Family change and child wellbeing

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Family change and child well-being

• Marjorie Smith
• ESRC/DfES Public Policy Seminar
• London
• 19th March 2007

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Background

• high rates of family separation and divorce
• relatively high proportion of lone parent
  families
• stepfamilies are the fastest growing family form
  in the UK

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But

• family status should be viewed as dynamic rather
  than fixed
• 40 of mothers will spend some time as a lone
  parent
• most mothers who separate or divorce,
  subsequently re-partner a third will spend time
  in a stepfamily before they are 45
• remarriages are less stable than first marriages

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40 per cent of mothers will spend some time as
a lone parent. The duration of lone parenthood is
often short, one half remaining lone-mothers for
4.6 years or less. About three-fourths of these
lone mothers will form a stepfamily ..
Stepfamilies are not very stable one quarter
dissolve within a year. Ermisch and Francesconi,
2000, p235
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(No Transcript)
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Changes in family status precipitate other changes

• in housing
• in income/financial circumstances
• in schools

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Other changes experienced ( children)
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Number of changes and child behaviour score
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Measures - child well-being

• The symptom score (Smith and Jenkins, 1991)
• Interview based measure assessing thirty one
  items of behaviour
• sadness, irritable moods, anxiety, school
  refusal, fears or phobias, sleep problems,
  stealing at home or at school, disobedience,
  temper tantrums, aggressive behaviour towards
  peers or siblings, attention seeking, lying,
  enuresis, encopresis, eating disorder,
  hyperactivity, poor concentration, headaches,
  stomach aches, nausea, and any other problems.

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Measures parent/child relationship quality

• Interview based assessment of
• positive recognition, warmth, enjoyment of
  company, criticism, irritability, loss of
  control, hostility, confiding, inappropriate
  confiding, shared interests and activities.
• derived measures of positivity and negativity
• Global rating of the quality of the relationship
  (rated as very good, good, mixed/ambivalent, poor
  and very poor)

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Mother/child relationship quality and child
well-being
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Marital quality and child well-being
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Conclusions

• family status for children should be viewed as
  dynamic not fixed
• family change, such as separation, divorce or
  repartnering, is often the trigger for a series
  of other changes
• changes and transitions impact on child
  well-being and are disruptive to parenting
• family functioning and parenting are disrupted by
  parental conflict, parental depression and
  stress.
• family functioning in particular the quality of
  relationships in the family - is more relevant to
  child well-being than family status

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References

• Ermisch, J. Francesconi, M. (2000). The
  increasing complexity of family relationships
  lifetime experience of lone motherhood and
  stepfamilies in Great Britain. European Journal
  of Population, 16, 235-249.
• Roberts, P. (2002). The effect of changes in
  maternal employment and family composition on
  childrens behaviour. http//www.hrdc.gc.ca/sp-ps/
  arb-dgra/publications/research/2002docs
• Smith, M.A. and Jenkins, J.M. (1991). The effects
  of marital disharmony on pre-pubertal children.
  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 19,
  625-644.
• Smith, M. (2004). Parental mental health
  disruptions to parenting and outcomes for
  children. Child and Family Social Work, 9, 3-11.