IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i3p1780-d1040109.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family Structure and Child Behavior Problems in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Nina A. Stoddard-Bennett

    (Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Jordan Coburn

    (Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Mikaela J. Dufur

    (Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Jonathan A. Jarvis

    (Department of Sociology, Brigham Young University, 2008 JFSB, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Shana L. Pribesh

    (Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA)

Abstract

A large body of literature suggests that children living with two married, biological parents on average have fewer behavior problems than those who do not. What is less clear is why this occurs. Competing theories suggest that resource deficiencies and parental selectivity play a part. We suggest that examining different contexts can help adjudicate among different theoretical explanations as to how family structure relates to child behavior problems. In this paper, we use data from the Growing Up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), and the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) to examine the relationship between family structure and child behavior problems. Specifically, we look at how living in several configurations of biological and social parents may relate to child behavior problems. Findings suggest both similarities and differences across the three settings, with explanations in the UK results favoring selectivity theories, US patterns suggesting that there is a unique quality to family structure that can explain outcomes, and the Australian results favoring resource theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina A. Stoddard-Bennett & Jordan Coburn & Mikaela J. Dufur & Jonathan A. Jarvis & Shana L. Pribesh, 2023. "Family Structure and Child Behavior Problems in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1780-:d:1040109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1780/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1780/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank F. Furstenberg, 2014. "Fifty Years of Family Change," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 654(1), pages 12-30, July.
    2. Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 2003. "The Effect of Child Care Costs on the Employment and Welfare Recipiency of Single Mothers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(3), pages 498-519, January.
    3. Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 2003. "The Effect of Child Care Costs on the Employment and Welfare Recipiency of Single Mothers," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 69(3), pages 498-519, January.
    4. Blum, R.W. & Beuhring, T. & Shew, M.L. & Bearinger, L.H. & Sieving, R.E. & Resnick, M.D., 2000. "The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(12), pages 1879-1884.
    5. Natasha Pilkauskas & Melissa Martinson, 2014. "Three-generation family households in early childhood: Comparisons between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(60), pages 1639-1652.
    6. Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 2003. "The Effect of Child Care Costs on the Employment and Welfare Recipiency of Single Mothers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(3), pages 498-519, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jill E. Yavorsky & Leah Ruppanner, 2022. "An Argument For Universal Preschool And Childcare In The U.S," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 922-929, June.
    2. Helmut Mahringer & Christine Zulehner, 2015. "Child-care costs and mothers’ employment rates: an empirical analysis for Austria," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 837-870, December.
    3. Patty Doran & Paul Bradshaw & Susan Morton & El-Shadan Tautolo & James Williams & Chris Cunningham, 2020. "Growing up Healthy in Families Across the Globe: Cross-Cultural Harmonisation of Childhood Risk-Factors Using Longitudinal Studies from Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(6), pages 1921-1935, December.
    4. Jake J. Hays, 2023. "Multipartner Fertility and Psychological Distress: Evidence for Social Selection," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-30, June.
    5. Randy Albelda & Michael Carr, 2017. "One Step Forward, One Step Back? Labor Supply Effects of Minimum Wage Increases on Single Parents with Public Child Care Support," Working Papers 2017_01, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    6. Andren, Thomas, 2003. "The choice of paid childcare, welfare, and labor supply of single mothers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 133-147, April.
    7. Lauren S. Scher & Rebecca A. Maynard & Matthew Stagner, 2006. "Interventions Intended to Reduce Pregnancy‐Related Outcomes Among Adolescents," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(1), pages 1-70.
    8. Jean Kimmel & Rachel Connelly, 2007. "Mothers’ Time Choices: Caregiving, Leisure, Home Production, and Paid Work," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    9. Yusuf Emre Akgunduz & Janneke Plantenga, 2018. "Child Care Prices And Maternal Employment: A Meta†Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 118-133, February.
    10. Lincove, Jane Arnold, 2009. "Determinants of schooling for boys and girls in Nigeria under a policy of free primary education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 474-484, August.
    11. Harkness, Susan, 2022. "The accumulation of disadvantage: how motherhood and relationship breakdown influence married and single mothers’ economic outcomes," ISER Working Paper Series 2022-03, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    12. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2020. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Lauren Sue Scher & Rebecca A. Maynard & Matthew Stagner, 2005. "PROTOCOL: Interventions Intended to Reduce Pregnancy‐Related Outcomes Among Adolescents," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 1(1), pages 1-33.
    14. Boyas, Javier F. & Kim, Yi Jin & Moon, Sung Seek & Ruiz, Erika & Gaines, Kaylynn, 2017. "Drug and alcohol use and its relationship to self-rated health: An ecological examination among Latino and non-Hispanic White adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 454-466.
    15. Haenim Lee, 2023. "Determinants of Living in a Three-Generation Household among Adolescents of Ethnic Groups in the U.S.: Family Structure, Social–Economic Status, and Cultural Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-10, July.
    16. Andreassen, Leif & Di Tommaso, Maria Laura & Maccagnan, Anna, 2015. "Do Men Care? Men’s Supply Of Unpaid Labour," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201545, University of Turin.
    17. Andrés F. Castro Torres, 2020. "Family formation trajectories and migration status in the United States, 1970-2010," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    18. Lisa Hanzl & Miriam Rehm, 2023. "Less Work, More Labor: School Closures and Work Hours During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 252-284, October.
    19. Y.E. Akgündüz & J. Plantenga, 2015. "Childcare Prices and Maternal Employment: a Meta-Analysis," Working Papers 15-14, Utrecht School of Economics.
    20. Djurdjevic, Dragana, 2005. "Women's Labour Supply after Childbirth: An Empirical Analysis for Switzerland," Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics 144, Darmstadt University of Technology, Department of Law and Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1780-:d:1040109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.