Role taking and socialization in single-parent families

This article examines the conditions and consequences of role taking in sin gle-parent families. First, the authors discuss the theoretical relevance o f rule taking for parent-child interaction. Second, they suggest some condi tions for parental role taking. Third, the authors consider how social clas s and family structure affect role taking in single-parent families. They p ropose that in addition to role taking in the dyadic parent-child relations hip, two other forms of role taking are consequential for child socializati on and family relations. One is specific to triadic relationships, the othe r to the family unit. Second-order role taking occurs v;hen a parent elicit s the perspective of the spouse in understanding the child. Third-order rol e taking, similar to Mead's concept of the "generalized other" as the vanta ge point for role taking, occurs when a parent elicits the perspective of t he family as a whole. The authors explore these ideas in a qualitative stud y of single and married parents.