Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers

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 b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 2016-06, Vol.78 (3), p.715-729
Main Authors: Halpern-Meekin, Sarah, Turney, Kristin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child Development
Child Rearing
Childrearing practices
Children
Children & youth
Cognitive Development
College Students
Coping
Couples
Depression (Psychology)
Educational Attainment
Ethnography
Families & family life
Family Structure
Fathers
Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study
Interracial relationships
Life Satisfaction
Marital disruption
Marital relations
Mothers
Of General Interest
parenting stress
Parents & parenting
relationship instability
Stress
Studies
Well being
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12297