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Context, relationship transitions and conflict: explaining outcomes for Australian youth from non-intact families

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Abstract

As in many other countries, non-traditional family types are increasing in prevalence in Australia. In 2008, over one quarter of Australian families reported a non-intact family structure; comprising over 0.8 million lone-parent families and 0.4 million stepfamilies. Prior studies consistently find poorer child outcomes associated with non-intact family type. Controlling for family characteristics decreases the negative effect; however, in most cases small but unexplained differences remain apparent. The current study examines differences in the outcomes of young adults from four family types—intact, stepfather, stepmother and never-repartnered lone-parent families—on four measures: educational attainment; being suspended from school; regular smoking; and trouble with police. The research uses information from 2,430 matched parent-youth pairs collected in a unique Australian study, the Youth in Focus Survey. This study improves our understanding of the complex interaction between family structure and adolescent well-being by exploiting the full childhood family-relationship history information available in the Survey. Although between-group variations are described, differences are predominantly due to contextual factors associated with disadvantage, more prevalent in families who separate and repartner, rather than family structure in itself. For lone-parent and stepfather families, the number of family transitions since the youth’s birth is also relevant. Parent-youth conflict explained little of the negative association between family structure and youth outcomes above the effect of contextual factors, but operated independently of family structure to affect youth outcomes. Possible reasons for unexplained differences between intact and stepmother families on some measures are discussed.

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Notes

  1. See Bjorklund and Sundstrom (2002), Kiernan (1992), Lamb et al. (2000), Marks (2006), Marks (1995), McLanahan and Sandefur (1994), Pryor and Rodgers (2001).

  2. See Pryor and Rodgers (2001) and the meta-analysis by Amato and Keith (1991).

  3. In 2008, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that just under 1.25 million families with a child aged less than 18 years (26% of all families) lived in a non-intact family structure. These families include over 0.8 million lone-parent families and 0.4 million stepfamilies and blended families (ABS 2008).

  4. For a more detailed discussion of the project and the YIF data collection see Breunig et al. (2007).

  5. Centrelink is an Australian Government Statutory Agency, assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting those in need. Detailed information on payments is available at www.centrelink.gov.au

  6. Income support is the term used to describe Australian Government financial assistance to persons earning less than defined income levels, including the unemployed, disabled, carers and those older than retirement age, while family payments are payments made to couple- or lone-parent families to help with the costs of raising children. Payments are generally subject to the income and assets of the payee. A full description of eligibility criteria is provided at www.centrelink.gov.au

  7. More than 95% of primary parents were mothers.

  8. We independently estimated coefficients for family type whilst controlling for contextual factors which included or excluded housing and schooling instability. There was little observed difference although we consider it warrants further investigation in future work.

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Acknowledgments

The data used for this research come from the Youth in Focus Project which is jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Centrelink and the Australian Research Council (Linkage-Project LP0347164) and carried out by the Australian National University. The opinions, comments and analysis expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

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  1. Research and Analysis Branch, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, PO Box 7576, Canberra Business Centre, Canberra, ACT, 2610, Australia

    Paula Mance & Peng Yu

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  1. Paula Mance
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Correspondence to Paula Mance.

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Mance, P., Yu, P. Context, relationship transitions and conflict: explaining outcomes for Australian youth from non-intact families. J Pop Research 27, 75–105 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-010-9033-2

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