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Do Nonresidential Fathers’ Financial Support and Contact Improve Children’s Health?

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Abstract

Nonresidential father investment of time and money has been shown to ameliorate the negative consequences of family dissolution on children’s behavior and achievement; however, no research has shown whether this investment also has positive effects on child health. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten cohort, this research uses a two-wave cross-lagged model to examine how child support and contact are associated with maternal reports of children’s physical health over time following parental separation. Child support in kindergarten is not associated with child health in third grade. Instead, children who are healthier in kindergarten receive greater financial support from their father. Although contact and child support are positively related, greater contact is not associated with better child health.

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Notes

  1. Although data are now available through 5th grade, attrition greatly reduces the sample size available for analysis, thus limiting any benefit another two years might provide.

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Acknowledgment

We gratefully acknowledge support for this research from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, P01 HD045610-01, through a subcontract with Cornell University.

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  1. Department of Family Science, School of Public Health Bldg 255, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Sandra L. Hofferth & Angela M. Pinzon

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  1. Sandra L. Hofferth
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  2. Angela M. Pinzon
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Correspondence to Sandra L. Hofferth.

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Hofferth, S.L., Pinzon, A.M. Do Nonresidential Fathers’ Financial Support and Contact Improve Children’s Health?. J Fam Econ Iss 32, 280–295 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-010-9237-9

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