Kate C. Prickett

A Research Note on Time With Children in Different- and Same-Sex Two-Parent Families

Public debate on same-sex marriage often focuses on the disadvantages that children raised by same-sex couples may face. On one hand, little evidence suggests any difference in the outcomes of children raised by same-sex parents and different-sex parents. On the other hand, most studies are limited by problems of sample selection and size, and few directly measure the parenting practices thought to influence child development. This research note demonstrates how the 2003–2013 American Time Use Survey (n = 44,188) may help to address these limitations. Two-tier Cragg’s Tobit alternative models estimated the amount of time that parents in different-sex and same-sex couples engaged in child-focused time. Women in same-sex couples were more likely than either women or men in different-sex couples to spend such time with children. Overall, women (regardless of the gender of their partners) and men coupled with other men spent significantly more time with children than men coupled with women, conditional on spending any child-focused time. These results support prior research that different-sex couples do not invest in children at appreciably different levels than same-sex couples. We highlight the potential for existing nationally representative data sets to provide preliminary insights into the developmental experiences of children in nontraditional families.

State Firearm Laws, Firearm Ownership, and Safety Practices Among Families of Preschool-Aged Children

OBJECTIVES We investigated how state-level firearms legislation is associated with firearm ownership and storage among families with preschool-aged children. METHODS Using 2005 nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n = 8100), we conducted multinomial regression models to examine the associations between state-level firearms legislation generally, child access prevention (CAP) firearms legislation specifically, and parental firearm ownership and storage safety practices. RESULTS Overall, 8% of families with children aged 4 years living in states with stronger firearm laws and CAP laws owned firearms compared with 24% of families in states with weaker firearm laws and no CAP laws. Storage behaviors of firearm owners differed minimally across legislative contexts. When we controlled for family- and state-level characteristics, we found that firearm legislation and CAP laws interacted to predict ownership and storage behaviors, with unsafe storage least likely among families in states with both CAP laws and stronger firearm legislation. CONCLUSIONS Broader firearm legislation is linked with the efficacy of child-specific legislation in promoting responsible firearm ownership.

Changes in Young Children’s Family Structures and Child Care Arrangements

Family structure change can disrupt the settings of children’s daily lives. Most scholarship focuses on disruption in the home environment. Moving beyond the home, this study explores the association between changes in family structure and changes in several dimensions of early child care. With longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1,298), first-difference models reveal that family structure transitions are associated with changes in the type and quantity of early care as well as the number of care arrangements used, especially during the latter part of infancy. Given prior evidence linking these child care dimensions to behavioral and cognitive outcomes, these results suggest a policy-relevant mechanism by which family change may create inequalities among children.

Instability in Parent–Child Coresidence and Adolescent Development in Urban South Africa

There is widespread recognition of the importance of family stability for child development. South Africa presents an interesting context in which to study the consequences of family instability because of the traditionally fluid nature of household composition due to labor migration, child fostering, and non-marital fertility. More recently, the HIV pandemic has added another source of instability. Within South Africa, however, patterns of instability differ markedly across racial groups. We use the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) data to examine the implications of changes in parent-child coresidence for educational and sexual development of young South Africans. We show that changes in maternal and paternal coresidence have implications for the timing of sexual initiation for both black and coloured adolescents. Maternal and paternal transitions also lead to poorer educational outcomes for coloured adolescents, but parental disruptions are not significantly related to educational outcomes for blacks. These findings suggest that the implications of coresidential instability vary by race, reflecting racial differences with respect to cultural, social, and economic conditions.

Retirement Security for Black, Non-Hispanic White, and Mexican-Origin Women: The Changing Roles of Marriage and Work

Changing family patterns and high rates of marital instability mean that women are increasingly responsible for their own retirement security. In this study we compare private retirement coverage among pre-retirement age people using multiple years of the Current Population Survey. We find that women are less likely than men to participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Married women are at highest risk of lacking coverage. Minority group status compounds this disadvantage, with Mexican-origin women far less likely than any other group to have coverage. These gender, race, and Mexican-origin disadvantages in retirement coverage have implications for the economic security of women.

The New Health Care Law: How Will Women Near Retirement Fare?

BACKGROUND In 2009, more than 17 million women lacked health insurance coverage in the United States. A disproportionate number of these women were African American or Latino. In addition, many women aged 55 to 64 lack coverage through either their own employment or access to a spouses plan at a time when they face an elevated risk of long-term and life-threatening illness. The studys objective is to understand the extent to which the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed in March 2010, will increase coverage for pre-retirement age women through the new health insurance exchanges and the expanded Medicaid program. METHODS This study employs the 2009 American Community Survey to compare health insurance coverage among aging women by race and ethnicity. RESULTS The results reveal that the new health care law could reduce the number of uninsured pre-retirement age women from 11.7% to 1.9%. However, it is unlikely that all women with the opportunity to access health insurance coverage will do so. In addition, despite the potential increase in access, Mexican-American women are still overrepresented among the uninsured, representing 5.7% of the total uninsured while only comprising 3.3% of all pre-retirement age women. CONCLUSION The research has important implications for how numerous provisions enacted in the new health care law will reduce the number of uninsured adults, particularly vulnerable women. These findings make it clear that Medicaid expansion and insurance exchanges will vary across states, and consequently will have potential benefits in particular for low-income minority group women.

An Update on Identifying Same-Sex Couples in the American Time Use Survey

Our study “A Research Note on Time with Children in Differentand Same-Sex TwoParent Families” (Prickett et al. 2015) highlighted the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) as a valuable data source for researchers seeking to examine family dynamics among same-sex couples with children. This update informs readers about the identification of same-sex couples in the ATUS. Same-sex couples can be identified in two ways in the ATUS, using household roster information collected at two time points: (1) when respondents are surveyed as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), which is the sampling frame for the ATUS; and (2) when respondents are interviewed for their time diary information (two to five months after their final CPS interview). Although the procedure is problematic (for a discussion, see Gates 2009), same-sex couples can be identified from the household roster by using respondent-provided information on whether they live with a spouse or unmarried partner, their gender, and the gender of their spouse/partner. These two options for identifying same-sex couples can result in different sample sizes. Our study used information from the ATUS household roster (i.e., the time of the diary) to determine whether the respondent indicated having a spouse/partner in the household; this information was supplemented by richer data on household members from the CPS interview. Because of confidentiality issues, some CPS respondents who reported having a same-sex partner were recoded as having an opposite-sex partner. This recoding results Demography (2016) 53:2121–2122 DOI 10.1007/s13524-016-0523-5

Alcohol use and change over time in firearm safety among families with young children

BACKGROUND Improperly stored firearms pose a clear health risk to children. Previous research concurrently links alcohol use with lower levels of firearm safety. The objectives of this study were to assess (1) how families move from unsafe to safer firearm storage practices and (2) how parental drinking was associated with moving away from unsafe firearm storage practices. METHODS This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, 2003 when children were two years old and again when they were four years old. Parents were asked about firearm storage practices, alcohol consumption, and information to measure other confounding variables. Their responses were used to identify families who engaged in unsafe firearm storage practices (n = 650) during the initial testing period and to assess how alcohol consumption and other variables were associated with moving to safer firearm storage practices at the second testing period. RESULTS Families grew more likely to adopt safer firearm storage practices as their children aged, compared with continuing unsafe practices. Multivariate logistic regressions indicated that parental drinking, however, reduced the likelihood that parents moved to safer storage practices, controlling for covariates. Other families- and community-level variables, in particular, family structure, were also associated with the likelihood of moving to safer firearm storage behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Families with higher levels of alcohol use may need additional assistance in addressing firearm safety. The findings call for future research to better understand how physicians can counsel at-risk families to help them store firearms more securely.

Transitions in Living Arrangements Among Older Mexican Americans The Dynamics of Dependency and Disadvantage

This study examines the transition from independent living to a coresidential living arrangement across the late life course among older unmarried (i.e., widowed, divorced/separated, and single) Mexican Americans. Using 18 years’ worth of panel data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, event history analyses revealed that age at migration, physical disability, and cognitive impairment were strong predictors of the transition to a coresidential living arrangement. Importantly, a decline in physical and cognitive abilities heightened the risk of transition to a coresidential living arrangement, net of time-variant measures of disability and impairment. These findings provide evidence for incorporating a dynamic approach to examining living arrangements across the late life course for Mexican-origin Hispanics living in the United States, with implications for policy and service providers.

Nonstandard Work Schedules, Family Dynamics, and Mother–Child Interactions During Early Childhood:

The rising number of parents who work nonstandard schedules has led to a growing body of research concerned with what this trend means for children. The negative outcomes for children of parents who work nonstandard schedules are thought to arise from the disruptions these schedules place on family life, and thus, the types of parenting that support their children’s development, particularly when children are young. Using a nationally representative sample of two-parent families (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth cohort, n = 3,650), this study examined whether mothers’ and their partners’ nonstandard work schedules were associated with mothers’ parenting when children were 2 and 4 years old. Structural equation models revealed that mothers’ and their partners’ nonstandard work schedules were associated with mothers’ lower scores on measures of positive and involved parenting. These associations were mediated by fathers’ lower levels of participation in cognitively supportive parenting and greater imbalance in cognitively supportive tasks conducted by mothers versus fathers.