Theories of family functioning suggest that childbearing with multiple partners may increase
parenting stress due to changes in social and economic resources and the challenges associated
with parenting across multiple households. These family processes may not be equally stressful
for mothers and fathers, because they face different parental constraints and responsibilities. I
use four waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether
multi-partnered fertility increases parenting stress for mothers and fathers.