Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Public and private transfers

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Garfinkel, I.
  Forthcoming in Garfinkel, I., McLahanan, S. & Wimer, C. (Eds.)Children of the Great Recession New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation
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  A large proportion of families with children experienced poverty and economic insecurity during the Great Recession. This suggests that many families also relied on both public and private transfers to make ends meet. In this chapter we examine assistance families receive from public transfers targeted at the poor, low-income, and unemployed – including Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; commonly known as Food Stamps), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), housing assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We also examine unemployment insurance (not targeted at the poor) as well as private transfers, including both cash transfers and in- kind housing assistance from relatives and friends. Not surprisingly, we find that many families rely heavily on both public and private transfers and that a recession increases families’ likelihood of receiving such transfers. Private transfers make up for a miniscule portion of lost income and we find little evidence to suggest doubling up increases in recessions. Public transfers increase income a great deal — nearly 30% amongst the most vulnerable groups. Public transfers also contributed notably to preventing increases in poverty and economic insecurity.

• Economic wellbeing

  Garfinkel, I. & Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Forthcoming in Garfinkel, I., McLahanan, S. & Wimer, C. (Eds.)Children of the Great Recession New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation
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  This chapter describes the economic wellbeing of families with children born at the turn of the 21st century and how the Great Recession affected their wellbeing. The economic circumstances of families are described in terms of employment, household income and two measures of economic distress – poverty and economic insecurity/hardship. Our analyses indicate that employment and household incomes increase steadily as education increases, but that the largest gap is between those with a college degree and everyone else. We find nearly as large a difference in income when comparing white families to black and Hispanic families and married parent families to cohabiting and single mother families. The Great Recession exacerbated differences in income by imposing the largest percent losses in income on the most vulnerable groups—families formed by poorly educated, minority and unmarried parents. At the same time, we find that the Great Recession also narrowed the gaps in poverty and especially, hardship rates between the more privileged and more vulnerable groups by spreading economic distress to better off families, in particular those with some post secondary education.

• Understanding grandfamilies: Characteristics of grandparents, non-resident parents and children

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Dunifon, R.E.
  Journal of Marriage and Family, 78, (2016)
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  Using unique data from the Year-9 Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N~3,182), we investigated the characteristics of those in grandfamilies (grandparents raising their grandchildren with no parent present, N=84) and compared them to other key groups, including children’s non-resident parents and other economically disadvantaged families with children. Results show that grandparents raising their grandchildren were generally better off in terms of educational attainment, marital status and economic well-being than the child’s parents. Grandparents raising their grandchildren also had very similar characteristics to other disadvantaged mothers. Academic and socio-emotional wellbeing was poorer among children in grandfamilies compared with those living with their mothers, but parenting practices were very similar. These findings suggest that although children in grandfamilies may be at a disadvantage academically and socio-emotionally, grandparent caregivers are in many ways similar to other fragile family mothers. Overall, this study enhances our knowledge of an important, yet understudied, family type.

• Maternal labor force participation and differences by education in an urban birth cohort study – 1998-2010

  Pilkauskas, N.V., Waldfogel, J. & Brooks-Gunn, J.
  Demographic Research, 34, (2016)
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  Maternal labor force participation has increased dramatically over the last 40 years yet surprisingly little is known about longitudinal patterns of maternal labor force participation in the years after a birth, or how these patterns vary by education. We document variation by maternal education in mothers’ labor force participation (timing, intensity, nonstandard work, multiple job-holding) over the first 9 years after the birth of a child. We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N~3000) to predict longitudinal labor force participation in a recent longitudinal sample of mothers who gave birth in large US cities between 1998 and 2000. Labor force participation gradually increases in the years after birth for mothers with high school or less education, whereas for mothers with some college or more, participation increases between ages 1 and 3 and then remains mostly stable thereafter. Mothers with less than high school education have the highest rates of unemployment (actively seeking work), which remain high, compared with all other education groups whose unemployment declines over time. Compared with all other education groups, mothers with some college have the highest rates of labor force participation, but also high rates of part-time employment, non-standard work, and multiple job-holding. This paper shows that simple conceptualizations of labor force participation do not fully capture the dynamics of labor force attachment for mothers in terms of intensity, timing of entry, and type of work hours, as well as differences by maternal education.

• Living with a grandparent and a parent in early childhood: Associations with school readiness and differences by demographic characteristics

  Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Developmental Psychology, 50, (2014)
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  Despite the increasing prevalence of three-generation family households (grandparent, parent, child), relatively little research has studied these households during early childhood. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort (N~6,550), this study investigated the associations between three-generation coresidence in early childhood and school readiness, and how the associations differed by maternal age, race/ethnicity, nativity, relationship status and poverty. For the full sample of children, no associations between three-generation coresidence and school readiness were found. Analyses by demographic characteristics found that race/ethnicity and nativity moderated the associations; whereas maternal age, relationship status and poverty did not. The study found that three-generation coresidence was associated with lower levels of expressive language for White, Asian and Black children, but more expressive language for Hispanic children. Coresidence was also associated with more externalizing behavior for White and American Indian/Alaskan Native children but less externalizing behavior for Hispanic and Black children. Analyses by maternal nativity found that for children of immigrant mothers, three-generation coresidence was associated with more expressive language and less externalizing and internalizing behavior. Interactions between race/ethnicity and nativity found that the positive associations for Hispanic children were concentrated among children of immigrant parents. No differences were found between grandmother-only and grandmother/grandfather three-generation family households. Overall the findings suggest there may be heterogeneity by race/ethnicity and nativity in the associations between three-generation coresidence and school readiness.

• The prevalence and economic value of doubling up

  Pilkauskas, N.V., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S.S.
  Demography, 51, (2014)
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  Doubling up (living with relatives or non-kin) is a common source of support for low-income families, yet to date no study has estimated its economic value relative to other types of public and private support. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families Study, we examine the prevalence and economic value of doubling up among families with young children living in large cities. We find that doubling up is a very important part of the private safety net in the first few years of a child’s life, with nearly fifty percent of mothers reporting at least one instance of doubling up by the time their child is 9-years old. The estimated rental savings from doubling up is significant and comparable in magnitude to other public and private transfers.

• Breastfeeding initiation and duration in coresident grandparent, mother and infant households

  Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Maternal and Child Health Journal, 18, (2014)
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  Objectives: In the U.S., the prevalence of three-generation households, where a grandparent, parent and child coreside, has increased in the last decade. Three-generation coresidence during infancy is particularly common and as many as 15% of infants live in a three-generation household shortly after birth. Although prior research has linked family structure with breastfeeding behavior, no research has studied whether breastfeeding behavior varies by grandparent coresidence. This study is the first to investigate the association between three-generation coresidence and breastfeeding behaviors. Methods: This paper uses two data sets, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort (n~8250), a nationally representative study of U.S. children, and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n=4,053), an urban sample of mostly low-income unmarried U.S. mothers, to study the association between three-generation coresidence and breastfeeding initiation and duration using multivariate logistic regressions with extensive socio-demographic controls. Results: Three-generation coresidence was associated with lower odds of breastfeeding initiation among the less advantaged mothers but not in the nationally representative sample of mothers. In comparison, three-generation coresidence was associated with lower odds of breastfeeding for six months or greater in both study samples. Conclusions: Three-generation coresidence is generally associated with fewer breastfeeding behaviors. Three-generation coresidence may serve as a marker for differences in the likelihood of breastfeeding that can help inform public health strategies aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates. Research studying interventions with grandparents and the effects on breastfeeding behaviors may be a useful next step in public health promotion of breastfeeding.

• Private financial transfers, family income, and the Great Recession

  Gottlieb, A, Pilkauskas, N.V. & Garfinkel, I.
  Journal of Marriage and Family, 76, (2014)
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  Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=4,701; 1998-2010), we studied whether the unemployment rate was associated with private financial transfers (PFTs) among urban families with young children and whether family income moderated these associations. We found that an increase in the unemployment rate was associated with greater PFT receipt, and that family income moderated the association. Poor and near poor mothers experienced increases in PFT receipt when unemployment rates were high, whereas mothers with incomes between two and three times the poverty threshold experienced decreases. Simulations estimating the impact of the Great Recession suggest that moving from 5 to 10 percent unemployment is associated with a 9 percentage point increase in the predicted probability of receiving a PFT for the sample as a whole, with greater increases in predicted probabilities among poor and near poor mothers.

• Three-generation family households in early childhood: Cross-national comparisons between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Martinson, M. L.
  Demographic Research, 30, (2014)
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  Background: Shifting demographic trends in the United States (US) have resulted in increasing numbers of three-generation family households, where a child lives with a parent(s) and grandparent(s). Although similar demographic trends have been occurring in the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, very little research has studied three-generation coresidence in these countries and no research has documented trends cross-nationally. Objective: We investigate differences in the rates of three-generation coresidence in early childhood cross-nationally. Methods: This study uses three longitudinal birth cohort studies to investigate cross-national differences in three-generation coresidence in early childhood: the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort for the US, the Millennium Cohort Study for the UK, and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children - Birth Cohort. Results: We find that nearly one-quarter of US children live in a three-generation household during early childhood, compared to 8% of children in the UK and 11% in Australia. Although there are large differences in the frequency of coresidence cross-nationally, we find that similar demographic groups live in three-generation households across contexts. In general, younger, less educated, lower income, and minority mothers are more likely to live in three-generation households in all three countries. http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol30/60/default.htm

• Examining the antecedents of U.S. nonmarital fathering using two national datasets

  Carlson, M. J., Van Orman, A. & Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Demography, 50 (2013)
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  Despite the dramatic rise in U.S. nonmarital childbearing in recent decades, limited attention has been paid to factors affecting nonmarital fatherhood (beyond studies of young fathers). In this article, we use data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort to examine the antecedents of nonmarital fatherhood, as compared to marital fatherhood. Overall, we find the strongest support across both data sets for education and race/ethnicity as key predictors of having a nonmarital birth, consistent with prior literature about women’s nonmarital childbearing and about men’s early/teenage fatherhood. Education is inversely related to the risk of nonmarital fatherhood, and minority (especially black) men are much more likely to have a child outside of marriage than white men. We find little evidence that employment predicts nonmarital fertility, although it does strongly (and positively) predict marital fertility. High predicted earnings are also associated with a greater likelihood of marital childbearing but with a lower likelihood of nonmarital childbearing. Given the socioeconomic disadvantage associated with nonmarital fatherhood, this research suggests that nonmarital fatherhood may be an important aspect of growing U.S. inequality and stratification both within and across generations.

• Three-generation family households: Differences by family structure at birth

  Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Journal of Marriage and Family, 5 (2012)
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  Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,898), this study investigated how the share, correlates, transition patterns, and duration of 3-generation households vary by mother's relationship status at birth. Nine percent of married mothers, 17% of cohabiting mothers, and 45% of single mothers lived in a 3-generation family household at the time of the child's birth. Incidence over time was much higher and most common among single-mother households: Sixty percent lived in a 3-generation family household at least 1 wave. Economic need, culture, and generational needs were associated with living in a 3-generation household; correlates varied by mother's relationship status. Three-generation family households were short lived, and transitions were frequent. Kin support through coresidence was an important source of support for families with young children and in particular families in which the parents were unwed at the time of their child's birth.

• The Great Recession, public transfers and material hardship

  Pilkauskas, N.V., Currie, J. & Garfinkel, I.
  Social Service Review, 3 (2012)
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  Economic downturns lead to lost income and increased poverty. Although high unemployment almost certainly also increases material hardship and government transfers likely decrease hardship, the first relationship is not yet documented and the second is poorly understood. This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the associations of unemployment, government transfers, and material hardship. The Fragile Families study collected the latest wave of data during the Great Recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression. The data provide a unique opportunity to examine how high unemployment affects the well-being of low-income families. This study finds that the unemployment rate is associated with increased overall material hardship, difficulty paying bills, having utilities disconnected, and increased usage of welfare, food stamps, unemployment insurance, and Medicaid. If not for food stamps, food hardship during the Great Recession might have increased by twice the amount actually observed.

• Maternal religious involvement and breastfeeding initiation and duration

  Burdette, A. & Pilkauskas, N.V.
  American Journal of Public Health, 10 (2012)
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  Although religious involvement is associated with a number of beneficial health outcomes, few studies have investigated whether religious involvement is associated with breastfeeding behaviors. Our analyses of 2 waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 4 166) indicate that mothers who frequently attend religious services are more likely to initiate breastfeeding than are mothers who never attend services. Understanding religious variations in breastfeeding may allow public health officials to more effectively target vulnerable populations. (Am J Public Health. 2012; 102:1865-1868. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300737)

• Material hardship and children’s socioemotional behaviors: Differences by types of hardship, timing and duration

  Zilanawala, A. & Pilkauskas, N.V.
  Children and Youth Services Review, 34 (2012)
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  Child behavior problems are associated with long-term detrimental effects. A large body of literature looks at the association between income and child behavior but few studies examine this association with material hardship, an alternative economic indicator. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the following questions: (a) Is material hardship associated with child socioemotional behavior and are there differences by developmental timing, (b) Are particular hardships (bills, utilities, food, housing, medical) more strongly associated with child behavior, and (c) Are there differences in the association between short-term and long-term material hardship and child behavior? We find that children in households experiencing material hardship score significantly higher on externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Additionally, we find that a mother's inability to pay bills, experience of utility interruption, and housing instability are adversely related to child behavior. We also find that the association between material hardship and child behaviors is stronger at age 5 and that chronic aggregate hardship has a stronger association with child behavior.

• Couples as partners and parents over children's early years

  Carlson, M. J., Pilkauskas, N. V., McLanahan, S.S. & Brooks-Gunn, J.
  Journal of Marriage and Family, 73 (2011)
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  We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how couple relationship quality and parental engagement are linked over children's early years-when they are infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Our sample included 1,630 couples who were coresident over Years 1 - 3 and 1,376 couples who were coresident over Years 3 - 5 (1,196 over both periods). Overall, we found that better relationship quality predicted greater parental engagement for both mothers and fathers-especially in the infant to toddler years; in contrast, we found little evidence that parental engagement predicted future relationship quality. In general, married and cohabiting couples were similar in how relationship quality and parenting were linked.

• Discussions about preventive services: A qualitative study

  Lasser, K., Kelly, B., Maier, J., Murillo, J. Hoover, S., Isenberg, K., Pilkauskas, N.V., Willis, B. & Hersey, J.
  BMC Family Practice, 9 (2008)
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  Background: Elderly minority patients are less likely to receive influenza vaccination and colorectal cancer screening than are other patients. Communication between primary care providers (PCPs) and patients may affect service receipt.

  Methods: Encounters between 7 PCPs and 18 elderly patients were observed and audiotaped at 2 community health centers. Three investigators coded transcribed audiotapes and field notes. We used qualitative analysis to identify specific potential barriers to completion of preventive services and to highlight examples of how physicians used patient-centered communication and other facilitation strategies to overcome those barriers.

  Results: Sharing of power and responsibility, the use of empathy, and treating the patient like a person were all important communication strategies which seemed to help address barriers to vaccination and colonoscopy. Other potential facilitators of receipt of influenza vaccine included (1) cultural competence, (2) PCP introduction of the discussion, (3) persistence of the PCP (revisiting the topic throughout the visit), (4) rapport and trust between the patient and PCP, and (5) PCP vaccination of the patient. PCP persistence as well as rapport and trust also appeared to facilitate receipt of colorectal cancer screening.

  Conclusion: Several communications strategies appeared to facilitate PCP communications with older patients to promote acceptance of flu vaccination and colorectal cancer screening. These strategies should be studied with larger samples to determine which are most predictive of compliance with prevention recommendations.

Manuscripts Under Review

• Home and car ownership among low-income families in the Great Recession: Differences by family structure and race/ethnicity

  Duque, V., Pilkauskas, N.V. & Garfinkel, I.
  Presented at APPAM
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  This paper examines the association between the Great Recession and real assets among families with young children. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=4,898), we investigate the association between the city unemployment rate and home and car ownership and how the relationship varies by family structure (married, cohabiting, and single parents) and by race/ethnicity (White, Black, and Hispanic mothers). We find that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a -0.5% lower probability of home ownership and a -0.7% lower probability of car ownership. We also find that the recession was associated with lower levels of home ownership for cohabiting families and for Hispanic families, as well as lower car ownership among single mothers and among Black mothers, while no change was observed among married families or White households. Considering that homes and cars are the most important assets among middle and low-income households in the US, these results suggest that the rise in the unemployment rate during the Great Recession may have increased household asset inequality across family structures and race/ethnicities.

• Giving unto others: Private financial transfers and material hardship among families with children

  Pilkauskas, N.V., Campbell, C. & Wimer, C.
  (Revise and Resubmit)
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  Prior research shows that financial assistance from family and friends is an important source of support for families with children. However, research on financial transfers has largely focused on the recipients of transfers. In this study, the authors use longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n~16,000 person-waves) to examine the association between the provision of financial assistance to family and friends and material hardship. Results from pooled regression and fixed effects models indicate that providing financial transfers is associated with a higher risk of hardship; however, financial transfers are more strongly associated with bill and food hardship, not housing, utility, or medical hardship. Furthermore, the association between providing financial transfers and hardship is strongest for families who give smaller amounts of money and for the most economically disadvantaged groups. These findings have important implications for understanding how exchanges of financial assistance relate to poverty and economic self-sufficiency.

• Prevalence, measurement, and characteristics of grandfamilies

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Duifon, R.
  (Revise and Resubmit)
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  Many U.S. children live in a household consisting of a grandparent and grandchild but no parent, referred to here as a grandfamily. Surprisingly little is known about such families, however, in part due to a lack of consensus on how to measure grandfamily households. Using data from the 2005-2013 American Community Surveys (ACS) and the Household Relationships Topical Module of the 1996, 2001, 2004 and 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) we study the prevalence, measurement and characteristics of grandfamilies. We compare two approaches to household enumeration: one in reference to the household head, used in the ACS, and another that documents all relationships in the household, used in the SIPP. We find that the all relationships approach provides estimates of the share of children in grandfamilies that are between one-sixth to one-half of a percentage point higher than the other approach. Data from the ACS suggests that the percent of children in grandfamilies between 2005 and 2013 was relatively stable – about 2.14% – but that grandfamily households have become less Black and more educated over time. We also find that grandfamilies are very complex; many include aunts/uncles and other relatives of the child. Finally, public program participation rates are relatively high among grandfamilies.

• Longitudinal measures of maternal employment and school readiness.

  Pilkauskas, N.V., Brooks-Gunn, J. & Waldfogel, J.
  (Revise and Resubmit)
  Show abstract

  Although many studies have investigated links between maternal employment and children’s development, little research has considered whether longitudinal measures of maternal employment are linked with school readiness. Using unique employment calendar data from in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N=1,997), an urban birth cohort study, this paper investigated associations between longitudinal measures of maternal employment in early childhood (birth to age 5) and child behavior and cognitive skills at age 5. An increase in maternal employment in early childhood was associated with lower levels of externalizing behavior and higher PPVT and Woodcock-Johnson cognitive scores. Comparisons between traditional measures of maternal employment generally found in observation studies (at each survey wave) were comparable to those found with the employment calendar but somewhat overstated the observed associations. Findings were robust to differences by developmental timing and in residualized change models.

Manuscripts in Progress

• Trends in extended family households and links with child poverty

  Pilkauskas, N.V.

• Children living with grandparents in early childhood: Prevalence, stability and complexity

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Dunifon, R.E.
  Presented at PAA - 2016
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  Using four national data sets (American Community Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study –Birth Cohort and Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study) this paper addresses three research questions: 1) what is the prevalence of children living in three-generation and grandfamily households and how does this change over time and over childhood? 2) how stable are these living arrangements, and what is the extent and nature of children’s movement between these two types of households? and 3) how complex are three-generational and grandfamily households and how does this change over childhood (focusing specifically on the presence of aunts and uncles)? Our key findings are that three-generational households have increased in prevalence over the past two decades, that it is common for children to transition between three-generational and grandfamily households, and that many children living with a grandparent also live with aunts, uncles and other relatives in the household.

• Low-income families and the public and private safety net

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Gottlieb, A.
  Presented at PAA - 2016
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  A number of qualitative studies have documented that low-income families rely on both public and private safety nets to make ends meet. Yet, little quantitative research has examined how families package these two types of support. Nor has research considered how receipt of different types of private support (doubling up, kin child care, and financial transfers) might be linked differentially with different forms of public support (TANF, WIC, EITC, SSI, SNAP, Medicaid, public housing, Head Start). The relationship between private and public support is important to understand as families who rely on private support may face barriers to receiving needed public supports. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study we examine the association between private safety net use and public safety net receipt and study how low-income urban mothers package these forms of support. Focusing on a sample of mothers with household incomes below 200% of poverty, we find that 56% of mothers use both public and private support, 40% rely on just public transfers but very few rely on private support alone or no support. We find evidence that there is heterogeneity in the interplay between public and private support by type of support received. Results also suggest that packaging support yields greater financial support suggesting that public and private support likely serve as compliments rather than substitutes. This study helps shed light on how low-income families, post-welfare reform, package public and private safety nets to meet their basic needs.

• Household composition and family well-being: Exploring the relationship between doubling up and hardship

  Pilkauskas, N.V. & Mykyta, L.
  Presented at PAA - 2016
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  Despite the increased prevalence of doubling up, there has been little attention in the literature to the effects of doubling up on other measures of economic wellbeing like material hardship. In this analysis, we use data from the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine the relationship between doubling up and material hardship (including overall, housing, medical and utility-related hardships) as well as food insecurity. We estimate individual random-effects and fixed-effects models and find that doubling up is associated with lower levels (or log odds) of experiencing most types of material hardship. However, doubling up is associated with more difficulty in accessing medical care and more food hardship. Taken together, our results suggest that doubling up has varying effects on different types of hardship. Future work will try to exploit the longitudinal data to examine the direction of the associations and to consider how public program use might be changing (as SNAP eligibility changes when families double up).