TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions of Collective Efficacy Among Single Mothers
T2 - Insights for Conceptualization and Measurement
AU - Barnhart, Sheila
AU - Gearhart, Michael C.
AU - Maguire-Jack, Kathryn
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy are associated with more favorable family outcomes such as lower teen pregnancy rates and less antisocial behavior among children. Collective efficacy is traditionally measured by combining the constructs of social cohesion and informal social control, yet these two constructs may have unique influences on family outcomes. While prior studies have examined collective efficacy’s factor structure, there is limited understanding of this construct among single-mother families, who have unique social and economic characteristics. In this exploratory study, we tested a single-factor model and two-factor model separating social cohesion and informal social control to examine the underlying factor structure of collective efficacy with a diverse sample of 2,084 unmarried mothers who participated in the third wave in-home survey of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Results support that informal social control and social cohesion were best modeled as two distinct, but related, constructs.
AB - Neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy are associated with more favorable family outcomes such as lower teen pregnancy rates and less antisocial behavior among children. Collective efficacy is traditionally measured by combining the constructs of social cohesion and informal social control, yet these two constructs may have unique influences on family outcomes. While prior studies have examined collective efficacy’s factor structure, there is limited understanding of this construct among single-mother families, who have unique social and economic characteristics. In this exploratory study, we tested a single-factor model and two-factor model separating social cohesion and informal social control to examine the underlying factor structure of collective efficacy with a diverse sample of 2,084 unmarried mothers who participated in the third wave in-home survey of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Results support that informal social control and social cohesion were best modeled as two distinct, but related, constructs.
KW - collective efficacy
KW - confirmatory factor analysis
KW - measurement
KW - neighborhood processes
KW - single parents
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056659612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85056659612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0192513X18804285
DO - 10.1177/0192513X18804285
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056659612
SN - 0192-513X
VL - 39
SP - 4019
EP - 4040
JO - Journal of Family Issues
JF - Journal of Family Issues
IS - 17
ER -