Family Structure and Child Well-being: Roles of After School Activities

• In Event: 2266 - Family Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Family Structure and Education

Abstract

Despite the well-known association between family structure and child well-being, and the relevant theoretical explanations, it remains less clear in what circumstances family structure influences children. This study aims to fill in this gap by looking at roles of after school activities of the children in their well-being by family structure. Data come from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), merged with Child Development Supplement, conducted in 2014 (CDS-2014), which collected detailed information on time diaries for children aged 0-17. We use latent class analysis to identity patterns of children’s after-school activities (i.e. concerted studiers; sedentary studiers; and sedentary non-studiers), and results of multinomial regression models indicate that children of two-parent families are more likely to be in concerted studiers group, while children of single-parent families are more likely to be in sedentary non-studiers group. As expected, the differences in the group identifications are also associated with cognitive development and behavior problems. These findings provide implications that should be used to design and implement community level programs for children of single parents.

Authors

• Hyeyoung Woo, Portland State University

• Ui Jeong Moon, Hannam University