A Better Deal for Cohabiting Fathers? Union Status Differences in Father Involvement

Abstract

We use investment theory to study the trajectory of father involvement over time as a function of union status and union transition. Data on 4,311 mother-father pairs are from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. Fathers who remain in a continuous co-residential union, who transition from cohabitation to marriage, or who transition from a non-coresidential state to a co-residential union experience the highest levels of father involvement. Fathers who are continuously nonresident exhibit the lowest levels of involvement. Cohabiting fathers exhibit higher levels of father involvement than married fathers. A positive coparenting relationship is associated with higher levels of involvement. We discuss the place of cohabiting families in light of our findings.

The Roles of Fathers’ Involvement and Coparenting in Relationship Quality among Cohabiting and Married Parents

“…The specific items changed across the waves to be developmentally appropriate; only the four items (sings songs/nursery rhymes, reads stories, tells stories, and plays inside with toys such as blocks or Legos) were consistent across waves. To make use of the full range of fathers' involvement items (8 items at Time 1; 13, at Time 3; 8, at Time 5), we standardized mother-and father-reported fathers' involvement at each wave, which is consistent with prior research (Cherlin et al 1998;McClain and DeMaris 2013). Standardization was done after multiple imputation so that any missing data did not bias the mean and standard deviation (Lloyd et al 2013).…”

“…Although there is some evidence in the literature to support this logic, whether these factors operate similarly by union status of parents (i.e., married versus cohabiting) has not been adequately explored, particularly when there is a transition in the union type (e.g., from cohabitation to marriage or separation). Fathers' involvement is advantageous for wives' marital adjustment after the birth of a child (Levy-Shiff 1994), and coparenting is associated with reduced odds of separation following a birth among cohabiting couples (McClain and DeMaris 2013). Fathers' involvement and coparenting may matter more for cohabiting couples than for married couples (Hohmann-Marriott 2011).…”

Nonmarital fertility in Serbia: An under-researched phenomenon

“…Међу очевима који мало или нимало брину о својој деци са којом не живе преовладавају управо очеви деце рођене ван брака, они млађег узраста и са нижим образовањем, који углавном не дају ни алиментацију (Chaloupkova, 2007;Cheadle, Amato, King, 2010). Најмање присутни у животима своје деце су очеви који никада нису живели са њима, у поређењу са очевима који су пре разлаза живели у брачној или ванбрачној заједници (McClain & De Maris, 2013). Значајно утиче и то да ли је отац признао дете и у великој мери се одражава на њихово виђање и формалну и неформалну финансијску подршку (Mincy, Garfinkel & Nepomnyaschy, 2005).…”

Predictors of father involvement : the role of early life events and stressors.

“…Fathers do not parent in isolation from their spouses or former spouses. Men's ability to cooperate with the child's mother and the quality of bonding between them are powerful determinants of fathers' commitment to fathering and the level of father involvement (McCLAIN & Demaris, 2013;McKenry & Price, 1992). …”

“…(McClain & Demaris, 2013). Additionally, nonresident fathers who father children with more than one woman had less involvement with children from previous unions (Carlson, Furstenberg, & McLanahan, 2009;Manning & Smock, 1999).…”