“Fathering with Multiple Partners Associated with Poor Outcomes in Early Childhood”
Young children whose fathers also have children with other women experience greater behavior problems and poorer physical health, according to the study.
Prior to the study, the claim that multiple partner fertility may pose a risk of adverse outcomes for children had not been tested. The study suggests that paternal depression partially explains the association between fathers' multiple partner fertility and children's behavior problems. Fathers' multiple partner fertility also influences children's poorer physical health through lack of father involvement. This evidence suggests that the disruptions brought about by multipartnered fertility are important for understanding child well-being.
The report was published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. It is based on the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, a longitudinal study of births occurring between 1998 and 2000 in U.S. cities with populations over 200,000.
