Pathways of children’s long-term living arrangements: A latent class analysis |
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Authors: | Katherine Stamps Mitchell |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sociology, 725 Spadina Avenue, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2J4;2. Department of Sociology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P5;1. Columbia University, United States;2. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel |
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Abstract: | This study employed latent class analysis to create children’s family structure trajectories from birth through adolescence using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 1870). Input variables distinguished between biological fathers and stepfathers as well as mother’s marriages and cohabitations. The best-fitting model revealed five latent trajectories of children’s long-term family structure: continuously married biological parents (55%), long-term single mothers (18%), married biological parents who divorce (12%), a highly unstable trajectory distinguished by gaining at least one stepfather (11%), and cohabiting biological parents who either marry or break up (4%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that mother’s education, race, teen birth status, and family of origin characteristics were important predictors of the long-term family trajectories in which their children grew up. These findings suggest that latent class analysis is a valuable statistical tool for understanding children’s complete family structure experiences. |
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Keywords: | Family structure Family instability Latent class analysis |
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