PARENTAL EARNINGS AND CHILDREN'S WELL‐BEING: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY OF INCOME AND PROGRAM PARTICIPATION MATCHED TO SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION EARNINGS DATA

We estimate the association between parental earnings and child well‐being using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to Social Security Administration earnings records. We use very large samples on a wide variety of measures of child well‐being that are also linked to long histories of parent earnings from administrative records. Consistent with previous studies, we find that the use of longer time averages of parent earnings leads to substantially higher estimated associations compared to using only a single year of parent earnings. Using 7‐year time averages of parent earnings, we show, for example, that a doubling of parent earnings is associated with a reduced probability of a teenager reporting being in poor health by close to 50% and a decrease in the likelihood of a child repeating a grade by 39%. We also examine how the associations vary by the timing of when parental earnings are received during childhood. We find suggestive evidence that parental earnings received during the child's school‐going years (ages 6 to 17) are more strongly associated with college enrollment and children's future earnings as adults than parent earnings received earlier or later in the child's life. (JEL J13, I1, I2)     

Child,Parent, and Situational Correlates of Familial Ethnic/Race Socialization

This study examines child, parent, and situational correlates of familial ethnic/race socialization using nationally representative data gathered as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998 – 1999 (ECLS‐K). The ECLS‐K sample (N = 18,950) includes White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian, and multiracial kindergarteners, with survey data available at the child, parent/guardian, teacher, and school level. We find that child correlates such as race and gender, parent correlates such as education and warmth of parent‐child relationship, and situational correlates such as percent of minorities at the child’s school and cultural event participation influence how often family members discuss children’s ethnic/racial heritage with them. We advocate for continued research of contextualized family dynamics.     

Parents' Family Time and Work Schedules: The Split‐Shift Schedule in Spain

This study used data on couples from the 2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (N = 1,416) to analyze how work schedules are associated with family, couple, parent–child, and non‐family leisure activities. Spain is clearly an interesting case for the institutionalized split‐shift schedule, a long lunch break rooted in the traditional siesta that splits the workday between morning and evening. Results showed strong negative associations between the split shift and both family and parent–child activities. The evening shift was negatively associated with couple and family time, but not with parent–child time. Women spent much more time than men in parent–child activities for all work categories, and they were more responsive to the spouse's work hours. Men were substantially more active than women in non‐family leisure, considering both individuals' and their spouses' work schedules. Altogether, this study has important implications for scientific and public policy debates.     

Family Structure and Child Well‐Being: The Significance of Parental Cohabitation

Data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (N = 35,938) were used to examine the relationship between family structure and child well‐being. I extended prior research by including children in two‐biological‐parent cohabiting families, as well as cohabiting stepfamilies, in an investigation of the roles of economic and parental resources on behavioral and emotional problems and school engagement. Children living in two‐biological‐parent cohabiting families experience worse outcomes, on average, than those residing with two biological married parents, although among children ages 6–11, economic and parental resources attenuate these differences. Among adolescents ages 12–17, parental cohabitation is negatively associated with well‐being, regardless of the levels of these resources. Child well‐being does not significantly differ among those in cohabiting versus married stepfamilies, two‐biological‐parent cohabiting families versus cohabiting stepfamilies, or either type of cohabiting family versus single‐mother families.     

Variation in Associations Between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well‐Being

Empirical evidence and conventional wisdom suggest that family dinners are associated with positive outcomes for youth. Recent research using fixed‐effects models as a more stringent test of causality suggests a more limited role of family meals in protecting children from risk. Estimates of average effects, however, may mask important variation in the link between family meals and well‐being; in particular, family meals may be more or less helpful based on the quality of family relationships. Using 2 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 17,977), this study extended recent work to find that family dinners have little benefit when parent–child relationships are weak but contribute to fewer depressive symptoms and less delinquency among adolescents when family relationships are strong. The findings highlight the importance of attending to variation when assessing what helps and what hurts in families.     

The Link Between the Marital Bond and Future Triadic Family Interactions

This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7–9‐year‐old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children's emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem‐solving discussions and parent‐child teaching interactions 18–24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during teaching interactions. The marital bond was not significantly predictive of family problem solving or parental cohesion in problem‐solving interactions.     

Work Characteristics and Parent‐Child Relationship Quality: The Mediating Role of Temporal Involvement

This study investigated whether the amount and nature of parent‐child time mediated the association between parental work characteristics and parent‐child relationship quality. We based hypotheses on the conflict and enrichment approaches, and we tested a path model using self‐collected data on 1,008 Dutch fathers and 929 Dutch mothers with school‐aged children. Longer working hours and less work engagement were associated with less parent‐child time and longer working hours, more restrictive organizational norms, stress, flexibility, nonstandard hours (mothers only), and work engagement increased the disturbance of parent‐child activities. Less and more disturbed parent‐child activities were, in turn, associated with a lower parent‐child relationship quality. In addition, work engagement and working hours had direct, beneficial effects on parent‐child relationship quality.     

Psychosocial Well‐Being and the Relationship Between Divorce and Children's Academic Achievement

As an unprecedented number of children live in families experiencing divorce, researchers have developed increasingly complex explanations for the consequences associated with marital dissolution. Current accounts focus on changes to family finances, destabilized parenting practices, elevated parental conflict, and deterioration of the parent–child relationship, to explain the impact of divorce. A less studied explanation draws attention to children's diminished psychosocial well‐being following divorce. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten cohort (ECLS‐K) (N = 10,061), I examined the role of psychosocial well‐being in the relationship between divorce and children's outcomes. The results suggest that divorce is associated with diminished psychosocial well‐being in children, and that this decrease helps explain the connection between divorce and lower academic achievement.     

Fathers,Mothers, and Family Structure: Family Trajectories,Parent Gender,and Adolescent Schooling

Previous research has neither fully examined family structure across the life course nor considered increasing variation in family types. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 11,318), I examine the influence of longitudinal measures across childhood of family structure duration and the number and timing of parent transitions (entrances and exits) on indicators of grade point average (GPA), college expectations, and suspension or expulsion in adolescence. I also examine whether parent gender moderates these effects. Results show that mother transitions during early childhood affect all outcomes, whereas time in mother‐absent families influences GPA and school discipline. I find evidence for parent gender differences in transition effects; mother transitions, especially early ones, have more severe consequences than father transitions.     

Development and Lability in the Parent–Child Relationship During Adolescence: Associations With Pubertal Timing and Tempo

Adolescents' and parents' reactions to pubertal development are hypothesized to contribute to changes in family dynamics. Using 7‐year longitudinal data from the NICHD‐SECCYD (488 boys, 475 girls), we examined relations between pubertal development (timing, tempo) and trajectories (developmental change and year‐to‐year lability) of parent–child conflict and closeness from age 8.5 to 15.5 years. Changes were mostly characterized by year‐to‐year fluctuations—lability. Parent–child conflict increased and closeness decreased some with age. Pubertal timing and tempo were more consistently associated with lability in parent–child relationships than with long‐term trends, although faster tempo was associated with steeper decreases in parent–child closeness. Findings provide a platform for examining how puberty contributes to both long‐term and transient changes in adolescents' relationships and adjustment.     

Nonresidential Grandparents' Emotional and Financial Involvement in Relation to Early Adolescent Grandchild Outcomes

This study examined links between grandparents' involvement and grandchildrens' positive outcomes. Data were from 408 families taken from Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year later) of the Flourishing Families Project, which is a study involving families with a child between the ages of 10 and 14 at Time 1 (M age of child=11.30, 49% female, 82% Caucasian). Results suggested that grandparents' emotional involvement at Time 1 was positively related to adolescents' prosocial behaviors concurrently and longitudinally, for single‐ and 2‐parent families, and that grandparents' financial involvement at Time 1 was positively related to adolescents' school engagement at Time 2 (for single‐parent families). Discussion focuses on the unique importance of grandparents' involvement, even after controlling for parent–child attachment.     

Within‐ and Between‐Family Associations of Marital Functioning and Child Well‐being

This study clarifies within‐family and between‐family links between marital functioning and child well‐being. Expanding on existing prospective research, this study tests whether changes in parents' marital functioning are associated with corresponding changes in their children's well‐being, independent from associations that exist when comparing different families. Participants (N = 1,033) were members of married, opposite‐sex couples with children who participated in five waves of a larger study of marriage in the U.S. Army. Spouses' constructive communication, verbal conflict, and marital satisfaction each showed between‐family associations with parent‐reported child internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, within‐family associations were significant only for parents' communication behaviors. That is, parents who reported lower levels of marital satisfaction also reported lower child well‐being, whereas change in parents' communication was associated with change in child well‐being over time. Isolating within‐family effects is important for understanding marital and child functioning and for identifying potential targets for effective intervention.     

Paternal Child Care and Relationship Quality: A Longitudinal Analysis of Reciprocal Associations

This study explored reciprocal associations between paternal child‐care involvement and relationship quality by following British couples from the birth of a child until he or she reached school age. It extends the literature by distinguishing between paternal engagement in absolute terms and relative to the mother and by considering relationship quality reports of mothers and fathers and family breakdown. The analysis was based on the British Millennium Cohort Study, a representative survey of children born in 2000 and 2001 and their parents (N = 5,624 couples). The author applied ordinary least squares regression analysis with lagged dependent variables and event history modeling. Fathers' relative child‐care share was positively associated with mothers' relationship satisfaction, whereas fathers' absolute child‐care frequency was positively related to their own perceived relationship quality for most time periods. Fathers' relative and absolute child‐care contributions were positively associated with relationship stability over the preschool years. Greater perceived relationship quality of mothers, but not fathers, was associated with more frequent paternal engagement.     

The More the Merrier? Multiple Parent‐Adult Child Relations

Although parent‐adult child ties are generally positive, most parents have multiple children whose relations may yield collective ambivalence combining higher and lower quality. Little research has investigated these multiple relations. NSFH respondents aged 50+ with adult children (N = 2,270) are used to assess patterns of quality and contact across multiple children in the same family. This illuminates mixed experiences, especially for lowest quality and contact across children, contributing to collective ambivalence in parent‐adult child relations within families. Having more children increases prevalence of both positive and negative relations. Stepchildren exhibit more negative relations than nonstepchildren, even in the same family. Mothers have more positive but not more negative relations than fathers, but mothers have more negative relations with stepchildren.     

Parent–Child Coresidence: Who Moves in With Whom and for Whose Needs?

Using administrative data on all adult children living in The Netherlands age 30–40 and their parents (N = 1,999,700), we investigated the extent to which situations and events associated with the support needs and privacy needs of either generation determine intergenerational coresidence and the transition to coresidence. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that both generations' support needs increased the likelihood of coresidence and of a move of the generation in need into the other's home. Turning to privacy needs, we found that coresidence and the transition to coresidence was less likely when a partner or stepparent was present and more likely when the adult child was a never‐married single parent.     

Factors Associated With Perceptions of Family Belonging Among Adolescents

Adolescents' perceptions of family belonging are associated with several well‐being indicators, yet we know little about which factors influence these perceptions or how they differ by family structure. The current study uses nationally representative data from Add Health to examine predictors of adolescents' perceptions of family belonging in two‐biological‐parent families (n = 9,686). The results are compared to a recent study using Add Health that examined family belonging in married mother–stepfather families. Findings suggest both similarities and differences across family structure in the factors associated with family belonging.     

Happy Spouses,Happy Parents? Family Relationships Among Finnish and Dutch Dual Earners

In this study links between spousal and parent‐child relationships among Finnish (n = 157 couples) and Dutch (n = 276 couples) dual earners with young children were examined using paired questionnaire data. Variable‐oriented analyses (structural equation modeling with a multigroup procedure) supported the spillover hypothesis, as higher levels of satisfaction in the spousal relationship were related to higher quality in the parent‐child relationship and lower parental role restrictions. These connections did not differ by gender or country. With family typological analyses (mixture modeling), 4 family types were identified: families with satisfying relationships (73.4% of the families), families with unsatisfying parent‐child relationships (13.4%), and families with either dissatisfied men (6.0%) or dissatisfied women (7.2%).     

Mothers' and Fathers' Work Hours,Child Gender,and Behavior in Middle Childhood

This study examined the association between typical parental work hours (including nonemployed parents) and children's behavior in two‐parent heterosexual families. Child behavior was measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 5, 8, and 10 in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study (N = 4,201 child‐year observations). Compared to those whose fathers worked fewer hours per week, children whose fathers worked 55 hours or more per week had significantly higher levels of externalizing behavior. This association was not explained by father–child time during the week, poorer family functioning, or overreactive parenting practice. Further, when stratifying the analysis by child gender, this association appeared to exist only in boys. Mothers' work hours were unrelated to children's behavioral problems. The role of parent and child gender in the relationships between parental work hours and children's behavioral problems, together with mediating factors, warrants further investigation.     

The Division of Labor in Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual New Adoptive Parents

Little research has investigated the division of child care and housework in adoptive or lesbian/gay parent families, yet these contexts “control for” family characteristics such as biological relatedness and parental gender differences known to be linked to family work. This study examined predictors (measured preadoption) of the division of child care and housework (measured postadoption) in lesbian (n = 55), gay (n = 40), and heterosexual (n = 65) newly adoptive couples. Same‐sex couples shared child care and housework more equally than heterosexual couples. For the full sample, inequities in work hours between partners were associated with greater discrepancies in partners' contributions to child care and masculine tasks; inequities in income between partners were related to greater discrepancies in contributions to feminine tasks. Participants who contributed more to child care tended to contribute more to feminine tasks. These findings extend knowledge of how labor arrangements are enacted in diverse groups.     

Consequences of Teen Parents' Child‐Care Arrangements for Mothers and Children

Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (2001–2006; N ?7,900), the authors examined child‐care arrangements among teen parents from birth through prekindergarten. Four latent classes of child care arrangements at 9, 24, and 52 months emerged: (a) “parental care,” (b) “center care,” (c) “paid home‐based care,” and (d) “free kin‐based care.” Disadvantaged teen‐parent families were overrepresented in the “parental care” class, which was negatively associated with children's preschool reading, math, and behavior scores and mothers' socioeconomic and fertility outcomes compared with some nonparental care classes. Nonparental care did not predict any negative maternal or child outcomes, and different care arrangements had different benefits for mothers and children. Time spent in nonparental care and improved maternal outcomes contributed to children's increased scores across domains. Child‐care classes predicted maternal outcomes similarly in teen‐parent and nonteen‐parent families, but the “parental care” class predicted some disproportionately negative child outcomes for teen‐parent families.