Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers

Journal of Marriage and the Family
Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kristin Turney

Abstract

Researchers have documented the consequences of relationship instability for parenting stress but have given little attention to within-partner relationship instability. In this study, the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,544) to estimate the association between within-partner relationship instability (known as churning or on-again/off-again relationships) and parenting stress. First, they found that by the focal child's 5th birthday about 16% of biological parents experience churning. Second, compared to being stably together with or stably separated from the child's other parent, churning is associated with greater parenting stress for both mothers and fathers. Because parenting stress is the same or higher among churners compared to their counterparts who stably separate, this suggests that, more than a change in partner, relationship instability-whether within or across relationships-is tied to parenting stress.

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Citations

Oct 2, 2019·Journal of Research on Adolescence : the Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence·Rachel E GoldbergMarta Tienda
Aug 8, 2018·Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology : the Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53·Allison SchroederMona Mittal
Jul 31, 2020·Annual Review of Sociology·Shannon Cavanagh, Paula Fomby
Jul 2, 2020·Journal of Marriage and the Family·Kei Nomaguchi, Melissa A Milkie
Oct 20, 2018·Journal of Interpersonal Violence·Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kristin Turney

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