Nola du Toit Jennifer Brown Cathy Haggerty Who Really Lives here and does it Matter? Household Structure Trajectories for Children Living with Other Adults in the Home

2 Background Household structure is important for child well- being (Manning and Brown 2006, McClanahan and Sandefur 1994) Transitions and changes in family structure can be detrimental to child wellbeing (Brown 2006, Magnuson and Berger 2009) Most examine household structure based on relationships of parents Single, two-parent, married, cohabiting, etc.

3 Background What about other adults in the home besides parents? Current trends shows a resurgence of people living with extended families (Glick et al 1997, Goldscheider and Bures 2003)

4 Background Previous findings (du Toit, Bachtell, and Haggerty 2011) Children in low-income neighborhoods 12% live with extended family adults 22% live with grandparents 6% live with non-related adults 10% have no parent present

5 Overall Research Questions What does household structure look like when include other adults? Household structure “through the eyes of the child” Not focused on relationship status of parents Who is actually in the home with the child? How are children affected by other people living in the home over time? Considering new household structure, what are childhood trajectories?

6 Data Making Connections Survey Funded by Annie E. Casey Foundation Households in low-income neighborhoods 10 US cities 3 waves of data (6-7 years) Baseline Wave Wave , 7 cities

7 Data Economic hardship, neighborhood involvement, services and amenities, employment history, etc. Data on children Activities, schooling, health, etc. Randomly selected focal child All children in household (W23) Relationship of adults to focal child Grandparent Extended (aunts, uncles, adults cousins) Non-related adult (roommate, boarder, other)

8 Data Analytic subset of cases W123 panel households with children Same focal child in all waves Valid on relationship variables N=672 households

9 Household Structure Relationship data to identify five household structures Structure# Parents# AdultsExample Single parent onlySO1 parent1 adultSingle mom Single parent plusSP1 parent1+ adultsSingle mom + gran Two parent only2O2 parents2 adultsMom, dad Two parent plus2P2 parents2+ adultsMom, dad, + uncle Non parentNP0 parents1+ adultsGran, or gran + aunt

10 Household Structure at W1 W1 Household Structure Unweighted N Weighted % Single parent onlySO22028% Two parent only2O27245% Single parent plusSP8812% Two parent plus2P509% Non parentNP425% N672100%

11 Household Structure Trajectories Household structures change over time Example for W1 single-parent-only trajectories W1W2What happened? SO Same in both waves or stable SPGained other adults, e.g. gran moved in 2OGained 2 nd parent, e.g. dad moved in 2PGained 2 nd parent, e.g. dad and gran NPLost single parent, gained non-parent

12 Household Structure Trajectories Across W123 waves = 125 possible trajectories Five stable trajectories (no change) SO  SO  SO (single parent only) SP  SP  SP (single parent plus) 2O  2O  2O (two parent only) 2P  2P  2P (two parent plus) NP  NP  NP(no parent) Many instable trajectories (change in at least one wave)

13 Household Structure Trajectories 78/125 trajectories recognized (not all shown) 45% stable across 3 waves More than half experienced changed

14 Types of Trajectories How many children experience trajectories that include … …change at all waves? …other adults? …non parent households?

15 Types of Trajectories

16 Odds of Instability We examine the odds of instability across waves for each Wave 1 household type Instability in at least one wave For example, if child starts in SO, what are odds of experiencing instability compared to other household structures? Controlling for race/ethnicity, education, number of adults, number of children, income

17 Odds of Instability Odds Ratios for W1 Structure Experiencing Instable Trajectory: Any Changes (N=672) SO (ref)SP (ref)2O (ref)2P (ref)NP (ref) Single Parent Only *** *** *** *** Single Parent Plus3.518 *** *** *** *** Two Parent Only0.698 *** *** *** *** Two Parent Plus *** *** *** *** Non Parent9.833 *** *** *** *** -- *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p< Note: Controlling for education, race/ethnicity, number of adults/children, HH income Odds of experiencing instability is significantly greater for HH with other adults than single-parent-only and two- parent-only

18 Do Trajectories Matter? Do stable or instable trajectories matter? So what if there is change in household structure? W1  W3 Odds of decrease in household income Odds of increase in economic hardship

19 Do Trajectories Matter? Household income Wave 1 (categories) v. Wave 3 (continuous) $5k increments $0  $5k $5  $10k, etc… Decrease in household income 0 = same or higher income category in W3 1 = lower income category in W3

20 Do Trajectories Matter? Economic hardship is a scale of 5 items No money for phone, prescriptions, bills, utilities, food Increase in economic hardship 0 = same/less economic hardship in W3 1 = greater economic hardship in W3 Controlling for race/ethnicity, education, number of adults/children, income (economic hardship)

21 Do Trajectories Matter? Effect of Instable Trajectory: Odds Ratios (N=672) Odds of Decrease in Income Odds of Increase in Economic Hardship Intercept0.191 *** *** Instable Trajectory (ref stable)1.688 *** *** Less than HS (ref HS)2.120 *** * BA degree+ (ref HS) *** NH Black (ref NH White)0.807 *** * NH Other (ref NH White)1.155 * Hispanic (ref NH White)0.655 *** Number of adults1.295 *** *** Number of children0.806 *** * Income Log Likelihood df8 8

22 Overall Findings Nearly half of children will spend time in households with other adults 14% of children will live with no parents Other adults increase odds of children experiencing instability in household structure Instability increases odds that children experience decrease in household income and increase in economic hardship

23 Limitations Sample size Low income neighborhoods Grandparents ~= roommates? Two parents married or cohabiting? Ignores change in household children

24 Conclusions Presence of other adults in the home matters More research should examine how children are affected by these other adults Economic Non-economic Over time Future research Look at all household children, not just focal child

Thank You! Nola du Toit: Jennifer Brown: Cathy Haggerty: