• Child Studies in Asia-Pacific Contexts
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2015

This study examined the role of ethnicity and extended family relationship in the longitudinal patterns of unmarried resident fathers' engagement with young children in the U.S. Using three waves of panel data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), data obtained from 292 respondents were analyzed by the Linear Mixed Effects Regression (LMER) method. Findings suggested that Black unmarried resident fathers exhibited more engagement with their infants at age one than their White counterparts did, but the initial difference reversed by age five as a result of decreasing engagement among Black fathers over time and comparatively increasing engagement among Whites. Results also suggested that Black unmarried resident fathers with a high relationship level with their extended family members exhibited less engagement with their infants than Black fathers with a low relationship level, but the initial difference reversed by age five as a result of decreasing engagement among Black fathers with a low relationship level over time and comparatively increasing engagement among Black fathers with a high relationship level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.59
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• pp.1-23
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• 2017

Using a subsample of 3,409 unmarried smothers and their children from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, the present study examined the cross-lagged effects of unmarried fathers' involvement on their children's behavior problems. Father involvement was used as a latent variable to measure the frequency of fathers' visits to the child, fathers' instrumental support, and their supportive parenting. Both variables of father involvement and child behavior problems were repeatedly measured at child ages 3, 5, and 9 to estimate their trends over time. The results indicated that fathers' more active engagement in parenting at child ages 3 to 5 reduced behavior problems in children at ages 5 to 9. Further discussions include programs and services to support unmarried fathers through education and training opportunities for effective parenting, relationship skills, and conflict resolutions as well as policy strategies to encourage their continuous involvement in the lives of their children.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.53
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

With using a subsample of 1,373 poor single mothers and their children from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, the present study examined the associations among mothers' economic hardship, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress, child abuse and neglect, and their children's behavior problems, delinquency, and social skill. These families were tracked through follow-up interviews at the time of birth, and when the children were three, five, and nine years old. The results indicated that mothers' economic hardship, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress were significant predictors to determine their children's abuse and neglect. Findings also suggest that higher levels of child abuse and neglect are positively associated with more behavior problems and delinquency, and negatively associated with social skills. Further discussions include policy and services to prevent child abuse and neglect and to alleviate mothers' financial difficulties, depression, and parenting stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.36
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• pp.133-163
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between social support and child behavior problems and cognitive development in low income female-headed families. Informed by the stress-coping theory, family process model, and theoretical perspectives related to social support, this study estimates both direct and indirect effects of social support on child behavior problems and cognitive development. In particular, we focus on how the relationship between child outcomes and social support is mediated by mothers' parenting stress. The first three waves of longitudinal data from a subsample of 1,315 single and non-cohabiting low-income mothers in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were utilized in this study. Results suggest that social support is directly associated with child behavior problems and also indirectly associated with child behavior problems mediated by mothers' parenting stress. Social support did not have a direct effect on children's cognitive development but rather had an indirect effect, which was mediated by mothers' parenting stress. The policy and practice implications of these findings are discussed.