Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) is a longitudinal birth cohort study of American families. Formerly known as the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the study’s name was changed in January 2023.

Core aims of the study are to learn about the capabilities and relationships of unmarried parents and how children and parents in these families fare using various health, economic, and social measures over time. The FFCWS uses a stratified random sampling technique and oversampled non-marital births. Baseline data collection ran from 1998 to 2000, featuring interviews with both biological parents shortly after children's births as well as the collection of medical records. Follow-up interviews were conducted when the children were 1, 3, 5, 9, and 15 years old; as of the time of writing, 22-year interviews are currently being fielded. In addition to parent interviews, the follow-up waves included in-home assessments, child care or teacher questionnaires, and interviews with the child.

Most data for the FFCWS is available for free with the opportunity for users to access restricted contextual data through a contract data process. Some key findings of the study include that unmarried parents and their children face a host of social challenges and tend to have loving but ultimately unstable relationships. Additionally, most fathers are active in their children’s lives, contributing emotionally and materially. The FFCWS has also been utilized for reflections on data quality and survey methodologies. The study is run by Princeton University and Columbia University.