The Psychosocial Adjustment of African American Youth from Single Mother Homes: The Relative Contribution of Parents and Peers

Abstract

This study examined the relative roles of parents and peers in the psychosocial adjustment of African American youth (7–15 years old) from single mother homes (N = 242). Main effects of both positive parenting and peer relationship quality were found for youth depressive symptoms. In addition, a main effect of peer relationship quality and an interaction of Positive Parenting × Peer Relationship Quality emerged for youth externalizing symptoms. When mothers engaged in higher levels of positive parenting behavior, peer relationship quality was not associated with youth externalizing symptomatology. When mothers engaged in lower levels of positive parenting behavior, however, higher peer relationship quality was associated with greater youth externalizing symptomatology. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

This work is the result of a thesis completed by Charlene Chester under the direction of Deborah Jones. Support for the preparation of this article was provided in part by a Research and Study Leave to Deborah Jones by the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We are grateful to Rex Forehand and Gene Brody, Principal Investigators, for the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses of data from their project, which was supported by the William T. Grant Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute for Behavioral Research at the University of Georgia. Our appreciation is also extended to Edward Morse and Patricia Simon Morse for their role in data collection.

Notes

^a Standardized and summed scores for the Interaction Behavior Questionnaire and Monitoring and Control Questionnaire.

^b Standardized and summed scores for the two subscales of the Youth Self-Report.

∗∗p < .001.

¹The analyses were repeated to examine whether the main effects of positive parenting or peer relationship quality, or the interaction of Positive Parenting × Peer Relationship Quality, were moderated by child age or gender. None of the interactions including child age or gender were significant and, therefore, are not presented here. Analyses are available from Deborah Jones upon request.

∗p < .05

∗∗p < .01.