No abstract

This study proposed that African American cultural, social, and economic experiences would positively influence the psychosocial adjustment to marital dissolution of Black mothers as compared to White mothers. The study sample consisted of 235 Black and 662 White divorced or separated mothers from the National Survey of Families and Households. The mothers were not remarried and reported having at least one or more biological or adopted children, 18 years of age or younger, living in the home. Discriminant analysis (stepwise), after controlling for socioeconomic status and time since divorce or separation, indicated that Black mothers had higher levels of personal mastery and economic well‐being and received greater formal support after divorce. Contrary to the hypotheses, White mothers received more informal support and evidenced earlier entry into dating than Black mothers. The findings document cultural variations in marital dissolution and the strengths of Black families in coping with this transition.

Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, this study compared the level of involvement of nonresidential fathers as a hnction of marital status: divorced/single parent, separated, remanied, and never manied. MANCOVA analysis, with SES as the covariate, indicated that separated and divorced fathers communicated with and visited their children more often than did remarried or never married fathers. Also, separated and never married fathers evidenced higher levels of well-being than did remanied fathers. There also was a tendency for remanied and never manied fathers to perceive that they had less influence than divorced or separated fathers. [Article copies milablefor afeefiom Tire Hauwtfh L)onunenf Deliwry Service: 1-8OlL342-9678. E-mail o d d m : gerinfo@hanwrfh.com]

This study was designed to examine the correlates of psychological well-being for 75 middle-aged professional men. Based on sex-role convergence and role adjustment theories, three sets of predictor variables (i.e., interpersonal family factors, role adjustment, and extrafamilial interpersonal factors) were hierarchically entered into a multiple regression equation. The well-being outcome was found to be influenced by interpersonal family factors. The role adjustment and extrafamilial interpersonal factors did not account for a significant increase in variance. The best univariate predictors of men's well-being at midlife were perceived closeness to child, perceived closeness to wife, adjustment to the husband role, and number of close friends.

A subsample of divorced/separated Black and White mothers from the National Survey of Families and Households was followed over a five-year period to determine cultural differences in psychosocial well-being. Discriminant analysis, with education and time since divorce/separation controlled, indicated that White mothers at Time 2 differed from Black mothers in terms of higher levels of personal mastery, informal support, and economic well-being. Also, White mothers evidenced significant improvement in five of the six psychosocial domains: informal support, self-esteem, happiness, economic well-being, and depression, whereas Black mothers indicated improvement in informal support and happiness, and evidenced a marginal decline in personal mastery. Cultural differences also were noted in the greater income of White mothers at Time 2 as well as a greater likelihood for White mothers to remarry. We reported in a recent issue of the Psychology of Women Quarterly (McKelvey & McKenry, 2000) a comparisonof the psychosocial well-being of a national probability sample of Black and White mothers who were either divorced or legally separated. In that study we found several cultural differences in well-being, some favoring Black mothers (greater personal mastery and higher economic well-being) and some favoring White mothers (greater informal support and earlier entry into dating). Since the time of the analysis of these data, a second wave of data has become available utilizing some of the same measures as in time 1 (T1). Thus, we were interested in (a) assessing any change in psychosocial well-being of these mothers five years later and (b) determining if racial differences remained.