The Longitudinal Effect of Union and Housing Instability on Low-Income Fathers’ and Mothers’ Parenting Stress: An Exploratory Study of Variable- and Person-Centered Approaches

Abstract

Union and housing instability are individually associated with increased parenting stress, with low-income families more vulnerable to experiencing both, often simultaneously. Extant research has predominantly operationalized union instability using parents’ marital status, has rarely considered the joint influence of both instability forms, and has given low-income fathers less attention. Using one-year longitudinal data from a home visiting intervention study, we examined these relationships among low-income US parents (n=204 fathers and 204 mothers) in an exploratory manner. Using a variable-centered approach (linear regression), findings indicated that union instability positively predicted fathers’ parenting stress, but not mothers’. Conversely, housing instability positively predicted mothers’ parenting stress, but not fathers’. Using a person-centered approach (latent class analysis and linear regression), we described four latent classes for fathers and mothers, representing a mix of union and housing instability forms. Most parents were not stably married and stably living in their own homes. Those who were stably cohabiting and living in their own homes reported less parenting stress than those with unstable relationship status and stably living with relatives. Overall, the study illustrates the value of jointly analyzing union and housing instability alongside parenting stress, across variable- and person-centered approaches, offering preliminary methodological and substantive insights.