A Review of Childrearing in African American Single Mother Families: The Relevance of a Coparenting Framework

Abstract

Clinical research on African American single mother families has focused largely on mother-child dyads, with relatively less empirical attention to the roles of other adults or family members who often assist with childrearing. This narrow definition of "family" fails to take into account the extended family networks which often provide support for African American single mother families and the influence of these other adults on maternal parenting and youth adjustment. Our review integrates the literature on the role of extended family members, highlights the strengths and limitations of this work, and proposes the use of theory and methods from the coparenting literature to guide future study in this area. The relevance of the study of coparenting for family-based intervention efforts targeting African American youth from single mother homes is addressed.

Psychological Control Associated with Youth Adjustment and Risky Behavior in African American Single Mother Families

“…First, the study is distinctive in its examination of a more socioeconomically representative group of African American single mother families than the more typical focus in the literature to date on low-income families (Jones et al 2007;McLoyd et al 2000;Murry et al 2001). The current study also sheds light on a relatively understudied parenting construct (psychological control) and how this parenting construct operates within African American single mother-child dyads.…”

“…Although originally conceived of as active strategies to track children's activities and whereabouts, it is now better understood that the critical ingredient of monitoring may be parental knowledge of the child's whereabouts and activities, rather than how the parent gathers this information (Bean et al 2006;Kerr and Stattin 2000;Miller et al 1999;Tolou-Shams et al 2007). Of particular relevance to African American youth, over half of African American youth (56%) are raised in single mother homes, where parental knowledge of children's activities may be compromised due to the necessity for maternal absence from the home (e.g., work), as well as higher rates of risk factors (e.g., gangs, violence) in the lower income neighborhoods in which single mother families are more likely to live (Jones et al 2002(Jones et al , 2007Murry et al 2001;U.S. Census 2005).…”

Predictors of Coparenting Relationship Quality in African American Single Mother Families: An Ecological Model

“…The importance of the coparenting relationship for the psychosocial adjustment of diverse youth, mothers, and families has been discussed in detail elsewhere (Jones et al, 2007;McHale et al, 2002). Although more confident clinical implications of the current study depend on replication with additional samples, the current findings suggest that certain coparenting relationships may be at risk of impairment based on their ecological circumstances and, in turn, would be appropriate targets for prevention and intervention efforts.…”

A Qualitative Study for Understanding Family and Peer Influences on Obesity-Related Health Behaviors in Low-Income African-American Adolescents

“…because positive outcomes in African-American youth across a variety of domains (e.g., academic, behavioral, health-related, social) have been shown to be influenced not only by extended family networks, 5,6,11 but by peer relationships 7,10 and a combination of both, 8,9 the influence of both parent and peer factors on adolescent health behaviors is examined in this study. Just as with parents, peer social support has been found to be a strong predictor of PA in inner-city African-American adolescents 7 and a predictor of dietary fat and fiber intake in ethnically diverse sixth graders.…”