Father Involvement Trajectories following Union Dissolution for Low Income Children in Urban South Africa

Sangeetha Madhavan, University of Maryland
Linda Richter, University of Natal
Victoria Hosegood, University of Southampton
Shane Norris, University of the Witwatersrand

In this analysis, we use data from the Birth to Twenty Cohort study in greater Johannesburg of South Africa to 1) describe the trajectories of father involvement over the life course of children whose parents have experienced a union dissolution and 2) examine the influence of life stage of child at time of parental union dissolution and mother’s entry into new union on trajectories of non-residential contact following union dissolution. We find that 1) later life stage of child at parental union dissolution decreases the odds of having intermittent contact compared to full contact in the first five years after dissolution but has the opposite effect in the subsequent five years; 2) mother’s entry into a new union increases odds of having no contact in both time periods; and 3) the presence of a non-parental breadwinner increases the odds of having intermittent and no contact in both time periods.