While transitions in fertility patterns – and their contributing factors and consequences - vary over time and region, there are factors that breach borders. Princeton economist Alícia Adserà lays out a few such pathways for STI in this summary of her recent article, "International Political Economy and Future Fertility Trends".
A new documentary puts faces to research on America’s growing class gap in terms of the social capital that leads to people’s ability to live their own definition of a full and happy life, following and filming real people over the course of a year.
Sociologist Laurie DeRose and her colleague Anna Barren explain interesting new research into the relationship between faith and fertility choices, using the case of Poland as an example.
This year’s edition of the American Family Survey – an annual snapshot of the American family – gave further support to the consistent conclusion that strong families support strong individuals, who in turn support strong neighborhoods and societies, in a virtuous circle. But the COVID-19 crisis has accentuated differences.
STI author and UVA Sociology Professor Brad Wilcox sheds a light on one of the unfortunate ways that elites perpetuate their advantages in an interview about marriage in America with Jonah Goldberg. Wilcox talks about why marriage matters for kids, why it’s in trouble among working-class and poor Americans, and why it’s getting stronger among more educated and affluent Americans.
A new collection of essays furthers study into the multifaceted realities of the contemporary home. Co-editor Antonio Argandoña shares some thoughts on the work in this overview.
Andrew Cherlin weighs in on the chicken and egg question as applied to the question of economic and familial stability in the following excerpt from his essay, “How Inequality Drives Family Formation: The Prima Facie Case.”
Effective family-oriented policies and programs are critical for poverty reduction, the promotion of gender equality, the advancement of work-family balance and the prevention of family homelessness, states a UN report.
Engaged fathers boost fertility rates in various ways. Laurie DeRose explains how.
The latest review of global leave policies and related research is now available from the International Network on Leave Policies and Research. Two STI experts, Allison Koslowski and Alexandra Macht, were among the authors of this 15th edition of the report. It is excerpted below.
Demographic transition has as much or more to do with cultural values as with socio-economic factors.
The World Family Map 2019 was presented last week at the Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families. The Executive Summary “The Ties that Bind: Is Faith a Global Force for Good or Ill in the Family?” follows:
Sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger has found that adult children of divorced families of origin are less likely to divorce from their own marriages than in the past.
All over Europe, civil society is not waiting for governments to solve the problems families face. Varied initiatives in many countries seek to strengthen this fundamental building block of society.
Existing data already show that cohabitating unions are less stable than married ones. New data reveal that many of the partners in such unions are less sure of and less committed to these relationships from the start.
How can we incorporate digital technologies and AI into our homes to benefit all household members, particularly those in need of more care – children, the elderly, the infirm or disabled – while guarding against their disadvantages?
An aging population and ever increasing number of women in the workforce put pressure on the PHS sector, which is disproportionally served by undeclared workers. EU member states are addressing the situation with widely varying models.
Stable families contribute not only to the success of individuals but to the economic prosperity of the broader society according to W. Bradford Wilcox and Joseph Price. They present their view in the chapter “What Does Family Structure Have to Do with Growth around the Globe,” in the latest publication to stem from an STI experts meeting.
A year after reporting on the European Union 7th Framework project “Families And Societies – Changing families and sustainable societies”, we return to examine the findings of one of its reports on the future of families in vulnerable situations.
The recently published The Home: Multidisciplinary Reflections was launched in Barcelona on October 10, with a round table discussion of the enterprise of the home. Editor and chapter author Antonio Argandoña framed the topic for the audience.
Sociologist Brad Wilcox argues that data do not support much of the “received wisdom” the media perpetuates about fathers. He takes on the following five myths:
Social and economic class and family structure have a relationship that is neither merely causal nor merely consequential. The book Unequal Family Lives, just published by Cambridge University Press, explores the many levels on which they influence one another.
Active paternal involvement in the lives of children has been shown to make important differences to the health, wellbeing, satisfaction and productivity of individuals and the society they comprise.
Economist Stefano Zamagni argues that mainstream economics is not up to the task of considering all the facets of what today constitutes a home.
As the home is a living deposit of the human culture of care and transmission of values, it plays a crucial role in the wellbeing of all members of society. The Home: Multidisciplinary Reflections addresses the many facets of this contribution.
Richard Reeves takes issue with some of the ways upper-middle-class families perpetuate their relative advantages, locking-in and even increasing inequality. He identifies behaviors he calls 'dream hoarding,' those that unfairly corner the American dream for those who are already living it.
Economist Alicia Adserà explains some of the ways fertility and employment choices are interrelated. Professor Adserà participated in the Experts Meeting Whither the Child?, which dealt with the issue of low fertility in developed nations.
What will families look like in the future? Are existing social and family policies compatible with changes in family patterns? The project “FamiliesAndSocieties – Changing families and sustainable societies,” coordinated by Stockholm University, studies questions like these.
This provocatively-titled new book by Mark Regnerus has stirred up some controversy. The author, a sociologist from the University of Texas at Austin, expounds on the work and addresses some criticisms of it in this interview with STI.
“Poor and working-class Americans pay a serious economic, social and psychological price for the fragility of their families,” concludes new research for the Opportunity America-AEI-Brookings Working-Class Group.
Data do not support the claim that “marriage is just a piece of paper.” The paperless alternative – cohabitation - is measurably less stable, both for the adults who choose it and for their children, who don’t have the luxury of choice.
If domestic tasks and direct care were assigned a monetary value, they would constitute between 10% and 39% of Gross Domestic Product, but they are generally unrecognized and undervalued by policymakers and legislators.
Family inequality is entwined with inequalities of class, both feeding them and being fed by them.
Understanding families in order to understand society. This is the motivation behind Marta Castillo González’ Master’s Degree work. She intends to analyze whether divorce provokes social inequalities. Is this real?
Speaking at the fourth annual commemoration of Global Parents’ Day at the UN, STI contributor W. Bradford Wilcox presented conclusions from this and the previous year’s World Family Map reports to an audience of some 200 diplomats and NGO leaders.
What’s to blame for rising inequality in income and family stability is a complex issue that must be addressed from many angles to be fully understood.
Because three of the project’s academic partners are universities in Latin America, and one in Spain, the Spanish edition is particularly relevant.
The “Money vs. Marriage” debate between Naomi R. Cahn and W. Bradford Wilcox paves the way for an Experts Meeting next year exploring the same topic.
This is the second IFFD policy paper on unpaid work shared by its Director of International Relations, Ignacio Socias. This paper considers the influence of gender inequality on labor outcome.
Ignacio Socias, Director of International Relations at the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD) shared with STI two policy papers on the value of unpaid work in the home, the first of which follows. The second will follow next week.
The latest STI Experts meeting focused on the home as a complex field worthy of interdisciplinary academic study.
When it comes to dividing household labor, what matters is not how you divide up the labor but whether you have someone with whom to divide the labor.
The recently-released World Family Map 2015, explores different work-family arrangements and their impact on family well-being.
Ten years after STI’s first experts meeting - on family policies – the questions addressed in the meeting are still being debated. STI invites readers to share the original presentations, which are still relevant today.
A new AEI-IFS Study offers data to support claims that growing up with both parents leads to greater wealth, and makes policy recommendations to address the rising income inequality that the study relates to “the retreat from marriage.”
Family sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox gave the following interview to La Vanguardia's Lluis Amiguet. It appeared in the newspaper's "contra" on October 11, 2014 in Spanish. Wilcox has participated in 6 Experts Meetings and 8 STI publications.
Interview with W. Bradford Wilcox, Senior Fellow of the Institute for Family Studies and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Wilcox is Codirector of the World Family Map Project, which is sponsored by STI.
The World Family Map 2014, released this month in the US, suggests that the family contexts of caregiving deserve attention in ongoing efforts to improve children’s health around the world.
Sociologist Brad Wilcox, who heads up many STI Family Branch projects, published an article in "The Atlantic" this week.
Two participants in STI's 2010 Whither the Child? Experts Meeting spoke at the University of Virginia on the relationship between gender equality and fertility in developed nations.
LSE Professor Elliot Green chaired a session at LSE on March 11, 2013 to present some of the issues treated in STI's new book Whither the Child? Causes and Consequences of Low Fertility
STI is pleased to support important research into family trends around the globe.
A new international report from the Social Trends Institute - "The Sustainable Demographic Dividend" - contends that the long-term fortunes of the modern economy rise and fall with the family.
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