THE BIG BROTHER IN THE SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY - FAMILY, FRIEND, OR COUNSELOR

This study examined perceptions of ideal and actual function in the '' big brother'' role amongst big brothers, single-parent mothers, social workers and a control group. In the ideal perspective, single-parent mothers and social workers valued the family substitute aspect of the big brother role as significantly more important than did big brothers . Perceptions of actual function within groups showed that big brother s perceived themselves as doing less counseling activity and somewhat more family substitute activity than their professed role ideals. It w as suggested that the single-parent mothers significantly stronger rol e ideal for family substitute activity may be related to less counseli ng activity in big brothers. Implications of these findings for progra m effectiveness and future research are discussed.