The proposed project aims to examine whether growing up in a single-parent family has long-term consequences for the succeeding generations. Previous studies have shown that children who grow up with one biological parent receive less encouragement, supervision, and control than children who grow up with two biological parents. Some researchers argue that children model their own childrearing practices on their parents' behaviors, while others argue that children compensate for their parents' shortcomings by being more involved with their own children when they become parents. Yet whether growing up in a single parent family undermines or supports' parenting in the next generation is a question that remains unanswered. The proposed project will go beyond prior research by identifying four barriers and buffers that may mediate the influence of growing up in a single-parent family on offspring's parenting behavior. Data are taken from the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the 1997 Child Development Supplement. The analyses are based on 1,761 respondents who are biological children of 1,183 families that have been followed up since 1968. Multiple domains of parenting practices - discipline, warmth, engagement, participation in school activities, time spent with children, parental stress, and shared parenting are considered. The PSID's prospective design and national representative samples provide a unique opportunity for researchers to examine the influence of growing up in a single-parent family on next generation parenting. In the end, the project is expected to provide the groundwork for a subsequent submission as an R01.
