Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers

Researchers have documented the consequences of relationship instability for parenting stress but have given little attention to within‐partner relationship instability. In this study, the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,544) to estimate the association between within‐partner relationship instability (known as churning or on‐again/off‐again relationships) and parenting stress. First, they found that by the focal child's 5th birthday about 16% of biological parents experience churning. Second, compared to being stably together with or stably separated from the child's other parent, churning is associated with greater parenting stress for both mothers and fathers. Because parenting stress is the same or higher among churners compared to their counterparts who stably separate, this suggests that, more than a change in partner, relationship instability—whether within or across relationships—is tied to parenting stress.     

Parents' Relationship Quality and Children's Behavior in Stable Married and Cohabiting Families

Although an extensive literature has shown that family structure is linked with child well‐being, less well understood is how the dynamics within families affect children, in particular the extent to which positive mother–father relationship quality is linked with children's outcomes. In this study the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 773) to examine how couple supportiveness in stable coresident families is related to children's externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems over ages 3 through 9. Using latent growth curve and fixed effects models, they found that parents' greater supportiveness has a slight association with lower levels of children's behavioral problems. Using cross‐lagged structural equation models to examine the direction of the association, they also found some evidence that parents' relationship quality and children's behavioral problems are reciprocally related. Overall, this study suggests that more positive couple interactions are beneficial for children residing with both of their biological parents.     

Better Parents,More Stable Partners: Union Transitions Among Cohabiting Parents

Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,702 couples) are employed to examine the association between mother‐ and father‐reported parenting characteristics (father involvement and coparenting) and transitions out of cohabitation through marriage or separation in the 5 years after a child is born. Father involvement and coparenting may be signs of commitment and investment among couples without the legal bonds of marriage. Both the level and change in father involvement and coparenting are associated with a decreased likelihood of separation, although neither is associated with greater odds of marriage. These results suggest that higher levels of father involvement and a positive coparenting relationship may keep couples together, which allows children to spend their early years with both biological parents in the household.     

Hopelessly Devoted? Relationship Quality During and After Incarceration

A growing literature highlights the multifaceted consequences of incarceration for family life, but little is known about the quality of relationships between couples who remain together during and after 1 partner's incarceration. In this article, the author used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,848), a longitudinal cohort of parents, to consider the association between paternal incarceration and 4 measures of relationship quality: (a) overall relationship quality, (b) supportiveness, (c) emotional abuse, and (d) physical abuse. The results showed that paternal incarceration in the past 2 years was, by and large, associated with lower mother‐reported (but not father‐reported) relationship quality. However, across some outcome variables, current paternal incarceration was positively associated with relationship quality. Taken together, these findings suggest that current and recent incarceration have countervailing consequences for relationship quality and, more generally, that the penal system exerts a powerful influence even among couples who maintain relationships.     

Cyclical Cohabitation Among Unmarried Parents in Fragile Families

Building on past research suggesting that cohabitation is an ambiguous family form, the authors examined an understudied residential pattern among unmarried parents: cyclical cohabitation, in which parents have multiple cohabitation spells with each other. Using 9 years of panel data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,084), they found that 10% of all parents with nonmarital births and nearly a quarter of those living together when the child is 9 years old are cyclical cohabitors. Cyclically cohabiting mothers reported more material hardships than mothers in most other relationship patterns but also reported more father involvement with children. On all measures of child well‐being except grade retention, children of cyclically cohabiting parents fared no worse than children of stably cohabiting biological parents and did not differ significantly from any other group.     

Child‐Care Instability and Behavior Problems: Does Parenting Stress Mediate the Relationship?

Child‐care instability is associated with more behavior problems in young children, but the mechanisms of this relationship are not well understood. Theoretically, this relationship is likely to emerge, at least in part, because care instability leads to increased parenting stress. Moreover, low socioeconomic status and single‐mother families may be more vulnerable to the effects of instability. This study tested these hypotheses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 1,675) and structural equation modeling. Three types of child‐care instability were examined: long‐term instability, multiplicity, and needing to use back‐up arrangements. Overall, findings showed little evidence that parenting stress mediated the associations between care instability and child behavior problems among the full sample. Among single‐mother and low‐income families, however, needing to use back‐up arrangements had small positive associations with parenting stress, which partially mediated the relationship between that type of care instability and child externalizing behavior problems.     

Single Mothers' Religious Participation and Early Childhood Behavior

Using data on 1,134 single mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examined trajectories of religious participation among single mothers and whether these trajectories were associated with early childhood behavior. The results suggested that single mothers experienced diverse patterns of religious participation throughout their child's early life; some mothers maintained a consistent pattern of religious participation (or nonparticipation), and other mothers increased their participation. The results also suggested that religious participation was associated with greater involvement with children, reduced parenting stress, and a lower likelihood of engaging in corporal punishment. Young children raised by mothers who frequently attended religious services were less likely to display problem behaviors, and this relationship was partially mediated by increased child involvement, lower stress, and less frequent corporal punishment. Overall, religious participation may provide resources for single mothers that encourage them to engage in parenting practices that promote positive child development.     

Multipartnered Fertility and Depression among Fragile Families

We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between multipartnered fertility (MPF)-when parents have children with more than one partner-and depression. Random effects models suggested that MPF is associated with a greater likelihood of depression, net of family structure and other covariates. However, these associations disappeared in more conservative fixed effects models that estimated changes in MPF as a function of changes in depression. Results also suggested that social selection may account for the link between MPF and depression for fathers (but not mothers), as depressed fathers with no MPF were more likely to have a child by a new partner four years later. Ultimately, MPF and depression may be reciprocally related and part of broader processes of social disadvantage.     

The Child Health Disadvantage of Parental Cohabitation

This study uses Fragile Families data (N = 2,160) to assess health differences at age 5 for children born to cohabiting versus married parents. Regression analyses indicate worse health for children born to cohabiting parents, including those whose parents stably cohabited, dissolved their cohabitation, and married, than for children with stably married parents. The findings also suggest that stable cohabitation is no better for child health than cohabitation dissolution. Child health is better among those whose cohabiting parents marry than for those whose parents remain stably cohabiting, which indicates a possible health advantage of parental marriage, even if it occurs after the child's birth.     

Together Forever? Romantic Relationship Characteristics and Prenatal Health Behaviors

Using Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Data (N= 4,871), this paper examines why relationship status matters for prenatal health behaviors. The paper argues that a mother’s potential investments in her child’s health are conditioned by socioeconomic and interpersonal resources, including the quality of her relationship with the child’s father. Mothers in strained relationships may experience more stress, which is associated with poor prenatal health behaviors. Results show that married mothers exhibit the healthiest prenatal behaviors and that relationship characteristics and dynamics measures, including physical abuse and relationship conflict, predict poor prenatal health behaviors above and beyond confounding factors. In addition, these relationship characteristics explain some of the advantage in prenatal health behaviors married mothers have over unmarried mothers.     

Income,Relationship Quality,and Parenting: Associations With Child Development in Two‐Parent Families

Prior research suggests considerable heterogeneity in the advantages of living in a 2‐parent family. Specifically, children living with married biological parents exhibit more favorable outcomes than children living with cohabiting biological parents and with married and cohabiting stepparents. To explain these differences, researchers have focused almost exclusively on differences in the levels of factors such as income, parental relationship quality, and parenting quality across family types. In this study the authors examined whether differences in the benefits associated with these factors might also account for some of the variation in children's cognition and social‐emotional development. Focusing on children at the time they enter kindergarten, they found only weak evidence of differences in benefits across family types. Instead, they found that children living in stepfather families experienced above‐average levels of parental relationship quality and parenting quality, which in turn played a protective role vis‐à‐vis their cognitive and social‐emotional development.     

Paternal Incarceration and the Housing Security of Urban Mothers

High rates of imprisonment among American fathers have motivated an ongoing examination of incarceration's role in family life. A growing literature suggests that incarceration creates material and socioemotional challenges not only for prisoners and former prisoners but also for their families and communities. The authors examined the relationship between fathers' incarceration and one such challenge: the housing insecurity of the mothers of their children. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,125) and a series of longitudinal regression models, they found that mothers' housing security was compromised following their partners' incarceration, an association likely driven in part, but not entirely, by financial challenges following his time in prison or jail. Given the importance of stable housing for the continuity of adult employment, children's schooling, and other inputs to healthy child development, the findings suggest a grave threat to the well‐being of children with incarcerated fathers.     

Transactional and Cascading Relations Between Early Spanking and Children's Social‐Emotional Development

The authors tested a series of models linking spanking and child social‐emotional outcomes using a sample of 3,870 families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Spanking was measured by the number of times the focal child was spanked by the mother at ages 1, 3, and 5. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist at ages 3 and 5. Child emotionality was used to index child behavior at age 1. A series of nested transactional and cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model supported transactional effects between spanking and child externalizing behaviors over child ages 1, 3, and 5. In addition, one cascade effect was found: Spanking at age 1 was related to greater externalizing behavior at age 3, which was related to greater internalizing behavior at age 5. Implications for family theory and future research are discussed.     

Nonstandard Work Schedules and Private Safety Nets Among Working Mothers

Although the implications of nonstandard work schedules (work outside of the typical 9 – 5, Monday – Friday schedule) for individuals and families are increasingly well understood, it is unclear how such schedules are associated with perceived social support for working mothers. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a variety of methodological approaches, we found mixed evidence for this relationship. Results from ordinary least squares and propensity‐weighted models suggest that working a nonstandard schedule is associated with weaker perceived support, particularly among those who are Black and less educated, and those who exclusively work such a schedule. Conversely, results from fixed‐effects models suggest that changing from a standard to a nonstandard schedule is associated with modest increases in perceived social support. These results add nuance to our understanding of the implications of nonstandard work schedules for families.     

Fathers' Investments of Money and Time Across Residential Contexts

Fathers' roles in family life have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. In addition to ongoing breadwinning responsibilities, many fathers are now involved in direct caregiving and engagement with children. Yet there is considerable variation in what fathers do, especially depending on whether they live with or away from their child. In this article, the authors use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,869) to describe how fathers' economic capacities (money) and direct involvement with children (time) are associated over child ages 1 to 9 for resident versus nonresident fathers, net of confounding factors. They found suggestive evidence that money and time investments operate differently across residential contexts: Resident fathers experience a trade‐off between market work and time involved with children. In contrast, nonresident fathers' higher economic capacities are associated with more time involvement, underscoring the greater challenge for such fathers to remain actively involved.     

Explaining the Long Reach of Fathers’ Prenatal Involvement on Later Paternal Engagement

The present study examined the association between unmarried fathers’ prenatal involvement and fathers’ engagement later in the child’s life. The study sample consisted of 1,686 fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings using multiple regressions revealed that fathers’ prenatal involvement is significantly and positively associated with levels of fathers’ engagement at Years 1 and 3. This association was partially explained by fathers’ transitions from unemployment to employment and to a greater extent by fathers’ transitions from nonresidential to residential relationships with the child’s mother.     

Those They Leave Behind: Paternal Incarceration and Maternal Instrumental Support

As the American imprisonment rate has risen, researchers have become increasingly concerned about the implications of mass imprisonment for family life. The authors extend this research by examining how paternal incarceration is linked to perceived instrumental support among the mothers of inmates' children. Results from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,132) suggest that recent, but not current, paternal incarceration is independently associated with less maternal perceived instrumental support and that this association persists after adjusting for a rich set of control variables, including prior perceived instrumental support. For families of recently incarcerated men, incarceration may be a double strike, simultaneously increasing the need for instrumental support while decreasing its availability when incarcerated fathers return to the community.     

Indebted Relationships: Child Support Arrears and Nonresident Fathers' Involvement With Children

Low‐income, nonresident fathers owe a disproportionate amount of child support arrears, creating potential challenges for these fathers and their family relationships. This article uses mediation analysis to provide new evidence about how and why child support debt is related to paternal involvement using information from 1,017 nonresident fathers in the Fragile Families Study. Results show that child support arrears are associated with nonresident fathers having significantly less contact with children, being less engaged with them in daily activities, and providing less frequent in‐kind support 9 years after the birth. This negative association between child support debt and father involvement is most strongly and consistently mediated by the quality of the relationship between the biological parents. Although child support policies are designed to facilitate fathers' economic and emotional support, these results suggest that the accruement of child support debt may serve as an important barrier to father involvement.     

Coparenting and Father Involvement in Married and Unmarried Coresident Couples

Children can benefit from involved fathers and cooperative parents, a benefit which may be particularly important to the growing population of children born to unmarried parents. This study observes father involvement and coparenting in 5,407 married and unmarried cohabiting couples with a 2‐year‐old child in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B). A link was found between cooperative coparenting and father involvement for all couples. Compared with married couples, couples who married in response to the pregnancy and couples who remained unmarried showed higher levels of father involvement and more cooperative coparenting, indicating a potentially greater child focus.     

Fathering With Multiple Partners: Links to Children's Well‐Being in Early Childhood

The claim that multiple partner fertility may pose a risk of adverse outcomes for children has not been tested. We test this argument using a sample of 4,027 resident fathers and children from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Survey by examining the pathways through which fathers' multipartnered fertility is associated with children's externalizing behaviors and physical health status at 36 months. Path analyses indicate that multiple partner fertility exerted both a significant direct and indirect effect through paternal depression to influence children's externalizing behaviors. Fathers' multiple partner fertility also exerted a significant indirect effect through one mediator—father involvement—to influence children's physical health. This evidence suggests that the disruptions brought about by multipartnered fertility are important for understanding child well‐being.