The mother-coparent relationship and youth adjustment: a study of African American single-mother families.

African American youth from single-mother homes are at increased risk for a range of adjustment difficulties. The family is a central context in which to study youth adjustment; however, much of the work on African American youth has focused on family conflict and maladjustment, with less attention to the supportive aspects of family relationships or their potential links with positive outcomes. This study examined the associations between conflictual and supportive aspects of the relationships that single mothers have with their nonmarital coparents and both positive and negative outcomes among 268 African American youth from single-mother homes. Findings revealed that mother-coparent support was associated with child competence, and mother-coparent conflict was associated with child maladjustment. In addition, positive parenting fully mediated these relations between mother-coparent relationship and child outcomes. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.