Economics may explain cognitive deficits in children of single mothers
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Study findings published recently in Child Development showed that single motherhood is still associated with negative consequences on the cognitive ability of children, but not because of parenting issues. Instead, deficits can largely be attributed to the worse economic circumstances that come with single parenthood, which may reduce the resources available to families, researchers said.
The findings may help clinicians understand the circumstances of children in single mother families, said Susan Harkness, PhD, professor of public policy at the University of Bristol in England.
“Differences in the cognitive ability of children in single and two parent families are largely driven by differences in their economic circumstances, and these differences are themselves a consequence of single motherhood,” Harkness told Healio. “We find few differences in how single and partnered mothers parent their children, and parenting differences can explain only a very small share of the observed deficits in children’s attainment.”
Harkness and colleagues examined verbal cognitive ability at age 11 in three cohorts of British children born in 1958, 1970 and 2000. A total of 10,675, 8,933 and 9,989 children were analyzed in each cohort, respectively.
Among the children born in 1958 and 1970, reduced economic and parental resources were associated with 0.107 to0.156 standard deviations of lower attainment for verbal cognitive ability. Parenting differences contributed to attainment gaps across all cohorts, but the effect declined over time. Parenting differences contributed to lower attainment between 0.05 and 0.07 standard deviations in the 1958 cohort and -0.03 standard deviations in the 2000 cohort. Economic differences showed stronger associations with lower attainment, reducing attainment scores by 0.07 to 0.10 standard deviations in the 1958 cohort and 0.03 to 0.09 standard deviations in 2000.
Harkness emphasized that the negative effects of early parental separation on children appear to have changed significantly over time.
“For those children whose parents separated when they were young — before age 7 — the damaging consequences of parental separation have not changed — they are of a similar magnitude for those born in 1958 as those born in 2000,” Harkness said. “Given the rapid rise in single mother families over this period, we expected to see a reduced impact as single motherhood has become increasingly accepted, and as mothers have increasingly entered the labor market and become more economically independent.”
Harkness noted that one of the study’s major limitations was that it focused only on cognitive outcomes.
“Parental separation may have a larger impact on emotional outcomes, and this is something that future research should address,” Harkness said. – by Eamon Dreisbach
Disclosure: Harkness reports the study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
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