Nola du Toit Kate Bachtell Cathy Haggerty Coming and Going: The Effect of Household Composition on the Economic Wellbeing of Families and Children

2 Current Literature Household structure and wellbeing of children Economic measures (poverty, material hardship) Family structure matters for child wellbeing Single v. cohabiting v. married Instability matters for child wellbeing Union formation or dissolution Focus on parents Anyone missing?

3 Example: Erin

4 Research Questions Are there different types of household composition beyond the traditional? Do complex household compositions matter? Is there change in these complex household compositions over time? Does this change matter? Are some households more affected by change than others?

5 Data Making Connections survey Annie E. Casey Foundation Community initiatives 10 sites Low income households Longitudinal Baseline Wave Wave

6 Data Information on variety of topics People in household, age, gender, employment Relationships to one another Children Economic wellbeing Roster matching across waves People coming and going in households Waves 2 and 3 for 6 sites Focus on households with children at Wave 2 (n=1964)‏

7 Focus Variable: Household Type Relationship of adult (18+) to focus child + number of adults Single parents Two parents Parent/grandparent only Parent/any combination Non-parent households

8 Dependent Variables: Economic Measures Income Per Capita Household income/number of people in household (log)‏ Public Assistance Usage (none/any)‏ Food stamps, rent subsidies, section 8, public housing Economic hardship (none/any)‏ No money for food, not pay rent, phone cut off, not fill prescriptions Home Ownership (not own/own)‏ Owned by someone in househol d

9 Dependent Variables: Instability Change in household type e.g. Two parent -> parent/grandparent only Decrease in income per capita Same or less than at Wave 2 Increase in public assistance usage Increase in economic hardship Decrease in home ownership

10 Controls Income per capita Public assistance Average age of adults All female household Race (proxy)‏ Hispanic At least one employed adult

11 Findings Are there different types of household composition beyond the traditional? Do complex household compositions matter? Is there change in these complex household compositions over time? Does this change matter? Are some households more affected by change than others?

12 Findings Are there different types of household composition beyond the traditional? YES! Do complex household compositions matter? YES! Is there change in these complex household compositions over time? YES! Does this change matter? YES! Are some households more affected by change than others? YES!

13 In “Header and Footer”, Insert Presentation Title and Any Confidentiality Information TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP OF ADULTS TO CHILDREN UNWEIGHTED N WEIGHTED % Total % Husband/wife1<1% Parent180090% Extended family19412% Sibling21212% Grandparent33322% Non-related119 6% Are there types of composition beyond the traditional?

14 Are there types of composition beyond the traditional?

15 Do complex households matter? Economic Measures

16 Is there change over time in complex households?

17 Does change matter? Decrease in income per capita

18 Findings Many more types of households than accounted for in current research Many people coming and going Mixed results – no pattern 10% are non-parent households Introduction of another adult for single parent households is not a good idea Need more research on non-traditional households

19 Limitations Data not representative of nation's poor No higher income cases Missing a lot of variation within groups Expand control groups Interaction effects

20 Conclusions Look at big picture, not just parents Need more research

Thank You! Nola du Toit: Kate Bachtell: Cathy Haggerty: Insert Presentation Title and Any Confidentiality Information