Structure, Stability, Strength - defining family

From Families: It's Complicated by Joanna Venator and Richard V. Reeves.

Commenting on new research exploring the impacts of family structure (single parent never married, single parent divorced, single parent widowed/er, cohabiting, married), family stability and family strength.

Venator and Reeves are pointing out the many levels of detail which much policy discussion omits.

Instability Matters As Much as Structure…

It is clear that stability matters a lot for children. There is growing evidence, in fact, that instability has a greater negative impact than family structure on some cognitive and health outcomes. Family instability has also been linked with conflict in the household. Some of the impact of changes in family structure on child outcomes, particularly behavioral outcomes, can be attributed to the association between conflict and instability.

…But Structure and Stability Are Related

In her recent book Generation Unbound, our colleague Isabel Sawhill shows that an increasing proportion of non-martial births are to cohabiting couples rather than to a single mother. The problem is that over half the parents cohabiting when their child is born have split up before the child reaches kindergarten.

Of course some married couples split up before their child turns five too: around 20% according to latest estimates. What matters most is the stability or the lack of it; structure matters to the extent that it supports that stability. Looking at the actual experience of children within families over time is more important than a crude binary categorization.

Family Strength: Important, But Elusive

CAP’s third S – Strength – is harder to pin down. They define family strength as a combination of commitment, conflict levels, emotional support, and social networks. This is a good start. To us, this seems to be about the quality of the relationships in the family. Bluntly: are you a good parent and a good spouse? Our own research finds that parenting quality among mothers varies by family structure. It is the kind of parents you have - rather than just the number - that seems to really count.

Good life outcomes for children are desired by everyone but the path towards achieving those outcomes is murky at best and it is not obvious which policies are most likely to have the most significant positive impact.