The Influence of Family Structure Characteristics on the Child-Rearing Behaviors of African American Mothers

Abstract

Recognition of the diversity of African American families increases our understanding of the socialization within these families. Family characteristics that influence socialization includefamily structure variables such as number of adult and child family members and amount offamily income. More likely than not, because the earliest primary caretaker of a child is the mother, socialization begins through maternal caretaking. Mothers'perceived performance of childrearing behaviors are thus dependent upon the support of other adults in the household. Using a probability survey sample of African American households, this study examined the relative influence of number of adults, number of children, mother's education, andfamily income on a mother's perceptions ofperformance of her child-rearing behaviors. As expected, results indicate thatfamily structure variables were related to mothers'performance of child-rearing behaviors.

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