The Influence of Grandparents in Single-Mother Families

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 69; no. 2; pp. 465 - 481
• Main Authors: Dunifon, Rachel, Kowaleski-Jones, Lori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.05.2007; National Council on Family Relations; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: African American Children; Behavior Problems; Black people; Black White Differences; Child care; Child Development; Children; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Development; Educational Attainment; Extended Family; Families in Middle and Later Life; Family Environment; Family Influence; Family Relations; Family Structure; Female Headed Households; Grandparents; Longitudinal Studies; Mental stimulation; Mothers; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; One Parent Family; One-parent families; Parents; race; Racial Differences; Racial differentiation; Reading Ability; Reading Skills; Single Mothers; single parent; Single Parent Family; Single parents; Social interaction; Stimulation; Test scores; U.S.A; Whites
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00377.x

This article examines whether children living with single mothers benefit when they also live with a grandparent, using data from the 1979 to 2002 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth merged mother-child file (N = 6,501). Results indicate that for White children, living with a single mother and a grandparent is associated with increased cognitive stimulation and higher reading recognition scores, compared to living with a single mother alone. For Black children, grandparent coresidence is associated with less cognitive stimulation. Thus, in some instances, living with a grandparent can benefit children, but the pattern of results differs by race.