title: Stepfather Involvement and Stepfather-Child Relationship Quality: Race and Parental Marital Status as Moderators.
abstract: Stepparent-child relationship quality is linked to stepfamily stability and children's well-being. Yet, the literature offers an incomplete understanding of factors that promote high-quality stepparent-child relationships, especially among socio-demographically diverse stepfamilies. In this study, we explore the association between stepfather involvement and stepfather-child relationship quality among a racially diverse and predominately low-income sample of stepfamilies with preadolescent children. Using a subsample of 467 mother-stepfather families from year 9 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, results indicate that stepfather involvement is positively associated with stepfather-child relationship quality. This association is statistically indistinguishable across racial groups, although the association is stronger among children in cohabiting stepfamilies compared to children in married stepfamilies.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. toddm.jensen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Todd M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: Princeton University.
authors.forename: Garrett T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Pace
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005219:Father-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology