Factors Affecting Inner City Developmental Outcomes

Amato, P.R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. Marriage and Child Wellbeing, 15(2), 75-96. The author addressed two questions related to child development in single-parent households: (1) cognitive, social, and emotional consequences, and (2) etiology of outcome differences. This review of the research literature was up-to-date 2005. Overall, the author concluded that children of single-parent households will do more poorly throughout their life, but only modestly so. Protective variables included remarriage and cohabitation, in that order.

The author pays careful attention to inconsistent and mixed findings within and between studies, thereby rendering the review credible. Shook, S.E., Jones, D.J., Forehand, R., Dorsey, S., & Brody, G. (2010). The mother-coparent relationship and youth adjustment: A study of African-American single-mother families. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(3), 243-51. This study examined the impact of coparent relationship quality on child development outcomes in African-American single-mother households in the Southeastern United States. Discordant coparenting relationships were associated with lower social and cognitive child competence and problem behaviors.

A positive parenting style was protective against the negative effects of coparent conflict. These findings are limited by the cross-sectional study design and reliance on maternal self-reports for the data. Gonzalez, M., Jones, D., & Parent, J. (2014). Coparenting experiences in African-American families: An examination of single mothers and their nonmarital coparents. Family Process, 53(1), 33-54. This study examined the impact of coparenting and parental depression on child behavioral problems in single-mother African-American families and found that maternal depression, coparent depression, and mother-coparent conflict predicted an increased risk of youth externalizing behavior.

In this sample from North Carolina, the vast majority of coparents were non-resident grandmothers, sisters, and female friends. The credibility of the findings was strengthened by cross-validation of mother and coparent reports; however, the cross-sectional study design prevented longitudinal analysis of these variables and outcomes. Gaylord-Harden, N.K., Elmore, C.A., & Montes de Oca, J. (2013). Maternal parenting behaviors and child coping in African-American families. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(4), 607-17. Inner-city African-American mothers or legal guardians were studied to better understand how coping skills may be transferred to their children.

The predictors of child coping competency were maternal support and socialization of coping, but this finding was based on child reports only. Child gender determined the magnitude of the effect, with girls benefiting the most. There are a significant number of limitations associated with this study, including recruitment of participants from family support agencies. This method of recruiting would tend to limit the generalizability of the findings to all inner-city African-American single-parent households. Choi, J-K., & Jackson, A.P. (2012).

Nonresident fathers' parenting, maternal mastery and child development in poor African-American single-mother families. Race and Social Problems, 4(2), 102-11. The authors of this study examined eight variables, including child behavioral and cognitive problems, but in contrast to the majority of studies on this topic the variables were assessed longitudinally. All maternal and non-resident paternal factors were significant predictors of cognitive and behavioral problems, with maternal mastery and parenting skills having a consistently large effect. A non-resident father's involvement in parenting, however, was protective against negative child outcomes.

Study limitations include sole reliance on mother reports for all data and a lack of consideration for parenting contributions from other males. Additionally, the impact of paternal contributions was not evaluated longitudinally. Tolan, P.H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D.B. (2003). The developmental ecology of urban males' youth violence. Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 274-91. Using the developmental-ecological model the authors of this study evaluated possible predictors of violence among boys attending fifth and seventh grade in inner-city Chicago schools.

Parenting style and poverty were among the many variables examined; however, the variables included in the study explained only a percentage of the violence, which implies the existence of other, unidentified contributors to youth violence. Parenting practices and the concentration of poverty and crime were strong predictors of youth violence. This study highlights other factors, aside from single-parent households, that influence child development outcomes. Both Latino and African-American boys were included in the study, but not girls.

The limitations include a small sample size and considerable overlap of contributions from variables. Bubier, J.L., Drabick, D.A.G., & Breiner, T. (2009). Autonomic functioning moderates the relations between contextual factors and externalizing behaviors among inner-city children. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(4), 500-10. Modulators of the risk for negative child development outcomes include inherent predispositions to contextual influences. Accordingly, this study examined baseline autonomic indicators and grouped children of inner-city parents into low and high baseline autonomic activity.

Low autonomic activity in response to stressors was protective against externalizing behaviors, while children with a high baseline were influenced significantly by harsh parenting and neighborhood cohesion. The vast majority of these inner-city minority children resided in single-parent households. Unfortunately, the power of the study was insufficient to adequately test for differences in outcomes by child gender. McMahon, T.J., & Luthar, S.S. (2007). Defining characteristics and potential consequences of caretaking burden among children living in urban poverty. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(2), 267-81.

This study examined the impact of caretaker burden imposed on children between the ages of 8 and 17, living in inner-city households with mothers abusing drugs or suffering from psychiatric problems. Doing household chores, caring for siblings, and/or caring for mother were significant predictors of internalizing and externalizing behaviors and social competence. The authors mentioned continued controversy about how to measure caretaker burden in children, which could represent a significant limitation of.