Family diversity and children’s behavioral outcomes in Canada: From structure to process

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Résumé (français)

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Résumé (anglais)

Using data from the 1994/1995 and 1996/1997 Canadian National Longitudinal Survey for Children and Youth, we explore the roles of economic resources and family processes as explanations for family structure differences on children’s internalizing (emotional disorder) and externalizing (physical aggression and property offenses) behaviors. Our results show that household income was significant for children’s internalizing behavior but was not substantial enough to account fully for the deleterious outcomes among children living in diverse households. Parenting practices and parental depression were more important than economic resources in reducing the effect of stable single-parent families on emotional disorder. Parenting practices were especially crucial in accounting for the family structure effects on property offenses, and family structure effects remain as important factors in explaining children’s physical aggression. Our study underscores the distinction made between stable family structures versus recent family change as important determinants of children’s well-being.