Many young children born to unwed parents currently live with their biological mothers and their mothers' new partners (social fathers). This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (N = 1,350) to assess whether involvement by resident social fathers is as beneficial for child well-being as involvement by resident…

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examined patterns of nonresident father involvement 1 and 3 years after a nonmarital birth (N = 893). Cluster analyses were used to determine patterns of involvement across different father behaviors. About half of fathers displayed low involvement when children were 1 and 3 years…

This article assesses the effectiveness of in-hospital paternity establishment, a federal requirement since 1993. We avoid biases in previous studies by using a national sample of nonmarital births (N= 3,254), by including detailed controls for characteristics of unwed mothers and previously unavailable controls for characteristics of fathers, and…