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Ed. D.

The number of children from single-parent families has risen significantly since the 1970s. The stress associated with single-parent status not only places the parent in a precarious state, but also has the tendency to adversely affect the child's academic performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among stress, coping resources, and academic success in a group of children from single-parent families. The study also was designed to access what family factors including race, gender, income level, education level, employment status, and family composition contribute to the academic success of the child. Sixty-seven single-parent families and their oldest elementary school-age child participated in this study. The families' stress level was measured by using the Family Inventory of Life Changes and Events (FILE), while the Family Crisis Orientation Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) were used to measure the families internal and external coping resources. A child's Resource Questionnaire was used to measure the child's coping resources. Academic success was measured using Grade Point Average (GPA) and Criterion Referenced Tests (CRTs) scores. The results indicated no significant relationship between stress and academic success as measured by GPAs when controlling for gender, race, and resources. However, the education level of the parent, child's gender, and the number of children in the family were family factors found to contribute to academic success when measured by GPAs. When measured by the CRTs, several factors contributed to academic success. In language arts, higher numbers of children in the family were associated with lower language arts scores. tended to score higher than boys. In addition, girls In math, only the child's gender was found to contribute to academic success, with girls tending to score higher than boys. In science, higher numbers of children in the family were linked with lower science CRT scores, while higher family coping resources were associated with higher science CRT scores. In social studies, single mothers were linked with higher CRT scores than single fathers. In addition, higher family stress was associated with lower social studies CRT scores, and white children tended to score higher than minorities. / Ed. D.

This study looks to the social trends, needs, and definition of home for the single-mother household. People need strong families to provide them with the identity, belonging, discipline, and values that are essential for full individual development ("The American Family Crisis" 16). This requires the examination of the role that the physical home environment plays in the life of the single-parent household. Personal histories, a literary search, and research of existing examples of built facilities serve to produce a series of patterns formalized in a design matrix, investigating how architecture can foster a healthy and supportive environment for the single-parent household.The intent of this research is to define a process by which the singleparent household, headed by a single mother, may be able to become self-sufficient and empowered by their housing situation. The aim is to create More than Housing (Joan Forrester Sprague), while utilizing the architecture to foster relationships and encourage growth.A resulting programmatic guide and design development tool for supportive housing, adapted to the needs of the single-parent household, creates a framework of design ideas derived from this research. This compilation is used to define design strategies and recommendations for the form and program of support systems used to illustrate the definition, application and resolution of "home" for the single-mother household. / Department of Architecture