In-Kind Support from Nonresident Fathers: A Population-Level Analysis

Jennifer Buher Kane, Pennsylvania State University
Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Rutgers University
Irwin Garfinkel, Columbia University
Kathryn Edin, University of Pennsylvania

Prior research on child support payments and policies have focused primarily on formal and informal cash payments, yet recent research highlights a third type: in-kind support. Very few studies have moved beyond estimating the prevalence of in-kind support to quantifying the amount provided, leaving policymakers and researchers with very little information on which to evaluate the relative magnitude of these payments or their comparative effect on child well-being. This study addresses this gap by capitalizing on a unique data source: the Time, Love, and Cash among Couples with Children (TLC3) study, which is a qualitative subsample of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FF). This study (1) quantifies in-kind payments in the TLC3 subsample, (2) uses multiple imputation to extrapolate these estimates to the entire FF sample, (3) examines the relative contribution of in-kind support provided at the national-level, and (4) compares these estimates across various groups of children.