Overnight Custody Arrangements,Attachment, and Adjustment Among Very Young Children

Large numbers of infants and toddlers have parents who live apart due to separation, divorce, or nonmarital/noncohabiting childbearing, yet this important topic, especially the controversial issue of frequent overnights with nonresidential parents, is understudied. The authors analyzed data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal investigation of children born to primarily low‐income, racial/ethnic minority parents that is representative of 20 U.S. cities with populations over 200,000. Among young children whose parents lived apart, 6.9% of infants (birth to age 1) and 5.3% of toddlers (ages 1 to 3) spent an average of at least 1 overnight per week with their nonresident parent. An additional 6.8% of toddlers spent 35%–70% of overnights with nonresident parents. Frequent overnights were significantly associated with attachment insecurity among infants, but the relationship was less clear for toddlers. Attachment insecurity predicted adjustment problems at ages 3 and 5, but frequent overnights were not directly linked with adjustment problems at older ages.     

Rock Up: An initiative supporting students' wellbeing in their transition to secondary school

This paper reports the background and findings of the community-based pilot program ‘Rock Up’ to school. The Rock Up program was directed at a niche section of young students in Grades 5, 6, and 7 to respond to identified risk factors associated with disengagement from formal education. The Rock Up approach was to energise these students' connection to learning as they approach the difficult stage of transition from primary school to secondary school. Ultimately, Rock Up aims to assist those students in their development of wellbeing, within and outside of the school environment. The operational measures of wellbeing covered; academic, social, emotional, behavioural, and school absence. Thirteen students, who had been identified by their respective teachers, were invited to participate in individual and/or group activities that focused on their wellbeing and developing their readiness for secondary school. Written and verbal feedbacks from students, teachers, parents, and the program facilitator, were in the main very positive. Analysis of the data of the first round of the program using a three-wave questionnaire and a participatory action research approach indicated the need to proceed to a new round using more refined processes. When fully developed, Rock Up is intended to be the vanguard for collaborative practice between the education and community sectors throughout Victoria and to be an example of an efficient and effective model of transition for this age-group.     

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.     

Coparenting and Nonresident Fathers' Monetary Contributions to Their Children

The percentage of children in the United States living apart from their biological father has increased, while public assistance for single mothers has diminished. This has resulted in a need to better understand and promote nonresident fathers' economic support of their children. In the present study the author used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,752) to examine how coparenting—the degree to which parents are mutually supportive and cooperative in raising their child—is related to nonresident fathers' monetary contributions. Results from pooled regression and fixed effects models indicate that coparenting is positively associated with fathers' likelihood of paying formal and informal child support and the amount of these payments. Findings from cross‐lagged structural equation models suggest that the association between coparenting and fathers' payments is reciprocal but that coparenting has a stronger effect on fathers' payments than fathers' payments do on coparenting.     

Missing Grandchildren: Grandparents’ Lost Contact and Implications for Social Work

The critical importance of maintaining family contact and intergenerational relationships for ongoing wellbeing is known to social work. Equally known is the damage caused by severed relationships. Recent literature has suggested an increased incidence of grandparents raising their grandchildren, often after family breakdown. Less evident in the literature is grandparents’ experience of reduced, lost, or denied contact with their grandchildren. In the qualitative, exploratory study reported here, the lived experiences of 21 Queensland grandparents were documented through in-depth interviews. The overall findings suggest that disrupted, lost, or denied contact with grandchildren was very distressing and impacted on grandparents’ health; that seeking to safeguard and support grandchildren could result in damaged family relationships and denied contact; and that a cycle of lost and regained contact can occur in some circumstances. These findings indicate that an increased role for social workers may be warranted, in listening to and including grandparents when working with families, and recognising grandparents’ need for support.     

Indigenous Sistergirls’ Experiences of Family and Community

ABSTRACT

While increasing attention has been paid to the experiences of Indigenous sistergirls over the past decade there still remains a dearth of empirical research on the experiences of this diverse population of Indigenous people. This paper seeks to add to the small body of existing literature by reporting on a thematic analysis of existing media in which 18 sistergirls shared their experiences of family and community. The thematic analysis identified two themes within each of these topics. Specifically, when talking about family, both familial acceptance and rejection were salient themes. When talking about community, both the traditional role of sistergirls in their communities and negative responses from communities were salient themes. The paper concludes by suggesting that increased knowledge about the lives of sistergirls may assist social workers in supporting sistergirls both in their own outreach endeavours, and in providing more culturally competent services.     

Building capacity and wellbeing in vulnerable/marginalised mothers: A qualitative study

Problem

The persistence of health inequalities in pregnancy and infancy amongst vulnerable/marginalised groups in the UK.

Trajectories of relationship supportiveness after childbirth: Does marriage matter?

Relationship quality for married couples typically declines after the birth of a (first) child, as parenthood brings new identities, stresses, and responsibilities for mothers and fathers. Yet, it is less clear whether nonmarital relationship quality follows a similar trajectory, particularly given the greater selectivity of nonmarital relationships that persist over time. This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,459) with latent growth curve models to examine relationship quality (measured by mothers' perceived supportiveness about fathers) for married and unmarried couples over nine years after a child's birth. Findings suggest that marriage at birth is protective for relationship supportiveness over time, net of various individual characteristics associated with marriage, compared to all unmarried couples at birth; however, marriage does not differentiate supportiveness compared to the subset of unmarried couples who remain stably together. Also, unmarried couples who get married after the birth have more supportive relationships compared to all unmarried couples who do not marry—though less so when compared to couples who remain stably together.     

Money,Marriage, and Children: Testing the Financial Expectations and Family Formation Theory

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (N = 2,954), a birth cohort study, this work examines how gains in earnings and income are associated with marriage and subsequent childbearing for low‐income couples. Using change models, results indicate that positive changes in earnings, controlling for baseline levels of earnings, were associated with greater odds of marriage. Cohabiting couples who became poor were associated with a 37% decrease in marriage likelihood. Neither earnings nor income was affiliated with additional fertility. Results are consistent with the Financial Expectations and Family Formation theory, which posits that positive economic circumstances are necessary for marriage, but are not associated with subsequent childbearing.     

Does Mixed Methods Research Matter to Understanding Childhood Well-Being?

There has been a rich debate in development studies on combining research methods in recent years. We explore the particular challenges and opportunities surrounding mixed methods approaches to childhood well-being. We argue that there are additional layers of complexity due to the distinctiveness of children’s experiences of deprivation or ill-being. This paper is structured as follows. Sections 2 and 3 discuss the nature of mixed methods approaches and tensions. Sections 4 and 5 apply these debates to researching childhood well-being in particular, in both Northern and Southern contexts. Section 6 concludes and discusses future work.