Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effects of Family Instability and Complexity on Mother and Child Well-being

宾夕法尼亚州立大学帕克分校，家庭学者普遍认为，关系不稳定是大多数母亲、父亲和孩子生活中的一种压力经历。一般来说，当人们经历离婚等中断时，他们在各种幸福指标上的得分低于已婚人士（或这些人的子女）。通常，这些负面影响会在中断事件发生后持续数年。然而，在现有文献中，很大程度上缺失了对不稳定的特定模式的研究，这种模式可能会影响母亲和儿童的长期福祉，而不仅仅是个体的破坏，甚至是总体破坏的衡量标准。特别是，关于“多伴侣生育”（MPF）的影响的研究很少，这种情况发生在成年人与不止一个人生育孩子的情况下。强积金不稳定的内在因素包括至少两种关系的形成、一种关系的解体和单亲家庭生活的时间，以及母亲、子女、亲生非居民和继父之间的法律和社会关系的复杂混合体，以及由同父异母或同父异母兄弟姐妹组成的家庭单位。这项研究的目的是第一次实证研究多伴侣生育对母亲及其青春期子女生活的长期影响。这将通过使用多代、纵向和具有全国代表性的女性出生队列样本来实现，这些女性从青春期到生育年龄结束，并将她们的强积金历史与各种领域的母亲和儿童健康自我报告指标联系起来。这个项目将评估(1)参与强积金的妇女的特征（在她们的第一次关系解除之前评估），(2)强积金对妇女的长期影响？(3)母亲强积金对青少年幸福感的影响，包括初次性经验的时间、内化和外化问题，以及青少年生育的可能性。对于所有指标，分析将解析出模式不稳定性（MPF）与全球不稳定性措施的具体影响，以理清多伴侣生育的独特影响。并且，借鉴以往学者的工作并利用生命历程的视角，我们将研究将这种特殊的不稳定模式与选定的母亲和儿童结果联系起来的几种机制，包括：生育分期、压力理论、家庭不稳定效应和选择效应。更广泛的影响。鉴于过去半个世纪以来家庭生活的巨大变化，学者、政策制定者和干预专家对家庭不稳定对母亲和儿童生活的长期影响提出了许多问题。此外，人们对可能加剧（或减弱）与强积金不稳定有关的问题的机制知之甚少。该项目对影响学者和决策者解决这些重要问题的方式具有重要意义。更好地了解强积金不稳定的后果，以及可能导致这种不稳定的社会机制，可能会指出更有效的干预计划和家庭政策，以及扩大当代家庭学者的研究议程，包括研究这些紧迫问题的新方法。

SES-0927493Alan BoothCassandra DoriusPennsylvania State University, University Park,It is widely accepted among family scholars that relationship instability is a stressful experience in the lives of most mothers, fathers, and children. In general, when people experience a disruption, such as a divorce, they score lower then continuously married individuals (or children of these individuals) on a variety of wellbeing indicators. And oftentimes these negative consequences can extend several years beyond the disruption event. Largely missing from the extant literature, however, is scholarship on specific patterns of instability that may be influencing the long term wellbeing of mothers and children above and beyond an individual disruption, or even a measure of aggregate disruptions. In particular, little research has been done on the influence of "multipartnered fertility" (or MPF) which occurs when adults have children with more than one person. Inherent in MPF instability are at least two relationship formations, one dissolution, and time in a single parent home, as well as a complex amalgam of legal and social relationships between mothers, children, and biological nonresident and step-fathers, and family units comprised of step- and half-siblings. The aim of this research is to be the first empirical study of the long-term consequences of multipartnered fertility on the lives of mothers and their adolescent children. This will be accomplished by using a multigenerational, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample of a birth cohort of women who were followed from adolescence to the end of their childbearing years and linking their MPF histories to self-reported measures of mother and child wellbeing across a variety of domains. This project will evaluate (1) the characteristics of women who engage in MPF (assessed prior to their first relationship dissolution), (2) the long term consequences of MPF on women?s self-reported depression, alcohol abuse, and physical health, and (3) the affect of maternal MPF on adolescent wellbeing in terms of timing of first sexual experience, internalizing and externalizing problems, and the likelihood of a teen birth. For all indicators, analyses will parse out the specific influence of patterned instability (MPF) compared with measures of global instability to untangle the unique effects of multipartnered fertility. And, drawing on work by previous scholars and utilizing a life course perspective, we will examine several mechanisms for linking this particular pattern of instability to selected mother and child outcomes, including: fertility staging, strain theory, family instability effects, and selection effects. Broader Impact. Given the dramatic changes in family life over the past half century, there are many questions among scholars, policy makers, and intervention specialists about the long term influence of family instability on the lives of mothers and children. Furthermore, little is known about the mechanisms that may exacerbate (or attenuate) the problems associated with MPF instability. This project has important implications for influencing the way scholars and policy makers address these significant questions. A better understanding of the consequences of MPF instability, as well as the social mechanisms that might underlie adjustment to this instability, may point to more effective intervention programs and family policy, as well as broaden the research agenda of contemporary family scholars to include new approaches to studying these pressing questions.