Fenaba R Addo
Biographic Data
| ID | 120287 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fenaba R Addo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fenaba R |
| FAMILY NAME | Addo |
| SIGNATURE | ADDO F R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1935-3300 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 335 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Wealth and the Transition to Motherhood
Wealth, a significant dimension of inequality that captures both financial security and social position, shapes patterns of family formation. This study evaluates the role of wealth in the transition to motherhood. We argue that wealth is particularly relevant to when women become mothers, and whether their first birth is desired or undesired. Leveraging longitudinal panel data from the NLSY79 (n=2,382), we find that net worth is linked with a hi…
Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality
The racial wealth gap in the United States is the object of much misrepresentation and misunderstanding. Our paper is intended to provide a corrective. We will address how the mainstream economic view of the drivers of racial disparities in wealth is a human capital view that promotes anti-Black and personal responsibility narratives while ignoring the significance of the racially uneven transmission of resources across generations. It also fails…
Introduction to the Special Issue on “The Political and Economic Contexts of Families’ Financial Lives”
Gender stratification, racial disparities, and student debt trajectories in the United States
Disparate Recoveries: Wealth, Race, and the Working Class after the Great Recession
What does it mean to be working class in a society of extreme racial wealth inequality? Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we investigate the wealth holdings of Black, Latinx, and white working-class households during the post–Great Recession (pre–COVID-19) period that spanned 2010 to 2019. We then explore the relationship between working-class and middle-class attainment using a wealth-based metric. We find that, in terms of their …
Debt Concordance and Relationship Quality: A Couple-Level Analysis
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
Do Marriage and Cohabitation Provide Benefits to Health in Mid-Life? The Role of Childhood Selection Mechanisms and Partnership Characteristics Across Countries
Extensive research has found that marriage provides health benefits to individuals, particularly in the U.S. The rise of cohabitation, however, raises questions about whether simply being in an intimate co-residential partnership conveys the same health benefits as marriage. Here, we use OLS regression to compare differences between partnered and unpartnered, and cohabiting and married individuals with respect to self-rated health in mid-life, an…
Seeking relief: Bankruptcy and health outcomes of adult women
This study examined the impact of declaring consumer bankruptcy on the physical and mental health of adult women and if outcomes differed depending on whether the filer received automatic debt discharge under Chapter 7 compared to a debt repayment plan with Chapter 13. Sample data consisted of women from the NLSY79 cohort who completed the age 40 and 50 health modules as of the most recent wave. Results indicated a negative effect of bankruptcy o…
Reexamining the Association of Maternal Age and Marital Status at First Birth With Youth Educational Attainment
We reexamined the association of maternal age and marital status at birth with youth high school completion using data from the Children and Young Adult sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and giving attention to multiple age categories and race and ethnic variations. Youth born to older teen mothers were no more likely to graduate from high school than those born to the youngest teen mothers. Although delaying childbirth to …
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red: Parental Wealth, Race, and Student Loan Debt
First-birth Timing, Marital History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite evidence that first-birth timing influences women's health, the role of marital status in shaping this association has received scant attention. Using multivariate propensity score matching, we analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to estimate the effect of having a first birth in adolescence (prior to age 20), young adulthood (ages 20-24), or later ages (ages 25-35) on women's midlife self-assessed health. Find…
Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood
Despite growing evidence that debt influences pivotal life events in early and young adulthood, the role of debt in the familial lives of young adults has received relatively little attention. Using data from the NLSY 1997 cohort (N = 6,749) and a discrete-time competing risks hazard model framework, I test whether the transition to first union is influenced by a young adult’s credit card and education loan debt above and beyond traditional educa…
Does Nonmarital Childbearing and Mother's Later Marriage Influence Child Health in Adolescence
Mothers' Union Histories and the Mental and Physical Health of Adolescents Born to Unmarried Mothers
As nonmarital childbearing becomes a dominant pathway to family formation, understanding its long-term consequences for children's well-being is increasingly important. Analysis of linked mother-child data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicates a negative association of having been born to a never-married mother with adolescent self-assessed health but not with depressive symptoms. We also consider the role of mothers' subs…
Marriage, Marital History, and Black - White Wealth Differentials Among Older Women
This study investigated the impact of union history and marital transitions on wealth inequality between older Black and White women (N = 7,026). Cohort data from the Health and Retirement Study show large and increasing Black - White differences in wealth. Marital and relationship histories are associated with the wealth accumulation process among older women. Women who married and stay married accumulated levels of wealth that exceeded those of…
Ethnoracial Differences in Early Union Experiences among Young Adult Women
This paper uses data from the 1997 cohort of National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine racial differences in the first coresidential union experiences of young adult women in early adulthood. Young adults increasingly choose to delay marriage and opt to live with a significant other during their early adulthood years. Results from early studies of racial differences in relationship formation reported that Blacks had a higher probability tha…
The Tempo of Sexual Activity and Later Relationship Quality
Rapid sexual involvement may have adverse long-term implications for relationship quality. This study examined the tempo of sexual intimacy and subsequent relationship quality in a sample of married and cohabiting men and women. Data come from the Marital and Relationship Survey, which provides information on nearly 600 low- to moderate-income couples living with minor children. Over one third of respondents became sexually involved within the fi…
Nonmarital Childbearing, Union History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite high rates of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, little is known about the health of women who have nonmarital births. We use data from the NLSY79 to examine differences in age 40 self-assessed health between women who had a premarital birth and those whose first birth occurred within marriage. We then differentiate women with a premarital first birth according to their subsequent union histories and estimate the effect of marr…
The tempo of relationship progression among low-income couples
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red: Parental Wealth, Race, and Student Loan Debt
Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood
Despite growing evidence that debt influences pivotal life events in early and young adulthood, the role of debt in the familial lives of young adults has received relatively little attention. Using data from the NLSY 1997 cohort (N = 6,749) and a discrete-time competing risks hazard model framework, I test whether the transition to first union is influenced by a young adult’s credit card and education loan debt above and beyond traditional educa…
Marriage, Marital History, and Black - White Wealth Differentials Among Older Women
This study investigated the impact of union history and marital transitions on wealth inequality between older Black and White women (N = 7,026). Cohort data from the Health and Retirement Study show large and increasing Black - White differences in wealth. Marital and relationship histories are associated with the wealth accumulation process among older women. Women who married and stay married accumulated levels of wealth that exceeded those of…
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
Nonmarital Childbearing, Union History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite high rates of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, little is known about the health of women who have nonmarital births. We use data from the NLSY79 to examine differences in age 40 self-assessed health between women who had a premarital birth and those whose first birth occurred within marriage. We then differentiate women with a premarital first birth according to their subsequent union histories and estimate the effect of marr…
The Tempo of Sexual Activity and Later Relationship Quality
Rapid sexual involvement may have adverse long-term implications for relationship quality. This study examined the tempo of sexual intimacy and subsequent relationship quality in a sample of married and cohabiting men and women. Data come from the Marital and Relationship Survey, which provides information on nearly 600 low- to moderate-income couples living with minor children. Over one third of respondents became sexually involved within the fi…
Disparate Recoveries: Wealth, Race, and the Working Class after the Great Recession
What does it mean to be working class in a society of extreme racial wealth inequality? Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we investigate the wealth holdings of Black, Latinx, and white working-class households during the post–Great Recession (pre–COVID-19) period that spanned 2010 to 2019. We then explore the relationship between working-class and middle-class attainment using a wealth-based metric. We find that, in terms of their …
First-birth Timing, Marital History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite evidence that first-birth timing influences women's health, the role of marital status in shaping this association has received scant attention. Using multivariate propensity score matching, we analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to estimate the effect of having a first birth in adolescence (prior to age 20), young adulthood (ages 20-24), or later ages (ages 25-35) on women's midlife self-assessed health. Find…
Do Marriage and Cohabitation Provide Benefits to Health in Mid-Life? The Role of Childhood Selection Mechanisms and Partnership Characteristics Across Countries
Extensive research has found that marriage provides health benefits to individuals, particularly in the U.S. The rise of cohabitation, however, raises questions about whether simply being in an intimate co-residential partnership conveys the same health benefits as marriage. Here, we use OLS regression to compare differences between partnered and unpartnered, and cohabiting and married individuals with respect to self-rated health in mid-life, an…
Reexamining the Association of Maternal Age and Marital Status at First Birth With Youth Educational Attainment
We reexamined the association of maternal age and marital status at birth with youth high school completion using data from the Children and Young Adult sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and giving attention to multiple age categories and race and ethnic variations. Youth born to older teen mothers were no more likely to graduate from high school than those born to the youngest teen mothers. Although delaying childbirth to …
The tempo of relationship progression among low-income couples
Mothers' Union Histories and the Mental and Physical Health of Adolescents Born to Unmarried Mothers
As nonmarital childbearing becomes a dominant pathway to family formation, understanding its long-term consequences for children's well-being is increasingly important. Analysis of linked mother-child data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicates a negative association of having been born to a never-married mother with adolescent self-assessed health but not with depressive symptoms. We also consider the role of mothers' subs…
Wealth and the Transition to Motherhood
Wealth, a significant dimension of inequality that captures both financial security and social position, shapes patterns of family formation. This study evaluates the role of wealth in the transition to motherhood. We argue that wealth is particularly relevant to when women become mothers, and whether their first birth is desired or undesired. Leveraging longitudinal panel data from the NLSY79 (n=2,382), we find that net worth is linked with a hi…
Ethnoracial Differences in Early Union Experiences among Young Adult Women
This paper uses data from the 1997 cohort of National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine racial differences in the first coresidential union experiences of young adult women in early adulthood. Young adults increasingly choose to delay marriage and opt to live with a significant other during their early adulthood years. Results from early studies of racial differences in relationship formation reported that Blacks had a higher probability tha…
Gender stratification, racial disparities, and student debt trajectories in the United States
The tempo of relationship progression among low-income couples
Nonmarital Childbearing, Union History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite high rates of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, little is known about the health of women who have nonmarital births. We use data from the NLSY79 to examine differences in age 40 self-assessed health between women who had a premarital birth and those whose first birth occurred within marriage. We then differentiate women with a premarital first birth according to their subsequent union histories and estimate the effect of marr…
Ethnoracial Differences in Early Union Experiences among Young Adult Women
This paper uses data from the 1997 cohort of National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine racial differences in the first coresidential union experiences of young adult women in early adulthood. Young adults increasingly choose to delay marriage and opt to live with a significant other during their early adulthood years. Results from early studies of racial differences in relationship formation reported that Blacks had a higher probability tha…
The Tempo of Sexual Activity and Later Relationship Quality
Rapid sexual involvement may have adverse long-term implications for relationship quality. This study examined the tempo of sexual intimacy and subsequent relationship quality in a sample of married and cohabiting men and women. Data come from the Marital and Relationship Survey, which provides information on nearly 600 low- to moderate-income couples living with minor children. Over one third of respondents became sexually involved within the fi…
Does Nonmarital Childbearing and Mother's Later Marriage Influence Child Health in Adolescence
Mothers' Union Histories and the Mental and Physical Health of Adolescents Born to Unmarried Mothers
As nonmarital childbearing becomes a dominant pathway to family formation, understanding its long-term consequences for children's well-being is increasingly important. Analysis of linked mother-child data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicates a negative association of having been born to a never-married mother with adolescent self-assessed health but not with depressive symptoms. We also consider the role of mothers' subs…
Marriage, Marital History, and Black - White Wealth Differentials Among Older Women
This study investigated the impact of union history and marital transitions on wealth inequality between older Black and White women (N = 7,026). Cohort data from the Health and Retirement Study show large and increasing Black - White differences in wealth. Marital and relationship histories are associated with the wealth accumulation process among older women. Women who married and stay married accumulated levels of wealth that exceeded those of…
Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood
Despite growing evidence that debt influences pivotal life events in early and young adulthood, the role of debt in the familial lives of young adults has received relatively little attention. Using data from the NLSY 1997 cohort (N = 6,749) and a discrete-time competing risks hazard model framework, I test whether the transition to first union is influenced by a young adult’s credit card and education loan debt above and beyond traditional educa…
First-birth Timing, Marital History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Despite evidence that first-birth timing influences women's health, the role of marital status in shaping this association has received scant attention. Using multivariate propensity score matching, we analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to estimate the effect of having a first birth in adolescence (prior to age 20), young adulthood (ages 20-24), or later ages (ages 25-35) on women's midlife self-assessed health. Find…
Reexamining the Association of Maternal Age and Marital Status at First Birth With Youth Educational Attainment
We reexamined the association of maternal age and marital status at birth with youth high school completion using data from the Children and Young Adult sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and giving attention to multiple age categories and race and ethnic variations. Youth born to older teen mothers were no more likely to graduate from high school than those born to the youngest teen mothers. Although delaying childbirth to …
Young, Black, and (Still) in the Red: Parental Wealth, Race, and Student Loan Debt
Seeking relief: Bankruptcy and health outcomes of adult women
This study examined the impact of declaring consumer bankruptcy on the physical and mental health of adult women and if outcomes differed depending on whether the filer received automatic debt discharge under Chapter 7 compared to a debt repayment plan with Chapter 13. Sample data consisted of women from the NLSY79 cohort who completed the age 40 and 50 health modules as of the most recent wave. Results indicated a negative effect of bankruptcy o…
Do Marriage and Cohabitation Provide Benefits to Health in Mid-Life? The Role of Childhood Selection Mechanisms and Partnership Characteristics Across Countries
Extensive research has found that marriage provides health benefits to individuals, particularly in the U.S. The rise of cohabitation, however, raises questions about whether simply being in an intimate co-residential partnership conveys the same health benefits as marriage. Here, we use OLS regression to compare differences between partnered and unpartnered, and cohabiting and married individuals with respect to self-rated health in mid-life, an…
Racial Disparities in Student Debt and the Reproduction of the Fragile Black Middle Class
A nascent literature recognizes that student loan debt is racialized and disproportionately affects youth of color, especially black youth. In this study, the authors expand on this research and ask whether black-white disparities in student debt persist, decline, or increase across the early adult life course, examine possible mechanisms for changes in racial disparities in student debt across early adulthood, and ask whether racial disparities …
Debt Concordance and Relationship Quality: A Couple-Level Analysis
Disparate Recoveries: Wealth, Race, and the Working Class after the Great Recession
What does it mean to be working class in a society of extreme racial wealth inequality? Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we investigate the wealth holdings of Black, Latinx, and white working-class households during the post–Great Recession (pre–COVID-19) period that spanned 2010 to 2019. We then explore the relationship between working-class and middle-class attainment using a wealth-based metric. We find that, in terms of their …
Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality
The racial wealth gap in the United States is the object of much misrepresentation and misunderstanding. Our paper is intended to provide a corrective. We will address how the mainstream economic view of the drivers of racial disparities in wealth is a human capital view that promotes anti-Black and personal responsibility narratives while ignoring the significance of the racially uneven transmission of resources across generations. It also fails…
Introduction to the Special Issue on “The Political and Economic Contexts of Families’ Financial Lives”
Gender stratification, racial disparities, and student debt trajectories in the United States
Wealth and the Transition to Motherhood
Wealth, a significant dimension of inequality that captures both financial security and social position, shapes patterns of family formation. This study evaluates the role of wealth in the transition to motherhood. We argue that wealth is particularly relevant to when women become mothers, and whether their first birth is desired or undesired. Leveraging longitudinal panel data from the NLSY79 (n=2,382), we find that net worth is linked with a hi…
Sociology (15 works) · Demography (13 works) · Economics (13 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics (11 works) · Demographic economics (10 works) · Demography (9 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Medicine (9 works)