Search Results

Author: Ritualo, Amy R.
Resulting in 5 citations.
1. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Furstenberg, Frank F. Jr.
Ritualo, Amy R.
Parenting After Divorce: Remarriage and Cohabitation from the Perspective of Children
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1997
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Children, Well-Being; Cohabitation; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Disruption; Parents, Non-Custodial; Parents, Single; Remarriage

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

One million children per year experience the break-up of their parent's marriages, but divorce is only one link in a complex chain of events that may potentially affect child well-being. While children spend some time in single parent families following marital disruption, most divorced adults eventually enter new relationships. While remarriage is common, many new unions are non-marital. Neither the pattern of these often transitory relationships from the perspective of children nor their implications for child well-being are well documented in existing research. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths child-mother data' this paper profiles maternal post-marital unions (remarriages and cohabitations) as experienced by children. We also explore the implications that alternative living arrangements following divorce have for the quality of the home environment provided to children.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane, Frank F. Jr. Furstenberg and Amy R. Ritualo. "Parenting After Divorce: Remarriage and Cohabitation from the Perspective of Children." Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1997.
2. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Furstenberg, Frank F. Jr.
Ritualo, Amy R.
Road to Remarriage: A Prospective Study of Child Well-Being Following Divorce
Working Paper, Washington DC: Department of Demography and Graduate Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University and Philadelphia PA: Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 1999
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Demography, Georgetown University
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Children, Well-Being; Cohabitation; Divorce; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Remarriage

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Given the prevalence of divorce and the prominence of concerns about family structure in political debates, reassessing the implications of remarriage and post-divorce cohbitation for children is critical. Available studies have not adequately addressed either the possibility of pre-existing differences prior to divorce or the lingering effects of the divorce process when children in step-families are compared to those in two-parent nuclear families. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth mother-child data, we take a prospective approach using a pre-disruption measure of child well-being as our basis for ascertaining the effect of remarriage. We examine how children in step-families compare to their counterparts whose divorced mothers took other routes following the initial disruption including entering cohabiting unions or remaining single. Net of controls for time since disruption and the number of maternal union transitions experienced by the child, we discover remarriage is associated with fewer behavior problems than is remaining "stably" divorced, although the statisitical significance of the estimated coefficient is marginal. We found some support for the hypothesis that the more favorable economic standing of remarried families accounts for part of remarriage's salutary effect. Finally, we found no statisitcal difference between remarriage and cohabitation following divorce from the perspective of children's behavior problems, net of controls.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane, Frank F. Jr. Furstenberg and Amy R. Ritualo. "Road to Remarriage: A Prospective Study of Child Well-Being Following Divorce." Working Paper, Washington DC: Department of Demography and Graduate Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University and Philadelphia PA: Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
3. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Ritualo, Amy R.
Routes to Children's Economic Recovery after Divorce: Are Cohabitation and Remarriage Equivalent?
American Sociological Review 65,4 (August 2000): 560-580.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2657383
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Children, Poverty; Cohabitation; Disability; Divorce; Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); Economic Changes/Recession; Family Income; Maternal Employment; Mothers; Remarriage; Stepfamilies

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Are maternal cohabitation and remarriage equivalent routes to the economic recovery of children and their mothers following parental divorce and separation? Unlike previous studies that have been primarily cross-sectional in design, this study uses panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement to make both absolute and relative comparisons of potential economic returns. Also investigated is how income from spouses and partners is combined with income from other sources to support children, and the extent to which economic hardship over time relates to mothers' union experiences. Findings show that while in absolute terms, remarriage is economically more advantageous than cohabitation, cohabitation and remarriage are equivalent in their ability to restore family income to prior levels. Cohabiting mothers start off in a weaker economic position prior to divorce, however, and continue to rely on income from employment and AFDC to a greater extent than do remarried mothers. Over time, cohabitation, even when it results in a stable union, is a comparatively poor mechanism for maintaining economic recovery for the children of divorce. The extent of economic difficulties experienced by children whose mothers "unstably" remarry is also demonstrated.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane and Amy R. Ritualo. "Routes to Children's Economic Recovery after Divorce: Are Cohabitation and Remarriage Equivalent?" American Sociological Review 65,4 (August 2000): 560-580.
4. Morrison, Donna Ruane
Ritualo, Amy R.
Starting Over: How Children Fare in Remarriages and Cohabiting Unions Following Divorce
Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1998
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Children, Well-Being; Cohabitation; Divorce; Family Structure; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Involvement; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Household Composition; Marital Disruption; Parents, Single; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Remarriage; Self-Esteem; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

For children in maritally disrupted families, separation and divorce are often only the first of numerous changes in family structure to which they will need to adjust. Each time a mother and her children *start over* there are potential difficulties for children. Although available evidence suggests that children in step-families fare no better and possibly even worse than children whose mothers remain single following divorce we know virtually nothing about how the experience of mothers' cohabiting unions affects child well-being. Moreover, the implications of multiple transitions has been rarely studied. This paper examines the implications for child well-being of changes in family structure (remaining single, remarriage and cohabitation) in the aftermath of divorce, paying particular attention to the factors that enhance or undermine children's adjustment to them. We employ dynamic measures of children's post-disruption family structures that trace their mothers' union experiences from the initial separation or divorce to up to eight years later.
Bibliography Citation
Morrison, Donna Ruane and Amy R. Ritualo. "Starting Over: How Children Fare in Remarriages and Cohabiting Unions Following Divorce." Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1998.
5. Ritualo, Amy R.
Morrison, Donna Ruane
Dynamics of Post-Divorce: How Remarriage and Cohabitation Influence the Changing Economic Resources of Children
Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1998
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Children, Well-Being; Cohabitation; Divorce; Exits; Marital Disruption; Marital Dissolution; Marital Status

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although it is well documented that children and their mothers experience marked declines in their economic circumstances following divorce, many women move on to subsequent marital and non-marital relationships. Our aim is to understand how declines in children's economic resources following marital disruption are moderated by the patterns of their mothers' subsequent unions. The paper departs from traditional approaches to understanding children's economic well-being in the aftermath of divorce by considering both how cohabitation as well as remarriage contribute to the economic standing of separated or divorced mothers and their children. This is important as rates of remarriage have fallen in recent years, increasingly replaced by cohabiting unions. We use panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - Child Supplement to examine changes in economic resources associated with particular post-disruption transitions (both entries and exits).
Bibliography Citation
Ritualo, Amy R. and Donna Ruane Morrison. "Dynamics of Post-Divorce: How Remarriage and Cohabitation Influence the Changing Economic Resources of Children." Presented: Chicago, IL, Population Association of America Meetings, April 1998.