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Partnership Transitions and Maternal Parenting
Author(s) -
Beck Audrey N.,
Cooper Carey E.,
McLanahan Sara,
BrooksGunn Jeanne
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00695.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , fragile families and child wellbeing study , ethnic group , general partnership , sociology , political science , anthropology , law
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 1,975) to examine the association between mothers' partnership changes and parenting behavior during the first 5 years of their children's lives. We compare coresidential with dating transitions and recent with more distal transitions. We also examine interactions between transitions and race/ethnicity, maternal education, and family structure at birth. Findings indicate that both coresidential and dating transitions were associated with higher levels of maternal stress and harsh parenting; recent transitions had stronger associations than distal transitions. Maternal education significantly moderated these associations, with less‐educated mothers responding more negatively to instability in terms of maternal stress and more‐educated mothers responding more negatively in terms of literacy activities.