Interrelation of child support, visitation, and hours of work

Monthly Labor Review, June, 1992 by Jonathan R. Veum

The data from mothers are remarkably similar to that from the fathers. Among mothers, those that indicate they do not receive child support payments are more likely to receive daily visits from the father of their children. Also, their children are more likely to be visited only once in the past year. In addition, recipients of support are most likely to be visited once a week or between 1 and 3 times a week.

Hence, the data from both mothers and fathers suggest that among fathers who visit, nonpayers of child support are more likely to have a great deal of contact with the child (almost on a daily basis) or virtually no contact with the child (once a year). This implies that there is a group of fathers whose daily visits may substitute for child support payments. Yet for other fathers, nonpayment of child support is associated with little or no visits.

MOTHERS WHO RECEIVE child support payments are more likely to work than are those who do not, according to information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Yet, among recipients of child support payments, mothers whose children are visited by the absent father work more hours and have higher earnings than do mothers who receive child support only. Although the use of child day .care services is higher among women who receive child support, average weekly expenditures for such services are higher for mothers whose children are visited by the father. Also, fathers who pay child support work more hours and have higher earnings than do those that do not. In addition, fathers who pay support are more likely to visit their children, but among those who visit, nonpayers are more likely to visit either daily or only once a year.

Footnotes

1 These figures are taken from the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1991 (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1991 ).

2 These numbers are taken from Child Support and Alimony: 1987, Special Studies, Series P-23, No. 167 (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 1989).

3 For example, see Irwin Garfinkel, Philip K. Robins, Pat Wong, and Daniel R. Meyer, "The Wisconsin Child Support Assurance System," Journal of Human Resources, vol. 25, no. 1, 1990, pp. 1-31; or Philip K. Robins, "Child Support, Welfare Dependency, and Poverty," American Economic Review, vol. 76, no.4, 1986, pp. 768-88.

4 See Marilyn E. Manser and others, "National Longitudinal Surveys: development and uses," Monthly Labor Review, July 1990, pp. 32-37, or NLsHandbook 1991.

5 See Allyson Sherman Grossman and. Howard Hayghe, "Labor force activity of women receiving child support or alimony," Monthly Labor Review, November 1982, pp. 39-41.

6 Benefits from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are reduced dollar-for-dollar if child support received is more than $50 per month.

7 See John W. Graham and Andrea H. Beller, "The Effect of Child Support Payments on the Labor Supply of Female Family Heads," Journal of Human Resources, vol. 24, no. 4, 1989, pp. 664-85.

8 For example, see Judith A. Seltzer, Nora Cate Schaeffer, and Hong-Wen Charng, "Family Ties after Divorce: The Relationship between Visiting and Paying Child Support," Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 51, November 1989, pp. 1013-32.