Family Instability and Selection Effects on Children

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究测试了两个假设的相对强度，这两个假设可以解释儿童经历的家庭结构转变次数与他或她的认知成就和社会情感健康之间的联系。在家庭社会学中获得支持的不稳定性假说认为，经历更多家庭结构转变的儿童因此会经历更差的发展结果。一些研究已经报道了与这种联系相一致的研究结果，一些研究认为，家庭结构不稳定的影响可能比与单亲生活本身的影响更强。但另一种合理的解释是，家庭不稳定和儿童发展较差可能通过反映父母先前行为和属性的共同因果因素相互关联。研究人员将这种解释称为选择假说。不稳定性假说和选择假说尚未直接相互检验。研究人员建议使用具有全国代表性的纵向数据对其进行测试，这些数据包括有关儿童行为和认知发展、家族史和儿童出生前母亲背景的详细信息。建议的数据是1979年至2000年的全国青年纵向调查(NLSY)及其2000年母婴补充资料。分析的重点是2000年8岁至14岁的儿童，因为他们构成了美国儿童中最具代表性的亚样本。2000年测量的结果变量包括儿童认知成就和内化和外化行为的指标。关键的预测变量集包括：(1)对儿童家庭结构历史的衡量，包括转变的次数；(2)在子样本中的任何一个孩子出生之前，对1979至1986年间母亲问题行为的衡量。所提出的方法包括OLS回归和多指标、潜变量模型。如果考虑到母亲的背景大大减少了转变和孩子结果之间的关联，这些分析将为选择假说提供支持。如果转变的影响大大减少，但在母亲背景的对照存在的情况下，仍具有统计学意义，这两个假设都将得到支持。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study tests the relative strength of two hypotheses that may explain the association between the number of transitions in family structure that a child experiences and his or her cognitive achievement and socioemotional well being. The instability hypothesis, which is gaining support in family sociology, argues that children who experience more family structure transitions experience poorer developmental outcomes as a result. Several studies have reported findings consistent with this association, and some argue that the effects of instability in family structure may be stronger than the effects of living with a single parent per se. But a plausible alternative explanation is that family instability and poorer child development may be associated with each other through common causal factors that reflect parents' antecedent behavior and attributes. The investigators refer to this explanation as the selection hypothesis. The instability and selection hypotheses have not been directly tested against each other. The investigators propose to test them using nationally representative longitudinal data that includes detailed information on children's behavioral and cognitive development, family history, and mother's background prior to the child's birth. The proposed data are the 1979 through 2000 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and its 2000 mother-child supplement. The analyses focus on children who were 8 to 14 in 2000 because they constituted the most representative sub-sample of American children. Outcome variables measured in 2000 include indicators of children's cognitive achievement and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Key sets of predictor variables include: (1) measures of the children's family structure histories, including the number of transitions; and (2) measures of mothers' problem behavior obtained between 1979 and 1986, before any of the children in the sub-sample were born. The proposed methods include OLS regression and multiple-indicator, latent-variable models. If accounting for mother's background substantially reduces the associations between transitions and child outcomes, the analyses would provide support for the selection hypothesis. Both hypotheses would receive support if the effect of transitions were substantially reduced but still statistically significant in the presence of controls for mother's background.