Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing

Abstract

Summary Jane Waldfogel, Terry-Ann Craigie, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn review recent studies that use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) to examine why children who grow up in single-mother and cohabiting families fare worse than children born into married-couple households. They also present findings from their own new research. Analysts have investigated five key pathways through which family structure might influence child well-being: parental resources, parental mental health, parental relationship quality, parenting quality, and father involvement. It is also important to consider the role of the selection of different types of men and women into different family types, as well as family stability. But analysts remain uncertain how each of these elements shapes children's outcomes. In addition to providing an overview of findings from other studies using FFCWS, Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn report their own estimates of the effect of a consistently defined set of family structure and stability categories on cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes of children in the FFCWS study at age five. The authors find that the links between fragile families and child outcomes are not uniform. Family instability, for example, seems to matter more than family structure for cognitive and health outcomes, whereas growing up with a single mother (whether that family structure is stable or unstable over time) seems to matter more than instability for behavior problems. Overall, their results are consistent with other research findings that children raised by stable single or cohabiting parents are at less risk than those raised by unstable single or cohabiting parents. The authors conclude by pointing to three types of policy reforms that could improve outcomes for children. The first is to reduce the share of children growing up in fragile families (for example, through reducing the rate of unwed births or promoting family stability among unwed parents). The second is to address the pathways that place such children at risk (for example, through boosting resources in single-parent homes or fostering father involvement in fragile families). The third is to address directly the risks these children face (for example, through high-quality early childhood education or home-visiting policies).

Adverse Childhood Experiences of Low-Income Urban Youth

“…All of these exposures were frequently cited by our participants and have been shown in other studies to contribute to poor health outcomes. [75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83] Experiences such as harsh parenting, which negatively affect child well-being but may not be perceived as stressors, also should be considered. However, before including any of these measures in any formal ACE assessment, more research must be done to examine the relative contribution of these additional experiences to health outcomes.…”

Relation between Children’s Well-Being and Family Function in Children with Thalassemia Major in Isfahan in 2013

“…Farajzadegan et al (Farajzadegan, Koosha, Sufi, & Keshvari, 2013) examined the relationship between family functioning and well-being of women and concluded that dysfunctional family function affects women's quality of life and well-being. Waldfogel et al (Waldfogel, Craigie, & Brooks-Gunn, 2010) in a study on fragile families (single unmarried parent) and the child's sense of well-being, examined aggressive behavior, anxiety, and depression in children of these families. They concluded that the level of aggressive behavior, depression, and anxiety, which are indicators of well-being, was higher in children of fragile and vulnerable families compared to normal families and have a negative impact on family functioning.…”

Unequal Families, Unequal Effects: How Parental Divorce Differentially Impacts Children's Educational Attainment

“…It is more likely subsequent to a parental divorce (condition 1) and is associated with high levels of parenting stress and lower-quality parent-child relationships leading to lower attainment among children (condition 2) (Beck et al 2010;Cavanagh, Crissey, and Raley 2008;Cavanagh and Huston 2006;Halpern-Meekin and Turney 2016;Lee and McLanahan 2015;Osborne and McLanahan 2007;Thomson and McLanahan 2012;Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn 2010;Wu and Martinson 1993;Wu and Thomson 2001). Instability is likely to vary across families.…”

“…Nevertheless, the negative consequences for children experiencing family disruption endured (Amato 2001;McLanahan, Tach, and Schneider 2013). A substantial literature links parental divorce to lower levels of children's educational attainment, particularly high school completion (e.g., Amato 2001;Fomby and Cherlin 2007;Lang and Zargorsky 2001;Lee and McLanahan 2015;McLanahan and Percheski 2008;McLanahan, Tach, and Schneider 2013;Seltzer 1994;Sigle-Rushton and McLanahan 2004;Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn 2010;Wu and Martinson 1993). 1 Scholars studying the causal effects of parental divorce on children have primarily relied on observational data, as divorce is a social phenomenon not subject to experimental manipulation.…”