Family Relationship and Child Wellbeing in Post-Separation Families

Research question/goal: 

A considerable body of literature has identified that post-separation children face disadvantages concerning their cognitive and social skills compared to children who live with both of their biological parents in a household. Most existing research analyses families in the US; only in the last years, the association between non-intact families and child outcomes has been examined increasingly in the continental European context. However, only few studies explicitly investigate mediators of this association.

In this project, we investigate the mediating effect of different types of conflicts that can occur in post-separation families. We distinguish conflicts between the two biological parents, between the mother and her new partner, between the child and each biological parent, and between the child and the stepparent in the household. Especially information about stepparent–child and step-parental relationship quality might improve our understanding of why children who live with their two biological parents fare better than those who live in stepfamilies. We focus on two child well-being indicators as outcome variables (behavioural problems and emotional symptoms), using data of 8- to 16-year-old children surveyed in the German Family Panel pairfam.

Current stage: 

One focus of our project was to examine whether changes in family structure are associated with an increase in children's stress levels. To this end, we used a biomarker, measured in children’s blood, as an objective stress indicator, which is included in the KiGGS data of the German Robert Koch Institute. We analysed both the transition to a single-parent family and the transition to a stepfamily. The work has been presented at conferences and is currently under review for publication. In a new paper project, we focus on children's school grades after the transition to a new family structure using Norwegian register data. In the analysis, we also consider children living in joint physical custody, i.e. children who live with each parent for at least 30 percent of the time. The study is being prepared for publication.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
DFG
Duration: 
2018 to 2024
Status: 
ongoing
Data Sources: 
survey dataset
Geographic Space: 
Germany

Publications

Journal Articles

van Damme, Maike, Sandra Krapf and Michael Wagner (2023): Housing density and its consequences for couples in Germany: staying, moving, or breaking up?. Housing Studies, 38, issue 8, pp. 1560-1588. more
Kuhlemann, Jana, and Sandra Krapf (2022): Parental repartnering and child well-being: What role does coresidence play?. Journal of Family Research, 34, issue 2, pp. 823–846. more
Wagner, Michael, Clara H. Mulder, Bernd Weiß and Sandra Krapf (2019): The transition from living apart together to a coresidential partnership. Advances in Life Course Research, 39, pp. 77-86. more

Conference Presentations

Kleinschlömer, Pauline, Mine Kühn, Lara Bister, Tobias Vogt and Sandra Krapf (2022): Family transitions and consequences for children's stress level. A longitudinal analysis based on biomarker. [RC28 Spring Meeting, London, April 21st to April 23rd, 2022] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, Mine Kühn, Lara Bister, Tobias Vogt and Sandra Krapf (2022): Family transitions and consequences for children's stress level. A longitudinal analysis based on biomarker. [7th pairfam Interdisciplinary International Conference, Munich, May 11th to May 13th, 2022] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, Mine Kühn, Lara Bister, Tobias Vogt and Sandra Krapf (2022): Family transitions and consequences for children's stress level. A longitudinal analysis based on biomarker. [European Population Conference, Groningen, June 29th to July 02nd, 2022] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, and Sandra Krapf (2021): Familienstruktur und kindliches Wohlbefinden. Variiert der Einfluss der Trennung der Eltern auf das Wohlergehen der Kinder je nach Beziehungsqualität?. [Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Familiensoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, (virtual conference), March 10th to March 11th, 2021] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, Mine Kühn, Lara Bister, Tobias Vogt and Sandra Krapf (2021): Familienstruktur und Stress bei Kindern. Eine Längsschnittanalyse basierend auf Biomarkern. [Herbsttagung der Sektion Familiensoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, (virtual conference), November 24th to November 25th, 2021] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, and Sandra Krapf (2021): Family structure and child well-being. Does the impact of parental separation on child well-being vary by relationship quality?. [7th pairfam User Conference, (virtual conference), September 30th to October 01st, 2021] more
Kleinschlömer, Pauline, Mine Kühn, Lara Bister, Tobias Vogt and Sandra Krapf (2021): Parental separation and long-term consequences for children’s stress levels. [19th Conference of the European Divorce Research Network, (virtual conference), October 13th to October 15th, 2021] more
Krapf, Sandra, and Marcel Raab (2020): Children’s Well-Being in Stepfamilies: The Importance of Financial Resources and Parent-Child Relationship Quality. [18th Meeting of the European Network for the Sociological and Demographic Study of Divorce, (virtual conference), October 14th to October 16th, 2020] more
Krapf, Sandra (2019): Postseparation family arrangements, entry into stepfamily living and child wellbeing. [Colloquium of the Institute of Sociology, Tübingen, July 10th, 2019] more
Krapf, Sandra (2018): New family constellations and child well-being in Germany. [European Population Conference, Brussels, June 06th to June 09th, 2018] more
Krapf, Sandra, and Marcel Raab (2018): Unstable family arrangements and children's well-being. [16th Meeting of the European Network for the Sociological and Demographic Study of Divorce, Tel Aviv, October 10th to October 12th, 2018] more