Union formation, within-couple dynamics, and child well-being: A global macrolevel perspective.

Studies on global changes in families have greatly increased over the past decade, adopting both a country-specific and, more recently, a cross-national comparative perspective. While most studies are focused on the drivers of global changes in families, little comparative research has explored the implications of family processes for the health and well-being of children. This study aims to fill this gap and launch a new research agenda exploring the intergenerational implications of union-formation and within-couple dynamics for children's health and well-being across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), both globally, regionally, and by the stage of fertility transition. We do so by adopting a macro-level perspective and a multi-axis conceptualization of children's outcomes - health at birth, health in later life, and schooling - and leveraging Demographic and Health Survey and World Bank data across 75 LMICs. Our results show that in societies where partnerships are characterized by more equal status between spouses - i.e., where the age range between spouses and differences in years of schooling between partners are narrower - children fare better on several outcomes. These associations are particularly strong in mid- and high-fertility settings. Despite a series of regularities, our results also highlight a set of findings whereby, at a macro-level, the prevalence of marriage and divorce/separation are not invariably associated with children's outcomes, especially in LMICs where fertility is comparatively lower. We document little cross-regional heterogeneity, primarily highlighting the centrality of demographic factors such as age vis-à-vis, for instance, region-specific characteristics that are more tied to the social fabric of specific societies.

Communication with Kin in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study investigates patterns of communication among non-coresident kin in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic using data from the New York City Robin Hood Poverty Tracker. Over half of New Yorkers spoke to their non-coresident family members several times a week during the pandemic and nearly half increased their communication with non-coresident kin since March 2020. Siblings and extended kin proved to be especially important ties activated during the pandemic. New Yorkers were most likely to report increased communication with siblings. A quarter of respondents reported that they increased communication with at least one aunt, uncle, cousin, or other extended family member. While non-Hispanic White respondents reported the highest frequency of communication with kin, it was those groups most impacted by COVID-19 - foreign-born, Black, and Hispanic New Yorkers - who were most likely to report that they increased communication with kin in the wake of the pandemic.

A US State Index of Successful Aging: Differences Between States and Over Time.

Policy Points The focus of successful aging is on the social contexts that enable individuals to be productively engaged and secure, with an emphasis on equity. There is currently no index to measure progress towards this goal at the US state level. We developed an empirical index for the evaluation of US state adaptation to societal aging across five critical domains that support successful population aging: (1) productivity and engagement, (2) security, (3) equity, (4) cohesion, and (5) well-being. Our index shows substantial variability over time and is not overly influenced by the performance of an individual domain. This suggests that it can be used to monitor state progress over time toward the goal of supporting successful aging. Rather than a major national trend, there are large between-state differences and changes in our index over time. This suggests individual US state policies and programs, as well as local economic conditions, may have a substantial impact on adaptations to societal aging. CONTEXT: Although it is recognized that aspects of US state environments impact the likelihood that older adults age successfully, there is currently no reliable and comprehensive measure of contexts that best support successful aging at a state level. The current project adapts a multidimensional index previously used to assess adaptation to successful aging in developed countries and applies it to the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. METHODS: We obtained data from multiple sources for all 50 US states and the District of Columbia from 2003 to 2017 in order to measure five distinct domains that define successful population aging: (1) productivity and engagement, (2) security, (3) equity, (4) cohesion, and (5) well-being. We created a ranking of states for the year 2017 based on these domains, and also examined how individual US state rankings changed over time from 2003 to 2017. FINDINGS: The level of adaptation to successful aging varied substantially between states and over time. The highest-ranked states in 2017 were Vermont, Hawaii, Iowa, Colorado, and New Hampshire, and the lowest-ranked states were Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Mississippi. Mississippi, South Carolina, Iowa, Arizona, and Delaware had the greatest improvement in their ranking over the period of 2003 to 2017. Our findings were generally robust to the weighting scheme used and were not overly influenced by any particular domain. CONCLUSIONS: The US State Index of Successful Aging can be used to monitor US state progress in promoting the well-being and health of aging populations. Factors driving the changes in the index remain to be elucidated.

A Sequence-Analysis Approach to the Study of the Transition to Adulthood in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

This study investigates whether young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have experienced processes of destandardization of the life course similar to those observed in high-income societies. We provide two contributions to the relevant literature. First, we use data from 263 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) across 69 LMICs, offering the richest comparative account to date of women's transition to adulthood (TTA) patterns in the developing world. In so doing, we adopt sequence analysis and shift the focus from individual life-course events-namely first sexual intercourse, first union, and first birth-to a visually appealing approach that allows us to describe interrelations among events. By focusing on the analysis of trajectories rather than the occurrence of single events, the study provides an in-depth focus on the timing of events, time intervals between events, and how experiencing (or not) one event might have consequences for subsequent markers in the TTA in cross-national comparative perspective. Second, we identify clusters of TTA and explore their changes across cohorts by region and household location of residence (rural vs. urban). We document significant differences by macro-regions, yet relative stability across cohorts. We interpret the latter as suggestive of cultural specificities that make the TTA resistant to change and slow to converge across regions, if converging at all. Also, we find that much of the difference across cluster typologies ensues from variation related to when the transition begins (early vs. late), rather than from the duration between events, which tends to be uniformly quick across three out of four clusters.

Changing gender gaps in the timing of first union formation and sexual initiation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Gender differences in union formation and sexual initiation in sub-Saharan Africa remain poorly documented, in large part due to a scarcity of research on the transition to adulthood among men. We adopt a novel perspective on this topic by examining gender gaps in the ages at first union and sex in 24 countries, focusing on measures of central tendency and dispersion. Gender differences in age at first union decreased, driven by postponement among women with relatively late union formation. Yet, due to concurrent persistence of early unions among a sizable portion of women's populations, within-country heterogeneity in ages at first union increased substantially among women. Thus, although forces responsible for earlier union formation among women than men are weakening, these changes affect population strata unequally. Gender differences in age at first sex decreased to a lesser extent, but in some countries, they disappeared or reversed, uncovering a shift in the relationship between gender and timing of sexual initiation. Changes in union formation and sexual initiation are more heterogeneous across countries among men than women, indicating that these processes among men are more context specific. We show importance of studying men's behavior and exploring heterogeneity in union formation and sexual initiation both within and between populations of women and men.

Kinship Practices Among Alternative Family Forms in Western Industrialized Societies.

OBJECTIVE: This paper discusses how kinship is construed and enacted in diverse forms of the family that are now part of the culturally pluralistic family system of Western societies. BACKGROUND: The study is the second in a pair documenting changes over the past century in the meaning and practice of kinship in the family system of Western societies with industrialized economies. While the first paper reviewed the history of kinship studies, this companion piece shifts the focus to research explorations of kinship in alternative family forms, those that depart from the standard nuclear family structure. METHOD: The review was conducted running multiple searches on Google Scholar and Web of Science directly targeting non-standard family forms, using search terms as "cohabitation and kinship," "same-sex family and kinship," and "Artificial Reproductive Technology and kinship," among others. About 70 percent of studies focused on the United States, while the remaining 30 percent focused on other industrialized Western societies. RESULTS: We identified three general processes by which alternative family forms are created and discussed how kinship practices work in each of them. The first cluster of alternative family forms comes about through variations of formal marriage or its absence, including sequential marriages, plural marriages, consensual unions, single parenthood, and same-sex marriages and partnerships. The second cluster is formed as a result of alterations in the reproduction process, when a child is not the product of sexual intercourse between two people. The third cluster results from the formation of voluntary bonds that are deemed to be kinship-like, in which affiliation rests on neither biological nor legal bases. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study point to a broad cultural acceptance of an inclusive approach to incorporating potential kin in "family relationships." It is largely left to individuals to decide whether they recognize or experience the diffuse sense of emotional connectedness and perceived obligation that characterizes the bond of kinship. Also, family scripts and kinship terms often borrow from the vocabulary and parenting practices observed in the standard family form in the West. Concurrently, the cultural importance of biology remains strong. IMPLICATIONS: The study concludes by identifying important gaps in the kinship literature and laying out a research agenda for the future, including building a demography of kinship.

Who Initiates the Help Older Parents Give to Midlife Children.

OBJECTIVES: Older parents continue to help children after these children have been adults for decades. We utilize a typology approach to assess who initiates the help. We ask whether profiles of help initiation are associated with how often older parents help and how they evaluate their helping behaviors. METHODS: Older parents (N = 241; Mage = 80.12) indicated the extent to which they volunteered to help children and helped per child's request. Parents reported their resources and obligation to help, child problems, frequency, and evaluation (rewards/stresses) of helping. RESULTS: Latent profile analysis reveals four profiles representing parents who are initiators (n = 65), responders (n = 56), initiators/responders (n = 50), and uninvolved (n = 69). Resources, needs, and individual beliefs differentiate profiles. Parents offer the same amount of help regardless of who initiates such help. Parents who are initiators/responders view helping as more rewarding than parents who are initiators and more stressful than uninvolved parents. DISCUSSION: This study reveals variation in the initiation of older parents' help and refines our understanding of family help in late life. Findings may suggest a parental expectation for children to be competent in adulthood regardless of their resources and willingness to help.

Gender Differences in Spousal Caregivers' Care and Housework: Fact or Fiction?

OBJECTIVE: Many studies reveal a gender gap in spousal care during late life. However, this gap could be an artifact of methodological limitations (small and unrepresentative cross-sectional samples). Using a data set that overcomes these limitations, we re-examine the question of gender differences in spousal care and housework adjustment when a serious illness occurs. METHOD: We use biannual waves between 2001 and 2015 of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and growth curve analyses. We follow couples longitudinally (identified in the household questionnaire) to analyze shifts in spousal care hours and housework plus errand hours that occur as a response to the spousal care need. We test for interactions with levels of care need and with gender. RESULTS: We found that men increase their care hours as much as women do, resulting in similar care hours. They also increase their housework and errand hours more than women do. Yet at lower levels of spousal care need, women still do more housework and errands because they spent more time doing housework before the illness. DISCUSSION: Even in a context of children's decreasing availability to care for parents, male spouses assume the required caregiving role in systems relying on a mixture of public and private care.

After the Burden Is Lifted: Caregivers' Recovery of Life Satisfaction After the Death or Recovery of a Spouse.

OBJECTIVE: How does caregivers' life satisfaction shift upon the recovery of an ill spouse? Paradoxically, there is a greater increase in life satisfaction upon death than recovery of a spouse. Our analysis explores this paradox. METHOD: We follow the two groups of exiting caregivers longitudinally for 4 years from when the partner is still in need of care until the death (N = 152) or recovery (N = 112) of a previously ill partner, comparing their trajectory of life satisfaction. We use the years 2001-2016 of the German-Socio-Economic Panel Study and a growth curve analysis. RESULTS: Contrary to our expectations, bereaved caregivers experience a significantly stronger increase in life satisfaction than spouses whose partners recover from a serious illness, even when we stratify by age, gender and initial life satisfaction to account for significantly different subsample composition. Surprisingly, life satisfaction remains unchanged when the partner recovers. Only if a heavy burden in terms of unpaid care and housework hours or prior care need is lifted, do we observe an increase in life satisfaction among spouses with recovering partners, which is like the one experienced by bereaved caregivers. DISCUSSION: More support for caregivers with high caregiving burdens may alleviate some of the strain associated with spousal caregiving, as-even if the partner dies-a decrease in spousal caregiving hours results in an uplift in life satisfaction.

Family Change in Global Perspective: How and Why Family Systems Change.

Changes in family systems that have occurred over the past half century throughout the Western world are now spreading across the globe to nations that are experiencing economic development, technological change, and shifts in cultural beliefs. Traditional family systems are adapting in different ways to a series of conditions that forced shifts in all Western nations. In this paper, I examine the causes and consequences of global family change, introducing a recently funded project using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and U.S. Census Bureau data to chart the pace and pattern of changes in marriage and family systems in low- and middle-income nations.

Becoming adults: Challenges in the transition to adult roles.

This article summarizes the reasons for the slower passage to adult status (at least measured by demographic markers) and discusses some of the important implications of what today's pattern of becoming an adult means for young people, their families, and the larger society. By no means should this article be considered a review of the growing body of evidence on the changing pattern of adult transition. Indeed, there are many reviews of the literature on this topic, including books by Richard Settersten and Barbara Ray (2010) and Jeffrey Arnett (2015). The authors intention, rather, is to provide a short overview of the topic and to identify public policies needed to make social institutions capable of adapting successfully to this later regime for entering adulthood. Indeed, entering adulthood still involves school completion, home leaving, and entering a job that is full-time. For many young adults, it also includes forming a partnership and having children, though, as discussed later, these expectations are no longer universal in American society.

"I'll Give You the World": Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Support of Adult Children.

Research has shown that parents with higher socioeconomic status provide more resources to their children during childhood and adolescence. The authors asked whether similar effects associated with parental socioeconomic position are extended to adult children. Middle-aged parents (N = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported support they provided to their grown children and coresidence with grown children (N = 1,384). Parents with higher income provided more emotional and material support to the average children. Grown children of parents with less education were more likely to coreside with them. Parental resources (e.g., being married) and demands (e.g., family size) explained these patterns. Of interest is that lower income parents provided more total support to all children (except total financial support). Lower income families may experience a double jeopardy; each grown child receives less support on average, but parents exert greater efforts providing more total support to all their children.

On a new schedule: transitions to adulthood and family change.

Frank Furstenberg examines how the newly extended timetable for entering adulthood is affecting, and being affected by, the institution of the Western, particularly the American, family. He reviews a growing body of research on the family life of young adults and their parents and draws out important policy implications of the new schedule for the passage to adulthood. Today, says Furstenberg, home-leaving, marriage, and the onset of childbearing take place much later in the life span than they did during the period after World War II. After the disappearance of America's well-paying unskilled and semi-skilled manufacturing jobs during the 1960s, youth from all economic strata began remaining in school longer and marrying and starting their own families later. Increasing numbers of lower-income women did not marry at all but chose, instead, non-marital parenthood-often turning to their natal families for economic and social support, rather than to their partners. As the period of young adults' dependence on their families grew longer, the financial and emotional burden of parenthood grew heavier. Today, regardless of their income level, U.S. parents provide roughly the same proportion of their earnings to support their young adult children. Unlike many nations in Europe, the United States, with its relatively underdeveloped welfare system, does not invest heavily in education, health care, and job benefits for young adults. It relies, instead, on families' investments in their own adult children. But as the transition to adulthood becomes more protracted, the increasing family burden may prove costly to society as a whole. Young adults themselves may begin to regard childbearing as more onerous and less rewarding. The need to provide greater support for children for longer periods may discourage couples from having additional children or having children at all. Such decisions could lead to lower total fertility, ultimately reduce the workforce, and furthdr aggravate the problem of providing both for increasing numbers of the elderly and for the young. U.S. policy makers must realize the importance of reinforcing the family nest and helping reduce the large and competing demands that are being placed on today's parents.

The intersections of social class and the transition to adulthood.

This article provides an introduction to and overview of the literature on how the transition to adulthood is shaped by social class. It brings together two strands of literature. The first reviews why and how the third decade of life has been reshaped by later and longer education. The second considers how the social class position of young adults influences their experience in the early adulthood years and how those experiences in turn affect their prospects in later life.

Delayed Adulthood, Delayed Desistance? Trends in the Age Distribution of Problem Behaviors.

As the transition to adulthood becomes more protracted and less orderly, fewer young people occupy adult roles and experience the social control associated with these roles. One might therefore expect behaviors associated with the teenage years to spill over into older age groups, reflecting postponed entrance into full social adulthood. We test this hypothesis by examining trends over time in the age distribution of crime, substance use, and violent death. We find little evidence that behaviors typical of adolescence are moving upward to older ages. Although the achievement of adult roles is being pushed to older ages, this stretching of the transition to adulthood is not reflected in the observed patterns of substance use, violent death, and arrests.

Multipartnered fertility among American men.

Using the 2002 (Cycle 6) National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), which was the first NSFG to interview men, we document the prevalence and correlates of sequential parenthood with different partners (multipartnered fertility) among a representative sample of American men. Nearly 8% of American men aged 15-44 report having had children with more than one partner, with sharp differences by age, race/ethnicity, and income-over one-third of poor black men aged 35-44 report having had children with two or more mothers, and 16% report children with three or more mothers. Fathers of two or more children by multiple partners appear to be more disadvantaged than fathers with two or more children by the same partner. Multipartnered fertility is strongly related to prior birth characteristics; men not in a coresidential union at the preceding birth are more likely to have their next birth with a new partner and controlling for prior-birth characteristics accounts for the elevated risk of Hispanics and blacks in baseline models. Results also suggest that multipartnered fertility is becoming more prevalent as younger cohorts transition to a new-partner birth more quickly and at a higher rate than older cohorts.

Multipartnered fertility among young women with a nonmarital first birth: prevalence and risk factors.

CONTEXT: Although early nonmarital fertility has been well studied, less attention has been paid to the subsequent fertility of young unwed mothers. In particular, the frequency with which these young women have subsequent births with a new partner (multipartnered fertility) and the risk factors associated with doing so are unknown. METHODS: The proportion of young women who had a first birth and the proportion who subsequently had a child with a new partner were determined among a sample of participants in Waves 1 (1995) and 3 (2001-2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Multivariate analyses identified characteristics associated with multipartnered fertility. RESULTS: By Wave 3, when these young women were 19-25 years old, 29% had had a first birth, and 3% had had births with multiple partners. Among women with a nonmarital first birth, 14% subsequently had a birth with another partner, and 41% with two or more children had had multiple partners. The prevalence of multipartnered fertility differed sharply by race and ethnicity. Most new-partner births occurred outside of marriage, especially among black women. Respondents who had no contact with their partner after informing him of their first pregnancy or who had not wanted to have a child with him had an increased likelihood of multipartnered fertility. CONCLUSIONS: The context in which first births occur sets the stage for subsequent childbearing. Programs that help women avoid having births in unfavorable circumstances, such as in early and unstable relationships, may reduce the prevalence of multipartnered fertility.