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Economic Situation, Financial Strain and Child Wellbeing in Stepfamilies and Single-Parent Families in Germany

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Abstract

Aim

The aim of this paper is to identify predictors of financial strain and to clarify the importance of family type and income, as well as the effects of financial strain, on child wellbeing. We consider family structure by looking at nuclear families, stepfamilies and single-parent families. We also examine family complexity by considering the status of a child, e.g., a common child in a nuclear family, a stepchild, or common child in a stepfamily.

Methods

Applying the Family Stress Model (FSM; Conger et al. 1990), we address the following issues: what family types are more financially burdened and rate themselves as being financially strained? How is child behavior affected by financial strain, and which type of child is affected most?

Results

The data that we use are from the survey “Growing up in Germany”: AID:A II wave (2013–2015); our sample consists of 12,561 children, and the method that we apply is ordered probit models.

Conclusions

Our results clearly suggest that single-parent families and stepfamilies are more vulnerable to be below the poverty threshold. Regarding our second set of analyses, the results suggest that stepchildren and children in single-parent families are more at risk for problem behavior than are children in nuclear families. Moreover, both groups experience financial strain.

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Fig. 1

(Adapted from the Family Stress Model by Conger et al. 1990)

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Notes

  1. See https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.413351.de/presse/diw_glossar/medianeinkommen.html, last accessed January 22, 2019.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Christine Entleitner-Phleps who kindly shared here data preparation with us. She prepared the data file for the family forms for her dissertation “Zusammenzug und familiales Zusammenleben von Stieffamilien [Moving in and living together as a stepfamily]” (2016). We would like to thank the three anonymous referees for very helpful comments and advice.

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  1. German Youth Institute (DJI), P.O. Box 900352, 81503, Munich, Germany

    Valerie K. Heintz-Martin & Alexandra N. Langmeyer

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  1. Valerie K. Heintz-Martin
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Correspondence to Valerie K. Heintz-Martin.

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Appendix

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Table 7 Pairwise correlations
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Heintz-Martin, V., Langmeyer, A. Economic Situation, Financial Strain and Child Wellbeing in Stepfamilies and Single-Parent Families in Germany. J Fam Econ Iss 41, 238–254 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-019-09653-z

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