Low-income families rely on various sources of support, both public and private, to make ends meet. Although doubling up (moving in with relatives or nonkin) is a common source of support, previous research has not examined the economic value of doubling up as part of a family’s income...

Non-marital childbearing has increased dramatically over the past several decades in both the US and the UK. In 2008, 45 percent of British children were born outside of marriage, up from 8 percent in 1971. A similar trend appears in the US, with 41 percent of births in 2008 occurring to...

Married men earn more than unmarried men. Previous research suggests that marriage itself causes some of the difference, but includes few men who fathered children out of wedlock. This paper asks whether increasing marriage (and possibly cohabitation) following a non-marital birth is likely to...

This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the association between multi-partnered fertility (MPF) when parents have children with more than one partner and parents‘ mental health, including Major Depressive Disorder, heavy episodic drinking, and...

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=16,156), we study private financial transfers among mothers with young children. We describe patterns of transfers over time and explore whether the Great Recession influenced transfer behaviors. We find that the...

The context of family life has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Today, over 40 percent of children in the U.S. are born to unmarried parents, up from only 5 percent in 1960. My research tries to understand why this change is happening and what it means for parents, children and...

We use data from the Fragile Families Study (N=1975) to examine the relationship between mothers’ partnership changes and parenting behavior during the first five years of their child’s life. We compare coresidential and dating transitions and recent and more distal transitions. We also...

We use data from the Fragile Families Study (N=1975) to examine the relationship between mothers’ partnership changes and parenting behavior during the first five years of their child’s life. We compare coresidential and dating transitions and recent and more distal transitions. We also...

Employment rates for married and unmarried mothers in the United States crossed over in the early 1990s, leading to questions about how marital status and family structure affect contemporary maternal employment. A mother's family structure whether she is married, cohabiting or living without a...

Maternal parenting stress is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and marital satisfaction, poor parent-child communication and disruptive child behavior. Belsky’s process model of parenting suggests that stress is influenced by three domains: maternal, child and contextual...