This paper examined how the onset and timing of the transition to fatherhood affects the type and quality of young men's relationships with partners and parents. Data are drawn from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth -Young Adult Survey and included young men (ages 18-31 years old in 2006) who varied on residential status with their children and timing of fatherhood (N = 1,931). Results indicated the effects of fatherhood varied across types of fathers, with residential fathers more likely to be in a committed but less satisfactory relationship regardless of timing of fatherhood. Nonresidential fathers were more likely to have close relationships with their mothers and fathers, but findings varied by timing of fatherhood and gender of parent. Implications of these findings are framed in terms of young men's developmental readiness for multiple demands of first-time fatherhood. Keywords fatherhood; young men; development; couple and family relationships The transition to parenthood is often experienced as a rewarding but difficult life event characterized by rapid changes in a couple's relationship and new stresses (Belsky, 1984;Cowan & Cowan, 2000). In becoming a parent, young adults must negotiate extensive personal, familial, social, and professional changes. The transition to parenthood may be particularly difficult for young adults who make this transition earlier than what is normatively expected, as it can interrupt romantic, educational and career-related transitions to adulthood, further taxing limited social and economic resources (Sigle-Rushton, 2005).Currently, more than one third of all births occur outside of marriage, with even higher proportions occurring among racial and ethnic minorities (Martin et al., 2006). Even so, more than 80% of non-marital couples are romantically involved at the birth of the child, and half of them are cohabiting (McLanahan et al., 2003). Although there is substantial research examining the consequences of early transitions to parenthood for young women, the consequences for young men have been less studied (Moore et al., 1995;Hofferth & Hayes, 1987). Consequences for men may differ in that they depend on the circumstances at the time of the transition. Using a sample of young men followed from childhood into early adulthood and from which the timing of their first birth is known, this paper examines the consequences of fatherhood for young men's romantic and familial relationships. We use the last wave of data available in 2006 to compare the types of relationships of young men who became fathers with those who had not. Because the consequences will vary for young men depending on whether the young man lived with the child and mother at birth and the age at which he became a parent, we divide first fatherhood by whether the father was residential or nonresidential and whether his transition was early (less than age 20) or on-time or later (age 20 and older).
Timing, Fatherhood, and Men's DevelopmentAccording to individual and family life cycle theor...
