Variation in the Consequences of Nonresident Father Involvement for Children's Well-Being.

The article presents a study conducted in the United States that examines variation in the effects of nonresident father involvement on child well being. The data for this analysis was taken from the child supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). In addition to annual interviews with the respondents, data on the children of the NLSY women were collected in 1986 and 1988. The study focuses on children who we living in households with their mothers and had a father living elsewhere in 1988. The children who were assessed tend to be born to younger mothers, and this is particularly true of the older children. Five major child assessments have been employed in this study. They are Behavior Problems Index; Self-Perception Profile for Children--Scholastic Competence; Self-Perception Profile for children--Global Self-Worth; Peabody Individual Achievement Test--Mathematics; and Peabody Individual Achievement Test--Reading Recognition. The results show few interactive effects, and no identifiable set of conditions emerged that increased or reduced the importance of father involvement for child well being. (Author abstract)