Low-Income Multigenerational Households: Variation in Family Functioning by Mothers’ Age

1. Low-Income Multigenerational Households: Variation in Family Functioning by Mothers’ Age Laura D. Pittman & Michelle K. Boswell • INTRODUCTION • Differences in children’s well-being often have been examined based on parental marital status (e.g., Amato, 2005; Hetherington, et al, 1998) but fewer studies have considered other family forms. This paper focuses on mutigenerational households, where a grandparent coresides with a biological mother and her children, among a low-income, urban population. • Previous research has suggested that children in multigenerational households do well in comparison to their peers (e.g., Barbarin & Soler, 1993; DeLeire & Kalil, 2002). However, this finding is less clear among families with adolescent mothers where the influence of living in a multigenerational household on children’s functioning has been mixed (e.g., Black & Nitz, 1995; Leadbeater & Bishop, 1994). Since younger mothers may still be adjusting to their own transition to adulthood, they may have more difficulty negotiating roles with their own parents and this may influence their parenting behaviors. • Thus, this paper considers how residence in a multigenerational household may influence the functioning of the family, mother, and children. It was hypothesized that multigenerational households with younger mothers would display more problems than those with older mothers. • RESULTS • 22% of sample was in multigenerational households • T-test analyses found few differences between households that were multigenerational versus not multigenerational households. The following were the only significant differences between groups (scores for multigenerational households presented first): • Children’s age (mean of 79.37 vs. 94.19 months, t= 2.28, p < .05) • Mothers’ Age (mean of 28.51 vs. 32.39 years, t = 5.11, p < .001) • Children’s Internalizing Problem Behaviors (mean standardized score of .15 vs. -.10, t = -2.48, p < .05) • Children’s Externalizing Problem Behaviors (mean standardized score of .09 vs. -.15, t = 2.25, p < .05) • Regression Analyses • Models for Household Financial Strain, Maternal Self-Esteem and Psychological Symptoms, and Child’s • Externalizing Problem Behaviors are not presented, as the variables of interest were not significant. • Standardized Betas are presented for ease of interpretation. • * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001 • METHOD • Data from the Wave 1 caregiver interview of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, a random sample of children in low-income, urban neighborhoods with a child either age 0-4 or 10-14 years of age were used. • 2204 families with a biological mother were included in these analyses • Measures • Household Economic Conditions: • Income-to-Needs Ratio (i.e., a comparison of total household income and family size to the federal poverty threshold) • Financial Strain Index (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 2000) • Mothers’ Psychological Health: • 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1986) • 18-item short form of the Brief Symptom Inventory, which assesses symptoms of depression, somatization, and anxiety (Derogatis, 2000) • Mothers’ Parenting: • 6 items from the Family Routines Inventory (Jenson et al., 1983) • 17 items from the Raising Children Checklist (Shumow et al., 1998), which assesses parenting practices • Children’s Well-Being: • Internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors subscales from the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991; 1992) • 6 items from the Positive Behaviors Scale (Quint et al., 1997), which assesses child’s social competence • Data Analysis • T-test comparisons were made comparing measures based on whether the household was multigenerational or not • Two sets of weighted OLS regressions were run • Model 1: Child outcome = Covariates (i.e., child’s age group, sex and race; mothers’ marital status and education) + Mothers’ Age + Multigenerational Household (MGHH vs. not) • Model 2: Child outcome = Model 1 + Mothers’ age x MGHH interaction • SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION • In general, multigenerational households are similar to other households in terms of their economic well-being, maternal psychological health, and maternal parenting, but not in children’s functioning. Children appear to have more internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors when living in multigenerational households. Further understanding of why these households form would likely help explain why these differences exist. • Furthermore, all multigenerational households are not alike. Mothers in multigenerational households who are younger compared to older appear to struggle more to provide effective parenting, including provision of stable family routines and warm and firm parenting. • Children with young mothers appear to do worse in terms of social competence as well internalizing behaviors (trend level finding, graph not shown), when in multigenerational households, but no differences emerge among children with older mothers. • The household economic conditions of those in non-multigenerational households was higher for older as compared to younger mothers, but no differences emerged by mothers’ age among those in multigenerational households. 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