The role of coparents in african american single-mother families: The indirect effect of coparent identity on youth psychosocial adjustment.

Abstract

The majority (67%) of African American youth live in single-parent households, a shift in the family structure that has been linked to increased risk for both internalizing and externalizing problems behaviors. Although the majority of single mothers endorse the assistance of another adult or family member in childrearing, relatively little is known about who is engaged in this non-marital coparenting role (i.e., grandmother, father/social father, aunt, and female family friend) and how it relates to coparenting quality, maternal parenting, and youth psychosocial outcomes (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems). This question, which is critical to the advancement of family-focused programming for youth in these families, is addressed in this study. The participants examined in the current study were 159 African American single-mother child dyads. Adolescents' maternal grandmothers constituted the largest proportion of coparents in the sample (37.2%), followed by the mothers' female family friends (22.5%), adolescents' maternal aunts (12.7%), and adolescents' fathers/social fathers (11%). Differences emerged among groups of coparents in support and conflict with the mother. Specifically, grandmothers, aunts, and female family friends provided significantly more instrumental support than fathers. Furthermore, grandmothers and fathers had more conflict with the mother, both generally and specifically in front of the child, than aunts or female family friends. In turn, these differences were associated directly and indirectly through maternal parenting with internalizing and externalizing problems. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Correlates of male cohabiting partner’s involvement in child-rearing tasks in low-income urban Black stepfamilies.

“…Two subscales from the Who Does What were developed from prior factor analysis performed on the current sample (Parent, Clifton, et al, 2013): Daily Child-related Tasks (DCT: 7 items, e.g., monitoring child’s bedtime, helping when child has problems with siblings, friends, or teachers) and Setting limits (SL; 3 items, disciplining, setting limits for child, monitoring with whom the child spends time). Mothers, male cohabiting partners, and adolescents reported on MCP involvement in both DCT and SL.…”

“…Some of our recent work (Parent et al, 2013) suggests that a residential coparent may be less involved in childrearing than a non-residential coparent. However , the Parent et al sample was primarily constituted by grandparents, aunts, and biological fathers as co-parents; furthermore, research by Hernandez and Coley (2007) indicates that biological residential fathers are more involved in childrearing than non-residential biological fathers.…”

Analysis of Studies on Social Support and Children of Depressed Mothers: A Systematic Review

“…The trajectories of maternal depression with regard to severity and chronicity (Ashman et al, 2008;Campbell et al, 2007;Fatori et al, 2013;Gross et al, 2009;Parent, Jones, Forehand, Cuellar, & Shoulberg, 2013;Wang et al, 2013;Zanca, Pizeta, Osório, & Loureiro, 2013) and the presence of comorbidities, especially those related to anxiety (Barker & Maughan, 2009;Boyd & Tervo-Clemmens, 2013;Fatori et al, 2013;Karevold et al, 2009;Lau, Rijsdijk, Gregory, McGuffin, & Eley, 2007;Mickelson & Demmings, 2009;Piché, Bergeron, Cyr, & Berthiaume, 2011), were identified as contextual risk factors for maternal clinical conditions. Twelve studies addressed negative parental practices including negligence, physical and psychological abuse, lax discipline, inconsistent punishment, and negative monitoring.…”

Male Cohabiting Partners as Primary Coparents in Low-Income Black Stepfamilies

“…This research, while informative, has not assessed or controlled for the presence of an MCP. Among those identified as contributing to coparenting in these families are the mother’s mother and her sister, the biological father, and family friends (e.g., Gonzalez, Jones, & Parent, 2014; Parent, Jones, Forehand, Cuellar, & Shoulberg, 2013; see Jones & Lindahl, 2011, for a review). Furthermore, more than one of these individuals, as well as the MCP, may serve as a coparent for a child, potentially reducing the parenting burden on any one individual.…”

“…We build on this research and our work with other samples (e.g., Jones, Forehand, Dorsey, Foster, Brody, & Armistead, 2005; Parent et al, 2013) in the development of our hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that, when an MCP is not identified as a coparent, another individual (e.g., mother’s mother or sister) will be identified.…”