Diversity in experiences of parental structure during childhood and adolescence

The proportion of children living in parental structures other than mother/father has increased in recent decades because of increased separation/divorce and greater prevalence of nonmarital childbearing. This study uses the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the parental structure experiences of children who had ever lived in nonintact families. The results show considerable variation in experiences among such children. The analysis illustrates the diversity by considering parental structure experiences given 1) mother-only family at birth, 2) mother/father family at birth and later parental marital disruption, and 3) parental structure at age 15.