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Family Structure Transitions and Changes in Maternal Resources and Well-being

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Demography

Abstract

This article uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether family instability is associated with changes in perceived social support, material hardship, maternal depression, and parenting stress among mothers of young children. In addition to accounting for the number of transitions that a mother experiences during the first five years of her child’s life, we pay close attention to the type and timing of these transitions. We find that mothers who transition to cohabitation or marriage with their child’s biological father experience declines in material hardship and that those who transition to cohabitation or marriage with another man exhibit modest declines in both material hardship and depression. Mothers who exit cohabiting or marital relationships encounter decreases in perceived social support and increases in material hardship, depression, and parenting stress. Overall, our results suggest that both the type and, to a much lesser degree, the timing of family structure transitions may influence maternal well-being.

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Notes

  1. Mothers who experienced transitions across more than one interview wave were categorized into an “other” category, and results were not reported for this group.

  2. Mothers who were observed transitioning directly from one type of two-parent family to another across waves were coded as also having experienced a transition into a single-mother family.

  3. Each effect size represents the cumulative effect over four years.

  4. Conversely, we may overstate the number of mothers who become “single,” given that we rely on measures of household composition to determine family type. Some mothers may report that they do not reside with a biological or social father even if their romantic relationship has not ended. For example, fathers serving a jail sentence may not be reported as members of the mothers’ household. This may be important in that actual relationship dissolution may affect mothers differently than their partner exiting their home for some other reason.

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Acknowledgments

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study is funded by NICHD Grant Nos. R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, as well as a consortium of private foundations and other government agencies. This research was supported by NICHD Grant No. K01HD054421 (to Berger).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, 2315 Red River Street, Box Y, Austin, TX, 78713, USA

    Cynthia Osborne

  2. School of Social Work and Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Lawrence M. Berger & Katherine Magnuson

Authors
  1. Cynthia Osborne
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  2. Lawrence M. Berger
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  3. Katherine Magnuson
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Correspondence to Cynthia Osborne.

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Osborne, C., Berger, L.M. & Magnuson, K. Family Structure Transitions and Changes in Maternal Resources and Well-being. Demography 49, 23–47 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-011-0080-x

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