Adjusting to change: linking family structure transitions with parenting and boys' adjustment.
This study examined links between family structure transitions and children's academic, behavioral, and emotional outcomes in a sample of 238 divorcing mothers and their sons in Grades 1-3. Multiple methods and agents were used in assessing family process variables and child outcomes. Findings suggest that greater accumulations of family transitions were associated with poorer academic functioning, greater acting-out behavior, and worse emotional adjustment for boys. However, in all three cases, these relationships were mediated by parenting practices: Parental academic skill encouragement mediated the relationship between transitions and academic functioning, and a factor of more general effective parenting practices mediated the relationships between transitions and acting out and emotional adjustment.
Martinez
Charles R
CR
Oregon Social Learning Center, 160 East 4th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97401, USA. charlesm@oslc.org
Forgatch
Marion S
MS
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010553:Personality Development; D015406:Single Parent / Q000523:psychology*