IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v51y2014i4p1345-1356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Magic Moment? Maternal Marriage for Children Born Out of Wedlock

Author

Listed:
  • Christina Gibson-Davis

Abstract

To test the existence of the “magic moment” for parental marriage immediately post-birth and to inform policies that preferentially encourage biological over stepparent marriage, this study estimates the incidence and stability of maternal marriage for children born out of wedlock. Data came from the National Survey of Family Growth on 5,255 children born nonmaritally. By age 15, 29 % of children born nonmaritally experienced a biological-father marriage, and 36 % experienced a stepfather marriage. Stepfather marriages occurred much later in a child’s life—one-half occurred after the child turned age 7—and had one-third higher odds of dissolution. Children born to black mothers had qualitatively different maternal marriage experiences than children born to white or Hispanic mothers, with less biological-parent marriage and higher incidences of divorce. Findings support the existence of the magic moment and demonstrate that biological marriages were more enduring than stepfather marriages. Yet relatively few children born out of wedlock experienced stable, biological-parent marriages as envisioned by marriage promotion programs. Copyright Population Association of America 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Gibson-Davis, 2014. "Magic Moment? Maternal Marriage for Children Born Out of Wedlock," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1345-1356, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:4:p:1345-1356
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0308-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-014-0308-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-014-0308-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcia Carlson & Sara Mclanahan & Paula England, 2004. "Union formation in fragile families," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(2), pages 237-261, May.
    2. David Blau & Wilbert Klaauw, 2008. "A demographic analysis of the family structure experiences of children in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 193-221, September.
    3. Robert G. Wood & Sheena McConnell & Quinn Moore & Andrew Clarkwest & JoAnn Hsueh, 2012. "The Effects of Building Strong Families: A Healthy Marriage and Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 228-252, March.
    4. M. Robin Dion, "undated". "Healthy Marriage Programs: Learning What Works," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 700e2d88f10b4f079d504806a, Mathematica Policy Research.
    5. Jay Teachman, 2002. "Stability across cohorts in divorce risk factors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 331-351, May.
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:7321 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Wei-Jun J. Yeung & Greg J. Duncan & Martha S. Hill, 2001. "Childhood family structure and young adult behaviors," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(2), pages 271-299.
    8. Sandra Hofferth, 2006. "Residential father family type and child well-being: Investment versus selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, February.
    9. Mincy, Ronald B. & Dupree, Allen T., 2001. "Welfare, child support and family formation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6-7), pages 577-601.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel T. Lichter & Katherine Michelmore & Richard N. Turner & Sharon Sassler, 2016. "Pathways to a Stable Union? Pregnancy and Childbearing Among Cohabiting and Married Couples," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(3), pages 377-399, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Blau & Wilbert Klaauw, 2008. "A demographic analysis of the family structure experiences of children in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 193-221, September.
    2. Maria Cancian & Daniel Meyer, 2014. "Testing the Economic Independence Hypothesis: The Effect of an Exogenous Increase in Child Support on Subsequent Marriage and Cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 857-880, June.
    3. repec:pri:crcwel:wp06-28-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Marcia J. Carlson & Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 2007. "The Consequences of Multi-partnered Fertility for Parental Involvement and Relationships," Working Papers 908, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    5. DAVID M. BLAU & WILBERT van der KLAAUW, 2013. "What Determines Family Structure?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 579-604, January.
    6. Ronald Mincy & Jennifer Hill & Marilyn Sinkewicz, 2009. "Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 417-439.
    7. repec:pri:crcwel:wp07-07-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kelly Musick & Katherine Michelmore, 2018. "Cross-National Comparisons of Union Stability in Cohabiting and Married Families With Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1389-1421, August.
    9. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-12-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:mpr:mprres:7578 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Chan, Kwok Ho & Fung, Ka Wai Terence, 2013. "The Effect of Social Fathers on the Cognitive Skills of Out-of-Wedlock Children," MPRA Paper 52875, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Laura Tach & Kathryn Edin, 2013. "The Compositional and Institutional Sources of Union Dissolution for Married and Unmarried Parents in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1789-1818, October.
    13. Chen, Yiyu & Meyer, Daniel R., 2017. "Does joint legal custody increase child support for nonmarital children?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 547-557.
    14. Robert G. Wood & Quinn Moore & Andrew Clarkwest & Alexandra Killewald & Shannon Monahan, "undated". "The Long-Term Effects of Building Strong Families: A Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 5932425ddd704b58abbe5692e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    15. Christina Gibson-Davis & Anna Gassman-Pines & Rebecca Lehrman, 2018. "“His” and “Hers”: Meeting the Economic Bar to Marriage," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2321-2343, December.
    16. Sharon H. Bzostek & Marcia J. Carlson & Sara S. McLanahan, 2006. "Does Mother Know Best?: A Comparison Of Biological And Social Fathers After A Nonmarital Birth," Working Papers 919, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    17. Maria Cancian & Daniel Meyer & Steven Cook, 2011. "The Evolution of Family Complexity from the Perspective of Nonmarital Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 957-982, August.
    18. Chan, Kwok Ho & Fung, Ka Wai Terence, 2018. "The effect of social fathers on the cognitive skills of out-of-wedlock children in the U.S," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 146-159.
    19. repec:pri:crcwel:wp06-27-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Daniel Lichter, 2013. "Integration or Fragmentation? Racial Diversity and the American Future," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 359-391, April.
    21. Lawrence M. Berger & Marcia J. Carlson & Sharon H. Bzostek & Cynthia Osborne, 2007. "Parenting Practices of Resident Fathers: The Role of Marital and Biological Ties," Working Papers 901, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    22. Ryan Heath Bogle, 2012. "Long-Term Cohabitation among Unwed Parents: Determinants and Consequences for Children," Working Papers 1404, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    23. Cuccaro-Alamin, Stephanie & Eastman, Andrea Lane & Foust, Regan & McCroskey, Jacquelyn & Nghiem, Huy Tran & Putnam-Hornstein, Emily, 2021. "Strategies for constructing household and family units with linked administrative records," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    24. Dimitrios Nikolaou, 2017. "Maternal Life Satisfaction, Marital Status, and Child Skill Formation," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 621-648, September.
    25. Lee, Shawna J. & Pace, Garrett T. & Lee, Joyce Y. & Knauer, Heather, 2018. "The association of fathers' parental warmth and parenting stress to child behavior problems," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-10.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:51:y:2014:i:4:p:1345-1356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.