Children's Contact with Absent Parents

This paper reports preliminary results from an investigation of childrens living arrangements and contact with biological parents living elsewhere. Using data from a recent national survey the authors describe race and ethnic variation in US childrens family structure and contact with parents in other households. The analysis treats frequency of contact with absent parent(s) as a function of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the childs household as well as duration of parent-child separation whether the child was born outside marriage sex of absent parent and childs age and sex. The study differentiates children living with 1 biological parent from those in households with neither biological parent. (authors)