Browsing by Author "Gibson Davis, CM"

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    Mothers but not wives: The increasing lag between nonmarital births and marriage
    (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2011-02-01) Gibson Davis, CM
    This study analyzed trends in marital behavior for unwed mothers who gave birth between 1960 and 2004. With nationally representative data on 15,353 White and Black unmarried mothers, results indicated that mothers who gave birth after 1989 were waiting much longer to marry than were mothers giving birth before 1968. The most pronounced delays were found immediately after a birth. Over the study period, the cumulative proportion of women who married within three years of a birth decreased for Whites by 27% and for Blacks by 60%. Findings underscore the separation that has developed between first births and first marriages in the United States, and they highlight the older ages at which children are experiencing a transition to marriage. © National Council on Family Relations, 2011.
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    The effect of the WIC program on the health of newborns.
    (Health Serv Res, 2010-08) Foster, EM; Jiang, M; Gibson Davis, CM
    OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) on birth outcomes. DATA SOURCE: The Child Development Supplement (CDS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The PSID provides extensive data on the income and well-being of a representative sample of U.S. families from 1968 to present. The CDS collects information on the children in PSID families ranging from cognitive, behavioral, and health status to their family and neighborhood environment. The first two waves of the CDS were conducted in 1997 and 2002, respectively. We use information on 3,181 children and their mothers. STUDY DESIGN: We use propensity score matching with multiple imputations to examine whether WIC program influences birth outcomes: birth weight, prematurity, maternal report of the infant's health, small for gestational age, and placement in the neonatal intensive care unit. Furthermore, we use a fixed-effects model to examine the above outcomes controlling for mother-specific unobservables. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: After using propensity scores to adjust for confounding factors, WIC shows no statistically significant effects for any of six outcomes. Fixed-effects models, however, reveal some effects that are statistically significant and fairly substantial in size. These involve preterm birth and birth weight. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the WIC program had moderate effects, but findings were sensitive to the estimation method used.
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    The Role of Pre- and Postconception Relationships for First-Time Parents
    (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2012-06-01) Rackin, H; Gibson Davis, CM
    Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a nationally representative cohort of young adults, the authors analyzed relationship type at the time of a first birth (N = 4,044). More than 10% of births were to a postconception cohabiting household (cohabitations that were initiated between conception and birth), a higher proportion of births than those born to postconception married households. Individuals in postconception and preconception cohabiting relationships (cohabitations that existed prior to conception) were demographically similar; both groups were associated with lower levels of socioeconomic advantage relative to those in preconception and postconception marriage. Postconception and preconception cohabiting relationships were associated with similar levels of dissolution, as 40% dissolved within 3 years of a child's birth. Having a marital union, rather than whether relationship was established pre- or postconception, was more strongly associated with who selected into the relationship and how long the relationship lasted. © National Council on Family Relations, 2012.