Does the increasing number of children living outside a conventional two-parent nuclear family, mean bad news for children? Is cognitive and emotional development being harmed by the breakdown of the family, or has a moral panic been overstated'? Evidence comes from the second generation of the British NCDS (1958 birth cohort), collected in 1991, when the study members were 33, and the American NLSY (1958-1965 cohorts), interviewed in 1992, when the subsample of their children studied were at least 4. Models relating family structure to child well-being are presented with and without adjustment for other emographic, social and economic circumstances. A multi-variate, multi-level strategy estimates heterogeneity within and between families. Simple associations between family disruption and child well-being are shown to be mediated through material and other factors. The high variability in the data defies deterministic modelling but there appear to be differing associations in the two countries.
Clarke, Lynda, Elizabeth C. Cooksey, Heather Joshi, Richard D. Wiggins and Andrew McCulloch. "Consequences of Family Disruption for the Cognitive and Behavioral Development of Children in Britain and the United States." Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1998.