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Who Should Marry Whom? : Multiple Partner Fertility Among New Parents

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  • Ronald B. Mincy

    (Columbia University)

Abstract

This paper documents the extent and correlates of multiple partner fertility among parents in the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Survey in order to assess the opportunities and challenges that await marriage promotion policies which are attracting the attention of policy makers. We find that the majority of mothers who responded to the baseline and 12-month follow-up surveys are not first time mothers and the majority of mothers with two or more children have had at least one child with someone other than the father of their newborn. According to mothers? reports, fathers are equally likely to exhibit multiple partner fertility. While the descriptive analysis cannot speak to causation, our results are certainly consistent with the hypothesis that multiple partner fertility reduces the probability of marriage for mothers and fathers. Multiple partner fertility is rare among teenaged mothers, but fairly high among African American mothers and fathers, which may help to explain the low-marriage probabilities. Our results suggest that marriage promotion strategies will have their greatest opportunity among unwed mothers in their early twenties and the fathers of their children, but high rates of multiple partner fertility are expected to reduce the effective of such efforts among African Americans.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald B. Mincy, 2002. "Who Should Marry Whom? : Multiple Partner Fertility Among New Parents," Working Papers 964, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    • Handle: RePEc:pri:crcwel:wp02-03-ff-mincy.pdf
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    File URL: https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/wp02-02-ff-mincy.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sandra Hanson & Donna Morrison & Alan Ginsburg, 1989. "The Antecedents of Teenage Fatherhood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(4), pages 579-596, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Evenhouse, Eirik & Reilly, Siobhan, 2010. "Multiple-Father Fertility and Welfare," MPRA Paper 26305, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. repec:pri:crcwel:wp06-28-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Marcia J. Carlson & Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 2007. "The Consequences of Multi-partnered Fertility for Parental Involvement and Relationships," Working Papers 908, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    4. Marcia J. Carlson & Sara S. McLanahan, 2009. "Fathers in Fragile Families," Working Papers 1189, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    5. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "The American Family and Family Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 3-26, Spring.
    6. M. Robin Dion & Barbara Devaney & Alan M. Hershey, "undated". "Toward Interventions to Strengthen Relationships and Support Healthy Marriage Among Unwed New Parents," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 86c222b40d39418bb1a090913, Mathematica Policy Research.
    7. Gerald Eric Daniels & Venoo Kakar & Anoshua Chaudhuri, 2017. "Racial Differences in Transitions to Marriage for Unmarried Mothers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 370-389, September.
    8. Laura Tach & Kathryn Edin, 2011. "The Relationship Contexts of Young Disadvantaged Men," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 635(1), pages 76-94, May.
    9. Gerald Eric Daniels & Venoo Kakar & Anoshua Chaudhuri, 2017. "Racial Differences in Transitions to Marriage for Unmarried Mothers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 370-389, September.
    10. repec:mpr:mprres:3751 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. repec:pri:crcwel:wp09-14-ff is not listed on IDEAS

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