Family Structure, Parenting and Child Wellbeing

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project would provide support to Dr. Marcia J. Carlson to pursue her long-term research objective of studying how family contexts affect the well-being of children and parents, with particular emphasis on mother-father and parent-child dyadic relationships. Trained as a family sociologist and demographer, Dr. Carlson now endeavors to broaden her research skills and experience by obtaining additional training in developmental psychology and statistical/econometric methods that will enhance her ability to study, how family structure and processes affect parents and children. This project would enable her to take substantive and methodological courses and to work with four exceptional mentors--Dr. Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Dr. Irv Garfinkel, Dr. Sara McLanahan, and Dr. Jane Waldfogel---each highly esteemed in their respective fields. This project will use new data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study to examine linkages among family structure, mother-father relationships, father involvement, and child well-being for a cohort of children born outside of marriage. In particular, this study has the following specific aims: 1) To describe the range of family circumstances experienced by children born outside of marriage, including family structure, the quality of parents' relationship with each other, the nature of fathers' (and mothers') involvement with children, and a range of associated social, demographic and economic characteristics; 2) To analyze how the status and quality of the relationship between mothers and fathers--as it evolves over time following a non-marital birth--affects the nature and quality of fathers' involvement with their children; 3) To assess how fathers' involvement with their children is associated with child well-being; 4) To evaluate the mechanisms by which family structure affects children born to unmarried parents (including direct and indirect effects) and the extent to which the mediating pathways are similar to or different from those identified in the literature on divorce. This study will use new data to extend our knowledge about family processes and their consequences for unmarried parents and their children. In order to develop sound social programs and policies, it is crucial to understand more about this growing--but understudied--demographic group.