Judith A. Seltzer

Children's Contact with Absent Parents.

This paper reports preliminary results from an investigation of childrens living arrangements and contact with biological parents living elsewhere. Using data from a recent national survey the authors describe race and ethnic variation in US childrens family structure and contact with parents in other households. The analysis treats frequency of contact with absent parent(s) as a function of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the childs household as well as duration of parent-child separation whether the child was born outside marriage sex of absent parent and childs age and sex. The study differentiates children living with 1 biological parent from those in households with neither biological parent. (authors)

Father by law: Effects of joint legal custody on nonresident fathers’ involvement with children

Family membership and household composition do not always coincide. Joint legal custody after divorce formalizes the relationship between fathers and children who live apart. Policymakers hope that explicit acknowledgment of nonresident fathers’ rights and responsibilities will increase their involvement with their children. I use prospective data from the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the association between joint legal custody and two aspects of nonresident fathers’ contributions to their children—the frequency of visits between fathers and children and child-support payments. The analysis examines approximately 160 families in which parents divorced between interviews conducted for Wave 1 (1987–1988) and Wave 2 (1992–1994) of the survey. I investigate the effects of joint legal custody holding constant physical custody or placement by restricting the analysis to children who live with their mothers most of the year. Controlling for socioeconomic status and the quality of family relationships before separation, fathers with joint legal custody see their children more frequently and have more overnight visits than do other fathers. The positive effect of joint legal custody on frequency of visits persists once unobserved differences among families are taken into account. Although fathers with joint legal custody pay more child support than those without joint legal custody, this difference lacks statistical significance when other family characteristics are taken into account. These findings support the view that joint legal custody may encourage some aspects of paternal involvement after divorce.

Continuity of marital behavior in remarriage: the case of spouse abuse.

This paper explores the variation between 1st marriages and remarriages in the incidence of spouse abuse an important aspect of marital relationships. 2 explanations are proposed for the higher rates of spouse abuse in remarried families. The 1st relies on characteristics individual spouses acquire prior to their remarriage; the 2nd focuses on remarried family characteristics in particular the complexity of family structure. Using data from the National Survey of Family Violence no support is found for the hypothesis that the experiences of individuals prior to remarriage account for higher rates of spouse abuse in remarried families regardless of complexity than intact never-divorced families. The Family Violence Survey utilized data obtained from interviews conducted with a national area probability sample of 2143 adults in January and February of 1976. To be eligible respondents had to be married or cohabiting with a member of the opposite sex. Interviews were conducted with wives in a randomly selected 1/2 of the families and with husbands in the other 1/2. Log-linear analysis was used to assess whether family structure is related to spouse abuse. The results support the hypothesis that divorced adults carry behavioral patterns from previous marriages into remarriage. The apparent incorporation of violence into a repertoire of marital behavior is consistent with remarried couples expectations that spouses replicate the mistakes of their 1st marriages in remarriage. The extent to which individuals consciously decide to repeat or renegotiate marital behavior upon remarriage is unknown. Data from 1 study indicate that adults entering remarriage carefully distinguish between their 1st and 2nd marriages on a variety of dimensions. In particular the data show that adults act consciously to avoid repeating behavior they found to be harmful in their 1st marriages. A key dimension upon which remarried couples distinguish their behavior in 1st and 2nd marriages is patterns of conflict of resolution. It is possible that the observed relationship between family structure and spouse abuse is a function of the relationship between family structure and childhood family violence. The data do not however support this hypothesis. The effect of family structure on spouse abuse persists when exposure to childhood family violence is controlled. Characteristics of predivorce marriages especially high levels of strain and conflict are likely sources of violent marital behavior that is then carried into remarriage. The findings in this paper expand the issues policy makers raise about the transmission of family violence. The chain of violence from marriage to remarriage is as important a problem as the chain of violence from parents to children in the US.

Why do intimate partners live apart? Evidence on LAT relationships across Europe

BACKGROUND Most research asks whether or not cohabitation has come to rival marriage. Little is known about the meaning of living apart together (LAT) relationships, and whether LAT is an alternative to marriage and cohabitation or a dating relationship. OBJECTIVE We examine across Europe: (1) the prevalence of LAT, (2) the reasons for LAT, and (3) the correlates of (a) LAT relationships vis-à-vis being single, married, or cohabiting, and (b) different types of LAT union. METHODS Using Generations and Gender Survey data from ten Western and Eastern European countries, we present descriptive statistics about LATs and estimate multinominal logistic regression models to assess the correlates of being in different types of LAT unions. RESULTS LAT relationships are uncommon, but they are more common in Western than Eastern Europe. Most people in LAT unions intend to live together but are apart for practical reasons. LAT is more common among young people, those enrolled in higher education, people with liberal attitudes, highly educated people, and those who have previously cohabited or been married. Older people and divorced or widowed persons are more likely to choose LAT to maintain independence. Surprisingly, attitudinal and educational differences are more pronounced in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. CONCLUSIONS A tentative conclusion is that LAT is more often a stage in the union formation process than an alternative to marriage and cohabitation. Yet some groups do view LAT as substituting for marriage and cohabitation, and these groups differ between East and West. In Eastern Europe a cultural, highly educated elite seems to be the first to resist traditional marriage norms and embrace LAT (and cohabitation) as alternative living arrangements, whereas this is less the case in Western Europe. In Western Europe, LAT unions are mainly an alternative for persons who have been married before or had children in a prior relationship.

Widowed Mothers’ Coresidence With Adult Children

OBJECTIVES Coresidence is one way that middle-aged offspring assist vulnerable, aging parents. This study investigated which characteristics of widowed mothers and adult children predict coresidence. When coresidence occurred, the analysis explored how individual childrens characteristics were associated with their coresidence with the mother. METHOD Survey data from adults 53-54 years old in 1993 (N = 2,324) and a random sibling reported about their living situation, other siblings, and their mother, median age 80. RESULTS Logistic regressions revealed that mothers in poor health, who were older, and who had a daughter were more likely to live with a child. Among coresiding families, results from discrete choice conditional logit models showed that widowed mothers were more likely to live with an unmarried son than an unmarried daughter. Married children were less likely to coreside than unmarried children, but married daughters were more likely than married sons to coreside. Past receipt of financial help from parents was not associated with coresidence. Coresidence was more likely for those with a close relationship with the mother. DISCUSSION The discussion considers coresidence as an intergenerational transfer and its importance for the contemporary aging society. Data are needed on characteristics of all offspring to test theories about parent-child relationships.

Geographic Dispersion and the Well-Being of the Elderly

Perhaps the largest problem confronting our aging population is the rising cost of health care, particularly the costs borne by Medicare and Medicaid. A chief component of this expense is long-term care. Much of this care for an unmarried (mostly widowed) mother is currently provided by adult children. The provision of family care depends importantly on the geographic dispersion of family members. In this study we provide preliminary evidence on the geographic dispersion of adult children and their older unmarried mother. Coresidence is less likely for married adult children, those who are parents and the highly educated and more likely for those who are not working or only employed part time and for black and Hispanic adult children. Close proximity is more common for married children who are parents but less common for the highly educated. When we look at transitions between one wave of data collection and the next (a 2-year interval), about half of adult children live more than 10 miles away at both points, a little less than one quarter live within 10 miles at both points, and 8 percent are coresident at both points in time. Among the 17 percent who make a transition, about half of the changes result in greater distance between the adult child and mother and half bring them into closer proximity. The needs of both generations are likely reflected in these transitions. In fact, a mother’s health is not strongly related to most transitions and if anything, distance tends to be greater for older mothers relative to those mothers in their early 50s.

Step-grandparenthood in the United States

Objectives This study provides new information about the demography of step-grandparenthood in the United States. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of step-grandparenthood across birth cohorts and for socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups. We also examine lifetime exposure to the step-grandparent role. Methods Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Health and Retirement Study, we use percentages to provide first estimates of step-grandparenthood and to describe demographic and socioeconomic variation in who is a step-grandparent. We use life tables to estimate the exposure to step-grandparenthood. Results The share of step-grandparents is increasing across birth cohorts. However, individuals without a college education and non-Whites are more likely to become step-grandparents. Exposure to the step-grandparent role accounts for approximately 15% of total grandparent years at age 65 for women and men. Discussion A growing body of research finds that grandparents are increasingly instrumental in the lives of younger generations. However, the majority of this work assumes that these ties are biological, with little attention paid to the role of family complexity across three generations. Understanding the demographics of step-grandparenthood sheds light on the family experiences of an overlooked, but growing segment of the older adult population in the United States.

Assessing the need for a new nationally representative household panel survey in the United States.

We introduce this special issue on the critical matter of whether the existing household panel surveys in the U.S. are adequate to address the important emerging social science and policy questions of the next few decades. We summarize the conference papers which address this issue in different domains. The papers detail many new and important emerging research questions but also identify key limitations in existing panels in addressing those questions. To address these limitations, we consider the advantages and disadvantages of initiating a new, general-purpose omnibus household panel in the U.S. We also discuss the particular benefits of starting new panels that have specific targeted domains such as child development, population health and health care. We also develop a list of valuable enhancements to existing panels which could address many of their limitations.