Economic Insecurity across the Transition to Parenthood and the Role of Instrumental Social Support

• In Event: 1283 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Inequality, Instability, and Family Transitions

Abstract

The transition to parenthood is celebrated as a milestone in the United States, but becoming a parent comes at a significant financial cost, with low-income and single mother households especially vulnerable around births (Stanczyk 2016). In the absence of institutional support in the form of paid parental leave or subsidized child care, new parents may rely on instrumental (i.e., financial or material) social support to protect against household economic insecurity during this time. However, due to the homophilous nature of social networks, access to instrumental social support may be stratified and less advantaged new mothers may therefore experience less of a protective effect at this juncture. Using data from three waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, I estimate split fixed effects models to examine the association between instrumental social support and respondents’ economic security in the three years following a first birth, disaggregated by educational status and race. I find that grandparents’ co-residence is protective for the most advantaged mothers, while some cash assistance is protective for mothers with lower educational attainment. However, instrumental social support is not enough to buffer against declines in economic security for most new mothers. Protective policies such as paid parental leave and subsidized child care could lessen the experience of economic insecurity following the transition to parenthood and potentially narrow inequality at this juncture.

Author

• Alyssa Browne, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill