2006 Poverty and Health Small Grants
Funded research
Cynthia Osborne, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas– Austin.
Is Marriage Protective for All Children? Cumulative Risk Factors from Birth to Age 3.
Description
Reducing nonmarital childbearing and increasing marriage among unmarried parents have become major policy concerns. This policy focus is driven largely by the fact that the increases in nonmarital childbearing over the past several decades have disproportionately affected lower-educated and minority women and are adding to the increasing inequality in this country.
Marriage is associated with a host of positive outcomes for children and is considered a protective environment, whereas growing up in an unmarried household is considered a risky environment for child development. Nonmarital childbearing does not occur in isolation; it is highly correlated with a number of risk factors that influence child development. Prior research finds that it is the cumulative number of risks that a child is exposed to at birth and early childhood, rather than any particular risk, that best predicts subsequent development.
It is not clear, however, if marriage is an equally protective environment for all children, regardless of their parents education level and race/ethnicity. Because marital status is highly correlated with socioeconomic status, looking at aggregate differences across family structures may exaggerate within group differences. If there are few differences by family structure within a given socioeconomic group, then efforts to improve child well-being through promoting marriage may have little impact on child outcomes. In addition, if marriage is a protective environment for all kids, but the difference in risks is based on characteristics that predate the marriage and are likely not to change after marriage, then marriage following a nonmarital birth may prove ineffectual in improving child well-being.
In this study, I will use data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (Fragile Families Study) (N=3190), a new large birth-cohort study of mostly low-income, unmarried mothers, to address two specific aims:
First, I will determine the number and type of risk factors that children are exposed to at birth, based on their mother's relationship status, and also how their cumulative risk increases or decreases between birth and age 3. Twenty-one risk factors will be examined at the child's birth, age 1, and age 3. The 6 domains of risk factors include (1) biological, (4) socioeconomic, (3) family structural, (7) maternal, and (6) paternal risk measures. Because relationship status is highly correlated with education level and race/ethnicity, I will examine differences in risk by marital status within education levels and race/ethnic groups. The specific aim is to determine if marriage is a protective environment for a child, regardless of the mother's education level and race/ethnicity.
The second aim is to predict the association between these risk factors (individually and cumulatively) and child behavioral problems, cognitive development, and physical health at age 3. I am particularly interested in determining which set of risk factors matters most for child well-being and whether the effect of these risks is linear or if there is a threshold effect. I will also examine whether the effect of these risk factors is moderated by family structure, mothers' race and ethnicity, and education level.
