Valarie King

Nonresident Father Involvement and Child Well-Being: Can Dads Make a Difference?

Using data from the child supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a series of multivariate regression models were tested to determine whether father visitation or the payment of child support are significantly associated with several measures of child welleing. The results indicate that there is limited evidence to support the hypothesis that nonresident father involvement has positive benefits for children. The strongest evidence is for the effect of child support in the domain of academics.

Nonresident Father Involvement and Adolescent Well-Being: Father Effects or Child Effects?

Is active fathering by nonresident fathers a cause or a consequence of adolescent wellbeing? Past studies of nonresident father involvement assume a father effects model in which active parenting by fathers improves adolescent adjustment. A child effects model, in which fathers respond to levels of well-being among their adolescent offspring by becoming more or less involved parents, could also account for the positive association between active fathering and adolescent adjustment. We use nationally representative data from the 1995 and 1996 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to estimate the cross-lagged associations between nonresident father involvement and the externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and academic achievement of 3,394 adolescents. Contrary to assumptions from a socialization perspective and findings from past research on nonresident fathers, our results do not support a father effects model. Our data are more consistent with a child effects model in which levels of adolescent well-being cause, rather than result from, levels of nonresident father involvement.

Patterns of Nonresident Father Contact

We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (NLSY79) from 1979 to 2002 and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY) from 1986 to 2002 to describe the number, shape, and population frequencies of U.S. nonresident father contact trajectories over a 14-year period using growth mixture models. The resulting four-category classification indicated that nonresident father involvement is not adequately characterized by a single population with a monotonic pattern of declining contact over time. Contrary to expectations, about two-thirds of fathers were consistently either highly involved or rarely involved in their children’s lives. Only one group, constituting approximately 23% of fathers, exhibited a clear pattern of declining contact. In addition, a small group of fathers (8%) displayed a pattern of increasing contact. A variety ofvariables differentiated between these groups, including the child’s age at father-child separation, whether the child was born within marriage, the mother’s education, the mother’s age at birth, whether the father pays child support regularly, and the geographical distance between fathers and children.

Variation in the consequences of nonresident father involvement for children's well-being

Given current rates of divorce and nonmarital childbearing, nonresident paternal parenting is becoming increasingly common. Recent research efforts show a parallel trend toward an increasing focus on nonresident father involvement. In particular, researchers have been interested in both the antecedents of nonresident father involvement (e.g., Furstenberg, Nord, Peterson, & Zill, 1983; Seltzer, 1991) and its consequences for children (e.g., Furstenberg, Morgan, & Allison, 1987; King, 1993, 1994).Early research and concern over the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children was often predicated on the assumption that father involvement would have positive benefits for children, but supporting evidence has been limited. The majority of studies based on large national surveys have found little association between father visitation and child well-being (Baydar & Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Furstenberg et al., 1987; King, 1993, 1994; Zill, 1988). Stronger effects of father involvement have been found for the payment of child support. Although not significant for all measures of well-being (Baydar & Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Furstenberg et al., 1987; King, 1993, 1994; McLanahan, Seltzer, Hanson, & Thomson, 1991), there is some evidence that the payment of child support has beneficial effects for children in the domains of educational achievement (Graham, Beller, & Hernandez, 1991; King, 1993, 1994; Knox & Bane, 1991) and behavioral adjustment (Furstenberg et al., 1987; McLanahan et al., 1991).Although several studies have examined the question of whether nonresident father involvement has positive benefits for children, the majority of these studies have failed to examine the possible interactive effects of father involvement. For example, most of the studies use all-white samples, and the few that do have data for minorities do not examine whether the effects of father involvement differ for whites and blacks (or other minorities).As Arditti (1994) pointed out, there has been a lack of attention to the diversity of circumstances encountered by families in which there is a non-resident father. Determining how important social stratifiers such as race and class influence nonresident parenting has been virtually ignored in the literature. This neglect has important consequences because it may be that father involvement is beneficial only under certain circumstances or for certain groups of children.Only two studies to date have considered this issue. Furstenberg et al. (1987) examined whether the effect of father contact or the payment of child support varied with the childs sex, current marital status of the mother, or the mothers income. They reported few interactive effects and found no conditions that amplified or reduced the importance of nonresident father involvement for child well-being. Other important variations, however, such as by race or by whether the child was born within marriage, were not explored.A recent study by Amato and Rezac (1994) explored several other potentially important moderating factors for the effect of nonresident parental contact on childrens behavior problems. They also reported few interactive effects. However, when they examined variations by parental conflict, an interesting finding emerged. They found that, among boys from divorced families, contact with the nonresident parent decreased behavior problems when parental conflict was low but increased behavior problems when conflict was high. However, this relationship did not hold for girls or for boys born outside of marriage. Although this study considered a wide variety of moderating factors such as race and gender, it focused on only one type of child outcome and was limited to examining the effect of contact.In this article I explore whether the effect of father involvement varies by the childs race, mothers education, or whether the child was born outside of marriage. …

The Legacy of Grandparenting: Childhood Experiences with Grandparents and Current Involvement with Grandchildren.

VALARIE KING The Pennsylvania State University GLEN H. ELDER, JR. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill* Childhood experiences with grandparents are an important factor in the current involvement of men and women with their own grandchildren. We test this proposition with data from two related longitudinal studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the Iowa Single Parent Project. Consistent with the premise that family roles are learned through the culture and the interactions of family life, results show that the degree to which grandparents are involved in playing their role and the type of involvement they have with grandchildren are significantly influenced by having known their own grandparents and learned about them through multiple aspects of their intergenerational history. In contrast, sharing a household with a grandparent made little difference in their contemporary involvement with grandchildren. My grandmother was the radiant angel of my childhood, and, you know, now my grandchildren are just the same. They are the part of my life that is most joyous, that gives me most pleasure. Grandfather (Kivnick, 1982, p. 107) Key Words: grandchildren, grandparents, intergenerational relationships, intergenerational transmission. With increasing longevity and good health, grandparents have emerged as potentially significant figures in the lives of Americans at all life stages. This is particularly true in the wake of current trends and changes in family patterns, including teenage childbearing, single parenting, and divorce. For example, some of these changes have thrust ever larger numbers of grandparents into active caregiving roles (Robertson, 1995). However, little is known about how the life course experiences of these men and women affect their role as a grandparent. Individuals bring to the role of grandparent a unique set of historical and experiential events that shape the ways that this role is enacted (Hagestad, 1985). Yet most research is centered on current relationships and circumstances (Cherlin & Furstenberg, 1986; Peterson, 1989; Tinsley & Parke, 1984). We address this limitation by testing the proposition that the extent and nature of childhood experiences with grandparents are an important factor in the current social involvement of men and women with their own grandchildren. The impact of past childhood experiences with grandparents on the current involvement of individuals with their own grandchildren is largely unknown and a matter of speculation (Peterson, 1989). According to the role-theoretical tradition of life course theory, children learn grandparenting behaviors by observing their own grandparents in the role of grandparent (Cottrell, 1969). Particularly when grandparents become significant figures in the lives of young grandchildren, they establish a conducive environment for the reproduction of this role some years hence. This learned role pattern is activated when individuals become grandparents, themselves. When individuals experience new roles or transitions, they bring a life history of personal experiences and dispositions to bear on how they interpret their new circumstances and adapt to their new roles (Elder, 1997). If this is correct, orientations toward grandparenthood are likely to be different for individuals who grow up surrounded by grandparents who play a meaningful role in their lives than for people who lack such experiences. We hypothesize that early involvement with grandparents influences an individuals subsequent enactment of their own grandparental role, whether distant or close, engaged or not. However, a number of factors may define the nature of the enactment of the grandparent role. On the one hand, findings from several studies underscore the enduring relevance of past experiences with grandparents. On the other hand, compelling arguments can be made for why past experiences with grandparents might not matter very much. …

Father Residence and Adolescent Problem Behavior: Are Youth Always Better Off in Two-Parent Families?:

This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine combinations of father residence and closeness, which have received minimal examination but involve significant numbers of children. The findings lead to a number of conclusions. First, adolescents who are close to their nonresident fathers report higher self-esteem, less delinquency, and fewer depressive symptoms than adolescents who live with a father with whom they are not close. Second, adolescents living with a father with whom they are not close have better grades and engage in and less substance use than those having a nonresident father who is not close. At the same time, however, not being close to a resident father is associated with lower self-esteem compared to having a nonresident father who is not close. Third, adolescents do best of all when they have close ties to resident fathers. A central conclusion of this study is that it is important to consider the quality of father—child relations among those who have a resident father when assessing the impact of nonresident fathers on their children.

Relations with Grandparents Rural Midwest Versus Urban Southern California

The rapid growth of urban settlements in the United States has profound but largely unexplored implications for childrens relations with grandparents. Rural settlements in the Midwest frequently became a stepping stone to residence in far western states. We examine whether and how relations with grandparents differs for young people in rural farm and nonfarm regions of the Midwest (using the Iowa Youth and Families Project—IYFP) and in urban Southern California (using the Longitudinal Study of Generations—LSOG). Rural youth enjoy more frequent contact with paternal grandparents and receive more help from all grandparents than urban youth. Farm adolescents have even more contact and receive more help from paternal grandparents than rural nonfarm age-mates. Levels of conflict are low across ecologies, although urban youth report higher levels of conflict with maternal grandmothers than rural youth. Even with controls, the relationship of young Americans with their grandparents varies significantly by rural-urban ecology.

Education and Grandparenting Roles

This study examines the association between educational attainment and grandparenting attitudes and behaviors. The sample of 884 grandparents comes from tworelated studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the IowaSingle Parent Project. Rather than simply indicating greater or lesser involvement,education differentiates the types of roles that grandparents play. Some facets ofgrandparenting are more common among the less educated (e.g., contact, playing therole of friend), while others are more common among grandparents with highereducation (e.g., discussing the grandchilds future with him or her). The implicationsof these findings are discussed in light of the seemingly contradictory findings ofprevious research.

Intergenerational Continuity and Change in Rural Lives: Historical and Developmental Insights

Sudden forms of drastic social change have attracted the attention of developmentalists in recent years through their compelling human consequences. Examples include economic depressions, wars, and political transformations. This study focuses on a less visible but no less profound social change and its developmental implications for children, the declining rural population. Using a sample of Iowa fathers (USA) who grew up on farms, we compared the family experience and children of men who followed either the path of farming or of nonfarm employment. Farm children experience greater social inter-dependency with other family members, and this reinforces their feeling of social significance-they mattered for others and also shared responsibility for others. As might be expected, farm youth acquired stronger attachments to their local community and family which were expressed in subsequent agricultural activities and goals. The antecedents and correlates of rural preferences begin to tell the story of rural farm continuity and change in the next generation.

Bullying and Internalizing Problems Gender Differences and the Buffering Role of Parental Communication

Bullying is a widespread problem facing American adolescents. A better understanding of factors that may moderate the impact of bullying is important given its negative consequences for well-being. This study examines the association between bullying experiences and internalizing problems among a nationally representative sample of young adolescents. Additionally, we consider the ease of parental communication as a potential moderating factor in these associations. Using a structural equation modeling technique, results suggest that bullying is characteristically different for adolescent boys and girls and that its association with internalizing problems is stronger for adolescent females. Results also indicate that parental communication moderates the association between bullying and internalizing problems; higher levels of parental communication buffer adolescents against the negative influence of bullying.