Single Mother Parenting and Adolescent Psychopathology

Abstract

Children raised in single-mother families are at increased risk for psychopathology, but the mechanisms that help explain this relationship are understudied. In a community sample of diverse adolescents (N= 385, 52% female, 48% Caucasian) and their mothers, we hypothesized that single mothers would be more likely than cohabitating mothers to engage in negative parenting behaviors, which would predict adolescent psychopathology prospectively. Single mothers were more likely to engage in psychologically controlling behaviors, which predicted to their adolescent offspring experiencing higher rates of depressive symptoms and externalizing disorders. Girls were more susceptible to depressive symptoms via psychologically controlling parenting than boys in single-mother families. Further, single mothers were more likely to engage in rejecting parenting behaviors, which predicted to a higher prevalence of adolescent externalizing disorders. Surprisingly, rejection in single-mother families predicted to less severe anxiety symptoms in adolescents relative to two-parent families. It is likely that single mothers are not inherently inferior parents relative to cohabitating mothers; rather, their parenting practices are often compromised by a myriad of demands and stressors. Consistent with this postulate, low socioeconomic status was associated with single motherhood and negative parenting behaviors. Clinical implications and study limitations are discussed.

Childhood social adversity and risk of depressive symptoms in adolescence in a US national sample

“…Although highly correlated, the association between single-parent household and depressive symptoms remained after taking public assistance into account (Table 3, Model III). Prior studies have also shown these indicators to play a major part in the increased risk of depression (Amato and Keith, 1991; Duncan and Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Weitoft et al, 2003; McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Daryanani et al, 2016). A large-scale Swedish study examining mortality and morbidity in children with single parents showed that, although growing up in a single-parent family often is associated with a wide range of other social adversities including lack of household resources the increased risk of mental health problems for children of single parents remained even after taking other adversities into account (Weitoft et al, 2003).…”

Cognitive Vulnerabilities to Depression for Adolescents in Single-Mother and Two-Parent Families

“…As research has consistently identified single motherhood as a risk factor for youth depression (Daryanani et al, 2016; Hilton & Devall, 1998), it is important to understand why children of single mothers are at greater risk for depression than children of partnered mothers. The results of our analyses indicate that youth raised in single-mother families are at increased risk for depression due, in part, to engaging in more ruminative processes.…”

“…Consistent with this postulate, stressful life events are experienced more regularly, and interpreted as more impactful, during adolescence, with much research concluding that elevated stress is a prominent risk factor for adolescent depression (e.g., Hamilton et al, 2013). As children of single mothers are at risk for chronic stressors before the onset of adolescence (Daryanani et al, 2016; Lipman et al, 1997), it would likely take less additional stressors during adolescence to compromise a child’s ability to adequately cope, which in turn puts them at earlier risk for depression than adolescents from two-parent families. We found partial support for this theory, as our analyses revealed that stressful events during childhood were more common among adolescents of single mothers and predicted elevated rumination, although there was only trending significance of childhood stressors as a mediator of this relationship.…”

“…Moreover, children raised by single mothers are more likely than children raised by intact, two-parent families to experience a range of adjustment difficulties, including academic problems, substance abuse, social deficits, and psychopathology (Amato & Keith, 1991; Schleider, Chorpita, & Weisz, 2014). Although the risk for youth psychopathology conferred by single motherhood has been found to be greater for externalizing than internalizing symptoms in prior studies (Daryanani, Hamilton, Abramson, & Alloy, 2016; Hilton & Devall, 1998), research consistently has indicated that children raised in single-mother families are at elevated risk for depressive symptoms and disorders (Amato & Keith, 1991; Daryanani et al, 2016; Hilton & Devall, 1998). This risk is likely exacerbated during adolescence, a period of development characterized by markedly heightened risk for depressive symptoms and first onset of a depressive episode (Hankin, 2006).…”

“…Even fewer studies have investigated youth stress in single-mother families. The limited research available highlights that children of single mothers experience more familial stressors (Aseltine, 1996) and traumatic childhood events (Daryanani et al, 2016). It is likely that other sources of stress more broadly attributable to the context of single motherhood (e.g., negative parenting, maternal depression, economic hardship) also have an impact on the frequency and severity of stress experienced by youth.…”