Funded Research
Family Structure and Child Outcomes: The Implications of Diversity and Dynamics
Source: William T. Grant Foundation
Active: 07/01/00 - 07/30/07
Investigator(s):
Rukmalie Jayakody
The proposed research examines the impact of family structure on child outcomes by correcting the conceptual and methodological problems inherent in prior work. While a significant body of research in sociology, economics, psychology and related disciplines report that growing up in a single-parent home has negative consequences for children, the definition of family structure used in these studies overlooks important dimensions of children's lives that may impact child outcomes, calling for a re-examination of the family structure/child outcomes relationship. The proposed research seeks to correct the conceptual and methodological problems present in previous studies to determine more precisely what aspects of family structure influence child outcomes. First, this research looks beyond a comparison of one- and two-parent families, and examines the complete household context of single-mother families. Second, rather than focusing on family structure at a single point in time, the proposed research relies on a dynamic measure. Living arrangements are tremendously fluid and multi-direction, and one-time measures overlook important variations by confounding the experiences of children who undergo multiple transitions with those that have relatively stable living situations. Third, this research recognizes that the effects of family structure and family structure changes are likely to vary by the age and sex of the child, and investigates these potential differences. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its 1997 Child Development Supplement are used to examine these issues.
