Trajectories and Consequences of Nonmarital Fathering

说明(申请人提供)：该项目的总体目标是调查男性成为未婚父亲的相关因素，以及未婚父亲参与育儿的性质和后果。这是一个重要的话题，因为越来越多的男性将在婚外生育至少一个孩子，而且有很大一部分孩子和母亲将受到他们为人父的行为的影响。然而，我们对非婚父亲及其对伴侣、子女和父亲本身的影响的了解仍然有限，部分原因是男性在全国调查中的比例往往较低。父亲是孩子的重要资源，理想的情况是投入时间、金钱和情感来促进孩子的健康发展和社会化，但未婚父亲往往具有个人和背景特征，这阻碍了他们积极参与家庭生活的潜力，并使其复杂化。这些因素包括人力资本低、社会行为问题发生率高、与子女分开居住的可能性高，以及与非婚父亲与母亲之间持续的关系(无论是浪漫的和/或共同育儿的)有关的三个重要但很少被探索的因素，未婚男子(和妇女)往往通过多个伴侣生育孩子的事实(所谓的‘多配偶生育’)，以及相当数量的未婚父亲已经或将被监禁这一事实。利用三个国家的数据集(全国家庭成长调查、1979年全国青年纵向调查和脆弱家庭和儿童福祉研究)，这项研究将提供关于最近和当代非婚父亲的轨迹和后果的新信息。这项研究包括三个具体目的：1)评估未婚父亲的先天因素以及成为未婚父亲对男性生命过程的影响；2)分析未婚父亲作为伴侣和父母参与家庭的性质和动态，特别是与母亲的关系、多配偶生育和父亲监禁的关系；以及3)检查未婚父亲参与对子女和父亲自身福祉的影响，包括这些好处是否受到父亲的特征或背景的影响。该项目将从生命历程的角度出发，借鉴家庭系统理论，评估男性成为未婚父亲和后来成为未婚父亲的关键阶段和转折点，包括随着时间的推移，促进和阻碍积极育儿的因素。这项研究将探索未婚父亲的种族/民族差异，并考虑与社会选择和缺失数据相关的关键分析挑战。总体而言，这项研究将为儿童和家庭提供有关非婚父亲的过程、内容和后果的新信息，并可能为制定健全的政策和计划以加强家庭提供帮助。公共卫生相关性这项研究将提供有关男性成为未婚父亲的相关因素以及未婚父亲参与子女的性质和后果的新信息。鉴于非婚生育的比例不断上升，以及父亲缺席对子女的负面影响，这项研究将提供信息，以帮助制定合理的政策和计划，使父亲与孩子保持联系，并加强不同背景下的家庭。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall aim of this project is to investigate the factors associated with men becoming unwed fathers and the nature and consequences of unmarried fathers' involvement with children. This is an important topic, given the large and growing number of men who will have at least one child outside of marriage and the large fraction of children and mothers who will be exposed to their fathering behavior. Yet, our knowledge about nonmarital fathering and how it affects partners, children, and the fathers themselves remains limited, in part because men are often under-represented in national surveys. Fathers represent an important resource for children, ideally investing the time, money and emotion that promote healthy child development and socialization, but unwed fathers often have individual and contextual characteristics that deter and complicate their potential for positive involvement in family life; these include low human capital, high rates of social-behavioral problems, and a high likelihood of living away from their child, as well as three important but little explored factors related to nonmarital fathering fathers' ongoing relationships with mothers (whether romantic and/or co-parenting), the fact that unmarried men (and women) often have children by multiple partners (so-called `multi-partnered fertility'), and the fact that a non-trivial number of unwed fathers have been or will be incarcerated. Using three national datasets (the National Survey of Family Growth, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study), this research will provide new information about the trajectories and consequences of recent and contemporary nonmarital fathering. The study includes three specific aims: 1) To evaluate the antecedents of nonmarital fatherhood and the effects of becoming an unwed father on the male life course; 2) To analyze the nature and dynamics of unwed fathers' involvement in families as partners and parents, especially as linked to relationships with mothers, multi-partnered fertility, and paternal incarceration; and 3) To examine the consequences of unmarried fathers' involvement for the wellbeing of children and of fathers themselves, including whether the benefits are moderated by fathers' characteristics or context. Using a life course perspective and drawing on family systems theory, this project will evaluate key stages and turning points in men becoming and then being unmarried fathers, including factors that both enhance and deter positive parenting over time. The study will explore race/ethnic differences in unwed fathering and consider key analytic challenges related to social selection and missing data. Overall, this study will provide new information about the process, content, and consequences of nonmarital fathering for children and families and may shed light on the development of sound policies and programs to strengthen families. PUBLIC HELATH RELEVANCE This study will provide new information about the factors associated with men becoming unwed fathers and the nature and consequences of unmarried fathers' involvement with children. Given the rising fraction of births that occur outside of marriage and the negative consequences of father absence for children, this study will provide information to aid the development of sound policies and programs to keep fathers connected to children and to strengthen families across diverse contexts.