the stage for later instability, and children who are born to cohabiting parents appear to experience enduring deficits of psychosocial wellbeing. On the other hand, stable cohabiting families with two biological parents seem to offer many of the same health, cognitive, and behavioral benefits that stable married biological parent families provide.Turning to stepfamilies, cohabitation's effects are tied to a child's age. Among young children, living in a cohabiting stepfamily rather than a married stepfamily is associated with more negative indicators of child wellbeing, but this is not so among adolescents. Thus the link between parental cohabitation and child wellbeing depends on both the type of cohabiting parent family and the age of the child.Cohabitation has become a typical pathway to family formation in the United States. The share of young and middle-aged Americans who have cohabited has doubled in the past 25 years. 1 Today the vast majority (66 percent) of married couples have lived together before they walk down the aisle. In 2013, about 5 million (or 7 percent) of children were living in cohabiting parent families. 2 By age 12, 40 percent of children had spent some time living with parents who were cohabiting. 3 In other words, cohabitation has become a central part of the family landscape for both children and adults, so much so that my colleague Pamela Smock and I have characterized this development as a "cohabitation revolution." 4

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Family Structure and Adolescent Physical Health, Behavior, and Emotional Well-Being

Cited by 81 publications

References 88 publications

Family and housing instability: Longitudinal impact on adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being

Family and housing instability: Longitudinal impact on adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being

Family Structure and Child Health: Does the Sex Composition of Parents Matter?

Cohabitation and Child Well-Being

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