Maltreating mothers often struggle to respond sensitively to their children's distress. Examining psychophysiological processing of own child cues may offer insight into neurobiological mechanisms that promote sensitive parenting among high-risk mothers. The current study used event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine associations…

The question of how to best measure family processes so that longitudinal experiences within the family are accurately captured has become an important issue for family scholars. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,158), this article focuses on the association between trajectories of perceived supportiveness from biological…

Rising rates of nonmarital childbirth in the United States have resulted in a new family type, the fragile family. Such families, which include cohabiting couples as well as single mothers, experience significantly higher rates of poverty and material hardship than their married counterparts. Ariel Kalil and Rebecca Ryan summarize the economic…

Jane Waldfogel, Terry-Ann Craigie, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn review recent studies that use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) to examine why children who grow up in single-mother and cohabiting families fare worse than children born into married-couple households. They also present findings from their own new research.…

In most states, child support paid on behalf of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants is used to offset TANF and child support administrative expenditures; this policy primarily benefits taxpayers. In contrast, Wisconsin allowed most custodial parents to keep all support paid on their behalf. This policy, which treats welfare…

This paper examines whether marriage is effective in reducing child poverty and notes the comparative effects of marriage and maternal education on combatting child poverty. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that marriage plays a powerful role in lifting children out of poverty. While both marriage and maternal education…

This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study [Reichman, N., Teitler, J., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S. (2001). The fragile families and child wellbeing study: Sample and design. "Children and Youth Services Review, 23", 303-326] to describe primary child care arrangements of employed, predominantly low-income mothers…

The birth of additional children, marital termination, and mother remaining unmarried have generally negative effects on children's home environments, although the negative effect of maternal employment varies in accordance with job complexity. The negative effect of remaining unmarried varies in accordance with mothers' employment status and the…