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Author: Barber, Jennifer S.
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Barber, Jennifer S.
Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Young-DeMarco, Linda
Hurst, Dawn S.
Unintended Childbearing and Children's Cognitive Ability and Achievement
Presented: Minneapolis, MN, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2003
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Memory for Digit Span (WISC) - also see Digit Span; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Wantedness

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper analyzes unintended childbearing and children's cognitive ability, paying particular attention to the ways in which families change after an unintended birth. Multilevel OLS and logistic regression analyses of NLSY and NLSY-C show a strong relationship between unintended status births and negative family change. Relative to an intended birth, after an unintended birth family income declines, families are less likely to own their home, have a savings account, and own their car. Mothers with an unintended birth are also less likely to live with their spouse or partner after the birth, and are more likely to be living with their parents. In spite of these rather dramatic negative family changes, children's cognitive ability is resilient to these family changes, at least in terms of the measures used in these analyses (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test).
Bibliography Citation
Barber, Jennifer S., Elizabeth C. Cooksey, Linda Young-DeMarco and Dawn S. Hurst. "Unintended Childbearing and Children's Cognitive Ability and Achievement." Presented: Minneapolis, MN, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2003.
2. Barber, Jennifer S.
East, Patricia L.
Children's Experiences After the Unintended Birth of a Sibling
Demography 48,1 (February 2011): 101-125.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/2464235l622118w1/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Siblings; Wantedness

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study examines whether children with a younger sibling whose birth was unintended experience larger declines in the quality of their home environment and larger increases in behavioral problems than children whose younger sibling's birth was intended. We use data from the NLSY79 to estimate cross-lag regression models that assess changes in the home environment and children's behavioral problems after the birth of a sibling (intended or unintended). Results are consistent with our hypotheses, finding that, indeed, unintended births have negative spillover effects. Compared with children whose sibling's birth was intended, both boys and girls whose sibling's birth was unintended experienced larger declines in the quality of their home environment, and boys had larger increases in behavioral problems. We also find some unexpected evidence that mistimed births may have larger negative effects than unwanted births. This deserves further research, and we offer some possible explanations that could guide those investigations.
Bibliography Citation
Barber, Jennifer S. and Patricia L. East. "Children's Experiences After the Unintended Birth of a Sibling." Demography 48,1 (February 2011): 101-125.
3. Barber, Jennifer S.
East, Patricia L.
Home and Parenting Resources Available to Siblings Depending on Their Birth Intention Status
Child Development 80,3 (May/June 2009): 921-939.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01306.x/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Children, Academic Development; Depression (see also CESD); Family Planning; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Home Ownership; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Education; Siblings; Wantedness

This study examines the differential availability of family and parenting resources to children depending on their birth planning status. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data were analyzed, 3,134 mothers and their 5,890 children (M = 7.1 years, range = 1 month-14.8 years), of whom 63% were intended at conception, 27% were mistimed, and 10% were unwanted. Fixed-effects models show that unwanted and mistimed children had fewer resources than intended siblings. Parents' emotional resources to older children decreased after the birth of a mistimed sibling. Findings suggest that cognitive and emotional resources are differentially available to children within a family depending on intention status and that unintended births lead to decreased parental resources for older children in the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Bibliography Citation
Barber, Jennifer S. and Patricia L. East. "Home and Parenting Resources Available to Siblings Depending on Their Birth Intention Status." Child Development 80,3 (May/June 2009): 921-939.