In this article, Melanie Wasserman reviews the latest evidence about the causal link between family structure and children's economic and social outcomes. Going beyond the question of whether family structure affects child outcomes--a topic that's already been covered at length, including in previous Future of Children volumes--she examines how…

Being able to form and maintain intimate relationships is an essential part of development and the early loss of a parent may negatively affect this ability. This study investigates the association between parental loss before the age of 18 years and the formation and dissolution of marriage and cohabitation relationships in adulthood, in relation…

A parent's immigration status influences how a child grows up. That basic finding is grounded in the broad mainstream of current research on childhood development, which has concluded that parental factors can be powerful determinants of their offspring's well being all the way into adulthood. As this report shows, a parent's immigration status…

This paper analyzes whether there exists a causal relationship between parental employment and children's educational attainment. We address potential endogeneity problems due to (i) selection of parents in the labor market by estimating a model on sibling differences and (ii) reverse causality by focusing on parents' employment when children are…

This study sought to examine the association of the various forms of capital on the developed achievement of Black males. As one of the richest longitudinal family economic data sets, the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to estimate multilevel growth models of the math and reading achievement of Black…

This article reports on findings from a study of 989 fathers of school-going children aged 10 through 16 from intact families in rural and urban areas in Selangor, Malaysia. The study aims to explore the factors that affect father involvement among Malay Muslims. Results indicate that fathers' education, marital quality, and number of children are…

This study investigates cognitive abilities of pre/primary school children without and with spina bifida in Uganda. Qualitative semi structured interviews and quantitative functioning scales measurements were combined and conducted with 133 parents, 133 children with spina bifida, and 35 siblings. ANCOVA was used to test for differences in…

The purpose of the study was to identify the economic differences in familial, physiological, psychological, and lifestyle characteristics associated with overweight and obese children in South Korea. A total of 407 overweight and obese children participated in the study. The obesity rate was 69.0% and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) was…

Objective: Links between maternal and offspring depression symptoms could arise from inherited factors, direct environmental exposure, or shared adversity. A novel genetically sensitive design was used to test the extent of environmental links between maternal depression symptoms and child depression/anxiety symptoms, accounting for inherited…

A considerable amount of research has examined factors associated with the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders in children. The familial nature of anxiety has been well-established, with genetic studies showing that approximately 30% of the variance is accounted for by genetic factors. Research into the family environment documents…

The current study is a longitudinal investigation of unobserved heterogeneity in the developmental trajectories of problem behaviors among children who have experienced maltreatment. The goal of this study is to inform effective intervention plans with respect to behavior problems of maltreated children by examining the different trajectories of…

Maternal depression has been linked to deficits in parenting that contribute to youth's development of externalizing and/or internalizing problems. Maternal sensitivity has been implicated within the infant literature as a foundational aspect of parenting contributing to a child's adjustment. This study examines the main and moderating effects of…

Objective: Scholastic achievement in a nonclinical sample of ADHD children and adolescents was evaluated taking into consideration variables such as comorbid learning disorders, family income, and parental education which may also be associated with poor academic performance. Method: After screening for ADHD in 396 students, the authors compared…

The life course perspective emphasizes that past economic experiences and stage in the life course influence a family's ability to cope with negative life events such as poor health. However, traditional analytic approaches are not well-suited to examine how the impact of negative life events differs based on a family's past economic experiences,…

Few studies have captured the variation in single mothers' work and welfare experiences and the implications for children. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Child Development Study, this study examines patterns of wages, work hours, and time spent on welfare in relation to children's well-being (N = 820). Six patterns…