Factors related to the social competence of children in single-parent families

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Phyllis Heath (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
J. Allen Watson

Abstract: Viewed in light of the great deal of research documenting the negative effects of divorce on children, the results of the present investigation offer an alternative explanation of children's outcomes following divorce. These findings provide strong support for the ecological model which stresses that child outcomes may be attributed to a variety of contextual influences. In particular, these results emphasize that divorce is only one event affecting the child's adjustment and that subsequent experiences within the single-parent family environment also contribute to the child's overall social competence. Assessments were made regarding the relations between factors within the single-parent family environment and social competence of children in these families. Nine predictor variables—which included three measures of parental childrearing behaviors (acceptance versus rejection, firm versus lax control and psychological autonomy versus psychological control), as well as the variables of family income, mother's support systems, the child-father relationship, the coparental relationship, education of the mother and sex of the child—were examined in relation to measures of the social competence of children in these families.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1985
Subjects
Children of single parents
Social skills in children
Socialization

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