Home sweet home(s): parental separations, residential moves, and adjustment problems in low-income adolescent girls.
Associations between histories of family disruption (residential moves and separations from parent figures) and adolescent adjustment (including educational, internalizing, externalizing, and sexual behavior outcomes) were examined in a random sample of 267 African American girls from 3 urban poverty neighborhoods. Higher numbers of residential moves and parental separations significantly predicted greater adolescent adjustment problems after household demographic characteristics were controlled. Adolescents' perceptions of their current relationships and neighborhoods were significantly associated with adolescent adjustment but did not mediate the effects of family disruption. Associations between parental separations and adolescent outcomes were strongest for externalizing problems and were found for both male and female caregivers, for long-standing and more temporary caregivers, and for separations in early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence.
Adam
Emma K
EK
School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. ek-adam@northwestern.edu
Chase-Lansdale
P Lindsay
PL
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment