Search Results

Author: Dorius, Cassandra J.
Resulting in 20 citations.
1. Britt-Lutter, Sonya
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Lawson, Derek
The Financial Implications of Cohabitation Among Young Adults
Journal of Financial Planning 31,4 (April 2018): 38-45.
Also: https://www.onefpa.org/journal/Pages/APR18-The-Financial-Implications-of-Cohabitation-Among-Young-Adults.aspx
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Financial Planning Association
Keyword(s): Assets; Cohabitation; Financial Behaviors/Decisions; Marital Status; Net Worth

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

This study's findings indicate that cohabiters have lower net worth and financial asset accumulation than married respondents, but repeat cohabiters and married respondents with previous cohabiting unions have no less non-financial assets than married respondents who have never cohabited.
Bibliography Citation
Britt-Lutter, Sonya, Cassandra J. Dorius and Derek Lawson. "The Financial Implications of Cohabitation Among Young Adults." Journal of Financial Planning 31,4 (April 2018): 38-45.
2. Devor, Camron Suzann
Stewart, Susan D.
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Parental Divorce, Social Capital, and Postbaccalaureate Educational Attainment Among Young Adults
Journal of Family Issues 39,10 (July 2018): 2806-2835.
Also: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X18760349
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Divorce; Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Educational Attainment; Parental Influences; Parental Marital Status

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

Educational attainment is lower among children with divorced parents than those with continuously married parents. Most research has focused on the educational outcomes of children and little research has examined the effect of parental divorce on educational attainment beyond a bachelor's degree. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we investigated how parental divorce affects young adult postbaccalaureate educational attainment, measured by graduate/professional school enrollment and attainment of a graduate/professional degree. We also examined the role of social capital, measured by parental educational expectations. Parental divorce was negatively associated with enrolling in a graduate/professional program and obtaining a degree. Parental educational expectations were positively related to children's postbaccalaureate educational attainment, but the expectations of divorced and continuously married parents were similar and did not explain the negative effect of parental divorce. More work is needed to investigate explanations for lower postbaccalaureate educational attainment among children of divorce.
Bibliography Citation
Devor, Camron Suzann, Susan D. Stewart and Cassandra J. Dorius. "Parental Divorce, Social Capital, and Postbaccalaureate Educational Attainment Among Young Adults." Journal of Family Issues 39,10 (July 2018): 2806-2835.
3. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Does Serial Parenting Harm Women over the Long Run? The Link between Multiple Partner Fertility and Women's Mental and Physical Health at Midlife
Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, 2010
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Depression (see also CESD); Ethnic Differences; Fertility; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Racial Differences

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

Multiple partner fertility (or MPF) is a pervasive and durable component of American family life, with 1 in 5 women--and nearly 1 in 4 mothers--having children with two or more men during their lifetime; and, these women tend to fare worse than their single partner fertility counterparts in terms of lower mental and physical health and higher rates of depression. Further, MPF households are more likely than other households to be characterized by single parenthood, poverty, and low parental education and underemployment. Using a life course perspective and social stress theories as a guide, I provide evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-2006 which suggests that MPF represents a theoretically important constellation of events that have the potential to disrupt day-to-day life, change family roles, create ambiguity, and introduce chronic stressors into the home that are associated with significant declines in maternal well being over the long-term. This project also considers whether having multiple partner fertility makes women more vulnerable to stressful life experiences. Overall, there was little support of differential vulnerability hypothesis, however, there were several significant interactions which provided surprising results. For example, as the number of residential partners increased, women with single partner fertility saw larger declines in mental health than women with multiple partner fertility. Likewise, single partner fertility mothers were more likely than multiple partner fertility mothers to see declines in physical health as time in poverty increased, and saw fewer gains in mental health and depression as time employed increased. Similarly, among MPF women, Hispanic and African American mothers had higher levels of physical health, mental health, and depression than White mothers. Although these findings were unexpected, they were not without precedent in other literatures, and they provide an important new framework for understanding serial parents who face cumulative disadvantages.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. Does Serial Parenting Harm Women over the Long Run? The Link between Multiple Partner Fertility and Women's Mental and Physical Health at Midlife. Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University, 2010.
4. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Measuring Maternal Multi-partnered Fertility with the NLSY79
Presented: Denver CO, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2012
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Fertility; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Kinship; Motherhood; Record Linkage (also see Data Linkage)

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

Much of the research regarding multipartnered fertility has been produced using a small number of publically available national surveys such as the Add Health, and Fragile Families and Child Well Being Surveys. Unexpectedly, the NLSY 1979 has not been used to assess MPF among adults from the 1957-1964 birth cohort, although distinctive survey characteristics make this an ideal candidate for future work. This paper provides a step-by-step explanation of how one can produce reliable and valid measures of women’s multiple partner fertility by utilizing the NSLY79 data. This approach provides the potential to advance our understanding of contemporary American family life by (1) developing a more effective way to assess the complexity of relationship histories, (2) measuring multiple partner fertility in a broader and more dimensional way, (3) playing to the strengths of family scholars by utilizing a survey that many researchers are familiar with and have the ability to use given that it is publically available and free of charge, and (4) avoiding many of the weakness of past research by conceptualizing change as a single event rather than a process.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. "Measuring Maternal Multi-partnered Fertility with the NLSY79." Presented: Denver CO, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2012.
5. Dorius, Cassandra J.
New Approaches to Measuring Multipartnered Fertility Over the Life Course
PSC Research Report No. 12-769 (August 2012), Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, 2012.
Also: http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/abs/7690
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan
Keyword(s): Fertility; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Kinship; Life Course; Motherhood; Record Linkage (also see Data Linkage)

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

Background: Scholarly work on multipartnered fertility (also known as MPF) has relied on samples and measurement techniques that provide only a partial view of this emerging family form. New research is needed which considers adults who have completed their childbearing and have final MPF statuses—allowing for more accurate assessments of prevalence and a better understanding of the variety of pathways adults may take into MPF over the life course.

Objective: This paper explores new data and measurement techniques for assessing multipartnered fertility with the intention of moving focus away from a dichotomous view of having children with more than one person towards an understanding of MPF salience, timing, and duration. Care is taken to address ongoing problems with measuring multipartnered fertility, including identifying unique birth partners, assessing nonresident fathers, and estimating missing cohabitation and marriage dates.

Methods: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-2010 women's sample is used for this example. Women were eligible for inclusion if they were alive at the final survey, were consistently assessed by NLS, and missed fewer than five waves of data collection, N= 3,962.

Conclusions: By utilizing the proposed methods researchers will be able to measure MPF in broader and more dimensional ways and provide nationally representative estimates of multipartnered fertility prevalence, number of birth partners, start dates, duration, and the timing of the MPF experience relative to other key events. This data also provides researchers with the opportunity to link MPF histories with women's and children's self-reported wellbeing over time.

Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. "New Approaches to Measuring Multipartnered Fertility Over the Life Course." PSC Research Report No. 12-769 (August 2012), Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, 2012.
6. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Reconceptualizing Family Instability to Include Measures of Childbearing: The Practical Value of Assessing Multiple Partner Fertility
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Family Structure; Family Studies; Fertility; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Marital Instability; Marital Status

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

This paper wrestles with the issue of whether family instability should be reconceptualized to include measures of childbearing. To make this case, I explore how women's multiple partner fertility provides a single trajectory of instability and childbearing that clearly distinguishes MPF women from those who would otherwise look very similar when assessing instability alone. The goals of this project are three fold: (1) to provide the first national-level estimates of women's multiple partner fertility prevalence; (2) to describe how multiple partner fertility women differ from single partner fertility women on a range of attitudinal, behavioral, and socio-demographic characteristics that may underlie causes and consequences of lifetime instability; and (3) to use these findings to demonstrate that traditional measures of instability might not adequately capture the dynamic nature of modern families, while more integrative measures of instability and childbearing may offer substantive and theoretical advances to this line of inquiry.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. "Reconceptualizing Family Instability to Include Measures of Childbearing: The Practical Value of Assessing Multiple Partner Fertility." Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011.
7. Dorius, Cassandra J.
The Long-Term Consequences of Having Children with More than One Man: Assessing Women’s Wages, Depression and Physical Health at Midlife
Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Childbearing; Depression (see also CESD); Fertility, Multiple Partners; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Mothers; Propensity Scores; Wages

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

The last thirty years have witnessed increasing social and economic inequality among American families. In the discourse about causal mechanisms behind these patterns, the ways families form and dissolve has proven integral, with children brought up by two biological parents advantaged relative to all others. Because children are most commonly raised by mothers after a relationship dissolution, exploring women’s relationship and childbearing histories provides unique insights into the family processes that may affect women’s and children’s access to socioeconomic resources. This paper explores how having children with more than one person (MPF) may influence the creation and perpetuation of family-level inequalities by reducing women’s economic, metal, and physical well-being over time. A potential outcomes approach with propensity scores weights is used to address these questions while controlling for selection into this family form. Preliminary findings suggest MPF may exacerbate mental and physical health disparities at age 40, but not wages.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. "The Long-Term Consequences of Having Children with More than One Man: Assessing Women’s Wages, Depression and Physical Health at Midlife." Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013.
8. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin
Maternal Multipartnered Fertility and Adolescent Well-being
Presented: New York NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Modeling, Logit; Modeling, OLS; Sexual Activity; Sexual Experiences/Virginity; Well-Being

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

Over the past decade, there has been an emerging body of research focusing on multipartnered fertility, where a parent has children by more than one partner. The growth in union dissolution and nonmarital childbearing has increased the prevalence of multipartnered fertility, altered the circumstances in which it occurred, and fostered concern over the implications for families, particularly children .However, it is not clear if concern over multipartnered fertility, in and of itself, is warranted. We draw on 24 waves (1979-2010) of nationally representative data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth main youth interviews to create detailed relationship histories of mothers and then link these data to self-reported assessments of adolescent well-being found in 9 waves (1994-2010) of the young adult (NLSY79-YA) supplement. Preliminary OLS and Logit regression models suggest that maternal multipartnered fertility has a significant direct and moderating effect on adolescent drug use and sexual debut net of cumulative family instability and exposure to particular family forms like marriage, cohabitation, and divorce. Moreover, maternal multipartnered fertility remained a significant predictor of both drug use and the timing of first sex even after accounting for selection into this family form and controlling for the adolescent’s experience of poverty, unemployment, and educational disadvantage at the time of birth and throughout childhood.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. and Karen Benjamin Guzzo. "Maternal Multipartnered Fertility and Adolescent Well-being." Presented: New York NY, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2013.
9. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin
The Long Arm of Maternal Multipartnered Fertility and Adolescent Well-being
NCFMR Working Paper Series WP-13-04, National Center for Family and Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University, August 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: National Center for Family and Marriage Research
Keyword(s): Age at First Intercourse; Cohabitation; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Drug Use; Family Size; Family Structure; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Household Composition; Marital History/Transitions

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

Over the past decade, there has been an emerging body of research focusing on multipartnered fertility, where a parent has children by more than one partner. However, it is not clear if concern over multipartnered fertility, in and of itself, is warranted. We draw on 24 waves (1979-2010) of nationally representative data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth main youth interviews to create detailed relationship histories of mothers and then link these data to self-reported assessments of adolescent well-being found in 9 waves (1994-2010) of the young adult (NLSY79-YA) supplement. Results suggest that maternal multipartnered fertility has a significant direct and moderated effect on adolescent drug use and sexual debut net of cumulative family instability and exposure to particular family forms like marriage, cohabitation, and divorce. Moreover, maternal multipartnered fertility remained a significant predictor of both drug use and the timing of first sex even after accounting for selection into this family form and controlling for the adolescent’s experience of poverty, unemployment, and educational disadvantage at the time of birth and throughout childhood.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J. and Karen Benjamin Guzzo. "The Long Arm of Maternal Multipartnered Fertility and Adolescent Well-being." NCFMR Working Paper Series WP-13-04, National Center for Family and Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University, August 2013.
10. Dorius, Cassandra J.
Hernandez, Daphne C.
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
The Long Term Impact of Multi-partnered Fertility on Adolescent Well-being
Presented: Denver CO, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2012
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Age at First Intercourse; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Cohabitation; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Depression (see also CESD); Drug Use; Family Size; Family Structure; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Household Composition; Marital History/Transitions; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Well-Being

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

Given the dramatic changes in family life over the past half century, there are many questions among scholars, policy makers, and intervention specialists about the long term influence of family instability on the lives of mothers and children. The aim of this research is to be the first empirical study of the long-term consequences of maternal multipartnered fertility on the lives of adolescent children. This will be accomplished by using a multigenerational, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample of a birth cohort of women who were followed from adolescence to the end of their childbearing years and linking their MPF histories to self-reported measures of child wellbeing across a variety of domains. This project will evaluate the influence of maternal MPF on adolescent wellbeing in terms of childhood depression, graduating from high school, reporting internalizing or externalizing problems, and the likelihood of a teen birth.
Bibliography Citation
Dorius, Cassandra J., Daphne C. Hernandez and Katherine Stamps Mitchell. "The Long Term Impact of Multi-partnered Fertility on Adolescent Well-being." Presented: Denver CO, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2012.
11. Gough, Margaret
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Rethinking Shotgun Marriage
Presented: Denver CO, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2018
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Age at First Marriage; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Childbearing, Adolescent; Health, Mental/Psychological; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Marriage

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

Teenage childbearing has been linked to negative outcomes for women, but little is known about how teenage mothers' relationship experiences might exacerbate long-term health vulnerabilities, net of early disadvantage. We examine how women fare when they "double down" and have subsequent births with the same man (e.g., through post-conception marriage). We ask whether these women have better health outcomes at midlife than women who break up with their partner and form new childbearing relationships later, and whether they have equivalent outcomes to non-teenage mothers. Using NLSY79 data we estimate inverse probability of treatment models of single-partner fertility on midlife physical health and depression risk. Accounting for exposure to early disadvantage, teenage mothers who committed to their partners early have worse physical health at midlife than other mothers, and the effect seems to worsen with age. These mothers also have much higher odds of depression than other single-partner fertility mothers.
Bibliography Citation
Gough, Margaret and Cassandra J. Dorius. "Rethinking Shotgun Marriage." Presented: Denver CO, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2018.
12. Guzzo, Karen Benjamin
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Challenges in Measuring and Studying Multipartnered Fertility in American Survey Data
Population Research and Policy Review 35,4 (August 2016): 553-579.
Also: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-016-9398-9
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult, NLSY97
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Data Analysis; Data Quality/Consistency; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth); National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG); Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)

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

Multipartnered fertility ("MPF") has become a major topic of interest in the United States due to potential negative linkages with parental, child, and family wellbeing. A first step in studying any newly emerging (or newly identified) social phenomenon is to properly define the issue and identify its prevalence. However, this is problematic in the case of MPF because most existing sources of data were not originally designed to study MPF. We examine the major data sources used to produce estimates of MPF in the United States, discussing the methodological issues that produce conflicting prevalence estimates and providing guidelines for producing comparable estimates. We also discuss important considerations for research seeking to link MPF and outcomes. Our recommendations will help researchers situate their findings in the broader literature and spur future research.
Bibliography Citation
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin and Cassandra J. Dorius. "Challenges in Measuring and Studying Multipartnered Fertility in American Survey Data." Population Research and Policy Review 35,4 (August 2016): 553-579.
13. Guzzo, Karen Benjamin
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Does Maternal Multipartnered Fertility Affect the Mother-Child Relationship?
Presented: Boston MA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2014
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Fertility, Multiple Partners; Mothers; Parent Supervision/Monitoring; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Siblings; Well-Being

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

Multipartnered fertility (MPF) is widely considered detrimental to family and child well-being, yet the mechanisms by which MPF may affect well-being are unclear. We suggest that due to the higher instability and greater complexity of families with MPF, children with half-siblings may have a weaker mother-child relationship than children with only full siblings. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY) and drawing from both mother’s and children’s reports, we compare the perceptions of firstborn children with younger siblings from MPF and single-partner fertility (SPF) homes regarding how much their mothers monitor and spend time with them, how close they feel to their mother and how much they share with their mother, and how often they perceive their mother missing important events. The NLSY provides rich background information and data on family instability and transitions to more accurately allow us to isolate the effects of MPF from other factors.
Bibliography Citation
Guzzo, Karen Benjamin and Cassandra J. Dorius. "Does Maternal Multipartnered Fertility Affect the Mother-Child Relationship?" Presented: Boston MA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2014.
14. Hernandez, Daphne C.
Pressler, Emily
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Is Father Instability Always Bad for Daughters? The Relationship between Father Churning and Adolescent Depression
Presented: Boston MA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2014
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; Depression (see also CESD); Family Environment; Fathers; Fathers, Absence; Gender Differences

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

Research indicates that father absence and family instability during childhood are associated with long-term mental health problems, especially for daughters. An emerging literature finds that men classified as resident or non-resident partners at a single point in time may actually be “churners”, individuals who cycle in-and-out of the home due to breaking up and repartnering with the same partner. The proposed paper provides the first national estimates of the proportion of youth who experienced churning from birth to age 18, and tests whether paternal churning is associated with adolescent depression. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the Young Adults files (n = 3, 891), results suggest that churning is more beneficial than harmful among girls, but not boys. Adolescent females exposed to churning have 45% lower odds of experiencing elevated depressive symptoms. Implications will be discussed in light of family policies and mental health prevention.
Bibliography Citation
Hernandez, Daphne C., Emily Pressler and Cassandra J. Dorius. "Is Father Instability Always Bad for Daughters? The Relationship between Father Churning and Adolescent Depression." Presented: Boston MA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2014.
15. Hernandez, Daphne C.
Pressler, Emily
Dorius, Cassandra J.
The Role of Boomerang Fathers in Adolescent Female Depression
Journal of Marriage and Family 78,5 (October 2016): 1285-1299.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12336/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Adolescent Health; Depression (see also CESD); Fathers and Children; Fathers, Leaving; Fathers, Presence; Health, Mental/Psychological

Data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were employed to explore the association between boomerang fathering from birth to age 18 on adolescent depressive symptomatology (N = 3,731). We examined the effects of experiencing a biological father exiting and entering the home because of breaking up and repartnering with an adolescent's mother (i.e., "boomerang fathering") when compared with other father residential patterns on adolescent depression. Findings suggest that boomerang fathering is more beneficial than harmful. Adolescent females exposed to boomerang fathering, as well as those exposed to fathers who resided with them from birth to age 18, reported significantly lower depressive symptoms when compared with females exposed to fathers who exited the household and never returned. Boomerang fathering was not significantly associated with male adolescent depressive symptomatology. Providing greater family support during times of instability may assist in unifying families and be an indirect source of mental health prevention.
Bibliography Citation
Hernandez, Daphne C., Emily Pressler and Cassandra J. Dorius. "The Role of Boomerang Fathers in Adolescent Female Depression." Journal of Marriage and Family 78,5 (October 2016): 1285-1299.
16. Hernandez, Daphne C.
Pressler, Emily
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Does Family Instability Make Girls Fat? Gender Differences Between Instability and Weight
Journal of Marriage and Family 76,1 (February 2014): 175-190.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12080/abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Age at Birth; Body Mass Index (BMI); Depression (see also CESD); Family Structure; Fertility, Multiple Partners; Gender Differences; Household Composition; Life Course; Marital History/Transitions; Marital Instability; Menarche/First Menstruation; Obesity; Parents, Single; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); Self-Esteem; Weight

Data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Young Adult file were used to explore the relationship between the number of family structure transitions experienced from birth to age 18 and weight status in young adulthood. This was done by testing both linear risk and threshold effect models by gender (N = 3,447). The findings suggest that a linear risk approach best describes the relationship between family instability during childhood and weight status in young adulthood. Specifically, the cumulative family structure transitions children experienced from birth to age 18 place females, but not males, at greater risk for being overweight/obese in young adulthood. Sensitivity analyses indicated that cumulative family structure instability—and not formations or dissolutions separately—drove the main results. Birth order did not affect the findings. Increasing children's support systems during times of instability may reduce female children's risk of being overweight/obese as young adults.
Bibliography Citation
Hernandez, Daphne C., Emily Pressler, Cassandra J. Dorius and Katherine Stamps Mitchell. "Does Family Instability Make Girls Fat? Gender Differences Between Instability and Weight." Journal of Marriage and Family 76,1 (February 2014): 175-190.
17. Hernandez, Daphne C.
Pressler, Emily
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Family Instability, Gender, and Overweight Status in Young Adulthood
PSC Research Report No. 12-768 (August 2012), Population Studies Center, University of Michigan
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan
Keyword(s): Age at Birth; Body Mass Index (BMI); Depression (see also CESD); Family Structure; Gender Differences; Marital History/Transitions; Menarche/First Menstruation; Obesity; Parents, Single; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); Self-Esteem; Weight

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

Purpose: Experiencing family instability during adulthood has an immediate impact on adult women and men’s weight, with adult women gaining weight and adult men losing weight. It is unclear whether experiencing family instability during childhood has a negative accumulating impact on adult weight, placing females at risk for being overweight in young adulthood. We assessed whether female and male young adults differ in overweight status based on the family instability experienced during childhood.

Methods: Data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 was used to estimate the odds of being overweight in young adulthood based on family instability experienced during childhood (n = 5139). Family instability was measured by young adults’ exposure to family structure transitions from birth to the age of 18 as defined by mother’s formation and dissolution of romantic unions. Body mass index was directly assessed in young adulthood.

Results: A series of logistic regression models predicted the odds of young adults being overweight or obese. Results indicate that cumulative family structure transitions during childhood increase the odds for young adult females born to married mothers to be overweight by 19%. Family instability, however, does not increase the probability for young adult females nor males born to single mothers to be overweight.

Conclusions: Experiencing family instability has a negative accumulating impact on the weight status of young adult females born to married mothers. Interventions during childhood are important to prevent females who experience multiple family transitions from becoming overweight as young adults.

Bibliography Citation
Hernandez, Daphne C., Emily Pressler, Cassandra J. Dorius and Katherine Stamps Mitchell. "Family Instability, Gender, and Overweight Status in Young Adulthood." PSC Research Report No. 12-768 (August 2012), Population Studies Center, University of Michigan.
18. Manning, Wendy D.
Smock, Pamela Jane
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Cooksey, Elizabeth C.
Cohabitation Expectations Among Young Adults in the United States: Do They Match Behavior?
Population Research and Policy Review 33,2 (April 2014): 287-305.
Also: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-013-9316-3
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Dating; Expectations/Intentions; Gender Differences; Household Composition; Marital History/Transitions

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

Cohabitation continues to rise, but there is a lack of knowledge about expectations to cohabit and the linkage between expectations and subsequent cohabitation. We capitalize on a new opportunity to study cohabitation expectations by drawing on the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79) main youth and two waves (2008 and 2010) of the NLSY young adult (YA) surveys (n = 1,105). We find considerable variation in cohabitation expectations: 39.9 % have no expectation of cohabiting in the future and 16.6 % report high odds of cohabiting in the next 2 years. Cohabitation expectations are associated with higher odds of entering a cohabiting relationship, but are not perfectly associated. Only 38 % of YAs with certain cohabitation expectations in 2008 entered a cohabiting union by 2010. Further investigation of the mismatch between expectations and behaviors indicates that a substantial minority (30 %) who entered a cohabiting union had previously reported no or low expectations, instances of what we term “unplanned cohabitation.” Our findings underscore the importance of considering not only just behavior but also individuals’ expectations for understanding union formation, and more broadly, family change.
Bibliography Citation
Manning, Wendy D., Pamela Jane Smock, Cassandra J. Dorius and Elizabeth C. Cooksey. "Cohabitation Expectations Among Young Adults in the United States: Do They Match Behavior?" Population Research and Policy Review 33,2 (April 2014): 287-305.
19. Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Dorius, Cassandra J.
Hernandez, Daphne C.
Family Instability and Adolescents’ Dating and Sexual Initiation
Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2012
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Dating; Depression (see also CESD); Family Structure; Menarche/First Menstruation; Racial Differences; Self-Esteem; Sexual Activity

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

This study draws on the family instability hypothesis to investigate whether and how long-term family structure experiences predict the onset of romantic relationships in adolescence. Using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and NLSY79 Child and Young Adults (CNLSY), we explore the association between family instability and adolescents’ dating and sexual initiation. Results indicate that family instability does not appear to be associated with the onset of dating. Family instability is an important predictor of early sexual initiation for both male and female adolescents, however. The effect of family instability on early sex appears to be slightly stronger for male and Black adolescents compared to female and non-Black, non-Hispanic adolescents. We also investigate several possible moderators of the relationship between family instability and sexual initiation, including self-esteem, depression, and menarche (for females).
Bibliography Citation
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps, Cassandra J. Dorius and Daphne C. Hernandez. "Family Instability and Adolescents’ Dating and Sexual Initiation." Presented: San Francisco CA, Population Association of America Meetings, May 2012.
20. Smock, Pamela Jane
Manning, Wendy D.
Dorius, Cassandra J.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Cohabitation and Marriage in the U.S.: The Role of Parental Union Histories
Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Family Structure; Fathers, Influence; Fathers, Involvement; Gender Differences; Marital History/Transitions; Marriage; Modeling, Hazard/Event History/Survival/Duration; Stepfamilies

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

Over two decades ago, in his presidential address to the Population Association of America, demographer Larry Bumpass posed the question: “What’s Happening to the Family?” The issues he raised in that address motivate this paper. Most broadly, we are interested in tracing processes that may continue to fuel family change. Specifically, this paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of cohabitation and marriage, focusing on parents and their young adult children. This paper extends knowledge about linkages between parents’ cohabitation and marital histories and children’s own union formation behavior. We use data from 23 waves (1979-2008) of the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79) main youth and 2 waves (2008 and 2010) of the young adult (YA) survey.
Bibliography Citation
Smock, Pamela Jane, Wendy D. Manning and Cassandra J. Dorius. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Cohabitation and Marriage in the U.S.: The Role of Parental Union Histories." Presented: New Orleans LA, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2013.