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Coparenting Experiences in African American Families: An Examination of Single Mothers and their Nonmarital Coparents
Author(s) -
Gonzalez Michelle,
Jones Deborah,
Parent Justin
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/famp.12063
Subject(s) - single mothers , psychology , developmental psychology , disadvantage , socioeconomic status , african american , single parent , coparenting , perspective (graphical) , juvenile delinquency , fragile families and child wellbeing study , demography , sociology , population , political science , ethnology , artificial intelligence , computer science , law
A frican A merican youth from single‐mother homes continue to be overrepresented in statistics on risk behavior and delinquency, a trend that many be attributed to father‐absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and compromises in parenting more typical of single than two‐parent families. Yet, this risk‐focused perspective ignores a long‐standing strength of the A frican A merican community, the involvement and potential protective impact of extended family members in childrearing. This study describes the experiences of 95 A frican A merican single mothers and their nonmarital coparents who participated in a study of A frican A merican single‐mother families with an 11–16‐year‐old child. Specifically, the study examines: (a) the extent to which nonmarital coparents are involved in childrearing; (b) the relative levels of risk (i.e., depression, mother–coparent conflict) and protective (i.e., parenting) associated with maternal and coparent involvement; and (c) how similarly and/or differently coparent and mother variables operate with regard to youth externalizing problems. Findings reveal that a range of family members and other adults actively participate in childrearing in A frican A merican single‐mother families, coparents do not differ from mothers on certain study variables (i.e., depression and mother–coparent conflict) but do for others (parenting), and coparent involvement is associated with youth adjustment in ways that are similar to our more established understanding of maternal involvement. The potential clinical implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are highlighted.