Union Formation Among Men in the U.S.: Does Having Prior Children Matter?

Abstract

ࡗ Union Formation Among Men in the U.S.: Does Having Prior Children Matter?Our study investigates whether fatherhood, and specifically involvement with nonresident children, influence men's entrance into marital and cohabiting unions. Using the National Survey of Families and Households, our findings suggest that neither resident nor nonresident children affect men's chances of entering a new marriage, but nonresident children have a positive effect on cohabitation. The positive association between nonresident children and men's union formation is not uniform; instead, we find that it is involvement with nonresident children, specifically visitation, that enhances men's chances of forming new unions. Whereas women's obligations to children from prior unions represent a resource drain that lowers their chances of union formation, our analysis suggests that involved nonresident fathers are more likely to enter subsequent unions than other men.

The Effect of Children on Men’s and Women’s Chances of Re-partnering in a European Context

“…In doing so, we contribute to the understanding of what role children might play in the previously documented gender gap in re-partnering. In line with earlier works (e.g., Lampard and Peggs 1999;Skew et al 2009;Stewart et al 2003) we propose that an important explanation for this gender gap is in fact, the presence of children. We add to this literature by providing an impression to what extent this child effect is universal across five European countries which are rather distinct in their institutional and cultural contexts (Norway, France, Germany, Romania, and the Russian Federation).…”

“…Work from the United States has shown that men's chances to form a new union are not affected by the presence of resident children and are even increased by having non-resident children (Stewart et al 2003). Empirical work in Canada has also shown that young children improve men's chances to enter a cohabiting union (Wu and Schimmele 2005).…”

Socioemotional Development in Changing Families

“…Sometimes children will live in a stepfamily with their parent and stepparent and, at other times, they will be visitors to their nonresident parent and partner's household. In addition, Stewart, Manning, and Smock (2003) indicated that over half of the residential stepparents in their sample also had children living elsewhere. Sometimes more than one set of children is involved in a stepfamily.…”

Las parejas reconstituidas en España: un fenómeno emergente con perfiles heterogéneos

“…Su presencia juega un papel importante en términos de la necesidad de conseguir pareja, el atractivo del progenitor en el mercado matrimonial y las oportunidades que tiene de conocer posibles parejas (Becker, 1987). Así, no solo existen diferencias importantes respecto al género del progenitor que aporta el hijo, generando un efecto positivo en la reconstitución de los hombres y negativo en el de las mujeres, sino también destaca un importante efecto de la edad del hijo (Skew et al, 2009) y si éste reside con el progenitor (Stewart et al, 2003).…”

“…Thus, not only are there significant differences based on the gender of the parent who brings the child (having a positive impact on the reconstitution of a family for the male parent and a negative impact for the female parent), but the child's age (Skew et al, 2009) and whether or not the child lives with the parent also have significant effects (Stewart et al, 2003).…”