Research Reports and News Posted June 2001:
Fathers--Research |
Children & Families |
Census Data |
Welfare Reform |
NCOFF Abstracts
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Fathers' Activities with Their Kids, Brett Brown, Erik Michelsen, Tamara Halle, and Kristin Moore, Child Trends, Child Trends Research Brief, June 2001.
Excerpt:
This Research Brief brings together data from multiple sources to report on the involvement of fathers in their children÷s lives in four key areas: general activities, school activities, limit-setting, and religious activities. The data sources are the 1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the 1999 National Household Education Survey (NHES), and the 1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).1 A more extensive statistical profile of fathers will be available from Child Trends in late 2001.
It is important to keep in mind that the data used in this Research Brief are only for fathers who live with their children, including single fathers raising children; far less data are available on nonresident fathers.
For a copy of the complete brief in PDF format, visit the Child Trends web site.
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Father Involvement In
Fragile Families, Working Paper #01-08-FF, Marcia J. Carlson and Sara S. McLanahan, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, April 2001.
Report Introduction:
The proportion of children born to unmarried parents has risen dramatically in the past 40 years, with nearly one-third of births now occurring outside of marriage. The proportions are even higher among minority populations40 percent among Hispanics and 70 percent among African Americans (Ventura et al. 1995). The rise in the fraction of bir ths that are nonmarital, along with demographic changes in marriage and divorce, have yielded a growing group of fragile families unmarried parents who are raising their children together. Such families are deemed fragile because of the multiple risks associated with nonmarital childbearing (including poverty) and to signify the vulnerability of the parents relationship.
New research shows that more than four-fifths of unmarried couples are in a romantic relationshipand just under half are living togetherat the time of their childs birth (McLanahan, Garfinkel, Reichman and Teitler 2000). In order to understand how unmarried-parent families may differ from more traditional families, and particularly what are the consequences for children, it is important to examine the nature of parenting across different types of fragile families. Because greater variation has been observed in fathers behavior compared to mothers behavior as parents, fathers involvement with their children may be particularly important in accounting for differences in child wellbeing across families (Gottman 1998). Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that promote fathers involvement.
Despite increasing attention to the effects of father involvement for children, the fathers of children born outside of marriage have been largely unexamined; most of the extant research on father involvement has focused on married or previously- married fathers or it is limited to special samples of unwed fathers, such as teen fathers. The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study provides a unique opportunity to examine an understudied group of parents using a large sample of unmarried births (that will become nationally representative after all data are available). This paper uses new data from the Fragile Families Study to examine involvement by unmarried fathers around the time of their childs birth.
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KIDS COUNT Data Book Online, 2001, Annie E. Casey Foundation, May 14, 2001.
Press Release:
The last decade registered the largest increase in the number of children living in the United States since the 1950s, foreshadowing major new challenges to the nation's schools and social services.
This dramatic growth, due in large part to immigration, raises the number of children under 18 to more than 72 million. With a 14 percent increase in the number of children since 1990, redoubled efforts will be required to sustain the many gains that were made on behalf of kids in the last decade.
Findings about the progress and prospects of the nation's young people are presented in the 12th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, to be released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation on May 22.
"Based on the nation's experience with the baby boom of the 1950s, it's clear that this recent rise in America's under-18 population will put heavy new demands on our already struggling public education, child care, and family support systems," said Douglas W. Nelson, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "If we are going to sustain the recent progress we've seen in conditions affecting kids in the U.S., we will have to do far more to keep pace with the needs of this larger and more diverse generation of American children."
Many Child Indicators Improve in '90s
According to the report, which is broken down state by state, the well-being of kids improved over the past decade on 7 of 10 key KIDS COUNT measures. Among other areas, decreases were recorded in the infant mortality rate, the child and teen death rates, and the high school dropout rate. The child poverty rate fell to 16.9 percent in 2000 from a decade high of 22.7 percent in 1993. In addition, there has been a steady decline in the rate of teenage births, which dropped from 37 per 1000 teens in 1990 to 30 per 1000 teens in 1998.
Despite these improvements, the Data Book also reports that the rate of low-weight births has increased, as has the share of children living in single-parent families, which stood at nearly 28 percent in 2000. The KIDS COUNT analysis also shows that more than 16 million children have parents who, despite being employed all year, struggle to make ends meet. These working-poor families continue to be trapped in a cycle of hardship, living paycheck to paycheck.
"The first decade of this millennium will be pivotal," said Nelson. "Our policy and investment decisions for families in the next few years will determine whether we'll build on the progress of the nineties or see important gains eroded."
For a more complete summary of all the indicators of child well-being, with background information for each state, including demographic, economic, and health data, see the EMBARGOED online database available at www.kidscount.org, beginning May 14th, or visit the Annie E. Casey Foundation web site.
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Kith and Kin--Informal Child Care: Highlights from Recent Research, Melanie Brown-Lyons, Anne Robertson, and Jean Layzer (Abt Associates), National Center for Children in Poverty, May 2001.
Press Release excerpt:
This report, prepared by Melanie Brown-Lyons, Anne Robertson, and Jean Layzer of Abt Associates Inc., summarizes what is known about informal child care--care by relatives, friends, and neighbors-the type of care used by a significant proportion of employed mothers with children under age five. These child care providers are largely hidden and not especially anxious to be part of the large--scale intensive research usually undertaken in more organized child care settings.
Yet a good deal is known about the proportion of children using such care and trends over time, the characteristics of the families, why this type of child care is used, the costs, who the providers are, how quality could be improved, the relationships among the providers and the parents and children they serve, and the kinds of help and information the providers might want and need. Kith and Kin Research Highlights includes abstracts of 27 key documents in the field, methodological issues, a glossary of definitions, and additional resources.
For a copy of the full report in PDF format visit the NCCP web site.
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Cohabitation: An Elusive Concept, Julien Teitler, Columbia University, and Nancy E. Reichman, Working Paper, #01-4, Social Indicators Survey Center, Columbia University, April 16, 2001.
Report Introduction:
As we focus more attention on unwed parents and their living arrangements and relationships, it becomes increasingly clear that cohabitation is an ambiguous concept that is difficult to measure. Since romantically involved couples may not spend every night together all the time, characterizing survey respondents as living together based on the traditional concept of full time cohabitation may inaccurately depict levels of father involvement with mother and child.
Not only may the conventional cohabitation dichotomy not reflect what we intend to measure, it also produces estimates that vary by how we ask about cohabitation, when we ask, and who we ask. These conceptual and measurement issues result in cohabitation estimates that can cloud our understanding of unwed parenthood. For example, some cohabiting couples may have more stable relationships than some married couples, while others may have relationships more akin to serial one-night stands. In light of these complexities, should we continue to hold onto the traditional dichotomous concepts of marriage and cohabitation to characterize whether parents are involved with one another and share parenting responsibilities? And once that decision is made, how can we best elicit the information we are looking for (how, when, and whom should we ask)? The answers depend on how elusive the concept of cohabitation has become.
The accurate characterization of parents relationships also has important implications for public policy. Policies will be more effective if they are tailored to actual rather than presumed parental relationships. Additionally, understanding the determinants of living arrangements and relationship types may help to reduce unintended consequences of policies on couples relationships. In other words, it is important that policies be tailored to existing types of families and that, to the extent that they influence household structure, they do so in the intended manner. Of course, our ability to measure actual living arrangements and the effects of policies on couples relationships is complicated by the fact that policies may affect not only actual relationships but also how individuals report on them, particularly if there are strong incentives to misreport.
In this paper, we use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data to describe, more comprehensively than previous studies, the relationships and living arrangements of new unmarried parents. We do so both from a measurement perspective and from a substantive perspective. The Fragile Families data are ideal for studying cohabitation and relationships for the following reasons: 1) They include rich measures of living arrangements and father involvement. 2) The sample of unwed parents is sufficiently large to permit analyses of relationships for racial/ethnic and other important subgroups. 3) Fragile Families is a panel study that enables us to assess the stability of reports of cohabitation over time, by comparing baseline reports to 12-month retrospective reports of cohabitation at birth.
We begin by presenting various estimates of cohabitation using different sources of information to show how difficult cohabitation is to measure precisely. We then demonstrate that relationships among unwed parents fall along a continuum, from marriage-like cohabitation at one extreme to parents who have no contact at all with one another at the other. Next, we show how the distribution of couples along this continuum varies by race, ethnicity, age, nativity, reliance on public assistance, educational achievement, and health insurance status. Finally, we look for evidence that policies are affecting whether parents report that they are living together.
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Union Formation and Stability in Fragile Families, Marcia Carlson, Sara McLanahan, (Princeton University) and Paula England (University of Pennsylvania), Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Working Paper #01-06-FF, Princeton University, April 2001.
Report Introduction:
A vast number of studies have examined the predictors of marriage and marital dissolution, and more recent studies have explored entry into and exit from cohabiting unions. At the same time, much attention has been paid to the rise in nonmarital childbearing and single motherhood. Yet, far less is known about a topic at the intersection of these two research literatures, namely the predictors of union formation, stability and change among couples that have children outside of marriage. Much of the research on union formation does not include unwed parents or explore the link between the timing of childbearing and relationship transitions. Most of the research on single mothers has focused exclusively on the mother-child dyad, with little recognition of the potential or actual role of the father in the lives of mothers or children. New research shows that more than four-fifths of unmarried couples are in a romantic relationship at the time they have a child, and just under half are living together (McLanahan et al., forthcoming). These findings suggest that many unmarried parents and their children are in ”family- like’ relationships, at least initially. Thus, researcher need to consider the factors associated with both stability and change in parents÷ relationships over time.
Beyond its importance for family demography and sociology, the topic of family stability and change among unwed parents is particularly timely from a policy perspective because the 1996 welfare reform placed limits on the receipt of public assistance for mothers on welfare, the vast majority of whom are unmarried. Some policy analysts have suggested that marriage may obviate the economic disadvantage among low- income women. In order to understand the possible role for marriage, it is critical to understand the characteristics associated with entry into marital versus nonmarital unions, as well as factors that influence the relationship trajectories of couples that have a child outside of marriage. In this paper, we use new data from the Fragile 2 Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine patterns of union formation among new unwed parents“first by looking at differences in parents÷ relationship status at birth, and then by looking at what happens to relationships one year following the birth. This paper provides an initial investigation into family formation among unmarried parents; as additional data from the Fragile Families Study become available, we will be able to explore this topic using longitudinal data on the full sample.
Fragile Families And Child Wellbeing Snapshot -- Newark, New Jersey, Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, 2001.
Newark is one of 20 United States cities in the national Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. This study is following a group of unmarried parents and their newborn children for at least four years, examining the relationships in these families and seeing what factors (including government policy) may push them closer together or pull them apart. The following findings are from 1999 baseline interviews collected at the time of the child's birth.
Contrary to the belief that unmarried births are the product of casual relationships, the majority of Newark unwed parents are romantically involved and nearly half are living together. These parents also have high expectations for the future of their relationships: 77 percent of the mothers and 90 percent of the fathers believe their chances of marriage are 50-50 or greater.
Eighty-five percent of Newark fathers provided financial or other types of support during the pregnancy. Furthermore, all of the fathers who were interviewed want to be involved in raising their children. Likewise, the majority of mothers also want their baby's father to participate in the baby's upbringing: 93 percent of all mothers stated they wanted the father involved. Over 90 percent of mothers also reported that the father's na me will be on the birth certificate. These indicators show that the great majority mothers and fathers have positive expectations about the new fathers' role in their baby's life.
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What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey, Kyle Pruett, Yale University, Zero to Three,
October, 2000.
Results raise questions regarding what Americans know about raising emotionally, intellectually and socially healthy children. This landmark survey measured the child development knowledge of 3,000 adults and parents. It also examined what the general public thinks about selected policies that affect children and families. The survey was sponsored by ZERO TO THREE, CIVITAS, and BRIO Corporation, three organizations dedicated to the welfare of young children, and conducted by DYG, Inc.
Press Release Excerpt, October 14, 2000:
"This lack of accurate child development information among adults has very real implications for American society," said Kyle Pruett, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale University Child Study Center, and president of ZERO TO THREE. "We're potentially raising overly aggressive children who react to situations with intimidation and bullying, instead of cooperation and understanding; children who won't be able to tolerate frustration, wait their turn or respect the needs of others."
"What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey" measured the child development knowledge of 3,000 adults and parents. Secondarily, it examined what the general public thinks about selected policies that impact children and families. The survey was sponsored by CIVITAS, ZERO TO THREE and BRIO Corporation, three organizations dedicated to the welfare of young children, and conducted by DYG, Inc., a nationally respected research company led by Daniel Yankelovich.
"The results of the survey overwhelmingly indicate that adults need more and better information, delivered in more accessible ways," said Suzanne Muchin, chief executive officer of CIVITAS, a not-for-profit communications group that commissioned the survey.
The survey results show that specific areas of misinformation among adults include spoiling and spanking; adults' expectations of young children at different ages; and the most beneficial forms of play.
Parents Misunderstand: Babies Can't Be Spoiled
Parents are confused - and grandparents even more so - about what parental behaviors constitute spoiling for infants and
young children. For example:
- 57 percent of parents of young children (0-6 years of age) and 62 percent of all adults incorrectly believe a
six-month-old can be spoiled.
- 44 percent of parents of young children and 60 percent of grandparents incorrectly believe picking up a three-month-old every time he cries will spoil the child.
"If you don't pick up a baby when he is crying, you can build up his levels of stress and distress, which in turn can slow his learning," says Dr. Pruett. "Responding to your child's needs is not spoiling. Young children need your attention to develop the faith and trust that their needs matter to you."
Most Parents Condone Spanking; Child Development Research Doesn't
The effects of spanking are also confusing to most parents. According to the survey results:
- 61 percent of parents of young children condone spanking as a "regular form of punishment" for young children, while
research indicates it's detrimental to a child's development.
- 37 percent think spanking is appropriate for children under two years of age.
"These findings are surprising," said Ron Lally, Ed.D., co-director of The Center For Child and Family Study at WestEd,
"given that while many parents condone spanking as a regular form of punishment, they also understand that this can lead to
children acting more aggressively, and that it will not lead to better self-control."
Lally added, "Why would anyone spank an infant or toddler? There is nothing he or she can learn from it other than to distrust
bigger and more powerful people."
Parents Expectations Aren't Always Appropriate
Most American adults, according to the survey, are confused about what should be realistically expected from young children
at different ages.
- 51 percent of parents of young children expect a 15-month-old to share her toys, and 26 percent of all adults expect a
three-year-old to sit quietly for one hour at a time - both unrealistic expectations, according to experts.
- 26 percent of all adults, and 23 percent of parents of young children believe that a child as young as six-months will not
suffer any long-term effects from witnessing violence. Child development research shows it can have long-lasting,
detrimental effects on a child's social and emotional development and his developing brain.
- 61 percent of all adults, and 55 percent of parents with young children, do not know when young babies begin to sense
and are affected by the moods of others. This is crucial because child development research shows that if a caregiver
is particularly anxious or depressed, it can have a damaging effect on a baby's development.
- 40 percent of parents of young children incorrectly believe a 12-month-old who turns the TV on and off repeatedly
while her parents are trying to watch it, believe she is "angry and trying to get back at them."
- 72 percent of parents of young children were unaware that children as young as four months of age, can experience
real depression; 51 percent believe children cannot experience depression until they are at least three years of age.
Parents Value Less Beneficial Forms of Play
According to Dr. Pruett, "play is extremely important to a child's development; a way for children to learn about their world."
While most parents understand the importance of play, there are still several information gaps:
- Many parents place too much emphasis on less valuable forms of play, such as flashcards, educational television and
computer activities.
- Parents also don't understand the importance of the connection between physical play, such as playground activities,
and intellectual development.
"Play is a vital part of how children learn about the world around them," said Peter Reynolds, president of BRIO Corporation.
"We all need more information in order to understand the value of imagination and play."
Parents Understand Many Important Issues
Although adults lack significant information about some aspects of child development, most know a great deal about some
key issues. For example, they understand:
- Children's capabilities are not fully predetermined at birth and, in fact, parents and caregivers play a major role in their
development.
- Early experiences, even in the first months of life, have a significant impact on a child's capabilities much later in life.
- Emotional closeness (i.e., love) with children has a profound impact on a child's intellectual, social and emotional
development.
Americans Want Policies That Better Support Children and Families
In spite of early childhood development research that emphasizes the importance of the relationship between young children
and their caregivers:
- Nearly 65 percent of parents of young children and adults feel the government is not doing enough to help working
parents meet their children's needs.
- 61 percent of parents of young children and 59 percent of all adults feel employers are not doing enough to help
working parents meeting their children's needs.
"Families don't raise children in a vacuum. Policies and programs directly impact the ability of parents to support their
children's healthy growth and development," said Matthew Melmed, executive director of ZERO TO THREE. "These findings
clearly show that the general public understands the needs of families with young children and desires family leave and child care policies that will help meet these needs."
Next Steps
"Although child development materials exist, they are not effectively reaching the hands of parents and other caregivers,"
added Muchin. "Providing educational materials for use as early as middle school is a positive first step. Increased
dissemination of information now ensures better informed parents of future generations."
CIVITAS, ZERO TO THREE and BRIO have developed - and plan to create - more valuable tools and information to address
these knowledge gaps. This information must be distributed in ways that reach parents, grandparents, future parents, other
caregivers, policymakers and professionals - all of whom make a difference in our children's future.
For a copy of the full report or executive summary, visit the Zero to Three web site.
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Depression and Low-Income Women: Challenges for TANF and Welfare-to-Work Policies and Programs, Mary Clare Lennon, Juliana Blome, and Kevin English, National Center for Children in Poverty, April 2001.
This report summarizes what is known about the prevalence, treatment, and consequences of depression in low-income women? especially the relationship of maternal depression
to welfare and employment. It describes the consequences for children, access to treatment, screening and assessment, and implications for research and policy. and recommends
steps policymakers, program administrators, and researchers can take to help low-income women coping with depression. Low-income women are almost twice as likely as those
from higher-income groups to suffer from depression and one quarter to more than half of all women receiving public assistance have high levels of depressive symptoms. Yet while
effective treatments are known, this problem remains largely mistreated or untreated, especially among individuals with low incomes.
For a copy of the Executive Summary, in PDF format visit the NCCP web site. For a copy of the full report visit the New Federalism web site at www.researchforum.org.
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