Journal of Family Psychology 2001, Vol. 15, No. 2, 288^300 Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0893-3200/01/S5.0O DOI: 1O.1037//O893-32OO.15.2.288 Family Structure and the Externalizing Behavior of Children From Economically Disadvantaged Families Brian P. Ackerman, Kristen Schoff D'Eramo, Lina Umylny, David Schultz, and Carroll E. Izard University of Delaware This study examined the relations among family structure, caregiver relationship history, aspects of environmental adversity, and teacher reports about the external- izing behaviors of 6- and 7-year-old children from economically disadvantaged families. Family structure contrasted intact families, stepfamilies, single-parent families, and cohabiting families. Problem behaviors were more frequent for children from unmarried families than from married families and were more frequent for boys than for girls from cohabiting families. Relationship history reduced the effects for family structure. Children's adjustment varied with both the current status and past stability of caregiver intimate relationships for disadvan- taged families. One of the more robust demographic trends of recent years has been the increasing number of children growing up in single-parent fami- lies. The number reflects high rates of both marital dissolution and children born to unwed mothers (Hernandez, 1997b; Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998; McLanahan, 1999). The trend concerns analysts because single- parent status is associated with adjustment problems for children, including a variety of problem behaviors, scholastic and employment difficulties, and psychiatric disturbances (Demo & Acock, 1996; McLanahan, 1997, 1999; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). Father absence frames interpretation of the risks for children associated with single-parent status. The risks reflect the relative lack of the qualities that a residing biological father or step- father brings to a family, including economic Brian P. Ackerman, Kristen Schoff D'Eramo, Lina Umylny, David Schultz, and Carroll E. Izard, Depart- ment of Psychology, University of Delaware. The W. T. Grant Foundation supported this re- search. We thank Karen Levinson, Sarah Fine, and Eric Youngstrom for help on the project. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brian P. Ackerman, Department of Psy- chology, University of Delaware, 220 Wolf Hall, Newark, Delaware 19716-2577. Electronic mail may be sent to bpa@udel.edu. resources, paternal supervision of child behav- ior, an adult male role model, and support for the female caregiver. These risks may be espe- cially salient for boys (Hetherington & Stanley- Hagan, 1999; Pagani, Tremblay, Vitaro, Kerr, & McDuff, 1998). McLanahan and Sandefur (1994), McLanahan (1999), and Avenevoli, Sessa, and Steinberg (1999) have provided re- cent support for this perspective for mixed- income samples of families. McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) and McLanahan (1999) have shown that income and parental supervision ac- count for most of the differences in adolescent outcomes for married, intact families (i.e., with two married biological parents) and single- parent families. Avenevoli et al. (1999) have found that authoritative parenting styles are more frequent in intact families than in single- parent families. Single mothers have more dif- ficulty setting limits and controlling children's behavior. The trend to single-parent families has been especially pronounced for economically disad- vantaged families (S. W. Duncan, 1994; Liaw & Brooks-Gunn, 1994; McLoyd, 1998), perhaps because of the adverse relation between ecolog- ical factors and stable marital relations (Wilson, 1987). The nature of the adjustment risk for the children of these families, however, is unclear for a number of reasons. One reason is that the financial advantages of marriage and remarriage 288 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.