The Predictors and Consequences of Cohabitation Dissolution versus Divorce

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): I am seeking a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development award in Population Research to achieve three goals in my career: 1) apply my interdisciplinary training in human development and family studies to the study of populations, 2) use demographic methods to study human and family development across the life course, and 3) use these insights to inform public policy debates surrounding human and family development. My training and work experiences have given me a knowledge base in the study of human development and family issues from multiple disciplinary perspectives and has given me a strong methodological background as a social scientist. A K01 award would expand this base to include training in demographic methods under the supervision of two family demographers - sociologist Elizabeth Cooksey and economist H. Elizabeth Peters. The proposed research plan will compare the economic, psychological, relationship process, and family predictors and consequences of cohabitation dissolution versus marital dissolution. This project will extend previous research in two ways: first, there is little research on differences in the consequences of cohabitation dissolution as compared to divorce for couples and families, and second, this project moves beyond disciplinary boundaries for an integrated and comprehensive comparison of cohabitation and marital dissolution. The analyses rely on data from four complementary sources: the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Overall, this award will allow me 1) to gain expertise in demographic methods and integrate these methods with social, psychological, and economic models of family and human development, 2) the time needed to complete my research plan and apply the methods I will learn, 3) to present my work at scholarly conferences and publish in leading journals, and 4) to prepare a grant proposal to support an independent program of research. The proposed research has significant implications for policy makers and community members because the economic and emotional health and well-being of adults and families are affected by the success and failure of cohabitation and marriage, cohabitation dissolution is disproportionately experienced by the poor, and yet family scholars know very little about its consequences.