TY - THES A1 - Molina, Stefania T1 - The influence of family dynamics on the well-being of adults and children N2 - This cumulative dissertation examines how family dynamics—such as union dissolution, cohabitation, and repartnering—shape the well-being of adults and children in Germany and Colombia. It situates these family changes within broader social transformations across Europe and Latin America, emphasizing how socioeconomic inequality, gender norms, and cultural contexts influence diverse family structures. A distinctive contribution lies in integrating partnership quality and intimate partner violence (IPV) as key dimensions linking family dynamics to individual and child well-being. Drawing on both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, the dissertation presents five empirical analyses. The first study investigates how mothers’ partnership status and experiences of physical IPV during pregnancy are related to infant health in Colombia. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), it finds that cohabiting and separated mothers face higher IPV risks, highlighting IPV as a critical determinant of family and child outcomes. The second study examines women’s economic independence and the risk of IPV during separation in Germany, using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam). Results show that employment and higher education reduce IPV risk, while women with minor children remain particularly vulnerable. The third study employs an intersectional approach to analyse divorce and mental health in Germany. Results show that women are more likely than men to receive a mental health diagnosis following divorce, especially at older ages, and that low income increases the likelihood of mental illness for both men and women. The fourth study explores how partnership quality and separation relate to parental mental health, showing that separation can relieve depression for those leaving low-quality partnerships but may exacerbate it for fathers exiting high-quality ones. The fifth study assesses how family structure and parental partnership quality affect children’s socio-emotional well-being, finding that children in stepfamilies report greater difficulties, although higher parental esteem mitigates some negative effects. Together, these findings underscore the complex interplay between family structures, partnership quality, and well-being. The dissertation calls for policies that promote gender equality, prevent IPV, and support families through transitions to enhance both adult and child well-being. T3 - Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School - 09/2025 Y1 - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-59685 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-5968 N1 - Parts of the dissertation have been published: Chapter 2 Molina, S. (2025). Unmarried motherhood and infant health: The role of intimate partner violence in Colombia. Demographic Research, 52, 141–178. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2025.52.6 Chapter 3 Molina, S., Wagner, L., & Kreyenfeld, M. (2025). Women’s economic independence and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) during separation. PLOS ONE, 20(6), e0326529. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326529 Chapter 4 Molina, S., Alonso-Perez, E., & Kreyenfeld, M. (2025). Divorce and Mental Health: Is Late Divorce Particularly Harmful for Women with Low Earnings? Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-025-03721-8 N1 - Shelf mark: 2025D009; 2025D009+1 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Molina, Stefania T1 - A visual exploration of mortality and fertility development in France, Japan, and the United States N2 - - Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-41875 U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4187 ET - Internship Final Report September - December 2021. Public Policies and Demographic Change (Prof. Michaela Kreyenfeld) ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Alonso-Perez, Enrique A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - Divorce and Mental Health: Is Late Divorce Particularly Harmful for Women with Low Earnings? JF - Social Indicators Research N2 - This paper examines the relationship between divorce and mental health, with a focus on how this association is stratified by sex, age, and individual income. In particular, we test the hypothesis that divorce at advanced ages (50–59) is particularly harmful for women with insufficient personal earnings. Data is drawn from German register data, which includes marital histories of divorcees and diagnosed health outcomes. The analytical sample includes persons aged 30–59 in 2015 (n = 23,426,639). The outcome is the annual incidence of mental disease diagnosis which is examined from an intersectional approach by drawing on MAIHDA (Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy). Our findings indicate that women are at a higher risk of receiving a mental health diagnosis than men. Divorce significantly amplifies this risk. Additionally, low income poses a heightened risk for both women and men, particularly when divorce occurs at advanced ages. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-025-03721-8 N1 - Open Access publication is funded by the Hertie School Library. PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Wagner, Lena A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - Women’s economic independence and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) during separation JF - PLOS One N2 - A growing number of studies have addressed the issue of intimate partner violence (IPV). While some studies have shown that women’s economic independence reduces the risk of physical IPV, the empirical evidence is still inconclusive. In particular, little is known about the factors that are associated with the likelihood of experiencing physical IPV during the immediate separation process. We use data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) for the years 2009–2022. The analytical sample consists of women who went through a separation since the last interview (n = 786 person-years). We use logistic regression models to examine the determinants of physical IPV during separation. We find that mothers with minor children have significantly higher odds of experiencing physical IPV during separation than women who do not have minor children (OR=1.96, p=.006), controlling for key sociodemographic characteristics. Low education as well as non-employment are associated with higher risks of physical IPV during separation for both women with and without minor children. However, non-employment is a particular risk factor for mothers with lower levels of education. Divorce and separation, especially when minor children are involved, can be a highly stressful time when partner conflict escalates and, in some cases, culminates in violence against the partner. This paper highlights the importance of maternal labor market integration and economic independence as a lever to potentially reduce physical IPV and conflict during separation. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326529 VL - 20 IS - 6 PB - Public Library of Science (PLoS) ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Molina, Stefania T1 - Unmarried motherhood and infant health: The role of intimate partner violence in Colombia JF - Demographic Research N2 - Background: Research has shown that growing family diversity, including motherhood among unmarried women, is associated with child well-being. However, little is known about whether and how intimate partner violence (IPV) shapes the relationship between family diversity and child outcomes. Colombia is an ideal case to study these relationships due to the country’s high prevalence of unmarried motherhood and large fraction of women who report experiencing IPV. Objective: This study expands previous research by studying the association between the mother’s partnership status and low birth weight, and examines the role of physical IPV during pregnancy in this Colombian context. Methods: The study draws on Colombian Demographic and Health Survey data (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015), and selects mothers with children aged 0–1 who were married, cohabiting, or separated at the time of the interview. Descriptive analysis shows trends across time in the partnership status of women with newborn children, and logistic regression models estimate whether the mother’s partnership status was associated with low birth weight, and how experiencing IPV during pregnancy affected this relationship. Results: The results show that separated and cohabiting mothers reported higher levels of IPV during pregnancy than married mothers. The levels of IPV reported by cohabiting women decreased across the observation period to become more like those of married women. However, the difference in low birth weight between the infants of married and unmarried mothers can mostly be attributed to differences in maternal and child characteristics, as well as to disparities in healthcare utilization during pregnancy. Contribution: The paper calls attention to the correlation between IPV and family forms in the Latin American context, and relates it to child outcomes. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4054/demres.2025.52.6 VL - 52 SP - 141 EP - 178 PB - Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wagner, Lena A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Alonso-Perez, Enrique A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela T1 - What difference does it make? Parental relationship quality and child wellbeing in step- and nuclear families JF - Genus N2 - This study adopts a dyadic perspective to explore how parental partnership quality relates to the wellbeing of children living with both biological parents versus those with a biological parent and a stepparent. We apply multivariable linear regression and a mediation analysis on dyadic data from the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) to understand the relationship between family structure, step- and biological parents’ partnership quality, and children’s self-reported wellbeing, operationalised over the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-scores). We differentiate two separate dimensions of parental partnership quality, namely the frequency of conflict and esteem between the (step-) parents. The results show that children living with a stepparent exhibit higher total difficulties scores as compared to children living with both their biological parents. However, parental conflict occurs less and esteem more frequently in stepfamilies than in nuclear families. Mediation analysis indicates that frequency of esteem between parents partially mediates the impact of family structure on SDQ-scores. Our analysis suggests that the negative effect of living with stepparents on children’s social and behavioural problems is slightly mitigated by increased parental esteem in these unions. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-025-00269-w VL - 81 IS - 1 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Boll, Christina A1 - Kreyenfeld, Michaela A1 - Molina, Stefania A1 - Wagner, Lena T1 - FReDA Module: Causes and Consequences of Economic Abuse in Intimate Partnerships N2 - This document describes a newly developed module on economic abuse in intimate partnerships that will be integrated into Wave 6 of the FReDA (Family Research and Demographic Analysis) panel study. The module aims to capture key dimensions of economic abuse within intimate relationships and to expand the analytical potential of the FReDA data in this field. It comprises three conceptual batteries: economic control (Wirtschaftliche Kontrolle / Ressourcennutzungsverhinderung), economic sabotage (Wirtschaftliche Sabotage / Ressourcenaneignungsverhinderung), and economic exploitation (Wirtschaftliche Ausbeutung / Ressourcenmissbrauch). Together, these batteries provide a comprehensive and systematic measurement of economic abuse, enabling detailed empirical analyses of its prevalence, forms, and consequences. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/uatqp_v1 PB - SocArXiv ER -