The protective effect of family structure and socioeconomic status (SES) on physical and mental health is well established. There are reports, however, documenting a smaller return of SES among Blacks compared to Whites, also known as Blacks' diminished return. Using a national sample, this study investigated race by gender differences in the effects of family structure and family SES on subsequent body mass index (BMI) over a 15-year period. This 15-year longitudinal study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), in-home survey. This study followed 1781 youth from birth to age 15. The sample was composed of White males (n = 241, 13.5%), White females (n = 224, 12.6%), Black males (n = 667, 37.5%), and Black females (n = 649, 36.4%). Family structure and family SES (maternal education and income to need ratio) at birth were the independent variables. BMI at age 15 was the outcome. Race and gender were the moderators. Linear regression models were run in the pooled sample, in addition to race by gender groups. In the pooled sample, married parents, more maternal education, and income to need ratio were all protective against high BMI of youth at 15 years of age. Race interacted with family structure, maternal education, and income to need ratio on BMI, indicating smaller effects for Blacks compared to Whites. Gender did not interact with SES indicators on BMI. Race by gender stratified regressions showed the most consistent associations between family SES and future BMI for White females followed by White males. Family structure, maternal education, and income to need ratio were not associated with lower BMI in Black males or females. The health gain received from family economic resources over time is smaller for male and female Black youth than for male and female White youth. Equalizing access to economic resources may not be enough to eliminate health disparities in obesity. Policies should address qualitative differences in the lives of Whites and Blacks which result in diminished health returns with similar SES resources. Policies should address structural and societal barriers that hold Blacks against translation of their SES resources to health outcomes.

High rates of incarceration among American men, coupled with high rates of fatherhood among men in prison, have motivated recent research on the effects of parental imprisonment on children’s development. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the relationship between paternal incarceration and developmental outcomes for approximately 3,000 urban children. We estimate cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models that control not only for fathers’ basic demographic characteristics and a rich set of potential confounders, but also for several measures of pre-incarceration child development and family fixed effects. We find significant increases in aggressive behaviors among children whose fathers are incarcerated, and some evidence of increased attention problems. The estimated effects of paternal incarceration are stronger than those of other forms of father absence, suggesting that children with incarcerated fathers may require specialized support from caretakers, teachers, and social service providers. The estimated effects are stronger for children who lived with their fathers prior to incarceration, but are also significant for children of nonresident fathers, suggesting that incarceration places children at risk through family hardships including and beyond parent-child separation.

Objective-Using a population-based, longitudinal family survey (N=4,898), we identify economic, residential, and developmental risks particular to the children of incarcerated parents.Methods-We use parental reports of incarceration history, demographic background, and a rich set of child and family outcomes, in a series of multivariate regression models.Results-Children of incarcerated parents face more economic and residential instability than their counterparts. Sons of incarcerated fathers display more behavior problems, though other developmental differences are insignificant.Conclusions-We find that incarceration identifies families facing severe hardship, which cannot be explained by other observed family characteristics. Given the prevalence of incarceration, our findings suggest that a large population of children suffers unmet material needs, residential instability, and behavior problems. These risks may be best addressed by using the point of incarceration as an opportunity for intervention and the administration of ageappropriate social services.

Fatherhood has traditionally been viewed as part of a "package deal" in which a father's relationship with his child is contingent on his relationship with the mother. We evaluate the accuracy of this hypothesis in light of the high rates of multiple-partner fertility among unmarried parents using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a recent longitudinal survey of nonmarital births in large cities. We examine whether unmarried mothers' and fathers' subsequent relationship and parenting transitions are associated with declines in fathers' contact with their nonresident biological children. We find that father involvement drops sharply after relationships between unmarried parents end. Mothers 'transitions into new romantic partnerships and new parenting roles are associated with larger declines in involvement than fathers' transitions. Declines in fathers' involvement following a mother's relationship or parenting transition are largest when children are young. We discuss the implications of our results for the well-being of nonmarital children and the quality of nonmarital relationships faced with high levels of relationship instability and multiple-partner fertility.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is essential for maintaining health, and self-rated health (SRH) is not an exception to this rule. This study explored racial differences in the protective effects of maternal educational attainment at birth against poor SRH of the youth 15 years later. Methods: Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), this 15-year longitudinal study followed 1934 youths from birth to age 15. This sample was composed of White (n = 497, 25.7%), and Black (n = 1437, 74.3%) youths. The independent variable was maternal educational attainment at birth. SRH at age 15 was the dependent variable. Family structure was the covariate. Race was the focal moderator. We ran logistic regression models in the pooled sample, as well as stratified models based on race. Results: In the pooled sample, maternal educational attainment and family structure were not predictive of SRH for the youths at age 15. Race interacted with maternal educational attainment, indicating a stronger association between maternal educational attainment at birth on youth SRH for Whites compared to Blacks. In race stratified models, maternal educational attainment at birth was protective against poor SRH for White but not Black youths. Conclusion: White but not Black youths gain less SRH from their maternal educational attainment. Enhancing education attainment may not have identical effects across racial groups. The health status of Blacks may be less responsive to improvements in maternal educational attainment. Policies should go beyond investing in educational attainment by empowering Black families to better use the educational attainment that they gain. Policies and programs should reduce the costs of upward social mobility for minority families.

In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued that the black family was nearing "complete breakdown" due to high rates of out-of-wedlock childbearing. In subsequent decades, nonmarital childbearing rose dramatically for all racial groups and unwed fathers were often portrayed as being absent from their children's lives. The authors examine contemporary nonmarital father involvement using quantitative evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with 150 unmarried fathers. The authors find that father involvement drops sharply after parents' relationships end, especially when they enter subsequent relationships and have children with new partners. These declines are less dramatic for African American fathers, suggesting that fathers' roles outside of conjugal relationships may be more strongly institutionalized in the black community. The challenges Moynihan described among black families some forty years ago now extend to a significant minority of all American children. KeywordsDaniel Patrick Moynihan; The Negro Family; unmarried parents; paternal involvement; race In 1965 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then assistant secretary of labor for President Lyndon Johnson, penned the now-infamous report The Negro Family: A Case for National Action. In this document, Moynihan claimed that owing to the sharp increase in out-of-wedlock childbearing-a condition affecting only a small fraction of white children but one in five African Americans at the time-the black family was nearing what he called "complete breakdown," particularly in America's inner cities. Over the next two decades, the rate of unwed childbearing tripled for the nation as a whole. Its prevalence among whites is now as high as it was for African Americans when Moynihan released his report.In the wake of this dramatic increase in so-called fatherless families, public outrage grew and policy makers responded. Liberals wanted to help supplement the incomes of single mothers, who were disproportionately poor, yet conservatives believed this would only reward their behavior and lead to more female-headed families. Meanwhile, taxpayers increasingly demanded to know why their hard-earned dollars were going to support what many saw as an unfortunate lifestyle choice, not unavoidable hardship.Scholars responded by devoting a huge amount of attention to studying single mothers and children, detailing the struggles of the parents and documenting the deleterious effects on the children. These studies offered the American public a wealth of knowledge about the lives of the mothers and their progeny, yet told us next to nothing about the fathers of these children. Part of the problem was that surveys provided very little systematic information from which to draw any kind of representative picture. Unwed fathers' often tenuous NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAnn Am Acad Pol Soc Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 February 23. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manusc...

This article assesses the effectiveness of in‐hospital paternity establishment, a federal requirement since 1993. We avoid biases in previous studies by using a national sample of nonmarital births (N= 3,254), by including detailed controls for characteristics of unwed mothers and previously unavailable controls for characteristics of fathers, and by estimating reduced form models of the effects of strong paternity establishment regimes. We find that paternity establishment rates are now quite high—69%—and that 6 of 7 paternities are established in the hospital. Even after controlling for previously unavailable characteristics, establishing paternity (in and outside the hospital) is significantly and positively associated with formal and informal child support payments and father‐child visitation. These results hold up in the reduced form models.

Using the 1994–1998 waves of the Current Population Survey—Child Support Supplement (N =5,387), the aims of this study are to document child support obligation rates of nonresident fathers, to examine the effect of the obligation rate on child support compliance, and to calculate the trade‐off between fathers’ financial responsibility and children's well‐being, paying particular attention to low‐income fathers. The results indicate that low‐income fathers have high child support obligation rates, which significantly reduce their child support compliance. Although lowering the obligation rate for these fathers may improve their compliance, it does not fully offset the lowered obligation amounts and leads to a 30% net payment loss for welfare mothers and a 43% loss for nonwelfare mothers. Policy implications are discussed.