Mott AbsentFathersandChildDevelopment 1993

8/11/2019 Mott AbsentFathersandChildDevelopment 1993

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ABSENT FATHERS ND CHILD EVELOPMENT

motional and ognitive ffects at ges ive to ine

Frank L Mott

This monograph and the suppong research has been funded under the NatonalInstitute of Chld Health and Human Development Grant HD The vews expressedarethe author's and not meant to represen those of the fundng agency.


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Acknowledgements

Ths volm rprsnts th clmnaton of thr yars of o hch has n fndd y NIH Grant

HD 23160 Th rsarch has nftd consdraly from th commnts provdd y svral fnds and

collags n paclar lzath Mnaghan, Ssan Mot and Stphn Qnlan. Stv Qnlan n

paclar has n asoltly ssntal to ths proct havng prma rsponslty for th programmng

and addtonally provdng nmros mthodologcal and sstantv sggstons hch matrally mprovd

th tchncal and sstantv alty of th ork. Pror to Stvs nvolvmnt th ths proct, HLn

Chang provdd otstandng rsarch assstanc drng th arly phass of th o.

Wthot th stllar clrcal and admnstratv assstanc of Jdy Doty ths volm mght nvr hav

sn th lght of day Sh has prformd a mnor mracl n translatng my vrtally ndcphral

scrls nto radal txt and tals and acmplshng ths tasks thn xtraordnarly tght dadlns

hl at th sam tm alancng a varty of othr tasks--alays gracosly and th a sml.

Fnally, th dtng of Kza Sproat has mad ths volm mmasraly mor radal Byond,

ths Kza provdd many mpoant sstantv mmnts hch sd to rmnd m that hnd th

myrad of mrs mstnt los track of th ral lvs and th ral prolms facd y th many chldrn

hav n xamnng. In ths volm I chos to s th frst prson plral throghot prmarly

to mphasz that ths has n a proct hch cold not hav n compltd hot th ntgral

assstanc of my collags It shold mphaszd hovr that th nclsons dran ar my on

as ar any mthodologcal or sstantv lmtatons hch th radr may not

Frank L MoCene fo Human Resouce Reseach

The Oho Sae UnesMach 199


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Conens

Lst of Tals

INTODCTION AND OVVIW OF TH ISS SMarrag Dvorc and Parntal Prsnc An Hstorcal Ov

A Chlds V of Famly An Important CavatFathr-Asnc and Chld Dvlopmnt An OvSmma of Othr FndngsImplcatons For Ths sarchOv of th Volum

2. TH SACH SAMPLWho Ar Th Study Chldrn?

v

8 43032

3536

3. FATHS PSNC AND ABSNC LVLS AND POCSS 40Patrnal Prsnc and Asnc n th arly ars of Lf 4Fathrs Prsnc and Asnc n 988 Pattrnng and Avalalty of Fathr

Ssttuts 47

4 DIFFNCS BTWN FATH-PSNTAND FATH-ABSNT FAMILIS 65Famly Trats and Bhavors Fro Bfor th Chlds Bh 66Post-h Trnds n mploymnt, Incom and Faly Strctr Lnks th Fathr-

Prsnc and-Asnc 76

5. PATNAL ABSNC AND CHILDNS BHAVIO POBLM 88nnss of th sarch 88sarch Mthods 90Fathr Asnc and Bhavor Plms A Dscrptv Ovrv 94A Mltvarat Prspctv 00

Smmary 236 FATHS ABSNC AND CHILD COGNITION 26

Th Cogntv Assssmnts 27Fathrs Asnc and Cognton Smma Statstcs 29Dtrmnants of Chld Cognton 34Smmary 64

7 FATHS ABSNC AND TH HOM NVIONMNT 65Th Hom Assssmnt 67Fathr Prsnc-Asnc and Its Lnkag th Indvdal Hom Attrts ad

Bhavors 68Th Dtrmnants of Hom Scors Lnkags th Patrnal Prsnc and Asnc 78

Hom nvronmnt and Chld Dvlopmnt 90Smmary 200

8. A SNTHSIS 202What Hav W Fond? And What Mght It Man? 207

v


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APPNDIX 1 COMPONN TMS OF TH BHAVO POBLM SCAL AND SUBSCALS 218

APPNDIX 2 H PA ASSSSM NTS

APPNDX 3 TH HOM

BIBLIOGAPH

v

220

225

250


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Lis of Tables

1 Charactrstcs of th Chd Sampl 3831 Transtons n Fathr Prsnc-Asnc Drng th Frst F ars of Lf y

ac 4

3 Prcnt of Fath Asnt Drng th Frst F ars of Lf y ac andMothrs Ag at Brh

33 Patng of Fathrs Asnc Drng th Frst F ars of Lf y ac 4634 FathrFathr Fgr Prsnc and Asnc Accordng to Varos Dfntons y

ac 4935 Natr of latonshp of FathrFathr Fgrs to Mothr y ac and

PrsncAsnc of FathrFathr Fgr n Hom 536 Patt of Patrnal-Chld Contact and Vstaton n 1988 y ac 533.7 Dstanc Fathr Lvs from Chld y Frncy of Vstaton and y ac 5538 Fathr-Chld Intracton Patrns for Fathr-Asnt Chdrn y ac 573.9 Prcnt of Chldrn Mantanng Contact Wth Asnt Fathr n 1988 y Crrnt

latonshp Stats of Mothr and ac 59310 Patrna Contact Prof y ac 19841988 Svys 61311 Trnds n Fathr Contact and Vstaton Ovr Tm y ac 6341 Man Statstcs for th Chld Sampl y Fathr Prsnc and Asnc n 1988

and ac 674 Prrth-Mata Dtrmnants of Varos Patrnal-Asnc Confgratons n

1988: Mltnomal Lgt stmats for Wht Chldrn 743 Prrth-Mata Dtrmnants of Varos Patrnal-Asnc Confgratons n

1988 Mltnomal Lgt stmats for Back Chdrn 7544 Trnds n Famly Incom and Matrna mploymnt From To Srvys Bfor

Brth to To Srvys tr Brh y ac and Patrna Prsnc BtnBh and 1988 78

45 Prcnt of Wks Wod y Mothr Btn Brth and 1988 y cnt Fathr-PrsntAsnc Stats and ac 80

46 Matrna and Famy Charactrstcs From To Srvys Bfor Fathr Lavng toTo Srvys Aftr Fathr Lavng y ac: Famly nts Whr thFathr Lft Aftr th Bh ar 81

4.7 Sld Famly Charactrstcs Btn 1 984 and 1988 y cnt FathrPrsncAsnc Stats and ac 83

4.8 Trnds n Grandparnt Prsnc From To Sys Bfor Bh to To SrvysAftr Bh y ac and Patrna Prsnc Bn Bh and 1988 86

51 Man Bhavor Prolm (Prcnt Scor and (Prcntl Sscors y acGndr and Fathr Prsnc-Asnc n 1988 95

5 sponss of Mothrs to ndvdal Bhavor Prolm Itms y ac Gndr andFathr Prsnc or Asnc 97

53 aca Dffrncs n Sctd Bhavor Prolm sponss y Fathr PrsntFathr Asnc Stats and Gndr 101

5.4 Dtrmnants of Bhavor Prolm Prcntl Scor Wth and Wthot Matrnaand Othr Controls 1035.5 Fathrs Asnc and Bhavor Proms y ac and Gndr 10756 Lnkag Btn Fathr-Asnc Confgratons and Chld Bhavor Pom

Scor and Ssrs Wht Boys 1 1 357 Lnkag Btn FathrAsnc Confgratons and Chld Bhavor Prom

Scor and Sscors Wht Grls 1 1 5

v


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58 Linkge Beween FterAbsence Configurtions nd Cild Bevior ProblemScore nd Subsres Blck Boys

59 Linkge Between Fter-Absence Configurtions nd Cild Bevior ProblemScore nd Subsres Blck Girls

510 Fters Absence nd Anti-Socil Bevior by Rce nd Gender5 1 1 Fters Absence nd Peer Conflict by Rce nd Gender51 Gender Dfferences in te Effect of Vrious Ptel Configurtions on Bevior

Problem Score nd Subsres by Rce6 1 Men PlAT Percentile Scores by Rce Gender nd Fter Presence-Absence in

19886 Determinnts of PAT Percentile Scores W nd Witout Mterl nd Oter

Controls63 e Effect of Selected PostBi Explntoy Vribles on Cild Outcomes by

Gender nd Rce64 Fter Absence nd Presence in 1988 by Rce nd Gender Linkge W Cild

(Percentile Outcomes65 Fter/Fter Figure "Frequent" vrs Less Frequent Contct by Rce nd Gender

Linkge Wit Cild (Percentile Outcomes66 Visittion vrs ew Mn in Home by Rce nd Gender Linkge W Cild

(Percentile Outcomes67 Fter ever Present vrs Fter Previously Present by Rce nd Gender LinkgeW Cid (Percentile Outmes

68 Linkges Between Bevior Problems nd Cognitive Outcomes by Rce ndGender

69 Intercting Bevior Problems nd Fter Absence by Rce Effects on CogniveOutcomes

610 Intercting Post-Bi Fmily Inme nd Fter Absence by Rce Effects onCognve Outcomes

611 Intercting Post-birt Mternl Employment nd Fter Absence by Rce Effectson Cognive Outcomes

61 Intercting Post-Bi Grndprentl Presence nd Fter Absence by RceEffects on Cognive Outcomes

71A Indvidul Home Item Responses for Wite Cildren by Gender nd FterPresence/Absence

71 B Individul Home Item Responses for Blck Cildren by Gender nd FterPresence/Absence

7 Men HOME nd Cognive Stimultion Scores by Rce Gender nd FtersPresence/Absence

73 Men HOME nd Cognive Stimultion Scores by Rce FterPresence/Absence Mternl Eduction t Birt nd Gender of Cild

74 Determinnts of HOME Scores W nd Wtout Mternl nd Oter Controls75 Fter Absence HOME Score Linkges Fter Absence/Presence Percentile

Differences by Rce nd Gender76 Fter Absence - HOME Score Linkges Gender Percentile Differences by

Rce77 Effect of HOME Scores on Cild Outmes by Rce78 Intercting Fter Presence/Absence nd HOME Scores by Rce Effects on Cild

Bevior Problems Percentile Scores79 Intercting Fter Presence/Absence nd HOME Scores Effects on Cid

Cognition by RceA31 rnsition Probbilities for Fter Presence-Absence By Rce

1 1 7

1 1 81011

14

130

135

140

14

147

150154

156

158

161

16

163

169

174

180

181183

186

18919

196

1998


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A32 Four-er (194-19 Trnsitions in Fther Sttus by Re 229A33 Chil Gener Dierenes in Fther Contt by Re 230A41 Mternl Employment Beore n Ater the Bih or Chilren Whose Fher Ws

Present or Absent in the ers Following Bih by Re 231A51 Determinnts o Behvior Problems Perentile Sores by Gener Wh n

Whout Mtel n Other Controls: Whe Chilren 232

A52 Determinnts o Behvior Problems Perentile Sores by Gener Wh nWhout Mternl n Other Controls Blk Chilren 234A61 Determinnts o PlAT Mthemtis Perentile Sores by Gener Wh n Without

Mternl n Other Controls: White Chilren 236A62 Determinnts o PlAT Mthemtis Perentile Sores by Gener Wh n Without

Mternl n Other Controls: Blk Chilren 23A63 Determinnts o PlAT Reing Reognion Perentile Sores by Gener Wh n

Whout Mternl n Other Controls: Whe Chilren 240A64 Determinnts o PlAT Reing Reognion Perentile Sores by Gener Wh n

Whout Mternl n Other Controls: Blk Chilren 242A65 Determinnts o PlAT Reing Comprehension Perentile Sores by Gener With

n Whout Mtel n Other Controls Whe Chilren 244A66 Determinnts o PlAT Reing Comprehension Perentile Sores by Gener With

n Whout Mtel n Other Controls: Blk Chilren 246A67 Fther Absent Coeiients With n Without Behvior Problems Sres by Ren Gener 24

A6 ntertions Between Behvior Problems n Fther Presene/Absene Eetson Chil Cognion or Whe Chilren 249

X


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Chapter INRODUCION AND OVERVIEW OF HE ISSUES

The dmtic incese in the numbes nd popoions of childen being ised n single pent

typcly ftherless homes is one of the most signicnt fetues of contempory Ameicn socil le This

ncese s cosey linked both with the ecent shrp ses n the tendency of women to be nd ise

chiden lone outside of foml mige nd with the continuton of ve high divoce nd seption

tes These two fctos my be found dispoportiontely mong younge dults with the esult tht

very high popotion of childen who hve been bon to eltivey younge women ive in single pent o

e-constituted fmiles This study descibes this fmly tnsition pocess fo younge Ameicn couples

We use unique dt souce the tion Longiudin Suey of outh (LS to expoe the implictions

of single penthood fo the emotonl nd ntelectu development of childen in the younge element

school ges Ou ppoch will be moe demogphc thn psychologicl ou esuts will suggest the

extent to whch on vege diffeent kinds of chden--bcks whites boys gis--e overtly ffected in

the longe run by viety of fmily tnsitons In contst to othe esech tht hs looked in detil t

the short-tem psychoogicl nd cognitive effects of the mmedite tnstion pocess this study will focus

on longe tem dmensions of the dustment tht chden experience when thei pents septe We

exmine ntonl smples of childen fo sevel yes following mil o othe eltionship tnsitons to

nswe the question Ae childen in fmiies whee thee hs been pentl tnsiion signifcntly

difeent emotionlly o intellectuly thn childen who e still iving with both bioogc pents?

Maage Doce and Paenta Pesence n Hstocal Oeew

The tditionl Amercn fmly tht encompssed two pents nd two o moe chlden now

epesents only moest popoion of l fmily unts This wel known fct will not supise ny

esonby we witness to the Ameicn scene This phenomenon s eflecton of mny socl

economc nd demogphic foces not the lest of which e the extodiny ecent inceses in mitl


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Itductio ad Ovvw of t Issus

dissouion nd he endency of subsnil proporions of women o hve nd rise children no only

ouside of forml mrrige rrngemens bu whou hving he fher of he child (or chidren} presen

The phenomenon of children being rised in fherless homes is ceinly no new However s

mgniude nd iculion in he populr press--where i is ofen couched whin he conex of being n

berrion of vriey of conemporry norms--hs conribued ile o our undersnding of he issues

While here is no doub h rising children in socilly nd psychoogiclly less prvileged environmen

hs negive consequences for moher nd children he exen o which his is indeed rue for he

conempor generion of fherless Americn chidren is es pilly open o quesion

In n hisoricl conex children being rised in soled "broen homes" fced vrey of

hndicps no he les of which ws socil sigm nd he presumpion h hey were somehow differen

from oher children A chid being rised in fherless home in he 1 950s ws in sisicl sense n

oulier nd in socilpsychologicl conex ofen viewed s differen A womn rising chidren ouside

of mrl relionshipdivorced sepred nd priculry never mrried-ofen fced difficul economic

nd socil circumsnces h ply refleced her essenilly nonnormive sus she ws one of smll

minoy in word h hd few insuionl mechnisms o sfegurd her righs nd needs

n conrs subsnil propoions of conemporry Ameicn children wil lve in fherless fmilies

some ime during heir childhood Whie he economic rmificions for hese chidren remin

considerble he implicions for heir psychologic helh my be quie differen from hose h hed for

erlier generions of children The conemporry chid who does no hve les sever friends living

in fherless homes is unusu The conempory younger dul womn ypiclly hs mong her

cquinnces nd collegues one or severl women who re rising heir children ouside he rdiionl

wopren environmen Thus lrge propoions of children nd heir mohers re now lving in fmily

siuions h only few yers go woud hve been considered decidedly non-normive bu now my

be viewed s essenilly minsrem

Much of he vibe cdemic erure h exmines he deerminns nd consequencesfor

moher nd child--of mril "disrupion" is bsed on ineecul nd empiricl premises ofen more uned


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Itduct ad OveNew of te Issues

to the famil and social stuctue of pio geneations hus the implied conseuences of fatheless homes

ae often based on somewhat outdated noms Cleal all of the ecent ovehelming tansijions

associated wijh womens oles at home and in the labo foce have damaticall alteed how societ views

women and mothes as well as how women view themseles.

he high ates of divoce ae themseles the stongest ndcato of how much noms have changed.

he mao implcaton o the behavos beng evdenced is that the atonal decisionmaking of man

indvduals wjhin a contempoa nomatve and legal context leads man men and women to conclude

that the pschological and economic costs of continuing maiage exceed the benes gained detailed

discussion of wh pattens of divoce ae so dffeent fom onl a few decades ago is beond the scope

of this stud but ij is fai to genealize that these pattens ae inticatel linked with seveal complex social

changes that have swept though ou societ lagel since the eal 1960s It is impossible to untangle

all the causal elements but ceainl cental to the tansjion has been the damatic incease in female

emploment which has esulted in the inceased economic independence of women both inside and out

of maiage and the ising expectations of men and women fo inceased emotional satisfacton fom a

majal o nonmaijal elationship Paalleling and inticatel inteoven wijh these tends we have

witnessed the emegence of a stong womens libeation movement and gadual lbealzng of dvoce laws

l l of these factos have contibuted to the geate nomatve acceptablj of dvoce We ae essentiall

now lvng n a socal envonment whch ndeed was beond the imagination of mainsteam meica onl

a sho half centu ago

The othe mao ingedient contibuting to the high contempoa ate of fathelessness is almost

a mio image of the high divoce and sepaation ate the substantial and gowing popotion of mostl

ounge women who ae having childen eijhe pio to maing o wijh no intention of maing the fathe

of the child The motivations behind this childbeaing ae complex but the do ovelap the easons given

fo the high divoce ate he include athough pimail fo women past adolescence a geate abilij

Fo example Fustenbeg and Cheln 1991 Mott 1982 Hube and Spitze 1983

Fustenbeg and llison 1955 ScottJones 1984

3


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Itoducto d Ovw of t Issus

to mantan enomc nepenence a somewhat greater socal aeptablt for hang chlren outse

of a marrage an perhaps a lesser wllngness (b ether or both paners to settle for a relatonshp

whch s ewe as not as emotonall satsfng as esre. hs explanaton of course oersmplfes e

complex ssues. What has happene oer tme howeer s that man of these factors hae fe on each

other so that the normatve acceptablt for nonmartal chlbearng an chlrasng contnues graual

to ncrease

None of these obseratons necessarl mpl a contnung ncrease n the numbers or proportons

of fatherless chlren oer tme because the numbers of such chlren are ntngent on a aret of factors

that are atonall lnke wth the tenences of women to want an hae chlren We can as easl

speculate that we ma wtness an ncrease n wthnunon be t marrage or partnershp chlbearng n

the ears ahea for a number of reasons here s no compellng eence that rasng chlren alone

represents an optmal state n an sense of the wor for large proportons of aults an nothng n ths

research wll suggest that to be the case. Moreoer the contempora socal an poltcal scene presents

lttle f an eence that mecan nsttutons are rapl eolng to ncoporate an enronment where

rasng a chl on ones own s the moal behaor

tonall whle the orce rate s certanl extremel hgh we now are seng some eence

that t ma hae stable n recent ears hs stablaton s certanl lnke wth the recent substantal

ncreases n the age at frst marrage whch s patl a reflecton of a greater cauton whch nuals are

now takng before enterng nto what are nall usuall seen as permanent relatonshps. What we also

ma be wtnessng s a graual naowng n the male-female "atttue gap" .e t s apparent that women

n ths socet nteale notons of euat well ahea of ther male countepas t s suggeste that

whereas women hae ncreasngl behae n manners consstent wth notons of gener euan terms

of emploment eucaton an carng out a aret of nontratonal roles untl recentl most men hae

onl erbale ther acuescence to these changes wthout nternalng them. Inee for man men an

nconsstences between what the erbale an what the reall felt not become mmeatel

3 Furstenberg an Cherln 99 ; Natonal Center for Health Statstcs 992 Cherln 992


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Ioduto ad Ovvw of t Isu

apparent or relevant untl the entered a relatonshp wth an oppose sex paner It s lkel that ths gap

n nternalzed values between men and women has narrowed and wll contnue to do so n the ears

ahead Parallelng ths narrowng n values one can speculate that we ma enunter a reducton n whn

marrage stress and peaps concoant reductons n dorce or other relatonshp breakdowns

We have suggested how graduall changng norms have n a causal context, mpacted on as well

as changed as a result of marrage and dvorce trends We can speculate euall about the possble

mpact of changng norms on the wellbeng of chldren n the relatonshps Because dvorce was a

relatvel rare event thrt ears ago the number of chldren n oneparent (tpcall mother-present homes

also was modest Just as a woman or man who dvorced was essentall an odd person out so chldren

n these relatonshps fet and ma have been vewed b ther peers as somewhat dfferent or unusual

wth all that would mpl for the chlds emotonal wellbeng One postve aspect of a hgh maral

dsrupton rate s that the chldren n such famles are no longer vewed b outsders as somehow dfferent

fro other chldren; because of ths at least from the perspectve of the chlds nteractons wh frends

teachers or other adults the emotonal fallout for the chld s undoubtedl less troublesome than n past

decades Ths s not to suggest that the wthnfaml stress often assocated wh a parental separaton

or dvorce does not have mplcatons for the chlds socoemotonal development at least n the shorter

run, but rather that the stress assocated wjh the chlds ntegraton nto the larger socet outsde the homes probabl substantall less.

From a chlds perspectve the hgher contemporar dvorce rate ma also have other ncdental

postve mplcatons for hs or her development Frst because dvorce s now more of a manstream

event, t s reasonable to conecture that ndvduals who dvorce more closel tpf the whole adult

populaton than had been te when dvorce was a relatvel rare event s has been freuentl

suggested and as we wll show the conseuences of dvorce for chldren are as much f not ore lnked

wth the characterstcs of the actors n the event as wth the event p r se Thus, to the extent that the

characterstcs of those who dvorce and those who sta n an ntact unon are becomng more smlar the

4 For example see Furstenberg and llson 1985

5


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Itdut d Ovvw f th Issus

expectaton s that the conseuences o dvoce o chlden should be less than had been te n eale

eas hs speaks to a lesse lkelhood, mpaed wth pevous decades, o ndng sgncant emotonal

deences between chlden lvng wth two paents o one paent coolla to ths obsevaton s that

snce s ease o two unhapp people to sepate than had been pevousl tue evethng else beng

eual (whch, o couse, s neve completel te case chlden who had pevousl sueed though a

whole chldhood o stess and tenson because o ncompatble paents ae now much moe lkel to see

the paents dvoce and, hopeull nd tenson educed

he upshot o these tends n s most smplstc om s that the wold o 1 993 s ve deent than

the wold o 1963-o paents and chlden What we wll be tng to do n ths stud s to descbe what

aml stuctue looks lke toda o a ve mpotant segment o the mecan populaton and to suggest

what sngle paenthood, a contempoa phenomenon that aects a lage popoton o chlden, means

o the chldens emotonal and ntellectual development. It s lkel that man o the pevalng ncepts

abot the meanng o a athes absence o chlden wee ndoned b 1 960s notons o appopate

aml oms notons that ma no longe be appopate gven contempoa noms and vaues.

Fathes bsence: ends and Leels

Whle most o us thnk o hgh dvoce levels as essentall a contempoa phenomenon, the eas that mecan dvoce ates have been on a gadual upswng o ove a centu he ate o dvoce

escalated ove the 1960 to 1980 peod but has level led and pehaps even shown a slght declne ove the

pas decade.

Paallelng the dvoce tends we have also wnessed a substantal ncease n the popoons o

women who have had a nonmaal pegnanc and bth. Fo example accodng to the U.S. Census, o

all women 1 5 to 29 eas o age, the popoton who conceved the st bth po to maage nceased

om about 33 pecent n the 1 9701974 peod to 40 pecent n 19851988; the popoon havng the st

Sweet and Bumpass 1990

6 Natonal Cente o Health Statstcs 1 992; US Bueau o the Census, 1992

6


15/266

Itoducto ad Ovw of t Issus

bih pio to maiage went fom 18 to 28 pecent The pecentages ae much highe fo black than fo

whte women and not supisingl the ae highe fo ounge women

Both of these factos the inceasing dioce ate and an incease in the popensit of women to

hae a child outside of maiage which of use is linked with the inceasing tendenc fo women to dela

maing until olde ages} hae signicantl affected the famil situaton of childen Ths effect can be

illustated most damaticall with a few additional Census statistics Between 1 90 and 1992 the popotion

of childen liing with two biological paents declined fom 85 to 1 pecent The decline was fom 90 to

77 pecent fo white and fom 59 to 36 pecent fo black childen

Let us focus moe diectl now on ounge childen between the ages of 6 and 9 Because the

ae to some extent socioeconomicall e adantaged than the childen we will be examinng in this

eseach who will be aged 5 to 9 but bon to somewhat ounge mothes) the poignanc of the national

matenal statistics ae een futhe enhanced In 1992 onl 1 pecent of all childen age six to nine in

the United States wee liing with two paents 8 pecent of white and 3 pecent of black childen The

compaable statistics fo ou NLSY sample which will be descibed moe full in Chapte 3 ae 60 pecent

6 pecent and 30 pecent The diffeence between the oeall US sample and the NLSY sample eflects

the fact that the NLSY childen wee bon to somewhat ounge mothes than thei national countepats

The lagest popoion of the emainde in both these samples wee liing wth thei mothe onlOf those childen in the full natonal cosssection who ae liing onl with thei mothe about one

thid hae mothes who hae nee been maed about 20 pecent of white childen and almost 60 pecent

of black chlden Thus fo the full cosssection of meican childen in the eal elementa ages we

find that liing in othe than a taditional nuclea famil unit while not the dominant famil fom is ceainl

not unusual

7 US Bueau of the Census 1989

US Bueau of the Census 1992

These statstcs ae deied om Table 5 US Bueau of the Census 1992.


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Itoduto ad Ovw of Issus

Chld's Vew of Famy n Impoant Caeat

he concept of fathehood fom a oung childs pespecte is fail unambiguous. In contast, the

miad of possible elationships fom the pespective of a paent is fa moe complex. t one exteme,

thee ma be a sho-tem elationship that esults in a pegnanc and bith. In such cases, as the data

fom the NLSY show the linkage between the child and fathe ma ange fom being non-existent to being

fail extensive wth man fathes maintaining continuing contact with the child even though the ma neve

be in esidence wth the child. Having a stong link wth a nonesident fathe as we will show is not ve

unusual paticulal among black families.

t the othe exteme fom having no elationship wth a fathe at all ae tadtional elationships,

whee the paents ma pio to the childs appeaance and emain maiedliving togethe--in ou NLSY

sample--at least until the 988 sue point. In between thee two extemes thee ae a wide ange of

elationship options that incopoate fomal maiages and longe and shoe tem nonmaital cohabtation.

In all of these cicumstances, the biological fathe of the child ma be continuousl pesent intemitentl

pesent o neve pesent. We submt that fom the pespective of a ounge child the ctical behavioal

dimensions ae (1 whethe o not the fathe of the child is pesent o available, and (2 the ualit of the

elationship between the child his o he fathe and of couse his o he mothe. To descibe these

dimensions and thei effects is the thust of ou eseach what ae the appaent associations between the

pesence o absence of a childs fathe and the subseuent development of that child, egadless of the

fomal o legal linkage between the childs fathe and mothe?

We in no wa intend to denigate the institution of maiage and we ecognize and acknowledge

in paticula its potential impoance fo the adults in the elationship. While thee indeed ma be

diffeences in the chaacteistics of men in maital as opposed to paneship aangements and while

these chaacteistics can affect childen we find hat the ae indeed measuable--age education and so

on. Ou focus is to compae the conseuences fo childen of living with o without a fathe not living with

o wthout a man in the home who is the mothes spouse. We feel this stud design is a substantial

impovement ove most eseach, which has lagel been constained to maied samples of paents s

8


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Itoduco ad OvNiw of t Issus

we have indicated sbstanta popoions of onge chiden ae iving with mothes who have neve been

maied s we wi descbe a consideabe nmbe of chiden in o sampe ae iving in nonmata

aangements that incde othe athe iges Paica o a sampe sch as os which incdes man

onge and minoit fami nits imiting anasis to maied pes wod intodce an impoant

anatica bias of nknown magnitde

In an empiica ntext most eseach has viewed maiages even when bief as sbstantive

of geate socia significance than nonfomaized eationships even those which ae ongasting To some

extent the tendenc o man eseaches to emain wedded to tadtiona concepts and methods is inked

with data constaints Most data soces ae ite imiting in tems of defining eationship pocesses ove

time O moe detaied patenit data have enabed s to avoid this constaint

Fom the pespectve of the chiden in the eationships these constaints ae even moe seios

and o a nmbe of easons fist chiden paica onge chiden have wedefined ncepts of

paenthood bt pobab mch moe ephemea notions of maiage o indeed of adt eationships in

genea Ths as of 993 a ega concept sch as maiage which ma (o ma not) have geat

significance to two adts ma mean e to the onge offsping of these two adts What pobab is

ve impotant to the chid is how those two adts get aong ith each othe and even moe impotant

how the inteact with him o he In this context the bk of the eseach on the conseences of maita

disption o the webeing of the chiden ma n a methodoogica sense be misspecified Becase

most eseach has focsed on the association between the ega fom of the paenta eationship and ts

effect on the chiden it tpica has faied to concentate on the moe saent eationship between the

paent and chid

This focs on the impications of the ega paentpaent inkage athe than the paentchid afinit

has aso ed to negect of one othe inceasing impoant topicthe impications fo a chid of neve having

ved wth two paents (tpica having ived on with a mothe) This negect deived pat fom the fact

that man eseaches mind sets have been on isses eated to maita tansition; in this context fami

foms that neve invoved maiage ae not eevant This isse is fa fom tivia becase sbstantia


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Itoduto ad Ovvw f h Iu

numbrs of rlationships that produc and invov childrnfrom vr brif to longstandingnvr includ

a marriag vow and a significant numbr of ths childrn hav nvr sn hard or livd wijh thir

fathr From th childs prspctiv a hom which nvr includd a fathr ma for bttr or wors b

substantvl v diffrnt from on whr a fathr onc rsidd albij brifl

Morovr th rlvanc of posttransjion influncs for a childs wllbing fruntl ar not

considrd from th childs own prsonal prspctiv Onc again rflcting focuss on tradijional famil

forms postdsuption influncs on childrn ar usuall gaugd from th prspctiv of whthr or not th

mothr rntrs th marrid stat rathr than whthr or not th child is ncountring prfrabl or lss

prfrabl parnt/fathr figur rlationships s othr rsarch has suggstd impoant diffrncs obtain

btwn childrn of diffrnt racs and conomic statuss in th pattrning of thir postdisuption parntal

contacts For xampl w childrn ar much mor likl than black childrn to r-nt or prhaps

ntr for th first tim a marrid fami unit bcaus w womn ar much mor likl to mar than ar

blac womn In contrast as w will show black childrn in socalld disuptd famil unijs or in famil

unijs whr a fathr has nvr bn prsnt ar somwhat mor likl to hav frunt contact wijh non

rsidnt biological fathrs Th first kind of statistic rmarriag or marriag) fjs natl within our

dfinijions of fami forms and is tpicall rcordd in an statstical rpoing schm Th scond

frunt visijation b a biologcal fathris rarl consdrd in th sam mannr t has on limitd

maning from th prspctv of th usual rspondnt (in this instanc th mothr and probabl has

impoant substantiv maning onl to th child Thus statistical rports gard towards formal marag

statistics and awa from lss traditional notions such as panrs nsnsual unions and/or visitations can

clarl bias analss that ar ting to masur th ffcts of dmographic or social vnts on diffrnt

kinds of childrn This is not to sa that all ths famil forms and parntaadultchild intractions ar

uvalnt in thir rlvanc for th wllbing of childrn Rathr our intntion is to suggst that som

of ths famil forms ar svrl nglctd Whil this nglct ma not hav bn impoant historicall

0


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Itducto ad Ovw of t Issus

it gains inceasing impotance in contempoa societ whee substantial numbes o adults ae oined in

a vaiet o elationships and whee a lage numbe o childen ae being aised in nontaditional

envionments.

FatheAbsence and Child Development An Oveiew

This stud has two pima obectives. Fist we will descibe the maital amil tansition pocesses

om the pespective o the childen in ou sample and spec what amil actos appea to be associated

with these tansitions. Second we will examie and anale linkages between vaious patenal absence

coniguations and subseuent child emotional and cognitive wellbeing Components o wellbeing ae

measued b seveal wellestablished scales the Peabod Individual Achievement Tests PlAT) in

mathematics and eading and a wellegaded Behavio Poblems assessment that ae descibed in some

detail in subseuent chaptes as well as in the Appendices. In the ollowing pages we will snthesize what

ecent and ongoing scholal eseach has to date concluded about expected connections between a

athes pesence o absence and childens intellectual o emotional development Ou obective hee is

not to povide a compehensive and detailed liteatue eview on the topics a numbe o excellent such

eviews ae alead available to inteested eades. What we will t to do is to descibe the cuent

state o knowledge: On what issues is thee some consensus? On what issues is thee consideableambiguit o indeed distinct disageement? and inall Ae thee impotant analtical issues that ae

conspicuous o thei lack o pio empiical consideation? we will show the aeas o nsensus ae

limited and much o the ambigut suounding these impoant topics elects mao dieences in

methodological and disciplina oientation sample selection and even histoical pespective Fom ou

pespective thee ae onl limited easons to anticipate similai o esults between much o the eseach

that was caied out in the 960s and ea 90s and eseach that has ocused on the childen o the

1 98s We have speculated that thee ma wel l be substantial difeences in the esponses o childen to

See o example Demo 992 Hethengton et al. 989) Demo and Acock 988 andChelin 992)


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Itoductio ad Oveiew of te Issues

a fathe's absence in ecent eas compaed wh eaie peiods and these dffeences ma efect

fundamenta changes in the wa divoce and patena absence ae being viewed in contempoa meica.

s we have bef noted this stud wi be moe demogaphic than pschoogica. hat is, the

natue and uat of the avaabe data pemt one to ca in a tempoa context appaent associations

between vaous manestatons of patena absence and subseuent chid deveopment Specifica what

we can do is examine the assocatons between a fathes eavng o neve havng been pesent and 1

how a chid pefoms on eading and mathematcs assessments o how the chds behavo s vewed

b his o he mothe at a subseuent point in time. pca, ths point n tme s sevea eas past the

patena eaving point so we ae measuing the potentia cogntive o emotona conseuences of a fathe's

absence sevea eas afte the event Ous is not a stud of immediate nseuences

Because we have infomation about househod stuctue the pesence of othe fathe figues and

patena vistation we ae abe to conside the extent to which pate ma absence effects ma be mod ied

b a vaiet of fathe o fathe-substtute aangements Most impotant we have compehensive socio

economic demogaphic and othe behavioa inputs fo the fami and in paicua, the mothe of the chid

hese datacoected contempoaneous span not on the chids whoe Ietime but indeed ae avaiabe

fo peiods peceding the chids bith hus we ae abe to patia so out the extent to which pio

matena and fami condtions ma pehaps be the oot cause of chidens cognitive o emotiona we

being Specica moe than is usua possibe we ae abe to expoe the extent to which appaent

diffeences between chiden iving wth and wthout thei fathes ma ea be inked with matena o

fami tas that wee aead in evidence pio to the paents sepaation Do ove diffeences in fathe

absent and fathepesent chiden ea efect the fact that thei paents wee diffeent fom each othe

pio to the fathes eaving athe than being inked wth the disuption pocess tse? ddtiona we ae

abe to ca the extent to which fathe absence effects ae diect associated wth fami attibutes and

behavos that can be ateed b a fathes eaving the home-factos such as the famis income and the

mothe's patten of empoment. What ou eseach cannot do ve we is tease out the immediate pue

attudna and pschoogca pecusos and conseuences of a divoce o paenta sepaation athough


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Itoducton and OvNiw of t Issus

some of ou social economic and pschological poxies pemit one to make easonable conectues. Ou

geneal eseach oentaton has been pesented hee so that the eade can nsde the theoetical

oveview that follows whin a specic ntext. Moe detailed methodological statements will be pesented

at appopiate places in the text.

Ou geneal philosophical oientation ma be snthesied as follows: when we think of fatheless

homes and what the ma mean fo childen we ae thinking essentiall of two diffeent avenues of

eseach. Fist What is it about the chaacteistics of those homes past and pesent that can uniuel

alte childen--in compaison wh homes whee two paents ae pesent? This uestion essentiall

enmpasses two notions; fist the pemaent longe lasting histoic tas that ma go togethe with

having a household in which a fathe is absent. econd the notion of change--the elief tauma o

disuption associated wth a fathes leaving the home. picall one thinks of families becoming pooe

and pehaps at least tempoail of expeiencing highe levels of stess Both these uestions those moe

associated wh defining the kinds of families which ae likel to lose the fathe as well as those intimatel

linked wh a fathes leaving can easil be viewed as having impotant conseuences fo the childs

cognitive and emotional state.

The second avenue of eseach ncens paicula fathes in paticula suations fte taking

account of all the was that homes wh and without fathes diffe fom each othe we ae still let wh theuestion What is it about a paticula fathe's being gone that can alte a child's cognive and emotional

pespectve? This uestion is moe dificu and s answe cetainl will va fom fathe to fathe and

child to child. his is the kind of uestion which can be moe easil addessed wh compehensve

individuallevel pschological data. Whin the context of ou eseach we cannot eall diectl measue

this effect l l we can do is see what is let ove what we have not explained afte taking all the othe

factos that we can measue into aount.

We need to be ve clea about what we ae measuing what we ae saing and what we ae

eall explanng. The eason fo caing out compehensve multivaate analses and contolling fo as

man factos as we can is simpl to help us undestand the pocess associated with a fathe's leaving and


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toduco ad ONw of t u

how it a ipact on childen Geneall on aveage it leaves us wth a slightl bette gasp of how

closel the consequences of a fathes absence ae linked with the envionent the child has lived in and

pehaps how uch of an effect we can diectl attibute to the absence of a unique individual-that childs

fathe Howeve the total consequences fo the child of a fathe-absent envionent is the efect we find

when we have not contolled fo anthing This is the eal wold in which the child lives and the behavioal

o cognitive effects we find ae the eal effects which can in a holistic sense be attibuted to the childs

entie fathe- absent envionent

This is an absolutel fundaental point which needs to be kept in ind thoughout The fist ost

siplistic tabula and ultivaiate analses ae in ealit defining the agntude of the poble l l of

the eaining oe plex anases ae seaching fo explanations which we hope in at least soe

instances can help suggest was to alleviate child pobles

mma of Oher

It has been suggested b vaious eseaches that the scacit of definitive genealizable esu Its

acoss the fathes absence lteatue eflects a vaiet of factos Fist of all given the wide ange of

outcoes that othes have exploed thee is no stong theoetical ationale fo anticipating unifoit of

esults Fo exaple thee ceainl ae easons fo anticipating wh the eotional linkages with

patenal absence would not be expected in all instances to incide with cogntive outcoes Siilal

as we have suggested it would be supising to find siila child eotional effects iediatel following

a patenal sepaation and seveal eas afte that sepaation Thus the esuts of an eseach ust be

evaluated within these pschoetc and tepoal diensions We do not ean to citicize an paicula

eseach Rathe we ean to point out that thee is no paicula eason to expect unoit of esults

acoss these diensions

See fo exaple the discussion in Deo 1 988 Fustenbeg and Chelin 199 1 Shinn 1978and Man and McCowan 1 976


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Itoductio ad Oiw of t Issus

Several reasons for not expecting uniformt of results relates to the constrained samples used

b man other researcers First man studies are restrcted to ver small convenience samples selected

on the basis of read availabilit. picall data have been collected as of one point in time with ltle

retrospective informatin available for appropriatel ordering temporal events or controlling for spurious

linkages. Small nvnience samples can often provde impoant nsights and help clarif impoant

uestons although tpicall statsticall signicant effects are hard to attain. The limited availabilit of

appropriate ntrols however for behaviors and characteristics that could be independentl linked with both

paternal absence and child outcomes are more serious flaws that seriousl limt the meaningfulness of

statements about the parental separaton process.

dditionall the fact that much prior research has been limited to cross-sectonal data limts the

abilit of researchers to clarif variations in the paternng of the fathers absence from the home s

importantl data lmtatons sample sizes and modes of data collection have prevented most research from

dfferentating between the man potental substtute or surrogate father arrangements in which a child ma

find him or herself While the evidence is ver erratic as we will suggest the possibilit exsts that the child

living alone wih a mother and no signiicant male contact ma be in an emotional and cogntive

environment considerabl different from the child livng in a home which includes a new male father figure

be he a new spouse a paner of the mother or some other adult male In turn the implications of thisnew status ma differ signiicantl from those assocated with continuing contact with an absent father

Much previous research suffers moreover from inadeuatel considering varations that ma be

associated with social class race or gender. In paticular research that considers black and white children

separatel is extremel limied and this s a maor nstraint. s we have described and wll detail further

in chapters 3 and 4 black and white children live not onl n ver different environments but have ve

different famil histories White famil structure has changed dramaticall in recent decades but there is

convincing evidence that black famil structure paiculal the prevalence of fatherabsent and female


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Itoducto ad Ovvw of th Ius

headed homes has a long hstoy. The physcal envonment and neghbohood context n whch black

and whte chlden lve also vaes consdeably. Thus t should be antcpated that the esponses of black

and whe chlden to the absence of a fathe would be dffeent.

Fnally not much of the avalable eseach has been gendespecc even though thee ae mpoant

atonales fo antcpatng deent esponses by boys and gls to a fathes absence. Appopate

evaluaton of gende dstnctons s lmed by the ealty that ove 90 pecent of chlden n snglepaent

households lve wh the mothe. Thus when evaluatng "cossgende effects (e chlden of one

gende lvng wth a paent of the opposte gende) most eseach can only examne boys and gs lvng

wth a mothe only but not boys and gls lvng wh a fathe Ths s ndeed a sgnfcant constant of

ou study as well. Fom a polcy pespectve t can be agued that ths s not yet a mao ssue snce

almost all snglepaent households nclude a mothe. It s lkely howeve that ths wll become a moe

cogent ssue n the nea futue as one manestaton of the gadual socetal movement towads gende

equay s an ncease n snglepaent famles headed by men

Famiy nionment ess Fathe Leaing: What Mattes?

Whle thee ae exceptons the typcal dvoce o fatheleavng pocess s faught wth tenson and

stessful fo all famly membesfathe mothe and chlden.4 Whle fatheleavng s often thought of

as a dscete event n ealty ths s not so The fathes fnal leavng may have been peceded by a paten

of esdental nstablty and moe often than not the fathe's leavng s a culmnaton of a gadual

deteoaton n the elatonshp between the paents a pocess fequently accompaned by acmony

nceasng tenson and n not a few nstances by physcal volence Whle paents may make an effo to

mask the dsageements fom the chld the lkelhood s that the chld has at least some awaeness of the

2 See Mogan et al. 993 fo an outstandng ecent analyss of ths ssue wth data fom the tun ofthe centuy

Fustenbug Fank J 988 Zll 988 Cheln 992 p 85.

4 Fo example Hethengton et al 989 Demo and Acock 988.


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Iduci ad Oviw f th Issus

parental conflct The sensvy of the chlren to ths essentally unsatsfactoy psychologcal envronment

wll probably be closely lnke wth ther maturty oler chlren may be more ovely aware of the parental

crss but better able to eal wh ounger chlren may be less aware but perhaps more lkely to show

lastng emotonal effects

The ablty of the two parents to cope wh ths famly crss s probably relate to ther personal

socal an psychologcal attrbutesas nee s the lkelhoo that they wll fn themselves n ths

emotonal crss The personal characterstcs that may be assocate wth arrvng at a famly crss suaton

may however be somewhat fferent from those lnke wh how the crss s hanle an how t s

resolve All these are parental characterstcs that can affect the chls behavor to a varyng an

unknown extent qute nepenent of whether the father stays or leaves If not resolvng the queston

much research has at least ncerne se wh ths stncton: but the queston of how to stngush

propenstes for martal crss from crss management sklls s probably not completely resolvable.

From the chl's perspectve much of the avalable research revolves aroun attempts to clary

the queston of whether the home envronment or the father's absence p r se are more essentalor more

generally what s the relatve mpotance of these two obvously nterrelate components. Home

envronment s a broa term encompassng many components nclung parental attrbutes an behavors

pror to the separaton event (whch may or may not be prectve of the srupton) physcal anpsychologcal attrbutes an behavors accompanyng a famly transton an of urse enomc socal

an psychologcal factors lnke wh the consequences of the event Intmately lnke wh all of these are

personal attrbutes of the father hmself whch may be causally lnke wth all the above factors or whch

may be unque attrbutes havng to o only wh the nature of the relatonshp between the father an chl

Clearly sentanglng all of these lnkages represents a methoologcal nghtmare an probably s

mpossble.


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Itoducto d Ovw of t Iu

moona onseqences

While t s hard to generalie with confidence it appears to us that the preponderance of evdence

from the methodologically more sophsticated research suggests that the envronment and dsrupton

process characterstics have more lasting emotional consequences for the chld than does the absentng

of th e fatherp r se It has been suggested by many that chld adustment is more easly faciltated parent

conflict before and ater the separaton event s limted It has been frequently stated (and we

paraphrase here) that chldren lvng in a happie father-absent environment (eg. , less conflct, preferable

parentchild nteracton) are emotionally better off than living n a conflct-rdden two parent household.

In general, posive parentchild relationships can help overme the trauma assocated wih the father's

leavng

Related to this general dea s the noton that pror parental atributes, sometimes readily

obseable sometmes not, are mporant predictors of a childs emotonal and perhaps cognitive

adustment. To the exent that these prors are also predctors of the dsruption itsef, not controllng for

these factors limis ones abilty to clarify the actual process which may lead to a child's advantage or

disadvantage

Sho Term Eecs

Unquestonably, n the perod mmediately following a father's leaving, many children have

sgnicant emotional adustment problems These may involve acting out behaviorseg ., being overly

There is a large lterature which arrives at this general concluson, including but not limited toFurstenberg and Seltzer, 1986 Stolberg et al, 1987; Hess and Camera, 1979 Hetherington et al. 1982;Rosen 1979 and Poer and OLeay, 1980 See the Demo and Acock, 1988 and Demo, 1992 revewsfor a more extensive listing of suppoing evidence

Furstenberg and Selzer 1986; Hess and Camera, 1979; Stolberg et al, 1987 Ruer, 1971

7 For example, Peterson and Zill 1986

For example Stolberg et al 1987 ll, 1988 and Furstenberg and Allison 1985

9 For example Hetherngon 1989 Hess and Camera 1979; Guidubald and Perry 1985 and Kinardand Renherz 1986


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Itoduto ad OvVw of t Iu

aggressve or nonmplant20 Cldren ma be less socal n scool ave fewer frends and be nvolved

n fewer sared actvtes wit oters2 More generall te wll frequentl tend to be antsocal n ter

beavor In te so run peraps or as long as two ears te ome envronment can be stressful

and bos n partcular ma act out a varet of nterpersonal beavors bot n and outsde of te ome 24

Bos are generall more aggressive n ter dsrupton-lnked beavors and frequentl follow non-complant

beavor pats2 e greater beavoral dffcult epressed b bos ma be assocated wit a stronger

aterson bondng pror to te dspton a bondng tat as now been nterpted ere s also some

suggeston tat moter-son acrmon ncreases followng a dvorce 26

e above s not meant to suggest tat grls do not ave sorterterm adustment problems ere

s owever evdence tat ter adustment s qucke and tat ter beavoral manfestatons ma be

less vsble grls ma nternale ter dssatsfacton to a greater etent However te do sow stress

dspla vsble nduct dsorders and evdence ter dssatsfacton n varous was? e somewat

lesser level of beavor problems b grls undoubtedl s lnked wit ter closer tes wi ter moter and

peraps ter lesser bondng wit ter now-absent ater Addtonall for te most part te avalable

20 For eample Bra 1988; Demo and Acock 1988 revew2 For eample Gudubald and Perr 1985; Santrock 1975.

For eample Santrock 1975 Dornbusc et al 1985 Peterson and Zll 1986.

ere s a large literature suggestng more severe ovet consequences for bos eg Heterngtonet al 1985; Ruter 198; Heterngton 1987 and Emer et al 1985 to menton a few)

24 For eample Heterngton 1985; Heterngton et al 1982; and Gudubald and Per 1985.

2 For eample Heterngton et al 1985 1982 Furstenberg and Allson 1985.

Heterngton et al 1985.

27 For eample Wallersten et al 1988 Heterngton 1972

2 For eample Heterngton et al 1985; Gaarno and Scellenbac 1984 and Furstenberg andAllson 1985


28/266

Itoduto ad Ovviw of th Issus

esearch suggess ha he emoional conseuences for children boh boys and gils, a leas in he shore

run, are greaer if he faher leaves he home when he child is young

n he shoer un, wha one may conclude is ha boys face greaer adusmen problems han gils

and ha hey ehibi more ove anisocial behiors for a somewha longer ime This lingering efec may

be associaed in vaious ways wih he fac h hey are now iving only wih an opposie-gender paen0

Long

Te and "La nc Eecs

The issue of he pemanency of effecs associaed wih paeal absence is comple i has been

lile esearched and here is no clea consensus Mos esearch or review aricles ha have addessed

his opic conclude ha hee is only limied evidence of longer erm cogniive o emoional conseuences

associaed wih a fahe leaving he home is suggesed by many ha advese emoional effecs ae

indeed empered by ime3 ahough he adusmen pocess is cerainly lined wih a variey of facos

including bu no limied o he age and gender of he child his or her empeamen and impoanly he

ualiy of he home envionmen3 ndeed i is fai o conclude ha esearch documening eiher long

erm coniuing emoional conseuences or emoional efecs reappearing afer a numbe of years is

limied This elaive void may eflec realiy, bu i may also be lined wih he scarciy of esearch ha has

eamined onge em conseuences This enaive genealiaion however mus be empered by henowledge ha some research has indeed found longer em emoional conseuences Some sudies have

suggesed ha emoional ecovey can indeed ae some ime.33 A numbe of esearch effos have found

emoional effecs appearing once again in adolescence, in some insances specically in evidence

See synhesis of resuls in eheingon 1989; and Demo 1988

3 or eample ill 1988; Sanoc and asho 1979

3 or eample Demo and Acoc 1988; Kinard and Reinhe 1986; and Ruer, 1971

3 eheingon 1989

o eample eheingon 1987 and allesein and Kelly 1976

Summaried in eheingon e al 1989 see also Peeson and ill 1986


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Itoducto ad Ovviw of ssus

amog youg wome Wallerstei et al (1988) foud egate sequees most prealet for yug

wome i adolesee the father left the home i later hildhood. This is a impoat fidig, sie

without osiderig the age at father leaig is diffiut to determie whether latet effets oted i the

adoleset really are liked wh adolesee p r se, or may really reflet the likelihood that the fathes of

may of those hildre left the home whe the hild was ery youg ially, a small umer of studies

fid some eidee of logterm depressio effets36 o other dimesios of adult adustmet37 for adults

whose fathers left whe they were youg While paretal harateristis mediated some of this effet the

authors oluded that some idepedet effet of a fathers leaig durig hildhood remaied for these

adult me ad wome.

the iterest of rey, we hae ot detailed the samples or methodologies of these studies Their

methodologial protools ay. I our opiio, the eidee aout log-term emotioal osequees of

muh earlier paretal separatio is far from oluse, ad more defiite results must await future

researh resuts What we a olude i geeral from the literature fousig o emotioal sequees

is that sho-term osequees are prealet ad that they are eraily liked with the paretig-asee

proess ad perhaps wh earlier oseed traits The essetial ature ad magitude of the sequees

is liked with the hild's geder ad poaly with his or her age at the leaetakig The extesieess

of loger term osequees is eraily amiguous. These are all areas where our researh a proide

some useful larfiatio suet to our sample straits.

one onseqences

The theoretial frameworks deeloped as well as the empirial work that examied the likages

etwee fathers asee ad a hilds ogitie deelopmet are somewhat less deeloped tha the

paralle l work that liks pateral asee wh psyhologial or soio-emotioal outomes A sigfiat

Wallerstei et al 1988 Hetherigto 9.

36 Amato, 199.

3 Aok ad Kieolt 1989.

2


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Itdutio ad Ovviw f t Iu

poton of th thortcal prmss n th fathr absnccognijon ara ar at last partally basd on th

fathrabsncsocomotonal ratur

Essntally two prmary rasons ar suggstd n th ratur for antcpatng ngativ cognijv

consquncs followng a fathr's absnc Frst thr may b lss drct cognijv transfrnc from

parnt to chldijhr bcaus parnts n fathr-absnt or fathrabsnt to b famls hav lss cogntiv

nformaton to transfr ths parnts ar lss ntrstd n transfrrng nowldg to thr chldrn or

bcaus th dsrupton procss rducs th ablity of parnts assstng thr chldrn Scond a chld's

cognitv functonng may b nhbtd bcaus of th strss assocatd wth th traumas of a marital

transion Various rsarch procts hav tstd n dffnt ways ths ssntally complmntay

hypothss Evn mor than s tru n th motonal sphr rsarch rsus tnd to b nconsstnt In

many rspcts tstng th undrlyng prmss bhnd th fathr's absnccognijv wllbng lnags

s mor complx bcaus many of th hypothszd assocatons may not b drctly lnd wijh th fathr

absntng procss per s

A sgncant body of rsarch fnds lttl assocaton btwn patrnal absnc from th hom and

how a chld fars ntllctually or cogntvly A contrastng ratur suggsts that chld cogniv dfcijs

can b drctly assocatd wijh a fathrs absnc at last n som nstancs Th dffusnss of th

rsarch mas ij dffcult to arriv at any gnralzatons A numbr of studs hav concludd that thr

s ndd a rducton n cogntv functonng n chldrn wijh absnt fathrs a rducton that can b drctly

lnd wth th abov avrag lvls of strss and conflct n thos homs A rvw by Shnn 978

concludd that fnancal hardshp hgh anxty and low lvls of parntchld ntracton {n fathr-absnt

homs all contributd to poor chld gnijiv pormanc {a synthss of rsults from about 30 studs

Othr rsarch has concludd that chldrn n "dsruptd housholds who thmslvs tnd to b

Plc 985; Rxroat t al 987 Baydar 988; and awns and Eggbn 99

39 For xampl Dmo and Acoc 988; Bllr 982 Radn 198; and Santroc 982

4 For xampl nard and Rnhrz 986; Radn 98; ss and Camra 979; and Blanchard and

Bllr 97


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Ioducto ad Ovw of th Issus

suptve, at least n the sho n also ten to becoe stereotype n the classroo, an that can aect

ther lelhoo o succeen n school4 course, as the propoon o chlren who lve n snle

parent-ales ncreases, ths ay be less o an ssue there s nee a loner ter reucton n chl

stress assocate wth aly transtons

Several reasons have been sueste to explan why a chl n a atherless hoe ay be at a

contve savantae he parents n atherabsent ales ay on averae have less eucaton an

thus be n less o a poston to help ther chlren rectly wth school-relate tass Ths s o urse

a rectly testable proposton an s essentally a spurous lnae Relectn lesser ncoe levels ather

absent aly unts ay be less able to prove aequate eucatonal resources or ther chlren Ths

shortae ay be assocate wth a poorer wthn-hoe ntellectual envronent as well as a reuce ablty

to enhance the chls outse contve evelopent by accessn better contve aterals tutors

chlcare arraneents schools, an so on

Ase ro the rect ncoe an eucaton lne possbltes other hypotheses suestn

contve ects rectly relect the act that n atherabsent hoes, a others ably to prove nvual

assstance to chlren s conserably reuce A artal spton aters routnes, wor scheules an

te coents44 The te avalable to each chl becoes ore lte, an t s possble that on

averae the qualy o that te ay be reuce

Gende Dstnctons

Many o the rect contve transerence auents are ener-selectve or exaple, t s

sueste that because athers are ore lely to transer nowlee to sons, ther absence ro the hoe

4 or exaple, Guubal an ery, 195; an Hess an Caera, 1979

4 or exaple Mo, 1992 urstenber an Allson 195

43 or exaple, Bller, 191 an Deo, 19

44 Se e or exaple urstenber an Nor, 195 an scusson n Shnn, 197


32/266

Intducn and Ovw f h Issus

w us seecey u e deeopmen of boys45 n ddon f fers e compre dnge

w regrd o cen nds of ss eg memcs or f cen s!s suc s memcs) re ewed

by boys s beng mscune n nure, one coud ypoese boys my suer compre

dsdnge compred w gs wen fer s bsen ese poen psycoogc eecs, were

ey my pper, re cetny sense o rey of fcors suc s e cds ge nd perps mos

mpony, ow e moer pes w e cds seroe deeopmen4

e eorec rgumens on e gender ssue s t rees o cognon re fry compe nd no

suprsngy, e resus re dspre ndeed ere re fndngs o suppo mos ypoeses Some

reserc suggess genery boys suffer some cogne dsdnge4 sm erure suggess

seee dsdnge eg n memcs4 nd rger terure suggess no sgnfcn sysemc

gender dfferences Some sudes sugges seece cogne dnges for boys wen e fer s

gone5 A e rs of oergenerng, we fnd e cogne erure reng o gender dfferens

s med nd r from concuse bu suggess fers bsence s ssoced w some

dsdnges for boys mpred w grs

Race Disincons

e erure emnes e conseuences of fers bsence for eer e emoon or

neec we-beng of bc cdren s erordnry mted2 s scrcy s due es pry o

4 Lndy e 969

46 See Ber, 1982 for syness

47 See SeperdLoo 982 for dscusson of ese ssues

4 or empe, dn 98 Snroc 972 Bncrd nd Ber, 971

4 or empe Werner nd Sm 982 essng e 970 Crsm 964

ess nd Cmer 979 Snn 978 nrd nd ene 986

eog nd Sud 973.

2 Demo nd Acoc 988 found ony med body of reserc o reew wen eporng e ssue offers bsence efecs mong bc cdren


33/266

Itoduto ad Ovw of Issus

the act that most research ths area has use veece samples o chlre realy avalable or

stuy samples that typcally have clue whte mleclass (or some staces lower SES) chre

ee the sample use the research we wll be repog o s oe o the ew large samples to clue

a sucet umber o black chlre to perm relable statstcal aalyss Atoally because such a

large propoo o black chlre have ever lve wth a ormal marrage arragemet a because so

much o the avalable research has tee to ocus o the cosequeces o maral srupto black

chlre may have bee eglecte acaemc research he lme stues that have cosere black

chlre have ou lttle gve stcto betwee black chlre who lve a o ot lve wth ther

ather

ae Sbsies and Soaes

Whe a ather leaves the home rom the perspectve o a chl a umber o stuatos ca

evelop rst the chl may cotue to see hs or her ather que ote hs vstato s probably more

lkely to happe whe the paretal relatoshp es whout excessve acrmoy a thus the relatoshp

betwee ather a mother s at least ral a all lkelhoo close betwee ather a chl hus

whe evaluatg the sgcace o cotug requet cotact betwee the ather a chl we shoul

be sestve to the lkelhoo that relatos may have ee o a relatvely postve ote wth all that maymply or the chls subsequet emotoal a tellectual evelopmet

Aother possblty s that a ew ma may eter the chl's home hs ma who may or may ot

be a substtute or llg t he atherhoo role may be a ew spouse or parter o the chl's mother He

may also ahough less typcally be aother relatve or re o the mother cotrast wh cotug

cotact wth a abset ather who all lkelhoo s matag cotact prmarly because o hs eegs

or the chl other ew me may be preset at least tally because o ther emotoal lkage wh the

53 For example Sh 98 Hut a Hut 9 19

A mpoat corollary to ths s evece suggestg that athers who cotue to cotrbuteecoomcaly to the materal amly u are also more lkely to cotue vsg wth the ch Sezer etal 1989


34/266

Itducti ad OveNiew f the Iu

mother hus, for a while at least the emotioal likage betee a child ad a visijig father i cotrast

with a ew ma ca be quije dfferet wijh fudametall differet implicatios for the emotioal well-beig

of the child O the other had ecept i atpical situatios, the child is lkel to have a more itesve

ad more cotiuig cotact wijh a residet ew ma tha wijh a abset biological father. Addijioall

a ew ma ma brig wijh him his ow childre or eteded famil ad that ma have posijive or egatve

implicatios for the child. hus , a ew ma effect" ma reall be the et effects of a ad all ew

famil members acmpaig that ma

Of course, the child ma cotiue to live i a household that icludes the mother ad o other

sigicat male father figure. he implicatios of this sijuatio are also uclear because the relative

emotioal advatage or disadvatage to the child compared wjh the other statuses obviousl depeds o

whether other situatios are iheretl positive or egative.

It should be apparet that the various father ad father fgure eviromets are ot iterchageable

from the perspective of the child. he are cotiget o the characteristics of the differet actors ad the

differet suatios. Available research suggests that the emotioal ad cogijive value of the child's

situatio ma also va depedig o specific characteristics of the child icludig geder ad perhaps

other trais he questios highlighted above about the possible associatios betwee the geder of the

child ad a fathers absece from the home also appl to some etet whe we sider the possiblegeder-speciic effects of a ew father figure.

Father Visitation Eects

Visjatio however frequet, with a abset father is i all likelihood coceptuall differet from the

situatio where a ew ma is residig i the home. First ij tpicall ivolves ol itermittet cotact, ot

the cotiuig cotact implied b residece i the home. hus, the visitig father or more likel the child

visitig the father ma ot uder ormal circumstaces be ivolved i the child's da-to-da routie-

helpig with school work eatig meals together, or regular ivolvemet with routie activities of the child.

2 6


35/266

Itdutio ad Ovviw of th Issus

Whle resde fahers, a leas some saces are o esvely volved wh he chld, hey

oeheless more ofe ha o represe a coug presece

The emooal value of a bologcal faher, be he resdece or a freque vsor, s of course also

lked wh he aure ad qualy of he moherfaher relaoshp Thus, a resde faher a sressful

home evrome may have a egave efec o he chlds emoos; coras a faher o loger

resde bu freque coac wh he chld alog wh a home evrome where he sress level has

bee reduced, may well be preferable for he chld

A mpoa addoal cosderao has o do wh he qualy of he relaoshp bewee he

faher ad chld If he chld holds reseme agas he faher because of hs leavg vsao may

volve faherchld sress, ahough probably s far o assume ha he loger he vsao s ued

pas he maral dspo po he more posve he relaoshp should become Ths eraco of

course, ca be ehaced over me by a mproved relaoshp bewee he faher ad hs expaer, he

chld's moher Mehodologcally, h s mproveme carres mplcaos for our research, where mos of he

chldre are several years pas he po where her faher le he home I has bee domeed,

however, ha as me passes, he exesveess of vsao decles55 For hs reaso, s reasoable

o presume ha he average LSY faher who s vsg hs chld as of 1988 probably has a reasoably

good relaoshp wh hs chld ad perhaps wh he chld's moher. I ay eve, should be kep mdha fahers who frequely vs wh her chldre are all lkelhood o a radom crossseco; hey

probably are he subse who wsh o maa closer es wh her chldre. Ideed, some leraure

srogly suppos he oo ha fahers who coue o vs do o represe a radom crossseco.

They are above average educao; hey ed o lve earby (a o surprsg fdg; ad perhaps more

mpoaly, hey are more lkely ha oher fahers o corbue chld suppo ad o wsh o play a

coug role he chlds lfe.5

55 For example, Selzer ad Bach, 1988

5 For example Selzer ad Bach, 1 988 Selzer e al, 1989 ad Selzer, 1 991


36/266

Itducto ad Ovw o t Issus

One oher issue of some impoance has o do wih he possible psychological mplemenariy

beween ising fahers and he presence of new men in he home he eidence on his suaion is

mixed. Some sudies sugges lile oerlap57 i.e fahers end o isi frequenly only here is no new

man n he home) and oher research suggess ha his is no he case5 and indeed oerlap causes no

maor problems for he new family.

he research ha has considered he consequences of a fahers isi for he wellbeing of he child

has more ofen han no suggesed eiher benign effecs or has found posiie psychological payos for he

child Indeed posiie effecs for he chi ld are found een afer he moher has remarried when here

may be poenial nflics beween wo faher figures. Coninuing isiaion in hese insances does no

appear o nerere wih he child-sepfaher relaionship A lack of ension when he childs enironmen

includes boh a faher and sepfaher should no be surprising is reasonable o speculae ha a faher

is probably more likely o ninue mainaining close ies wh he child when he knows ha doing so is

emoionally easy and where conflic wih he moher and sepfaher is no subsanial

New Men and R maiag ; Cons qu nc s for the Chd

Generalizing from he aailable research abou he possible consequences for a child of a new man

enering he home or he moher and child enerng he new mans home) s difficul no impossible.his difficuly arises because he possible effecs on he child are coningen on such a wide range of

facors including bu no limied o he naure of he relaionship beween "new and "old" fahers beween

57 Selzer and Bianchi 988

5 Ahrons 1979

5 Fursenberg and Nord 985

For example Heheringon 987 Heheringon e. al 982 Wallersein an d Kelly, 98 and Hess

and Camera, 979

Zill 988; Heheringon e al 985; Heheringon e al 982

Fursenberg 988; Heheringon 987.


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Itducto ad Ovvw of t Issus

the chd and new stepbothes and sstes and pehaps most impoanty, the qaty o the eatonship

between the chd and hs o he new stepathe. Additionay, some evdence sggests that the chid's

adstment may vary consdeaby depending on age, matatona stage and gende.

Many eseaches have sggested a stong potenta o negative eects on a chd om the

mothe's new mariage o eatonshp. he chd my esent any tendency by the new athe to maintan

discipine o nto.3 A new man in the home may be vewed by the chd as a theat to hs o he

eatonshp wth mothe his may be patcuay te o yong gis, who may have a very cose

eatonshp wth thei mothe that they do ot wsh to eopadie.5 t has been sggested that the

appeaance o a new man n the home may est in the e-emegence o pobem behavos n gis and

an intenscaton o pobems o boys. Addtionay, pobems may be aggavated in econstitted

ames becase o competiton and conct between chden beng boght nto the eationship by the two

panes.6 Aso, whie the evdence s not entey concsve, thee s a sggeston that ode chden

se moe n a new man envonment6 Finay a o these eects may tmatey be componded

this new eatonshp shows sgns o stan thee s evdence that emaages ae ess ikey to scceed

than ae st maiages,69 pehaps eectng the possbty that oncedivoced indivdas ae ess key

to be wing to mantain an nsatsactoy eatonshp.

On the postve sde, thee s evdence that the pesence o a new man edces chidens antsoca

behavo and that, n paca, peadoescent boys may gan sbstantiay om havng a new athe

Fo exampe, Bay, 1988; Hethengon et a, 198 Nnn et a, 198

Bay, 1988; Hethengton et a, 198 Fstenbeg and Chen, 1991

65 Bay, 1988 Hethengton et a, 198 Hetheington, 198

s Bay, 1988 Hetheington et a, 198

67 Fo exampe, Hethengton, 198; Hoba, 198 Fstenberg and Chen, 1 991

69 Fstenbeg and Chen, 1991

0 See synthesis in emo and Acock, 1988


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Itoductio d Ovviw of t Issus

fgure. here s evdence from some research that chldren n some stuatons can beneft cogntvely72

and emotonally73 from the presence of a new man. However the evdence at best, s med.

t has been suggested by some that from a chlds perspectve he or she s better off wh step

parents n a posve envronment than wh two bologcal parents n a less satsfacto envronment.

t has also been found that, on average chldren n step famles appear more smlar emotonally to

chldren lvng n sngle parent households than to chldren lvng wth both parents.7 t s apparent that

there s only lmed consensus regardng the relatve well-beng of chldren n reconstuted famles We

wll carefully consder ths ssue for the chldren n our sample.

Implcatons For Ths Research

he lterature oveew we have synthesed suggests that there are only lmed generalatons

that are useful for antcpatng how a chld wll develop when the father s absent from the home t s

apparent that emotonal consequences may or may not parallel cogntve consequences and that father

absence effects may be contngent on the matury of the chld as well as on gender and perhaps race.

Addtonaly s uncertan how much all these factors may be ntngent on the chlds new envronment

followng the father-leavng event.

Our ably to evaluate why a chld may or may not be detrmentally affected by a father's leavngs dependent on our ably to understand the process. ndeed effects are found, why are they there?

s t because the average chld of an absent father s comng out of a socoenomc or psychologcal

envronment whch s substantally dfferent from that of hs or her counterpat whose father s present?

Are there pror maternal or paternal psychologcal economc or socal characterstcs that have parallel but

71 Hetherngton et al 1985

72 weet and Bumpass 1990.

7 utter 1991

7 Natonal Commsson on Chldren 1991.

7 Zll, 1988

3


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Itodutio d Oviw of th Iu

ndependent eects on the lkelhood o the paents sepaatng and on the chld's emotonal ando cogntve

development? When all s sad and done, ae any obseable chld eects st a electon o sho-tem

tansonal stess o longe tem antecedentso conseqences? Fnally eects ae pevalent ae they

lkely to be long-lastng o wll they qckly eode as the tamas assocated wh the tanson sel ade

nto the past?

hee ae many qestons that ths stdy cannot addess bt we can caelly exploe a nmbe

o these sses o an mpoant gop a natonal coss-secton o chlden n the ealy elementary ages

who have been bon to women below the age o twentyve Fo ths gop we wll descbe the

complexty o the pocess assocated wh a athe absentng hmsel om the home and we wll look at

black and whte chlden sepaately At pesent o knowledge o black amly pocesses s very lmed.

Followng ths descptve pocess we wll clay the extent to whch chlden whose athes ae

pesent o absent come om dspaate soco-economc and to some extent psychologcal bagonds

hs analyss wl l be ollowed by a demogaphc clacaton o the emotonal and cognve nseqences

o a athes absence o the chlden: whot contoll ng o any po condtons, w e wll ask ow extensve

ae the over atheabsence eects?" o the extent that eects ae ond we wll ask ow mch o the

eect can be attbted to matenal and amly actos whch wee aleady n evdence po to the athe's

leavng--nact even po to the chlds bth? Fnally ate consdeng amly attbtes and behavos sch

as amly ncome o matenal employment that can be dectly lnked wth the tanson pocess sel, be

they detemnants o conseqences we wll ask Ae thee any emanng emotonal o cogntve

conseqences? we sggested eale addng these vaos contols can povde mpotant nsghts nto

the dynamcs o the pocess they tell s the knds o actos that appea to be meannglly lnked n an

explanato context wh patenal leavng and chld otcomes n the nal analyss, the total eect o

athe's absence on chlden s the eect evdenced beoe we contol o any actos. hs, o an

mpotant poplaton sbgrop we ntend to clay the potental magnde o the emotonal and cogntve

eects o a athers absence on aveage and seveal yeas past the event Addtonally we can clay


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Itoduct d Ovvw of t Issus

whether there are any oert distinctions that can be associated wijh new father forms-contining contact

with a bioogica father as we as the presence of new men in the home.

Whie or otcomes are not a-encompassing they do measre important dimensions of socio-

emotiona behaior as repoted by the mother as we as the chids basic mathematics and reading

competence. Ths the otcomes we conside are broader in scope than most other research effects.

The depth of nderstanding that can rest from this stdy cannot match that of intensie

psychoogica stdies. Howeer the breadth of or research in tes of eaating the conseqences of

a wide range of famiy enironments on a nationa popation grop considering essentia qestions sch

as the reatie importance of predisption factors far exceeds that of many other stdies.

Oveew of the Volme

This ome ses data for oer 100 chidren who are between the ages of fie and nine to

examine the process and conseqences of fathereaing or father neer haing been present from the

chidrens' perspectie Chapter 2 defines the sampe and cariies precisey the simiarijies and diferences

between this sampe of chidren and a fy nationay representatie sampe of fie throgh nine yearods

In Chapter 3, we detai descriptiey the process of father eaing dring the first seera years of

ife for these chidren n addijion to highighting racia distinctions we qantiy the extent to which oeraees of fathes absence mask a considerabe moement by fathers into and ot of the home. Many of

these homes are in considerabe fx; additionay we wi highight the extent to which many chidren

apparenty neer had their father in residence. We wi then describe the extent to which fathers are

repaced by new father figres, be they sposes or partners; addijionay we wi describe the patterning

of isitation by absent fathers. Pacing a these components together we wi present a profie of father

father figre contact for 1988 or otcome year.

In chapter 4, we wi qantify both throgh tabar and mtiariate anaysis the extent to which the

different famiy forms hae diferent characteristics. In particar we wi carify the magnitde of differences

in pre-faiy transijion indeed pre-bih materna and faiy traijs for father-present andabsent famiy nijs.


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Itoducto ad OvVw of t Issus

One obectve here s to clary the etent to whch actors that wll be shown to be lnke wh chl

emotonal an cognve well-beng are also nepenently lnke wth the probablty o a ather leavng the

home n ths chapter we also raw on the longunal mensons o the ata set to eplore escrptvely

the etent to whch amly ncome maternal employment an granparental presence are ntmately lnke

wth the process o paternal transon se We o ths by ollowng the chlrens amly unts over the

years rom bh to 1988, claryng separately or black an we chlren how a athers leavng can result

n ramatc transons n the amlys soco-economc well-beng over tme ncome an maternal an

granparental presence trens are hghl ghte because o ther acknowlege potental mpoance or the

well-beng o the amly un an the chlren n

n chapter 5, usng tabular an multvarate approaches we clary the assocatons between a

varety o paternal presence-absence nguratons an the chls socoemotonal wellbeng usng

nvual tems subscores an the overall sre rom a recognze behavor problems scale We clary

the etent to whch varatons n a chl's behavor can be rectly lnke to hs or her athers presence or

absence Aonally we eplore the etent to whch the presence o a new man n the home contnung

requent vsaton wth an absent ather or havng no sgncant ault male contact leave a chl

emotonally savantage n mparson wth lvng wth both bologcal parents We also rectly test a

varety o hypotheses relatng to the relatve avantage an savantage o the varous paternalconguratons an we look at how these eects may vary by the race or gener o the chl A corollary

to ths research s to eplore whether chlren who have presumably never lve wth ther ather er at

all rom chlren whose ather ha been present but ha let One hypothess n ths regar s that chlren

who have never ha to encounter a stressul ather-leavng suaton mght be beter o emotonally than

those whose ather ha been present but ha let

n all nstances we seek to clary to the etent the ata permt how much any atherabsence

eects may be reasonably attrbute to maternal an amly trats an behavors that were clearly prevalent

pror to the atherleavng event Ths nvestgaton shoul prove mpotant nsghts about the etent to

whch behavoral problems observe n atherless chlren may really be relectng erences n pror


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Ioduo d Ovw of t ssus

pantal chaactstcs, and psably th po qalty of ho nvonnts, btn fath-psnt

and absnt chldn.

n chapt 6, dvlop an analyss paalll to that dscbd n chapt th th obctv of

clafyng cogntv nsqncs of a faths absnc. W xan chldn's ablis n athatcs

and adng as asd by th scos on th ll stablshd and natonally nod abody ndvdal

Achvnt sts W also xplo th xtnt to hch any vdncd cognitv ffcts ay b lnkd

th otonal bhavo, at a pont typcally sval yas past a fathlavng vnt look fo vdnc

that cogntiv dfcits n fathabsnt chldn ay b lnkd th anng bhavoal probls

In chapt 7 ll s nfoaton abot th xtnsvnss of pantchld contact ithn th

ho, th cogntv contnt of th ho nvonnt, and a vaty of qstons latng to pantal

spson to xplo ays n hch th qalty of th ho nvonnt vas btn hos h

th fath s psnt o absnt hs nfoaton s dan fo th HO ME scal dvlopd by Caldll

and Badly hch s dscbd xtnsvly n Appndx 3 n addton to dscbng vaatons n th

qalty of th ho nvonnt, ths chapt xplos th xtt to hch th qalty of a ho

nvonnt can dat fathabsnc nsqncs gvn a fathrs absnc can obs ays

n hch qalty dnsons of th ho can alt a chld's otonal o cogntv stats? Fnally, n

chapt 8 synths sval of th ao slts and sggst th plcatons fo th ll-bng of

Acan chldn

7 Badly t. al., 1988 Badly, 198; Badly and Caldll, 198.


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Chapter HE ESEARCH SAMPLE

he observaons abo chen consee n hs sy ae awn ecy fom pesona

neews wh he chen hemseves an wh he mohes, who ae esponens n he Naona

Lonna Srvey of Yoh (NLSY). he NLSY s one of fve onna sreys whch has been fne

by he US. Depamen of Labo whch have foowe naonay epesenave ae/sex cohos of

Amecans snce 1 966.'

he esponens n he NLSY coho consee hee wee ae 14 o 21 yeas when hey wee

fs nervewe n 1979 Pesona nerews have been compee wh hem annay. he sampeonay nce 12686 esponens approxmaey eveny ve amon men an women. I has

nce an oveepesenaon of bac Hspanc an economcay savanae whe esponens o

pem sascay eabe aca ehnc an socoenomc mpasons he orna sampe aso nce

abo 1200 esponens who wee n mary sece, b hs paca sbs ampe was eee afe he

1984 svey on

he focs of hs eseach s on a sbse of he chen who have been bon o he femae

esponens who as noe wee 14 o 21 n 1979. he orna 5828 cvan women nevewe n

1 99 fy 5299 o abo 91 pecen wee s ben neewe n 1988 he ome yeafo hs sy!

By hen hese wome wee 2 o 1 yeas of ae an ove sxy pecen of hem wee mohes hese

6 mohes ha boe 6540 chen. Appopae popaon wehs ae avaabe whch ansaehese

hese seys ae amnsee a he Oho Sae Unvesy ene fo Hman Resoce Reseachwh pma fnn fom he Bea of Labo Sascs, U S Depamen of Labo he ch assessmenaa ze n hs eseach wee coece wh he fnanca asssance of he Naona nse of hHeah an Hman Deveopmen of he Naona nses of Heah. Daa fom a he cohors s maeavaabe o he pbc a cos Deae escpons of a he NLS cohos an oen nfomaon fo heNLS aa ae avaabe from he NLS Pbc Uses Offce ene fo Hman Resoce Reseach he OhoSae Unvesy.

2 Mo an Qnan 1992.

3 5


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sac Sapl

cae int a ample f childen wh may be defined a all childen bn t a natinally epeentative

ample f wmen wh wee 2 t 0 yea f age n Janay 1 19 We will lk clely at a bample

f thi gp wh wee between the age f five and nine in 19 The atinale f ching thi

bampe fllw.

A vat aay f ciecnmic, demgaphic and adinal infmatin ha been cllected f the

epndent and thei familie n an nging bai, minimizing the need f extenive ecall Mt f the

infmatin cllected in any given ey nd ha fced n vey ecent attibte and behavi that

have cced ince the peceding inteiew. Thi infmatin inclde bt i nt limited t the fllwing

tpic: emplyment, taining, edcatinal expeience, baic demgaphic inclding maiage, feility and

cent hehld tcte heah tat and gegaphic mbility. Additinally, n a peidic bai, the

SY inteviewe have cllected infatin n attitde and expectatin abt family and caee elf

eteem and a vaiety f elated penal and family behavi and chaacteitic inclding btance

abe3

Who Ae The Sudy hl

Mott AbsentFathersandChildDevelopment 1993

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