Maternal Re-Partnering, Parenting Behaviors, and Child Development

描述(由申请人提供)：这项建议旨在提供儿童发展、人口学和高级统计方法方面的额外培训，并支持研究家庭结构转变、养育行为和儿童认知和行为发展之间的关系。已有相当多的研究致力于婚姻解体以及单亲家庭结构与子女幸福之间的关系。相比之下，尽管据估计，近三分之一的儿童将在继父家庭中度过一段时间，但母亲重新成为伴侣对儿童的影响受到的关注较少。本研究将侧重于母亲的重新伙伴关系对育儿行为和儿童发展的影响，特别关注当这种重新伙伴关系构成同居而不是婚姻时，这些影响是否存在差异。它有4个具体目标：(1)评估家庭结构变化的影响，重点是母亲的重新配对，对儿童认知和行为发展的影响；(2)探索母亲重新配对对母亲育儿行为变化的影响；(3)比较亲生父亲和“社会”父亲(即与女性和他们的亲生子女结婚或同居，但不是孩子的亲生父亲的男性)使用的育儿行为和管教策略的类型；以及(4)研究父母养育行为的变化是否以及如何解释(即，中介)家庭结构的变化与孩子的成就和行为的变化之间的联系。这些目标将使用3项基于人口的纵向研究的数据来实现：脆弱家庭和儿童福祉研究、收入动态小组研究和国家青年纵向调查。所有的分析都将具体测试母亲重新结成伴侣和养育子女的行为与婚姻状况对孩子结果的影响是否存在差异。他们还将考虑母亲重新结伴的影响是否因儿童年龄和性别以及家庭社会经济地位而有所不同。最后，他们将评估母亲重新搭档对育儿和儿童健康的影响是暂时的还是随着时间的推移而持续的。由于相当大比例的儿童将在他们的童年期间经历母亲的重新伙伴关系，了解可能伴随这些转变而来的父母行为、家庭动态和儿童发展的变化是至关重要的。这项研究对旨在鼓励婚姻和家庭形成的公共政策以及为复杂家庭结构中的儿童制定促进儿童福祉的方案和政策具有重要意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is intended to provide additional training in child development, demography, and advanced statistical methods and to support research examining relationships between family structure transitions, parenting behaviors, and children's cognitive and behavioral development. A considerable body of research has been devoted to marital dissolution and associations between single-parent family structure and child wellbeing. In contrast, the effects of maternal re-partnering on children have received less attention, despite estimates that nearly a third of children will spend some time in stepfamilies. This research will focus on the effects of maternal re-partnering on parenting behaviors and child development, paying specific attention to whether there are differences in these effects when such "re-partnering" constitute cohabitations, as opposed to marriages. It has 4 specific aims: (1) To estimate the effects of changes in family structure, with an emphasis on maternal re-partnering, on changes in children's cognitive and behavioral development; (2) To explore the effects of maternal re-partnering on changes in maternal parenting behaviors; (3) To compare the types of parenting behaviors and discipline strategies utilized by biological fathers to those utilized by "social" fathers (i.e., men who are married to, or cohabiting with, women and their biological children, but who are not those children's biological fathers); and (4) To examine whether and how changes in parenting behaviors may explain (i.e., mediate) associations between changes in family structure and changes in children's achievement and behavior. These aims will be addressed using data from 3 population based longitudinal studies: the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. All analyses will specifically test whether there are differences in associations between maternal re-partnering and parenting behaviors and child outcomes by marital status. They will also consider whether the impact of maternal re-partnering varies by child age and gender, as well as family socioeconomic status. Finally, they will assess whether effects of maternal re-partnering on parenting and child wellbeing are transitory or persist over time. As a sizeable proportion of children will experience maternal re-partnerships during the course of their childhoods, it is crucial to understand the changes in parenting behaviors, family dynamics, and child development that may accompany these transitions. This research has implications for public policies intended to encourage marriage and family formation, as well as for designing programs and policies to promote child wellbeing for children in complex family structures.