This paper examines the extent to which the relationship between parents in cohabiting as opposed to married households affects the material hardship experienced by members of those households. My approach is to consider the adequacy of certain household public goods, such as housing, heat, and...

In this paper we employ data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study in order to estimate a model of underground labor supply developed by Lemieux et al. (1994). We focus specifically on the underground labor supply of unmarried fathers, a group that is likely to have significant...

Child support enforcement policies enjoy widespread support from legislators because most people believe that fathers should support their children, even when they live in separate households. Less often emphasized is the potentially far-reaching impact of these policies on increasing the...

We use data from the Fragile Families Study (N = 1,370) to examine child behavioral problems among children born to cohabiting and married parents who remain together until the child is age 3. The primary objective of the analysis is to determine how much of the difference in child outcomes at...

Research shows that stronger child support enforcement increases the amount of formal support received by children from their nonresident fathers. Yet, little is known about: 1) the informal cash and non-cash contributions that nonresident fathers make—especially to nonmarital children, 2) the...

Moving during childhood is associated with declines in educational achievement, educational attainment, and early adult occupational outcomes. Coleman (1988,1990) and others have argued that the negative effects of moving for children may be due to the loss of social capital in the short-term...

Buoyed by the success of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), whose time limits and work requirements played a large role in the reduction of the welfare rolls, conservative advocates of welfare reform are now moving to ensure that our welfare...

Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,957) are used to examine partnership instability and children’s wellbeing during the transition to elementary school. We find that coresidential transitions are related to externalizing, attention, and social problems. Mothers’...

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...