Family Structure and Child Behavior in the United Kingdom

Child behavior problems are associated with an array of negative outcomes that can continue into adulthood. Because much of the social development and adjustment for children in early to middle childhood takes place in the home, families are of special interest in understanding child behavioral problems. Past research suggests an association between more stable family structures and healthier child behavioral outcomes. However, much of the research assessing behavioral outcomes has overlooked more complex family structure types and trajectories or has not considered how finer measures of family structure may clarify the connection between family structure and child behavior. Using the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a longitudinal study of children in the United Kingdom, we examine the relationships between various types of family structure stability and instability on child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Our results suggest that internalizing behavioral problems differ only slightly across all eight family structure trajectories and are instead explained by differences in other family characteristics such as stress and parental selectivity. Conversely, we find that family structure and trajectories of family structure change are associated with child externalizing problems, independent of other family characteristics. Despite the increase in frequency and normalization of non-traditional family structures in the UK, such as cohabitation, single parent and stepparent families, we find that children in stable married families experience fewer externalizing behavior problems compared to children in other family structures.