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1、WhySingleParenthoodAffectsChildrenhengreaterrisksarefound,wearebeginningtodevelopabetterunder-standingofthosefactorsthatdifferentiatethechildreninsingleparentWfamilieswhodevelopdisturbancesfromthosewhodonot.Understand-ingwhyfamilyinstabilityplacessomechildrenatgreate
2、rriskisessentialinplanningprogramsandpoliciestopromotehealthychildrenandfamilies.Inthissection,webrieflysummarizefiveperspectivesonthepossiblepathwaysthroughwhichtheseeffectsaretransmitted:economichardship,lossofparentalsupportandsupervision,lackofcommunityresources,
3、parentalconflict,andlifestressandinstability.EconomicHardshipPovertyisthemostprofoundandpervasivefactorunderlyingdevelopmentalproblemsoftheyoung.Roughly,oneoftwofamiliesheadedbyasinglemotherislivinginpovertycomparedwithoneoftenmarriedcoupleswithchildren(McLanahan&Boo
4、th,1989).Notsurprisingly,singleparentsaretwiceaslikelytoreportthattheyworry“allormostofthetime”thattheirtotalincomeisnotenoughtomeetfamilyexpenses.Onaverage,poorchildreninmother-headedfamiliesarepoorforsevenyears,morethanathirdoftheirchildhood(Garfinkel&McLanahan,198
5、6).Theeconomicdifferencesresult,notonlyfromlowerincomeprecedingdivorce,butalsofromthedeclineinincomethataccompaniesdivorce(McLanahan&Sandefur,inpress);theeffectmaydiffersomewhatforfamilieswhostartoutpoororbecomepoor.Nevertheless,theincomeofsinglemothersandtheirchil-d
6、renafterdivorceisonly67percentoftheirincomebeforedivorce,whilethein-comeofdivorcedmenis90percentofthepre-divorceincome(McLanahan&Booth,1989).Inonestudyusingfournationallyrepresentativedatabases,lackofincomeemergedasthesinglemostimportantfactorinaccountingforthediffer
7、encesinchildrenfromsingleparentandintactfamilies;differencesinincomeareesti-matedtoaccountforoverhalfofthedifferencesintheeducationalattainmentandsteadyemploymentofyoungadults,andjustunderhalfofthedifferencesinnonmaritalchildbearing(McLanahan&Sandefur,inpress).Lackof
8、income,however,doesnotappeartoaccountforthedifferencesinchildwell-beingbe-tweenintactandstepfamilies(McLanahan&Sandefur,inpress)ori