FAMILY-STRUCTURE AND CHILD WELL-BEING - ECONOMIC-RESOURCES VS PARENTAL BEHAVIORS

We used data from the National Survey of Families and Households to in vestigate economic resources and parental behavior explanations for fa mily structure effects on children. The economic explanation received considerable support in terms of single-mother disadvantage and accoun ted for a smaller proportion of disadvantage associated with mother-pa rtner families. Parental behaviors, particularly maternal and paternal support, accounted for much smaller proportions of disadvantages foun d in mother-stepfather as well as mother-partner families. Parental be haviors did not appear to mediate any of the economic resource effects on children.