Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N=4,898), this study investigates how the share, correlates, transition patterns, and duration of three generation households vary by mother’s relationship status at birth. Nine percent of married mothers, 17 % of cohabiting, and 45% of single mothers live in a three generation family household at the birth of the child. Incidence over time is much higher and most common among single mother households, 60% live in a three generation family household in at least one wave. Economic need, culture, and generational needs are associated with living in a three generation household and correlates vary by mother’s relationship status. Three generation family households are short lived and transitions are frequent. Kin support through coresidence is an important source of support for families with young children and in particular families that are unwed at the birth of their child.
We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how couple relationship quality and parental engagement are linked over children's early years-when they are infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Our sample included 1,630 couples that were coresident over years 1 to 3 and 1,376 couples that were coresident over years 3 to 5 (1,196 over both periods). Overall, we found that better relationship quality predicted greater parental engagement for both mothers and fathers-especially in the infant to toddler years; in contrast, we found little evidence that parental engagement predicted future relationship quality. Married and cohabiting couples were generally similar in how relationship quality and parenting were linked. KeywordsCouple relationship quality; dyadic data; early childhood; fragile families; marital satisfaction; parenting Family scholars have long recognized the interdependence of family relationships (mothers and fathers, parents and children, siblings). Within a given family 'system,' dyadic relationships affect each other and influence individual-level change (Chase-Lansdale, Kiernan, & Friedman, 2004;Cox & Paley, 1997;O'Brien, 2005). Among family ties, the marital relationship has often been viewed as central to nuclear family dynamics (Cummings & O'Reilly, 1997). An extensive empirical literature has examined how marital quality is linked to parenting or the parent-child relationship, providing strong evidence for a positive correlation-that better marital quality is linked to better parent-child interaction (e.g., Erel & Burman, 1995).Although developmental theory rests on the notion that relationships (and individuals) change over time, few studies have addressed the potentially changing nature of how couple relationship quality is linked to parenting as children grow and develop (Grych, 2002). Existing longitudinal studies often cover only two time points (Krishnakumar & Buehler, 2000;Schoppe-Sullivan, Schermerhorn, & Cummings, 2007), observe families only during the toddler years (Belsky, Youngblade, Rovine, & Volling, 1991;Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989), or are limited by small, nonrepresentative samples (Erel & Burman, 1995)-although research on marriage in general has begun to include diverse samples (Fincham & Beach, 2010 (Belsky et al., 1991;Goldberg & Easterbrooks, 1984; Grych, 2002), most studies have focused on how relationship quality affects parenting-rather than vice versa (but see exceptions below). In addition, although cohabitation has become a more common locus for childrearing (Kennedy & Bumpass, 2008), there has been little attention to differences between cohabiting and married couples (Grych, 2002).In this paper, we extend previous research on how couple relationship quality and parental engagement are linked in several ways. First, we use data from three time points in early childhood -when children are infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and we use methods that enable us to (a) assess whether there may be a causal association between...
Child behavior problems are associated with long-term detrimental effects. A large body of literature looks at the association between income and child behavior but few studies examine this association with material hardship, an alternative economic indicator. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the following questions: (a) Is material hardship associated with child socioemotional behavior and are there differences by developmental timing, (b) Are particular hardships (bills, utilities, food, housing, medical) more strongly associated with child behavior, and (c) Are there differences in the association between short-term and long-term material hardship and child behavior? We find that children in households experiencing material hardship score significantly higher on externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Additionally, we find that a mother's inability to pay bills, experience of utility interruption, and housing instability are adversely related to child behavior. We also find that the association between material hardship and child behaviors is stronger at age 5 and that chronic aggregate hardship has a stronger association with child behavior.
Economic downturns lead to lost income and increased poverty. Although high unemployment almost certainly also increases material hardship, and government transfers likely decrease hardship, the first relationship has not yet been documented and the second is poorly understood. We use data from five waves of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study to study the relationships between unemployment, government transfers, and material hardship. The latest wave of data was collected during the Great Recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression, providing a unique opportunity to look at how high unemployment rates affect the well-being of low income families. We find that the unemployment rate is associated with increased overall material hardship, difficulty paying bills, having utilities disconnected, and with increased usage of TANF, SNAP, UI and Medicaid. If not for SNAP, food hardship might have increased by twice the amount actually observed.
“Doubling up” (living with relatives or nonkin) is a common source of support for low-income families, yet no study to date has estimated its economic value relative to other types of public and private support. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examine the prevalence and economic value of doubling up among families with young children living in large American cities. We find that doubling up is a very important part of the private safety net in the first few years of a child’s life, with nearly 50 % of mothers reporting at least one instance of doubling up by the time their child is 9 years old. The estimated rental savings from doubling up is significant and comparable in magnitude to other public and private transfers.
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