Parental Supervision and Family Structure

Abstract Single-mother, single-father, and intact families from homes ranging from low to high supervision are compared to determine the effects of family structure and parent supervision on adolescent alcohol use, illicit drug use, and delinquency. Using adolescent self-reports, scores were derived for adolescent problem behaviors and rates of supervision by resident parent(s). Results indicate that supervision was lowest for single-father homes, was slightly higher in single-mother homes, and was highest in intact families. Results also indicate that alcohol and drug behaviors, as well as delinquency rates, were highest in single-father homes. Finally, an interaction between supervision levels and the sex of the participant indicates that for adolescent females low and medium levels of supervision serve to protect the adolescent female from problem behavior involvement while males evidenced higher levels of problem behaviors in both medium and low supervision groups. Consideration of the roles played by nonresidential parent involvement, parental supervision, and parent-child relationship quality in understanding problem behaviors occurring within various family structures are discussed.