Diverging family policies to promote children's well‐being in the UK and US: some relevant data from family research and intervention studies
| Published date | 10 July 2008 |
| Pages | 4-16 |
| Date | 10 July 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200800022 |
| Author | Philip Cowan,Carolyn Cowan |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
4Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 3 Issue 4 December 2008
© Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
1 Department
of Psychology,
University of
California,
Berkeley, US Abstract
In response to what are perceived as the negative consequences for children of family change over
the past century, governments in the UK and the US have devoted substantial funds to programmes to
strengthen families, but the focus of intervention in the two countries has moved in opposite directions.
In the UK, financial support has shifted away from couple strengthening to parenting programmes,
while in the US financial support has shifted substantially toward couple-focused interventions. This
review article summarises studies relevant to these policy choices. We present research evidence for
a multidomain family risk–child outcome model, and then describe the results of three studies using
a randomised clinical trial design to examine the impact of intervention with couples on children’s
adaptation. The data support the hypothesis that interventions focusing on strengthening couple
relationships may have a more positive impact on families and children than interventions that focus on
increasing parenting skills.
Key words
Father involvement; parenting; couple relationship quality; children’s adaptation; risk-outcome models;
family policy.
neighbourly support. The rising divorce rate and
the lowered stigma for out-of-wedlock births have
resulted in substantial numbers of children being
raised by single parents. An increasing proportion
of both single and married mothers are working in
the paid labour force without adequate childcare
resources. Many observers are concerned that
these changes in family structure have negative
Introduction
Over the past century families have been changing –
in the United Kingdom, the United States and most
industrialised countries (Coontz, 2005). Families
are smaller in size and more likely to live in urban
environments that are far from grandparents,
relatives and communities that once offered families
Diverging family policies
to promote children’s well-
being in the UK and US: some
relevant data from family
research and intervention
studies
Philip Cowan1 and Carolyn Pape Cowan1
4
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