As of March 1999, there were 54,770,000 married couples in the United States, accounting for almost 77% of all families.  Forty-six percent (25,067,000) of these married couples had one or more of their own children living with them, while 57% of one-adult (no spouse present) families had one or more of their own children living with them.

(Source: U. S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P20-515, and earlier reports; and unpublished data, in the U. S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2000 [120th edition] Washington, DC, 1999, p. 56.)

"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

(Source: Pope John Paul II, "The Observer," (London), 7 Dec 1986, from http://bemorecreative.com/one/1917.htm.)

When teens in low-risk areas assert a measure of independence from their mothers, they are typically in the process of developing healthy social skills. However, when teens in high-risk areas do the very same thing, they are typically on their way to delinquency-and worse. To better understand the ways in which differing levels of environmental risk "alter the meaning of autonomy" for adolescent children, readers need only turn to a study recently completed by a pair of psychologists at the University of Virginia. In their analysis of 131 ninth- and tenth-graders and their mothers, the Virginia scholars found that within the sample living in relatively secure middle-class neighborhoods, "expressions of autonomy [by the adolescent children] were linked with positive indices of social functioning." Among adolescents living in more dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhoods, however, "expressions of autonomy were linked with negative indices of social functioning."

That is, "low-risk adolescents who exhibited their autonomy in their relationship with their mothers...were more socially competent outside the family. Friends of these adolescents reported that they were more socially accepted and more successful in forming relationships with their same-age peers." A very different dynamic obtained among high-risk adolescents: "high-risk adolescents who exhibited higher levels of autonomy with their mothers were not viewed as more socially competent and in fact reported engaging in increased levels of delinquent activity outside the home."

Why is "the assertion of cognitive autonomy problematic for adolescents in high-risk contexts" even though the very same kind of assertion appears healthy among adolescents in low-risk contexts? The authors of the new study suggest that the "maladaptive outcomes" of breaking away from maternal control in this environment may reflect "the increased accessibility to peers-as well as older adolescents-who may be involved in illegal or dangerous activities. Thus, teens in these contexts who are highly autonomous at age 16 are attempting to take control of their activities in an environment that offers increased opportunity for getting involved in deviant behavior."

What kind of households exposes teens to levels of risk that make adolescent autonomy from Mother perilous? What kinds of households shield teens from such risk and so make autonomy desirable? The Virginia researchers note that there were "relatively more adolescents living with both biological parents in the low-risk sample than in the high-risk sample" (p < .001). Indeed, the high-risk sample could almost be labeled a "mother-only family" sample, with only 17% of its members coming from intact families. This, then, is the nearly-fatherless world in which declaring independence from Mom is often prelude to big trouble.

(Source: Kathleen Boykin McElhaney and Joseph P. Allen, "Autonomy and Adolescent Social Functioning: The Moderating Effect of Risk," Child Development 72[2001]: 220-235.)