The United States lags behind other industrialized countries in its lack of inclusive and standardized parental leave policy after the birth or adoption of a child. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=2,233), this study examines the patterns and predictors of fathers’ parental leave use, as well as its association with father-child engagement. Our findings indicate that the vast majority of employed fathers take parental leave, but they rarely take more than one week of leave. Fathers who have more positive attitudes about fatherhood and who live with the birth mother are especially likely to take leave, and to take more weeks of leave, than other fathers. Finally, we find that taking parental leave, and taking more weeks of parental leave, is positively associated with father engagement levels at one year and five years after the birth of his child.

Adolescents in stepfamilies and single-parent families tend to report lower levels of well-being than adolescents who live with two biological parents. Using data from Add Health ( = 16,684), the present study builds upon this literature by examining family-level predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms, delinquency, failing a class, heavy alcohol use, tobacco use, and marijuana use. We focus on feelings of family belonging as a predictor of adolescent well-being and find that this measure is significantly associated with well-being in all family types, and particularly in two-biological-parent families. In addition, results indicate that family belonging mediates associations between parent-adolescent closeness and well-being for most outcomes.

In the present study, we examine the associations between the amount of time that U.S. employed fathers took off from work after the birth of a child (i.e., paternity leave-taking) and trajectories of how frequently fathers engage with their children and take responsibility for them.To do so, we analyze longitudinal data on 2,109 fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a data set that contains information from disproportionately socioeconomically disadvantaged families from large urban areas. The results indicate that, one year after birth, paternity leave-taking and lengths of leave are positively associated with fathers' engagement and responsibility. In addition, paternity leave-taking is positively associated with trajectories of fathers' responsibility over the first 5 years after birth. Lengths of paternity leave are positively associated with trajectories of fathers' engagement. Finally, there is evidence that paternity leave-taking and lengths of leave-taking are especially likely to boost fathers' engagement and responsibility among nonresident fathers. Overall, the findings from the present study suggest that an expansion of paternity leave-taking may encourage higher subsequent levels of father involvement-especially among nonresident fathers.

Objective This study examines how the quality of family relationships in stepfamilies during adolescence are associated with stepchildren's 4‐year college attendance in young adulthood. Background On average, college attendance is lower for youth in stepfamilies when compared with those living with two biological parents, but many children thrive and attain high levels of education despite the risks associated with stepfamily formation. The role of parents is central to understanding youths' educational attainment, but studies have not examined how adolescents' relationships with each of their parents in stepfamilies are related to college attendance. Method This study uses a sample of 881 respondents who were in stable stepfamilies from Wave 1 to Wave 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate both the direct and indirect pathways from family relationships at Wave 1 to young adults' college attendance at Wave 3. Results Both higher quality stepfather–child relationships and nonresident father–child relationships were positively associated with young adults' college attendance. Mother–child relationship quality was not associated with college attendance. Conclusion Maintaining children's ties to nonresident fathers after parental separation and fostering close ties to stepfathers when mothers repartner may have long‐term positive consequences for youths' educational attainment. The findings also suggest an important need for future research to examine children's relationships with each of their parents to better understand youth outcomes in stepfamilies.

Research consistently finds that fathers who take time off work when their children are born exhibit higher levels of paternal engagement relative to fathers who do not take time off work. This study aims to identify one possible mediating factor: fathers’ co-residence with their children and their children’s biological mothers over time. The current study uses data from the Fragile Families and Wellbeing Study and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between fathers’ time off work when their children were born, residence with their children and their children’s biological mothers, and levels of father-child engagement ( n = 2,453). Results indicated that the number of weeks taken off work was positively associated with men’s subsequent residence with their children and children’s mothers when their children were five-years-old, which in turn was positively associated with paternal engagement.