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Author: Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Children's Long-Term Family Structure Experiences and Adolescent Outcomes
Presented: Dallas, TX, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2010
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Depression (see also CESD); Divorce; Family Structure; Parent-Child Interaction; Parent-Child Relationship/Closeness; Parental Marital Status; Parents, Single; Stepfamilies; Well-Being

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

This paper documents the family living arrangements of a cohort of youth from birth through adolescence using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In the sample of 1,870 children, 187 distinct family structure trajectories were identified. Latent class analysis yielded five distinguishable trajectories of children's living arrangements over the course of childhood: continuously married biological parent families, long-term single mother families, married biological parents who break up, cohabiting biological parents who marry or break up, and a trajectory distinguished by the addition of a stepfather at some point during childhood. The trajectories characterized by parental divorce and growing up with a long-term single mother were generally associated with lower levels of well-being in adolescence. Family instability, measured by the number of family structure transitions children experienced, was also associated with higher levels of depression and delinquency in adolescence independently of family structure trajectories.
Bibliography Citation
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps. "Children's Long-Term Family Structure Experiences and Adolescent Outcomes." Presented: Dallas, TX, Population Association of America Meetings, April 2010.
5. Mitchell, Katherine Stamps
Pathways of Children’s Long-term Living Arrangements: A Latent Class Analysis
Social Science Research 42,5 (September 2013): 1284-1296.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X13000847
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Cohabitation; Expectations/Intentions; Family Environment; Family Structure; Household Composition; Marital History/Transitions; Modeling, Latent Class Analysis/Latent Transition Analysis; Parent-Child Interaction; Parental Marital Status; Parents, Single; Religious Influences; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); Stepfamilies

This study employed latent class analysis to create children’s family structure trajectories from birth through adolescence using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 1870). Input variables distinguished between biological fathers and stepfathers as well as mother’s marriages and cohabitations. The best-fitting model revealed five latent trajectories of children’s long-term family structure: continuously married biological parents (55%), long-term single mothers (18%), married biological parents who divorce (12%), a highly unstable trajectory distinguished by gaining at least one stepfather (11%), and cohabiting biological parents who either marry or break up (4%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that mother’s education, race, teen birth status, and family of origin characteristics were important predictors of the long-term family trajectories in which their children grew up. These findings suggest that latent class analysis is a valuable statistical tool for understanding children’s complete family structure experiences.
Bibliography Citation
Mitchell, Katherine Stamps. "Pathways of Children’s Long-term Living Arrangements: A Latent Class Analysis." Social Science Research 42,5 (September 2013): 1284-1296.
6. 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.