Family Structure Effects on Parenting Stress and Practices in the African American Family

Authors

Daphne S. Cain, Louisiana State University
Terri Combs-Orme, University of Tennessee

Keywords

African-American, infant parenting, parenting stress

Abstract

The predominant approach to African-American parenting research focuses on disadvantages associated with single parenthood to the exclusion of other issues. The current research suggests that this does not represent the diversity in family structure configurations among African-American families, nor does it give voice to the parenting resilience of single mothers. We argue that rather than marital status or family configuration, more attention needs to be given to the inadequacy of resources for this population.

In the current study, we examined the parenting of infants by African- American mothers and found that mothers' marital status and family configuration did not affect parenting stress or practices. This suggests, then, that single mothers parent as well as their married, partnered, and multigenerational counterparts. It seems that the economic status and parenting perceptions of mothers contributed more to parenting stress than did marital status or family structure. Our study, then, challenges the accepted wisdom in our political and popular culture that has insisted upon the centrality of the nuclear family to all aspects of familial and even national health. Instead, we have shown that a true commitment to strong families and healthy children begins with a focus on the debilitating effects of poverty in the African-American community.

Recommended Citation

Cain, Daphne S. and Combs-Orme, Terri (2005) "Family Structure Effects on Parenting Stress and Practices in the African American Family," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 32: Iss. 2, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.3069
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol32/iss2/3