ABSTRACT

Maternal marital status may contribute to health disparities among children; marriage often associates with better outcomes. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we tested separate structural equation models to compare direct and indirect relationships between maternal economic hardship, parenting stress, and adolescent self-rated health among 3,146 married and unmarried mothers. Although parenting stress did not associate with adolescent health for either group, economic hardship directly associated with poorer adolescent self-reported health for only unmarried mothers, and unmarried mothers had a stronger negative relationship between economic hardships and parenting calling for policies to address these disparities.

摘要

孕产妇的婚姻状况可能导致儿童的健康差异；婚姻往往带来更好的结局。利用来自脆弱家庭和儿童幸福研究的数据，我们测试了单独的结构方程模型，以比较3146名已婚和未婚母亲的孕产妇经济困难，育儿压力和青少年自我评估的健康之间的直接和间接关系。尽管这两个群体的父母教养压力均与青少年健康无关，但经济困难仅与未婚母亲的青春期自我报告的健康状况直接相关，未婚母亲在经济困难与育儿之间有更强的消极关系，要求采取政策解决这些差距。