- Title
- The Consequences of Multi-partnered Fertility for Parental Involvement and Relationships
- Author(s)
- Marcia J. Carlson Marcia Carlson (Columbia University)
- Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr. Frank Furstenberg, Jr. (University of Pennsylvania)
- Abstract
- At the nexus of changing marital and fertility behavior is a new reality of contemporary family life -- the fact that a significant fraction of adults today (will) have biological children by more than one partner, sometimes called "multi-partnered fertility." In this paper, we use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to explore the consequences of multi-partnered fertility for family relationships about three years after a baby's birth. We find that earlier parental obligations are strongly linked to the focal couple's relationship quality and their ability to co-parent effectively. Fathers' having previous children is particularly deleterious -- at least from mothers' perspectives. We discuss the implications of our findings for family roles in childrearing, the organization of kin networks, and current public policies.
- Creation Date
- 2007-05
- Section URL ID
- CRCW
- Paper Number
- WP06-28-FF.pdf
- URL
- https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/sites/fragilefamilies/files/wp06-28-ff.pdf
- File Function
- Jel
- Keyword(s)
- Suppress
- false
- Series
- 8