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Author: Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Resulting in 5 citations.
1. McKeever, Matthew
Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Over the Long Haul: The Persistent Economic Consequences of Single Motherhood
In: Economic Stress and the Family: Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Volume 6. S. Blair, ed. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012: pp. 1-39
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Emerald
Keyword(s): Disadvantaged, Economically; Human Capital; Income; Motherhood; Parents, Single; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

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

Purpose: This chapter examines change over time in income, human capital, and socio-demographic attributes for married, divorced, and never-married mothers.

Methodology/approach: The chapter consists of descriptive analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth’s 1979 cohort. Respondents were followed from 1979 to 2006.

Findings: The economic consequences of single motherhood are persistent. Women who have once been divorced or never-married mothers remain poorer through middle age, no matter how their family structure subsequently changes.

Social implications: A critical feature of the modern economic and demographic landscape is the intersection of individual and family characteristics. Many divorced and, especially, never-married mothers experience profound disadvantage even before they become mothers.

Bibliography Citation
McKeever, Matthew and Nicholas H. Wolfinger. "Over the Long Haul: The Persistent Economic Consequences of Single Motherhood" In: Economic Stress and the Family: Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Volume 6. S. Blair, ed. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012: pp. 1-39
2. McKeever, Matthew
Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Steady-State Inequality? Single Motherhood and Income
Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Family Structure; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Marital Status; Maternal Employment; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Parents, Single

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

A curious and unhappy feature of family demography is the stubborn persistence of poverty in mother-headed families. Between 1980 and 2017, the income gap between single-mother families and married-mother families barely changed. We explore the income dynamics of single motherhood using data from the NLSY79, focusing on different types of single-mother households. While differences remain using standard statistical models, fixed-effect models show that the unmeasured differences between divorced- and never-married mother-headed families are crucial for understanding income disparities. Controlling for these differences suggests that variation in income by family structure has more to do with the number of earners in a household than the characteristics of those workers.
Bibliography Citation
McKeever, Matthew and Nicholas H. Wolfinger. "Steady-State Inequality? Single Motherhood and Income." Presented: Austin TX, Population Association of America Annual Meeting, April 2019.
3. Shaff, Kimberly Anne
Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Kowaleski-Jones, Lori
Smith, Ken R.
Family Structure Transitions and Child Achievement
Sociological Spectrum 28,6 (November 2008): 681-704.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02732170802342966
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Divorce; Family Formation; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Marital Status; Marriage; Mothers, Education; Mothers, Income; Parental Marital Status; Parents, Single; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

This article uses prospective data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to investigate how children in divorced and never-married-mother families vary in reading and math achievement after parental remarriage. These are compared to children who remain in never-married, divorced, and continuously married families. Results based on growth curve modeling indicate that children remaining in single-parent families resulting from divorce or nonmarital births have lower achievement scores than children from married families. Maternal education and income account for all of the adverse effects of family structure on reading achievement, while maternal education, income, and children's home environment can explain the negative relationship between single parenting and math scores. We conclude that parental remarriage may have more benefits for children than previous studies have suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Bibliography Citation
Shaff, Kimberly Anne, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, Lori Kowaleski-Jones and Ken R. Smith. "Family Structure Transitions and Child Achievement." Sociological Spectrum 28,6 (November 2008): 681-704.
4. Wilcox, W. Bradford
Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, and Marriage among African Americans and Latinos
New York: Oxford University Press, 2016
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Keyword(s): Ethnic Studies; General Social Survey (GSS); Marriage; Minorities; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth); National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG); National Survey of Religion and Family Life (NSRFL); Racial Studies; Religion; Sexual Activity

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

*Features qualitative interviews and fieldwork across the country as well as national data
*Explores the relationship between religion and family life
*Examines the largely-ignored element of lived religion in minority communities
Bibliography Citation
Wilcox, W. Bradford and Nicholas H. Wolfinger. Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, and Marriage among African Americans and Latinos. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
5. Wolfinger, Nicholas H.
Perry, Samuel L.
Does a Longer Sexual Resume Affect Marriage Rates?
Social Science Research published online (11 October 2022): 102800.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X22001119
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Marital Status; National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG); Sexual Activity

Sociologists have proposed numerous theories for declining marriage rates in the United States, often highlighting demographic, economic, and cultural factors. One controversial theory contends that having multiple non-marital sex partners reduces traditional incentives for men to get married and simultaneously undermines their prospects in the marriage market. For women, multiple partners purportedly reduces their desirability as spouses by evoking a gendered double-standard about promiscuity. Though previous studies have shown that having multiple premarital sex partners is negatively associated with marital quality and stability, to date no research has examined whether having multiple non-marital sex partners affects marriage rates. Data from four waves of the National Survey of Family Growth reveal that American women who report more sex partners are less likely to get married by the time of the survey (though so too were virgins). Yet this finding is potentially misleading given the retrospective and cross-sectional nature of the data. Seventeen waves of prospective data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's 1997 mixed-gender cohort that extend through 2015 show the association between non-marital sex partners and marriage rates is temporary: recent sex partners predict lower odds of marriage, but not lifetime non-marital sex partners. Seemingly unrelated bivariate probit models suggest the short-term association likely reflects a causal effect. Our findings ultimately cast doubt on recent scholarship that has implicated the ready availability of casual sex in the retreat from marriage. Rather, the effect of multiple sex partners on marriage rates is "seasonal" for most Americans.
Bibliography Citation
Wolfinger, Nicholas H. and Samuel L. Perry. "Does a Longer Sexual Resume Affect Marriage Rates?" Social Science Research published online (11 October 2022): 102800.