Facilitating Adolescents' Constructive Use of Time in One-Parent Families

Many adolescents in 1-parent families experience positive conditions for development. In this article, we use experience sampling data from 101 mother-only families to evaluate factors associated with adolescents' devotion of time to constructive activities, such as reading, sports, creative, and religious activities. Findings show that a set of family management variables, including firm discipline, family routines, and mothers' amount of time spent in child-supportive activities, were associated with adolescents' constructive use of free time. Adolescents' constructive time was also correlated with mothers' time spent reading, participating in religious activities, and watching TV; and with mothers' well-being and cooperation with the nonresident father. These results demonstrate how many families adjust positively to the situation of single parenthood.

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