Family Structure, Family Stability and Early Child Wellbeing

This study exploits rich data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) to distinguish the effects of family structure at birth from family stability over time on child cognitive, socio-emotional and health outcomes. We define two models: one that measures family structure at birth only and a second that measures possible changes in family structure since birth. We find that both family structure and stability are important to all child outcomes but for family structure, the results are attenuated by child and demographic characteristics. Family stability effects by contrast, remain significant even after these controls are included and also reveal that the cognitive, socio-emotional and health outcomes of children born to married or cohabiting parents are more adversely affected by changes in family structure over time.