Cynthia Osborne (University of Texas, Austin) Wendy D. Manning (Bowling Green State University) Pamela J. Smock (University of Michigan)
Abstract
We draw on three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N = 2,249) to examine family stability among a recent birth cohort (1998 – 2000) of children. We find that children born to cohabiting versus married parents have over five times the risk of experiencing their parents’ separation by age 3. This difference in union stability is greatest for White children, as compared with Black or Mexican American children. For White children, differences in parents’ education levels, paternal substance abuse, prior marriage, and having children from prior unions account for the higher instability faced by those born to cohabiting parents, whereas the higher rate of separation from cohabitation among Black and Mexican American children is not fully explained by sociodemographic characteristics of the parents, economic resources, parental relationship quality, or family complexity.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing. in its series Working Papers with number
945.
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