Sara McLanahan, a sociologist, is one of the most the most accomplished and distinguished members of her profession. She explores the situation of children in America, and the relationships between their parents. It’s rather startling to learn that her findings are “shocking” and “quite disturbing.” “The fact that so many relationships do not last led us to take a closer look at the amount of instability in the lives of these families [where the parents are unmarried and less educated]. What we found was shocking. ...By the time their child is five years old, over half of unmarried mothers have experienced at least one change in a residential partnership – either a move in or a move out by a romantic partner. Thirty nine percent have experienced one or two transitions, 15 percent have experienced three or four transitions and 3 percent have experienced five or more changes. If we count changes in dating partnerships, the numbers are even higher. The highest level of instability is found among mothers who are living alone at birth, suggesting that the term ‘single-mother’ family may be a misnomer since very few of these households are composed of mothers who are stably single. “These findings are quite disturbing given what we know about the effects of instability. Instability causes stress, and chronic instability causes chronic stress, which taxes the immune system and increases the risk of physical and mental health problems. Instability also undermines the quality of the home environment by diverting mothers’ attention away from the child and creating uncertainty over parental authority.” crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-21-FF.pdf
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 21:28:52 +0000
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