A National Profile of Nonresident Fathers and Their Ability to Pay Child Support.
A National Profile of Nonresident Fathers and Their Ability to Pay Child Support.
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全国非居民父亲概况及其支付子女抚养费的能力。
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发表时间：
1997
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通讯作者：
E. Sorensen
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作者：
E. Sorensen
这项研究提供了非居民父亲的收入和子女抚养费的第一个国家估计报告的非居民父亲，自己，在两个全国代表性的调查。根据这些数据，如果所有非居民父亲都有子女抚养令，而且这些令都得到了全额支付，那么非居民父亲可以多支付高达340亿美元的子女抚养费。这一数字被比尔·克林顿总统和其他政策制定者广泛引用，作为加强儿童抚养费执行的理由。文章解释了这个数字是如何得出的，并提供了一个全国性的概况非居民父亲和他们支付子女抚养费的能力。关键词：子女抚养费，父亲，非居民父母。在大众媒体上，非居民父亲通常被描绘成“赖账的爸爸”，他们有能力支付子女抚养费，但选择不支付，剥夺了他们的子女所需的收入。以前的研究肯定证实了这样的男人存在，但它也表明，许多非居民的父亲是穷人，缺乏支付子女抚养费的能力。到目前为止，我们还没有一个全国性的非居民父亲概况，以确定他们中有多少人能够支付子女抚养费，但选择不支付，有多少人已经很穷了。缺乏信息的部分原因是，大型全国性调查通常不询问男子关于其居住在其他地方的子女的情况。此外，在询问这些儿童的全国调查中，非居民父亲的代表性严重不足。本研究使用两项调查，1987-1988年全国家庭和住户调查（NSFH）和1990年收入和计划参与调查（SIPP），以了解非居民父亲是谁，以及他们能负担得起多少子女抚养费。我开始解释我如何确定非居民的父亲在这些调查和衡量的程度，非居民的父亲是代表不足。(The附录提供了更多关于识别非居民父亲的细节。然后，我开发了一种方法，重新加权的数据，以考虑到非居民的父亲在这些调查中的代表性不足。一旦数据被重新加权，我提供了一个人口和经济概况的非居民父亲谁在调查中自我报告，以及所有非居民父亲，包括那些谁错过了这些调查。我对比的特点，非居民父亲的监护母亲和居民父亲。最后，我估计了非居民父亲可能会支付多少子女抚养费。以前的研究以前的努力来衡量非居民父亲支付子女抚养费的能力遇到了严重的数据问题。首先，大多数大型的、具有全国代表性的调查并不询问男性是否是非居民父亲。对这一问题的调查得到的回答率极低，包括1979年当前人口调查和1987-1988年全国家庭和住户调查（Cherlin，Griffith，& McCarthy，1983; Seltzer & Brandreth，1994）。这些研究发现，非居民父亲的数量约为监护母亲的60%。为了克服缺乏关于非居民父亲的全国数据的问题，Garfinkel和Oellerich（1989年）根据监护母亲的特点，开发了一种间接方法来确定非居民父亲的收入。许多研究使用这种方法来检查非居民父亲支付子女抚养费的能力（例如，Garfinkel，1992; Garfinkel & Oellerich，1989; Meyer，Garfinkel，Oellerich，& Robins，1992）。这些研究的结论是，非居民父亲可以支付更多的子女抚养费，但调查结果并不是基于非居民父亲及其实际收入的直接证据。此外，这种方法不能用来确定非居民父亲的其他特征，如他们在劳动力中的行为，他们的婚姻状况和生活安排。…
This study provides the first national estimates of nonresident fathers' income and child support payments as reported by nonresident fathers, themselves, in two nationally representative surveys. According to these data, nonresident fathers could pay as much as $34 billion more in child support if all nonresident fathers had child support orders and if those orders were fully paid. This figure has been cited extensively by President Bill Clinton and other policymakers as justification for strengthening the enforcement of child support. The article explains how this figure was derived and provides a national profile of nonresident fathers and their ability to pay child support. Key Words: child support, fathers, nonresident parents. In the popular press, nonresident fathers are typically depicted as "deadbeat dads" who can afford to pay child support but choose not to, denying their children needed income. Previous research has certainly confirmed that such men exist, but it also has shown that many nonresident fathers are poor and lack the ability to pay child support. To date, we have not had a national profile of nonresident fathers to ascertain exactly how many of them are able to pay child support but choose not to and how many are already poor. This lack of information is due, in part, to the fact that large national surveys typically do not ask men about their children who live elsewhere. Moreover, nonresident fathers are seriously underrepresented in the national surveys that have asked about these children. This study uses two surveys-the 1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)-to understand who nonresident fathers are and how much child support they could afford to pay. I begin by explaining how I identify nonresident fathers in these surveys and by measuring the extent to which nonresident fathers are underrepresented. (The Appendix gives more details on identifying nonresident fathers.) I then develop a method of reweighting the data to take into account nonresident fathers' underrepresentation in these surveys. Once the data are reweighted, I provide a demographic and economic profile of nonresident fathers who self-report in the surveys, as well as all nonresident fathers, including those who are missed by these surveys. I contrast the characteristics of nonresident fathers with those of custodial mothers and resident fathers. I end by estimating how much more child support nonresident fathers could potentially pay. PREVIOUS RESEARCH Previous efforts to measure the ability of nonresident fathers to pay child support have met with serious data problems. First, most large, nationally representative surveys do not ask men whether they are nonresident fathers. Surveys that have asked this question have drawn exceedingly low response rates, including those collected in the 1979 Current Population Survey and the 1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households (Cherlin, Griffith, & McCarthy, 1983; Seltzer & Brandreth, 1994). These studies find about 60% as many nonresident fathers as custodial mothers. In an effort to overcome the lack of national data on nonresident fathers, Garfinkel and Oellerich (1989) developed an indirect method of determining nonresident fathers' income that was based on the characteristics of custodial mothers. Many studies have used this approach to examine nonresident fathers' ability to pay child support (e.g., Garfinkel, 1992; Garfinkel & Oellerich, 1989; Meyer, Garfinkel, Oellerich, & Robins, 1992). These studies conclude that nonresident fathers could pay considerably more child support, but the findings are not based on direct evidence of nonresident fathers and their actual income. Furthermore, this method cannot be used to determine other characteristics of nonresident fathers, such as their behavior in the labor force, their marital status, and living arrangements. …