ABSENT FATHERS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT Emotional and ...

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ABSENT FATHERS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT Emotional and Cognitive Effects at Ages Five to Nine

Frank L. Mott

This monograph and the supporting research has been funded under the National

Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant HD 23160. The views expressed

are the author's and not meant to represent those of the funding agency.

Acknowledgements

This volume represents the culmination of three years of work which has been funded by NIH Grant .HD 23160. The research has benefitted considerably from the comments provided by several friends and colleagues, in particular Elizabeth Menaghan, Susan Molt and Stephen Quinlan. Steve Quinlan, in particular, has been absolutely essential to this project, having primary responsibility for the programming and additionally providing numerous methodological and substantive suggestions which materially improved the technical and substantive quality of the work. Prior to Steve's involvement with this project, Hwei-Lin Chuang provided outstanding research assistance during the early phases of the work.

Without the stellar clerical and administrative assistance of Judy Dotythis volume might never have seen the light of day. She has performed a minor miracle in translating my virtually indecipherable scribbles into readable text and tables, and accomplishing these tasks within extraordinarily tight deadlines while at the same time b alancing a variety of other tasks--always graciously and with a smile.

Finally, the editing of Kezia Sproat has made this volume immeasurably more readable. Beyond, this Kezia provided many important substantive comments which served to remind me that behind the myriad of numbers we mustn't lose track of the real lives and the real problems faced by the many children we have been examining. In this volume, I chose to use the first person plural "we" throughout primarily to emphasize that this has been a project which could not have been completed without the integral assistance of my colleagues. It should be emphasized however that the conclusions drawn are my own, as are any methodological or substantive limitations which the reader may note.

Frank L. Molt Center for Human Resource Research

The Ohio State University March 1993

iii

Contents

List of Tables

viii

1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

1

Marriage, Divorce and Parental Presence: An Historical Overview

1

A Child's View of Family: An Important Caveat

8

Father-Absence and Child Development: An Overview

11

Summary of Other Findings

14

Implications For This Research

30

Overview of the Volume

32

2. THE RESEARCH SAMPLE

35

Who Are The Study Children?

36

3. FATHER'S PRESENCE AND ABSENCE: LEVELS AND PROCESS

40

Paternal Presence and Absence in the E arly Years of Lffe

41

Father's Presence and Absence in 1 988: Patterning and Availability of Father

Substitutes

47

4. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FATHER-PRESENT

AND FATHER-ABSENT FAMILIES

65

Family Traits and Behaviors Frorn Before the Child's Birth

66

Post-birth Trends in Employment, Income and Farnily Structure: Links with Father-

Presence and-Absence

76

5. PATERNAL ABSENCE AND CHILDRENS' BEHAVIOR PROBLEM

88

Uniqueness of the Research

88

Research Methods

90

Father Absence and Behavior Problems: A Descriptive Overview

94

A Multivariate Perspective

1 00

Summary

123

6. FATHER'S ABSENCE AND CHILD COGNITION

126

The Cognitive Assessments

127

Father's Absence and Cognition: Summary Statistics

1 29

Determinants of Child Cognition

134

Summary

1 64

7. FATHER'S ABSENCE AND THE HOME ENVIRONMENT

1 65

The Home Assessment

1 67

Father Presence-Absence and Its Linkage with Individual Home Attributes and

Behaviors

1 68

The Determinants of Home Scores: Linkages with Paternal Presence and Absence

178

Home E nvironment and Child Development

190

Summary

200

8. A SYNTHESIS

202

What Have We Found? And What Might It Mean?

207

v

APPENDIX 1 . COMPONENT ITEMS OF THE BE HAVIOR PROBLEM SCALE AND SUBSCALES 218

APPENDIX 2. THE PlAT ASSESSME NTS

220

APPENDIX 3. THE HOME

225

B I B L IOGRAPHY

250

vi

List of Tables

2 . 1 Characteristics of the Child Sample

38

3.1 Transitions in Father Presence-Absence During the First Few Years of Life by

Race

42

3.2 Percent of Fathers Absent During the First Few Years of Life by Race and

Mother's Age at Birth

44

3.3 Patterning of Father's Absence During the First Few Years of Life by Race

46

3.4 Father/Father Figure Presence and Absence According to Various Definitions by

Race

49

3.5 Nature of Relationship of Father/Father Figures to Mother by Race and

Presence/Absence of Father/Father Figure in Home

52

3.6 Pattern of Paternal-Child Contact and Visitation in 1988 by Race

53

3.7 Distance Father Lives from Child by Frequency of Visitation and by Race

55

3.8 Father-Child Interaction Patterns for Father-Absent Children by Race

57

3.9 Percent of Children Maintaining Contact With Absent Father in 1988 by Current

Relationship Status of Mother and Race

59

3 . 1 0 Paternal Contact Profile by Race: 1 984-1988 Surveys

61

3.1 1 Trends in Father Contact and Visitation Over Time by Race

63

4.1 Mean Statistics for the Child Sample by Father Presence and Absence in 1 988

and Race

67

4.2 Prebirth-Maternal Determinants of Various Paternal-Absence Configurations in

1988: Multinomial Legit Estimates for White Children

72

4.3 Prebirth-Maternal Determinants of Various Paternal-Absence Configurations in

1988: Multinomial Legit Estimates for Black Children

75

4.4 Trends in Family Income and M aternal Employment From Two Surveys Before

Birth to Two Surveys After Birth by Race and Paternal Presence Between

Birth and 1 988

78

4.5 Percent of Weeks Woriked by Mother Between Birth and 1988 by Recent Father-

Present/Absence Status and Race

80

4.6 Maternal and Family Characteristics From Two Surveys Before Father Leaving to

Two Surveys After Father Leaving by Race: Family Units Where the

Father Left After the Birth Year

81

4.7 Selected Family Characteristics Between 1 984 and 1988 by Recent Father

Presence/Absence Status and Race

83

4.8 Trends in Grandparent Presence From Two Surveys Before Birth to Two Surveys

After Birth by R ace and Paternal Presence Between Birth and 1 988

86

5.1 Mean Behavior Problem (Percentile) Score and (Percentile) Subscores by R ace,

Gender and Father Presence-Absence in 1988

95

5.2 Responses of Mothers to Individual Behavior Prob lem Items by Race, Gender and

Father Presence or Absence

97

5.3 Racial Differences in Selected Behavior Prob lem Responses by Father Present-

Father Absence Status and Gender

101

5.4 Determinants of Behavior Problem Percentile Score With and Without Maternal

and Other Controls

1 03

5.5 Father's Absence and Behavior Problems by Race and Gender

107

5.6 Linkage Between Father-Absence Configurations and Child Behavior Problem

Score and Subscores: White Boys

113

5.7 Linkage Between Father-Absence Configurations and Child Behavior Problem

Score and Subscores: White Girls

115

viii

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