Partnership Transitions and Maternal Parenting
Type
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.