Abstract

        It is argued that children with cohabiting (common-law) parents are at a three-fold disadvantage compared with children with married parents, and this has negative effects on the behaviour and well-being of the family, parents and children over the life course, resulting in negative repercussions on the community and social services.

        The threefold disadvantage has to do with less human capital of the parents (formal education, informal and non-formal), weaker commitment to the parents' union, and weaker commitment of the parents to their children.

        Measures for each of these factors are proposed and comparisons between the situation of children of cohabiting and married parents are examined, both when the children are aged 6 to 11 in 1995, and 14 to 19 in 2003.

        Regression analyses explore the relationship between each of forty teen behaviours and attitudes in 2003, and the situation in 1995: parent's marital status (married or cohabiting), formal education (parent's educational attainment and child's junior kindergarten background), informal education (main parent's age and sex, and cigarettes smoked per day, and region of residence), and non-formal education (parent's biblical faith affiliation and child's worship frequency), and the child's age and sex.

        A few patterns are revealed clearly in tables with analytical results. Teens, parents, educators, health practitioners and planners at all levels may note first of all that even after controlling for so many variables, that teens who had cohabiting parents when younger are at a decided disadvantage in a few very important respects: the propensity to smoke, to have had sexual intercourse and to have begun to have sex at a younger age, to sell drugs, to have poor relations with their mother and father, and to have parents who do not get along. No advantages appear in the results.

        Secondly, both the educational attainment of the main parent and the child's attending junior kindergarten, had many positive influences on teen behaviour (non-use of marijuana, not having friends who smoke, not having had sexual intercourse, and being happy with life in general), and no negative influences except for an earlier age of commencement of sexual activity by children who had attended kindergarten.

        Finally, child attendance at church was also found to be beneficial for the teen: less likelihood of smoking, drinking, using marijuana, using other drugs, of damaging things belonging to others, selling drugs, sexual intercourse, having friends who use drugs or drink, and a greater likelihood of having parents who are married, less prone to being upset with one another, and the teen being happy with life.

        The evidence from both tables and analyses tends to support the argument, with few exceptions.