Funded by the Public Policy Institute of CA
The Fragile Families study follows a new birth cohort of parents and children born in 20 large American cities and is representative of births in cities with populations of 200,000 or more. Within each city, we sample from up to 5 hospitals to obtain a representative sample of 250 non-marital births and a matched control group of 75 marital births. The mother is interviewed in the hospital soon after birth. In about 2/3 of the cases the father is also interviewed in the hospital. Mothers and fathers will be re-interviewed 1, 2, 3, and 4 years after the birth of the child. The Fragile Families study is designed to provide previously unavailable information on: · child health and development in fragile families, · economic and social conditions of unwed fathers and mothers, · relationships between parents and between parents and children, · factors that encourage and discourage fathers' involvement in their children's lives, · the role of government and community programs in promoting good parenting and healthy child development. The Fragile Families study has been designed and pre-tested by the principal investigators -- Sara McLanahan and Marta Tienda at Princeton University and Irwin Garfinkel and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn at Columbia University -- as well as a network of junior scholars, including Sheila Aards at Benedict College, Waldo Johnson at the University of Chicago, Yolanda Padilla at the University of Texas at Austin, Lauren Rich at the University of Pennsylvania, Mark Turner at the Urban Institute, Maureen Waller at the Public Policy Institute of California, and Melvin Wilson at the University of Virginia. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) is conducting the survey. The study was initiated with funding from the Ford Foundation and is now funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and by a consortium of foundations including the Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Hogg Foundation, St. David's Hospital Foundation, the Fund for New Jersey, the Newark Beth Israel Hospital Foundation, the Commonwealth Foundation, and the Public Policy Institute of California.