The health and behavioral outcomes of out-of-wedlock children from families of social fathers

Abstract

There is abundant evidence that childhood health status affects socioeconomic status (income, wealth and academic results) in later stages of life. This study examines the potential impact of social fathers on children's health and behavioral outcomes. The current family and health literature mostly focuses on the impact of social fathers on the well-being of older children or adolescents. Using the data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examine the health and behavioral outcomes of younger children (3-year olds) whose mothers marry (or live with) social fathers after the children are born. Moreover, most of the past studies neglect the self-selection problem; we apply the propensity score matching method to address the sample bias issue of the child's mother self-selecting to have a new partner. We found that children with social fathers did not differ significantly in terms of the probability of having asthma, measures of depressive, aggressive behavior and positive attitude, from children living with only biological mothers.