Raising Kids
Effects of Fathers on Adolescent Daughters’ Frequency of Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior
Danielle DelPriore et al.
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research: (1) implements a genetically informed design to examine the effects of fathers’ presence-absence and quality of behavior during childhood/adolescence on daughters’ frequency of substance use during adolescence; and (2) tests substance use frequency as mediating the relation between paternal behavior and daughters’ sexual risk taking. Participants were 223 sister dyads from divorced/separated biological families. Sisters’ developmental exposure to socially deviant paternal behavior predicted their frequency of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis (TAC) use. Older sisters who co‐resided with fathers who were more (vs. less) socially deviant reported more frequent TAC use during adolescence. More frequent TAC use predicted more risky sexual behavior for these daughters. No effects were found for younger sisters, who spent less time living with their fathers.
How Does the Minimum Wage Affect Child Maltreatment and Parenting Behaviors? An Analysis of the Mechanisms
Lindsey Bullinger, Kerri Raissian & William Schneider
University of Illinois Working Paper, August 2020
Abstract:
Children in low socioeconomic status (SES) families are five times more likely to experience child maltreatment relative to children in high SES families. To determine whether increasing the wages of working poor families can prevent maltreatment, we examine whether changes in the local minimum wage (MW) affect child well-being and parenting behaviors. Using data from a representative, longitudinal survey, we use a lagged dependent variable model to compare parenting behaviors in localities where the MW changed to localities where the MW did not change relative to before the MW change took place. We also explore heterogeneity by child’s age and a variety of potential mechanisms. We find that increasing the minimum wage reduces spanking by both mothers and fathers, as well as physical and psychological aggression by mothers. These results appear to be driven by changes in maternal employment; whereby mothers reduce their employment and change their weekend shifts. We find no significant effects for positive parenting behaviors, household income, or maternal mental health. Finally, older children exhibit fewer externalizing behaviors as a result of increases in the minimum wage. The results of this study help inform the conversation about income supports and employment policies with regard to their effects and pathways to child well-being.
Father absence, age at menarche, and genetic confounding: A replication and extension using a polygenic score
Gabriel Schlomer & Kristine Marceau
Development and Psychopathology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Father absence has a small but robust association with earlier age at menarche (AAM), likely reflecting both genetic confounding and an environmental influence on life history strategy development. Studies that have attempted to disambiguate genetic versus environmental contributions to this association have shown conflicting findings, though genomic-based studies have begun to establish the role of gene-environment interplay in the father absence/AAM literature. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend prior genomic work using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a prospective longitudinal cohort study (N = 2,685), by (a) testing if an AAM polygenic score (PGS) could account for the father absence/AAM association, (b) replicating G×E research on lin-28 homolog B (LIN28B) variation and father absence, and (c) testing the G×E hypothesis using the PGS. Results showed that the PGS could not explain the father absence/AAM association and there was no interaction between father absence and the PGS. Findings using LIN28B largely replicated prior work that showed LIN28B variants predicted later AAM in father-present girls, but this AAM-delaying effect was absent or reversed in father-absent girls. Findings are discussed in terms genetic confounding, the unique biological role of LIN28B, and using PGSs for G×E tests.
Associations between lifetime stress exposure, race, and first-birth intendedness in the United States
Jennifer Malat et al.
Journal of Health Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined how lifetime stress exposure and race are associated with first-birth intendedness, and whether these associations differ based on stress exposure timing. Greater lifetime stress exposure was related to increased first-birth intendedness for black women but was unrelated or even associated with decreased first-birth intendedness for white women, depending on stress exposure timing. These effects were robust while controlling for age, partner status, household income, and education, and they differed based on the timing of participants’ stress exposure. These data thus provide evidence that first-birth intendedness is influenced by both lifetime stress exposure and race in the United States.
The Transition to Fatherhood and the Health of Men
Florencia Torche & Tamkinat Rauf
Journal of Marriage and Family, forthcoming
Method: The NLSY97 longitudinal survey and a battery of novel fixed effects models are used to identify the consequences of paternity on diverse health outcomes, controlling for selectivity based on unobserved characteristics and unobserved trajectories of men who become fathers and accounting for heterogeneity of effects.
Results: Becoming a father induces weight gain and a decline in self‐reported health, but reduces alcohol consumption. Effects on weight and alcohol use varied across strata defined by race and education, but changes in self‐reported health were consistent across sub‐groups.