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Family Structure and Child Well-Being

The Role of Parental Social Connections

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Abstract

Our previous work found that single-parenthood was associated with reduced well-being for white, but not black, children (Dunifon and Kowaleski-Jones 2002). The current paper examines whether parental social connections account for differences in the effects of family structure on child well-being. Using data from the 1979 to 2000 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, our results show a key role for living with a grandparent in accounting for race differences in the influence of single-parenthood on children. In contrast, visiting friends and relatives did not explain differences in the relationship between single-parenthood and child delinquency among African American and families receiving public assistance sub-groups.

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© 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

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Dunifon, R., Kowaleski-Jones, L. (2006). Family Structure and Child Well-Being. In: Kowaleski-Jones, L., Wolfinger, N.H. (eds) Fragile Families and the Marriage Agenda. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-26025-0_5

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