Longitudinal pathways to psychological adjustment among Black youth living in single-parent households.

A 5-wave model linking family and maternal functioning to youth psychological adjustment was tested with 139 single-mother-headed African American families with young adolescents (mean age = 11 years at recruitment) living in the rural South. Structural equation modeling indicated that an accumulation of family risk factors at Wave 1 was linked with maternal psychological functioning at Wave 2, which forecast competence-promoting parenting practices at Wave 3. These parenting practices indirectly forecast youth externalizing and internalizing behaviors 2 years later at Wave 5, through youth self-regulation at Wave 4. The hypothesized model was retested, controlling for Wave 1 youth externalizing and internalizing behaviors. All paths remained significant, indicating that the model accounted for change in youth psychological adjustment across 4 years.