Extensive literature links interparental relationship quality, particularly coparent conflict, with child behavior problems. Evidence suggests associations between and among interparental discord related to child-rearing disagreements, parenting difficulties, maternal depressive symptoms and child functioning. Experts assert that children function best when their biological parents have a stable marital relationship, and that interparental conflict can jeopardize the stability of the marriage, potential for marriage and the continuation of father involvement However, the preponderance of such research has investigated White, middle-class married or divorced families. Little is known about interparental relationship quality, family moderating factors and behavior problems of young children in African American, low-income, single- mother-headed families. Exploration of this problem is important because early childhood behavioral problems can persist and can contribute to childrens academic underachievement and societal maladjustment.
Grounded in the ecological and risk and resilience theoretical perspectives, this quantitative, cross-sectional survey design study investigated associations among interparental relations, maternal depressive symptoms, maternal parenting, and pre-school child behavior problems in African American, low-income, single-mother-headed families. With the cooperation of the Allegheny County Assistance Office, a randomly selected group of 100 mothers and their 3- or 4-year old children, participated in this study. This study used the Time 1 data from an NIMH-funded longitudinal study with Dr. Aurora Jackson as principal investigator. Hierarchical regression analyses were used.
Contrary to research with White families, greater mother-reported interparental relationship problems were not associated with more child behavior problems. As hypothesized, fewer maternal depressive symptoms and more optimal maternal parenting were associated with fewer child behavior problems. Controlling for frequency of father contact did not affect relationships in the model. A post hoc finding showed that greater father contact was associated with fewer internalizing behavior problems. Neither fewer maternal depressive symptoms nor more optimal maternal parenting buffered the association between poor interparental relations and child behavior problems. These findings suggest further investigation particularly considering the extensive financial investments and programs funded by the African American Healthy Marriage Initiative. These programs intend to encourage marriage and strengthen poor families, yet have scant research about Black nonmarital, coparent relationships from which to inform these efforts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04152007-175134 |
| Date | 17 April 2007 |
| Creators | Peters, Solveig S. |
| Contributors | Aurora Jackson, Ph.D, Gary Koeske, Ph.D., Joan Vondra, Ph.D, Helen Petracchi, Ph.D |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04152007-175134/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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