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Using census and survey microdata from 49 African countries across 415 subnational areas, we offer a comprehensive overview of household size and composition in Africa. The study emphasizes the potential of these data for understanding family dynamics through co-residential units. Clear regional patterns emerge, showcasing a wide range of household sizes across the continent. We find that household size is linked primarily to the number of children and secondarily to the presence of other family and non-family members beyond the nuclear household. The analysis of household composition also highlights the uneven influence of polygyny and extended families. This research is a first step in examining harmonized census and survey data to delve into the structure and dynamics of households across Africa from a demographic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the shift in family influence on socio-economic outcomes, focusing on sibling relationships, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries in the Barcelona area. Our findings reveal a diminishing role of vertical ties (parents–children) and an increasing significance of horizontal ties (between siblings). Specifically, brothers who were first in the sibling group to marry exerted more influence on socio-economic persistence over time, aligning with the changes in familial dynamics since proto-industrialization. Gender dynamics highlight the influence of first-married brothers’ influence, although first-married sisters were also significantly associated with non-first-married siblings’ social mobility. The intensification of horizontal ties is seen as a cooperative model among siblings, challenging the notion of a complete loss of family influence during industrialization. The study contributes nuance to modernization theory by highlighting the enduring importance of kinship in industrial periods, especially among siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that family transitions, specifically births and deaths of preceding and following generations within families, are associated with individuals' later-life wellbeing and health. However, lifecourse, family systems and role theories suggest that this relationship might be complex because, as individuals age, they can experience multiple such events and their effects might be interconnected. Therefore, this study asks whether and how transitions into and out of multiple intergenerational family roles are associated with later-life wellbeing and health. We account for the occurrence, timing and ordering of the parents' death and the birth of the first child and grandchild. To this end, we use the concept of 'generational placement trajectories'. They capture the vertical position of individuals in their intergenerational family over age and reflect the changing family roles and kinship reservoir of individuals across their lifecourse. Applying sequence, cluster and regression analyses to data from the German Ageing Survey (N = 3,617), we investigate associations between generational placement trajectories from birth to age 60 and four dimensions of later-life wellbeing and health, namely life satisfaction, depressiveness, functional limitations and physical health problems. Results support, first, the notion of salutary effects of a larger kinship reservoir and multiple social roles in the family and, second, indicate that 'off-time' transitions are associated negatively with various later-life wellbeing and health outcomes. Importantly, the effect of temporal deviations from the 'normative' family lifecourse might be affected by individual socio-economic differences. We enhance previous research by demonstrating that the occurrence, timing and ordering of transitions into and out of multiple kin relations and family roles across the lifecourse relate to individuals' later-life wellbeing and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that children from two-parent married families fare better than children from other families on many outcomes. Only fragmented evidence on diverse family trajectories in association with child mental health is available. Using multi-channel sequence analysis and data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we jointly capture maternal partnership trajectories and type of father co-residence between birth and age 5. We then assess the association between these family trajectories and child mental health at age 5 and 8 using random effects regression. Children whose trajectories include the entrance of a non-biological father or parental separation have the lowest levels of mental health. However, children of never partnered mothers and those who repartner with the biological father have comparable mental health to children of stably married biological parents. Thus, not all types of family complexity or instability appear to be equally detrimental to children's mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of children are being raised with few or no siblings yet the consequences of this seismic demographic shift in family forms are not well understood. We investigate this question in the U.S. and China because previous studies highlight how contextual features can play an important role shaping how siblings matter. Our Chinese analyses draw on more than 9,400 eighth graders from the China Education Panel Study (CEPS). In the U.S., we analyze over 9,100 American eighth graders from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K:98), where our data allow us to consider multiple features of the sibship structure (e.g., size, sex composition, and density). We find that number of siblings is negatively associated with mental health in both China and the U.S., although the details of this pattern (non-linear association, sisters versus brothers, and closely versus widely spaced siblings) vary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigated subjective well-being (SWB)—happiness, meaningfulness, sadness, stress, and tiredness—of 7,087 mothers, engaged in 11,154 cases of activities in which their children were present, using the Conservation of Resources theory. Results of OLS analysis of data from the American Time Use Study suggested that the presence of her parent(s) during the activities was associated positively with the mother's happiness and negatively with her stress. Total time spent with her parent(s) was positively associated with the mother's tiredness. Co-residence with parents was not significantly related to the mother's SWB. The association between the mother's SWB and her involvement with parents was positively moderated by demographic variables that may have increased her need for core resources in the form of kin support. The focus on sandwiched activities in which a mother engaged with her children and parents permitted direct assessment of how those activities affected the mother's SWB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has witnessed a dramatic expansion of higher education, and women have emerged as noteworthy winners in the process. This paper focuses on the role of female college education on four dimensions of marriage: age at marriage, autonomy in the choice of spouse, work and financial empowerment, and quality of marital relationship. The study uses a sample of 35,561 currently married women from the 2011-2012 wave of the nationally representative India Human Development Survey (IHDS). It demonstrates that higher education, particularly college education, enables women to lead lives substantively different from their less-educated peers. College-educated women marry at later ages, enjoy greater autonomy in choosing their husbands, and have a more egalitarian relationship with their spouses. Furthermore, the study finds that educational homogamy and hypogamy afford greater autonomy to women. Even without a concomitant increase in labor force participation, college education among women appears to have a transformative effect on marriage in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., evidence has emerged suggesting that divorce is lower among those with many versus few siblings, a pattern that may indicate that children develop important social skills via their childhood interactions with siblings. However, this pattern has yet to be tested in other countries with varying fertility and divorce rates. We extend the empirical basis of the sibship size/divorce literature by exploring the association in China and Europe, each with unique demographic characteristics. Each additional sibling is associated with an 11 percent decline in the probability of divorce in China and a two percent decline in Europe, net a wide range of covariates. We also test whether these patterns vary across cohorts and alternative coding schemes. The results have implications for our understanding of how growing up with siblings influences later life outcomes and the contextual features that form that relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premarital sex predicts divorce, but we do not know why. Scholars have attributed the relationship to factors such as differences in beliefs and values, but these explanations have not been tested. It is further unclear how this relationship changes by number of sexual partners, or differs by gender. We re-examine this relationship with event history models using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Models include measures of adolescent beliefs and values, religious background, and personal characteristics, as well as approximate number of premarital sexual partners in young adulthood. We find the relationship between premarital sex and divorce is highly significant and robust even when accounting for early-life factors. Compared to people with no premarital partners other than eventual spouses, those with nine or more partners exhibit the highest divorce risk, followed by those with one to eight partners. There is no evidence of gender differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies in the United Kingdom have shown distinctions in intergenerational co-residency between UK-born and foreign-born individuals, however, little research has examined how factors such as immigrant incorporation, economic adaptation, and kin availability shape household formation patterns among immigrants. This paper uses data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–2010) to explore differences in the likelihood of UK-born and foreign-born working-aged adults to co-reside with at least one parent, highlighting distinctions by life stage (age) at migration and gender. Results show that, regardless of life stage at migration, foreign-born women and men are less likely to co-reside with parents than UK-born, however, intergenerational co-residency is high among some second-generation immigrant groups, particularly UK-born Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi individuals. These findings challenge cultural assumptions about household formation patterns and point to the need for additional research on how economic inequality, kin availability, and gender norms shape immigrant household composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature reveals the multifaceted experiences of the biologically related children of parents in adoptive families, or adoptive siblings. Adoptive siblings report a range of positive and negative experiences related to adoption. Some adoptive siblings describe their families as fractured or broken after adoption while others describe adoption as bringing their families closer together. Because of the range of experiences expressed, the current study examines specific factors to determine what is related to or affects adoptive sibling's view of their family relationships. Results of this study revealed that no specific family factors were significantly related to adoptive sibling's views; however, adoptive siblings who reported being in families that talked openly and honestly about their thoughts and feelings reported increased family connection and satisfaction and increased sibling closeness with their adopted sibling. These findings elicit further understanding of the adoptive sibling experience and include clinical implications for supporting adoptive families post-adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, women are mostly in charge of working in the fields, providing unpaid care, which includes housekeeping and providing care for others in their homes and communities without receiving any specific financial compensation. The present study is aimed at assessing the significance, nature and size of the responsiveness of women's unpaid work to the various demographic characteristics of families in the tribal and non-tribal areas of India. The impacts of different variables on SNA, ESNA, NSNA, and overall unpaid work of tribal and nontribal women were separately investigated. The Multiple Linear Regression Model was applied using the Microsoft Office Excel Analysis ToolPak. The findings suggest that women are engaged in SNA activities regardless of the family's demographic structure in both tribal and non-tribal areas. However, the participation of non-tribal women in ESNA activities is more complex and requires further study compared to tribal women. The involvement of tribal and non-tribal women in NSNA activities is influenced by factors beyond demographic variables (except age), such as psychological, social, and cultural factors. In case of the overall unpaid work burden, the impact of the same factors (except for the number of family members) on unpaid work differs between tribal and non-tribal women. However, education demonstrates a strong positive and significant impact on reducing unpaid work burden across both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the evolution of the morphology of families in Peru in the different stages of the demographic transition, in a comparative approach between urban and rural areas. To do so, it takes as indicators the composition, size and headship of households, from the population censuses from 1972 to 2017, and from the Household Surveys from 2000 to 2020. The results show a diversification of the nuclear model, an increase in single-person and female-headed households, and a decrease in the size of households, with differences within both areas of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has documented trends in, and demographic associations with, the prevalence of childfree women in multiple countries. However, despite significant media coverage, little is known about childfree women in the Philippines. We use population-representative data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program to investigate changes in the prevalence of childfree women age 15-49 in the Philippines between 1993 and 2022 (Pooled N = 120,378). We also examine the demographic characteristics associated with being childfree among Filipino women. We find that prevalence rates of Filipino childfree women were stable until about 2013, after which they have risen dramatically, particularly among single women. Additionally, we find that Filipino women are more likely to be childfree if they are single, older, and live in an urban area. We discuss implications of these results for future research on childfree adults and for Philippine family policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey study of the language and literacy practices of first-generation Turkish immigrant families with 3- to 6-year-old children was conducted in England. Information on family socioeconomic background, migration history and language skills of 168 first-generation Turkish parents was collected through structured interviews in Greater London and Northwest England. The study findings suggest that early childhood experiences that are important for the educational attainment of immigrant children may be affected by the family characteristics and the integration experiences of parents. Regression analyses demonstrated that parents from disadvantaged backgrounds engaged in language and literacy activities less often and preferred Turkish as the interaction language at home. Parent's social integration, measured via parent's length of residence and English skills, significantly predicted their language use with their children. Low social integration was associated with increased Turkish use, whereas high social integration was associated with more frequent language and literacy activities at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wealth matters for children's well-being. However, most research has considered only the wealth held in children's resident households, even though more than one quarter of U.S. children have a parent living elsewhere. We provide the first national estimates of nonresident parent wealth among children who ever lived with both parents in a shared household. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1984-2021)-whose survey design enables us to produce unbiased estimates with respect to factors that condition access to nonresident parents-to describe the characteristics of nonresident parent wealth, children's potential access to it, and its contribution to educational attainment. We find that nonresident parent wealth varies substantially and that the rank-rank correlation between nonresident and resident parent wealth is roughly .3. Nonresident parent wealth is positively predictive of more frequent parent-child contact, more consistent and higher value child support payments, and children's bachelor's degree attainment, suggesting that it is related to multiple domains of parenting and child well-being. The findings demonstrate that accounting for the spread of resources across households, but within a family system, is critical to understanding broader patterns of inequality in American family life., (Copyright © 2025 The Authors.)

We analyze the effects of household structure on education in Cambodia. Consistent evidence documents that residence with both biological parents benefits children's education in Western countries. Elsewhere, the issue is gaining more attention with the growing number of "left-behind children" due to adult migration and, possibly, changes in family behavior, but the extant record is both thinner and more contrasted. Controlling for the presence of grandparents and some household characteristics, we find children residing with both biological parents are more likely to be enrolled in school, in the appropriate grade for their age, and literate than those living with only one parent. The effect sizes appear comparable to those in most Western countries, but the effects shrink or even disappear when grandparents are present. The results for children not residing with either parent are mixed, suggesting negative effects for some children might be blurred by positive selection for some others.

This study uses data from the American Community Survey to examine the relationship between race, family configurations, and inequalities in private school enrollment among adoptees. We find that private school enrollment is higher in transracial than in same-race families. This disparity is driven by the outcomes of adoptees in transracial families with zero rather than one same-race parent. Among adoptees themselves, there are diverging patterns of racial stratification in same-race and transracial families. White adoptees in same-race families are more likely to be enrolled in private school than Black, Asian, or Hispanic adoptees in such families. However, among adoptees in transracial families, the highest odds of private school enrollment are found among Asians. Finally, we argue that our findings have important implications for understanding how kinship cues, compensation, and social disadvantage shape parental investment in adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, high marital instability calls for more research on union transitions after marital dissolution. Previous studies focus on remarriage and pay little attention to rising post-dissolution cohabitation. In this study, I apply marital search theory to examine the level, pace, and differentials of repartnering (remarriage or cohabitation vs. staying single) and the exit from cohabitation (remarriage or dissolution vs. staying cohabiting). Adopting union history data from the pooled National Survey of Family Growth (2011–2017), I track union transitions among a sample of N = 2129 women. Analyses based on life tables and discrete-time event history analyses reveal important findings. First, most women repartner after marital dissolution. Compared to remarriage, cohabitation occurs more frequently and shows a quicker pace. Second, post-dissolution cohabitation is short-lived, and its transition to remarriage is more common than to dissolution. Third, these union transitions differ by demographic and socioeconomic predictors, including age, race and ethnicity, and education. Overall, I reveal that post-dissolution union transition is a divergent and unequal process, and I further discuss the implications on theory and family inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in Western countries has demonstrated that marriage is associated with improved well-being, and parenthood with decreased well-being, for both men and women. However, less is known about whether the associations are universal for both genders across countries. Using nine waves of panel data and fixed effects models, this study examines the relationship between changes in family roles and subjective well-being of men and women in the highly gendered social context of Japan. Well-being was assessed across two domains: self-rated health and mental health. The results broadly support the protective effect theory, which posits that marriage itself has a positive effect on well-being; however, no association was observed between becoming a wife and self-rated health. Contrary to what previous research predicts, only men's self-rated health negatively responds to transition to parenthood. These findings highlight the importance of country context and gender differences in the significance of family obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method of family reconstitution has been considered inapplicable in Mexico, due to the multiple obstacles offered by the available documentary sources. However, this paper demonstrates that it is possible to apply this method. In Uruapan the reconstitution method was used between the late 17th century and much of the 18th century, which provided fundamental data on fecundity, age to marriage, family size, protogenic and intergenetic intervals. These data showed changes in the two registered quality groups: Indians and Rational People. Fecundity was analyzed in several components: age to marriage, years of marriage, evolution by age, years of marriage and procreated children. Fecundity was also analyzed during the study period to identify the effect of mortality crises and hollow generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on understanding the association between parental socio-economic status (SES) and the likelihood of women experiencing a first birth while single, and identifying societal factors that influence this association in 18 North American and European societies. Previous research has shown that single motherhood occurs disproportionately among those from with lower a lower parental SES. The study assesses whether this is caused by parental SES differences in the risk of single women experiencing a first conception leading to a live birth or by parental SES differences in how likely women are to enter a union during pregnancy. Additionally, an assessment is made of whether cross-national differences in these associations can be explained by a country's access to family planning, norms regarding family formation, and economic inequality. Across countries, a negative gradient of parental SES was found on the likelihood of single women to experience a first pregnancy. The negative gradient was stronger in countries with better access to family planning. In some countries, the negative gradient of parental SES was aggravated during pregnancy because women from lower parental SES were less likely to enter a union. This was mostly found in societies with less conservative norms regarding marriage. The results suggest that certain developments in Western societies may increase socio-economic differentials in family demography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study is to examine what parents think about individuals with disabilities and inclusion, to what extent parents' attitudes are related to their children's attitudes toward peers with disabilities and other family demographics, and how parents address disabilities to their children. Using surveys and interviews, data were collected from 50 children in kindergarten or 1st grade classes and their parents in the United States. Results showed that parents' attitudes toward individuals with disabilities were significantly correlated with their previous experiences with people with disabilities. However, none of the family demographics were related to their attitudes and no relations were found between children's attitudes and parents' attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Results from parent interviews also revealed that a small number of parents had talked about disabilities or challenging behaviours with their children. Based on the results, suggestions for research and implications for practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death of a parent, particularly the mother, is linked to a suite of negative outcomes across the life-course. Compounding concerns for child outcomes are expectations of poor treatment by step-parents after parental remarriage. Indeed, folk tales of step-parental abuse abound cross-culturally and are embedded into stories taught to children. To understand why child outcomes might be sensitive to levels of relatedness within the household, evolutionary-oriented research targets patterning in parental expenditure in ways predicted to maximize inclusive fitness. In particular, parents are expected to prioritize investments in their biological children. However, stepfamilies are only formed after children experience multiple unfortunate events (e.g. parental loss, poverty), blurring causal interpretations between step-parental presence and stepchild outcomes. Moreover, stepchildren have been shown to be integral to household functioning, caring for their half-siblings and stabilizing relationships. These results challenge narrow views of adaptive behaviour; specifically, that step-parents, unlike biological parents, do no stand to reap fitness benefits from the care that they provide to their stepchildren. To evaluate these critiques, we analyse the survival outcomes of stepchildren. We include over 400 000 individuals from across a natural fertility period (1847-1940) in the United States state of Utah and examine the consequences of parental loss and step-parental introduction. Our analyses yield three key results: (i) exposure to maternal loss in childhood is associated with elevated mortality risk, (ii) parental remarriage does not increase the risk of mortality among stepchildren compared to non-stepchildren who too had lost a parent, and (iii) stepchildren enjoy higher survival than their half-siblings within the same family. Ultimately, this work contributes to the increasingly recognized importance of cooperative relationships among non-kin for childcare and household functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are daughters of older mothers less fertile? The human mutation rate is high and increases with chronological age. As female oocytes age, they become less functional, reducing female chances at successful reproduction. Increased oocyte mutation loads at advanced age may be passed on to offspring, decreasing fertility among daughters born to older mothers. In this paper we study the effects of maternal ageing on her daughter's fertility, including total number of children, age at last birth, and neonatal mortality among her children. We study fertility histories of two generations of women from mutually exclusive families from a pre-demographic transition historical population in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Using mixed effect Poisson and linear models to take within family (sibling) relations into account, we show that among married daughters fertility is reduced for those who were born to mothers with an advanced maternal age, resulting in fewer children ever born and earlier ages at last birth. We do not find consistent evidence for effects on neonatal mortality. These results may indicate that women born to older mothers are negatively affected by their mothers' increased age.

Research consistently finds that fathers who take time off work when their children are born exhibit higher levels of paternal engagement relative to fathers who do not take time off work. This study aims to identify one possible mediating factor: fathers' co-residence with their children and their children's biological mothers over time. The current study uses data from the Fragile Families and Wellbeing Study and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between fathers' time off work when their children were born, residence with their children and their children's biological mothers, and levels of father-child engagement (n = 2,453). Results indicated that the number of weeks taken off work was positively associated with men's subsequent residence with their children and children's mothers when their children were five-years-old, which in turn was positively associated with paternal engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, transition to adulthood behaviors changed across gender and social class. Yet it is unclear whether these changes reflect a corresponding shift in beliefs. In particular, widening inequality and changes to higher education may differentially alter the opportunities available to young adults across gender and socioeconomic status, potentially changing attitudes about entering adulthood. Using the General Social Survey's 2002 and 2012 waves, this paper explores beliefs about the importance and timing of six adult milestones, completing education, becoming financially independent, working full-time, living independently, getting married, and having children, across age, gender, and social class. We find that similarities in beliefs across gender and age groups persisted. In contrast, even though Americans from different social class backgrounds report similar beliefs about milestone importance, we continue to find social class differences in timing beliefs. Our findings highlight the continued need for institutional supports for disadvantaged youth moving towards adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between extradyadic social support and divorce risk, net of existing need for support. Social support aids couples in weathering challenges but social ties may also enable divorce or compete with spousal relationships. Using a nationally representative sample of married couples in the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 7,321), this study employs discrete-time event history models to test the associations of perceived support and help received with divorce risk. Results indicate that perceived support is positively associated with divorce, and this relationship persists even after accounting for couples' needs. Specifically, perceived emotional support positively predicts divorce risk. This finding suggests that social ties may sometimes challenge marital relationships or facilitate divorce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergenerational coresidence is at a 30-year high. Studies find that economic, familial, and demographic factors shape the likelihood of this arrangement. We use NLSY79 and NLSY79YA data (2000–2014; N = 3,092) to examine how the mental health and substance use of both adult children and their mothers matter for coresidential biographies, estimating risks of moving out of and returning to their mothers' households. Adult children who drink, smoke, or have more depressive symptoms, or whose mothers drink or smoke, are more likely to leave their mother's household; adult children with more depressive symptoms and who smoke are more likely to return. Our findings show that children's and mothers' health are key determinants of coresidential patterns, suggesting that it is not just family arrangements that impact health but health that impacts family arrangements. As intergenerational coresidence increases, researchers should continue to look beyond economic, familial, and demographic determinants of coresidence to health dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motherhood represents a valued status in American culture especially for biological mothers within stable first-marriages. Focusing on partnered women, this study examined how and why mental health differed across three motherhood statuses: biological-only, step-only, and double mothers (i.e., both biological and step). Using data from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB), we found lower life satisfaction among step-only and double mothers compared to biological-only mothers. More economic hardship, lower quality romantic relationships, and higher rates of cohabitation fully explained the differences between biological-only and double mothers in life satisfaction. Differences between biological-only and step-only mothers are partially explained by self-esteem and cohabitation. Double mothers also reported higher psychological distress than biological-only mothers. This difference is partially explained by lower romantic relationship quality and more economic hardship among double mothers. We found no differences in psychological distress between step-only and biological-only mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the focus of this issue of the journal on the impact of the family on marketing and a consideration of the impact of marketing on families. A description of the review process for papers selected for the issue is provided along with a summary of the topics of the papers. Some of the topics explored include the initial journey toward family and the transition into motherhood. The issue of food is also discussed as it becomes an area of contestation and negotiation. Other papers explore beyond the nuclear family as white, middle class and heterosexual, to examine ethnic, poor, homosexual families, and families with disabled children.

Despite increases at age at first birth in the United States, we have little research on how individuals conceptualize the ideal age to have a child. Using qualitative interviews with male and female young adults in greater New York City, we examined individuals' responses to questions about the ideal age at first birth. We find factors associated with an age being ideal tend to fall in four main domains: structural/social position factors, interpersonal factors, fertility and health-related factors, and aspirational factors. This research suggests that the ideal age is higher than the actual age at first birth, and both males and females consider a number of factors when choosing an ideal age, including education and career. We find that interpersonal and aspirational factors are also important considerations. Understanding ideal age at first birth is important for understanding family formation decision making in relation to age and may have important implications in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many parts of the world, fertility has declined in important ways in the past century. What are the consequences of this demographic change? Our study expands the empirical basis for understanding the relationship between number of siblings in childhood and social outcomes among adults. An important recent study found that for each additional sibling an individual grows up with, the likelihood of divorce as an adult declines by 3%. We expand this work by (a) determining whether the original pattern replicates in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and (b) extending the analysis beyond divorce to consider whether growing up with siblings is related to prosocial adult behaviors (relationships with parents, friends, and views on conflict management with one's partner). Our results confirm a negative association between number of siblings and divorce in adulthood. We find mixed results related to other prosocial adult behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reviews the institutional factors that have influenced the fertility and family trends in five East Asian societies that experienced a precipitous transition to very low fertility: China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. The paper begins by outlining the unique family formation patterns of these societies and the existing explanations for their observed ultra-low fertility levels. In particular, it highlights the role of Confucian culture, which emphasises patriarchal values and credentialism, in shaping the current state of low fertility in East Asia. For example, the ways in which Confucianism affects women’s roles at home, the effectiveness of pronatalist policies and the burden of human capital investments among parents are discussed. With these contextual factors and the current very low fertility rates as a backdrop, this study also examines attitudinal changes in marriage and family values that have taken place in these societies after the new millennium. These changes could further erode the traditional family and influence family formation trends in the future. The article concludes by discussing recent policy responses and the possible future of fertility in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income pooling is a common behavior among couples. However, cohabiting and married individuals in more complex families, namely those with stepchildren, are less likely to pool incomes. Similarly, income pooling might be unlikely when there are nonresident children, who could potentially draw resources outside the household, yet prior work has largely overlooked the role of nonresident children. We take advantage of a unique data set, the Family and Relationships Study, which allows us to not only identify shared and unshared children (i.e., stepchildren) within the household but also unshared children outside the household. Focusing on cohabiting and married individuals (N = 4,408), we find that those with resident unshared children are less likely to pool incomes but that nonresident children are unrelated to income pooling. The results confirm that household-level complexity is a key factor in couples' economic decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offer information on a study of type 2 respiratory innate lymphoid cells in human infants with severe Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). It mentions data regarding general health, infant characteristics, family demographics, and respiratory-related para-clinical parameters were collected by study personnel; and also mentions that supernatants from nasal aspirates were subjected to an electrochemiluminescent-based multiplex assay.

This study examines characteristics of stay-at-home father (SAHF) families in Hong Kong and factors contributing to their increase. Based on two decades of census data (1991–2011), we find father's older (relative) age, lower education relative to their spouse, and lower household income increase the probability of having SAHF arrangements, leading us to believe that some fathers enter SAHF arrangements because of their inability to work or due to unemployment. Younger age of children, which often implies more intensive work, lowers the probability of unable-to-work SAHF arrangement, while increases the probability of caregiving SAHF arrangement. While childcare gap between caregiving SAHFs and stay-at-home mothers has narrowed, the effect of the number of young children on caregiving SAHF households has become negative over time. These results imply the conflicting forces SAHF families face: notions of masculinity that exclude childcare are at odds with the increasing value of paternal participation in the lives of young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine whether income‐pooling strategies differ between married and cohabiting individuals without children, only biological children, or any stepchildren. Background: Americans are forming families in new ways via cohabitation and stepfamilies, which may have implications for resource pooling. Although a majority of married and cohabiting couples pool their incomes, little is known about the role of children in couple's income‐pooling behaviors. Method: The authors use recently collected, nationally representative data from the Families and Relationships Study (n = 4,362). Controlling for sociodemographic, household, and relationship characteristics, the authors use logistic regression to predict the odds of income pooling among married and cohabiting individuals without children, only biological children, or any stepchildren. Results: The likelihood of income pooling remained similar among cohabitors regardless of the configuration of children in the household. Among married families, however, the likelihood of income pooling differed by the presence of resident stepchildren. Married families with resident stepchildren had a lower probability of pooling their income when compared with married families with only resident biological children. Conclusion: The ways economic resources are shared differs across family types. The findings from this study are consistent with an incomplete institutionalization perspective and demonstrate that individuals in cohabiting‐couple families and married‐couple families with resident stepchildren are less likely to pool their incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Any individual is surrounded by a network of kin that develops over her lifetime. In a justly famous paper, Goodman, Keyfitz, and Pullum (1974) presented formal calculations of the mean numbers of (female, matrilineal) kin implied by a mortality and fertility schedule. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is a new theory of kinship demography that provides age distributions as well as expected numbers, permits calculation of properties (e.g., dependency) of kin, is easily computable, and does not require simulation. METHODS The analysis relies on a novel application of the matrix formulation of cohort component population projection to describe the dynamics of a kinship network. The approach arises from the observation that the kin of a focal individual form a population, and can be modelled as one. RESULTS Kinship dynamics are described by a coupled system of non-autonomous matrix equations. I show how to calculate age distributions, total numbers, prevalence, dependency, and the experience of the death of relatives. As an example, I compare the kinship networks implied by the period vital rates of Japanese women in 1947 and 2014. Over this interval, fertility declined by 70% while life expectancy increased by 60%. The implications of these changes for kinship structure are profound; a lifetime dominated, under 1947 rates, by the experience of the death of kin has changed to one in which the death of kin is a rare event. On the other hand, the burden of dependent aged kin, including those suffering from dementia, is many-fold larger under 2014 rates. CONCLUSIONS This new theory opens to investigation hitherto inaccessible aspects of kinship, with potential applications to many problems in family demography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality has grown in many countries over the past decades. Single country studies have investigated how trends in family demography, such as rising female employment, assortative mating and single parenthood, have affected this development. But the combined effects have not been studied sufficiently, much less in a comparative perspective. We apply decomposition and counterfactual analyses to Luxembourg Income Study data from the 1990s and 2000s for West Germany and the USA. We counterfactually analyse how changes in the distribution of men's and women's education, employment and children across households between the 1990s and 2000s affected overall inequality (Theil index). We find that changes in family demography between the 1990s and the 2000s explain inequality growth in West Germany but not in the USA, where the effects of gendered changes in education and employment offset each other. In West Germany, changes in the distribution of household types, and particularly changes in men's employment and education, contributed to increases in income inequality. The country differences in the relationship between changes in family demography and inequality growth reflect how the decline in men's and the growth in women's employment played out differently in the weakening male breadwinner context in West Germany and in the universal breadwinner context in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increases in life expectancy, high rates of movement into and out of couple relationships, and increasing exposure to stepfamilies raise new questions about who is in a family, the distinction between who lives together and who is a family member, and the extent to which family members are expected to meet the long-term obligations that define kinship. These questions are important because families have traditionally served as a vital private safety net for family members. Demographic changes increase family members' uncertainty about their relationships. Family ties are less stable and more uncertain among the economically disadvantaged, and uncertainty may exacerbate these disadvantages by weakening individuals' ability to rely on family members' support to alleviate hardship. I argue that demographers should focus on individuals' family relationships to gain insight into living arrangements and family dynamics. I also outline the development of family concepts and improvements in study design to identify principles that demographers should incorporate in new research to shed light on families' support for their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid and dramatic changes in the structure of the American family over the past 30 years (e.g., divorce, single parenting), consumer researchers have largely neglected the issue of how alternative family forms influence consumer behavior. Our initial inquiry into this area finds that young adults reared in disrupted families are more materialistic and exhibit higher levels of compulsive consumption than young adults reared in intact families. Furthermore, we show that the relationship between family structure and compulsive consumption is partially mediated by both the amount of resources available within the family and the degree of family stress. We also find that the impact of family disruption on family stress is moderated by socioeconomic status. We conclude by proposing an agenda for future research that considers the antecedents, processes, and consequences of alternative family structures as they relate to consumer behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of "traditional" families, those with an employed father and a not-employed mother, has been decreasing. This article presents an expanded typology of family structure that includes spousal employment status. The effects on managerial career paths of a "post-traditional" family structure, in which both parents are employed, is explored. The results from a survey of M.B.A. degree holders show such a family structure to be related to income and career satisfaction for men and women. The findings suggest that family structure should receive greater focus from both researchers and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the more perplexing problems facing those engaged in selling and advertising consumer goods is which member of the family exerts the main influence upon the purchase of a particular good. From the sales and advertising standpoint, this is a problem of paramount importance. It is therefore not surprising that a number of studies have been made seeking to answer this problem. Unfortunately, the validity of these studies is as yet largely an unanswered question. The method by which these studies have been carried out--by soliciting the opinion of one family member regarding the purchasing influence possessed by himself and by other members of the family--and the scarcity of any rigorous tests of the validity of this method provides sufficient basis for receiving such studies with skepticism. The present study was designed in part to test the reliability of one type of purchasing influence information, namely that obtained by asking a family member to rate the relative influences of each member over the purchase of specific goods. Although the main objective of this study is methodological rather than substantive, a certain amount of data of the latter type were necessarily compiled in the course of the operation. On the basis of these data, an attempt is made in a later section of this article to arrive at some new estimates of the relative influence various family members exert on the purchase of specific items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the world’s major religious groups, Muslims have the lowest median age and the highest fertility rates. Due to these demographic factors, Muslims are expected to increase in number faster than any other major group in the period between 2015 and 2060, growing at more than twice the pace of global population growth.

Research on early-life mortality in contemporary and historical populations has shown that infant and child mortality tend to cluster in a limited number of high-mortality families, a phenomenon known as 'mortality clustering'. This paper is the first to review the literature on the role of the family in early-life mortality. Contemporary results, methodological and theoretical shortfalls, recent developments, and opportunities for future research are all discussed in this review. Four methodological approaches are distinguished: those based on sibling deaths, mother heterogeneity, thresholds, and excess deaths in populations. It has become clear from research to date that the death of an older child harms the survival chances of younger children in that family, and that fertility behaviour, earlier stillbirths, remarriages, and socio-economic status all explain mortality clustering to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have examined the familial configurations of adopted children and how these configurations differ from those of nonadoptees. As a result, this study examines the relationship between adoption status and inequalities in the family structure of children. Our results indicate that adopted children are more likely to live in nuclear families compared with nonadopted children. Part of this is driven by the comparatively limited presence of adoptees in single-mother, single-father, and other types of nonnuclear families. Foreign-born adoptees are more likely to live in nuclear families compared with U.S.-born adoptees, but adoptees from racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to live in such families compared with their White counterparts. These race-ethnic inequalities in family structure are however moderated by foreign-born status. Accordingly, our results indicate that foreign-born Black and Hispanic children have the highest odds of residing in nuclear families among the U.S. population of adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between coresidence with adult children, wealth, and economic security using data from the 1999-2012 Canadian Survey of Financial Security (SFS). The results, obtained via propensity score matching and linear regression, show that coresidence with and parental support for adult children is negatively associated with non-home assets and positively associated with debt levels among Canadian households. Further analyses suggest that these relationships stem from differences in financial assets, retirement savings, student loan debt, and credit card balances. By linking theories of economic insecurity, social capital, and life course studies, this study demonstrates how changing trajectories among young adults and financial hardship can influence broader household resources and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past several decades there have been dramatic shifts in demographic patterns pertaining to family formation, with declining and delayed marriage and childbearing, and increased cohabitation in the United States and other Western industrialized nations. These trends in family demography have been predominantly studied using large-scale datasets, which have identified total population and subgroup trends over time, including differences by age, gender, racial/ethnic, economic, educational, religious, and other characteristics. However, there is limited knowledge and understanding of how individuals across different levels of social position, as well as other important characteristics, make decisions around forming families. This lack of qualitative data on contemporary attitudes regarding family formation has hampered our ability to more completely understand the factors driving behaviors pertaining to the large-scale (ie, international) shifts in demographic trends. The Social Position and Family Formation (SPAFF) project is an in-depth interview study that used quantitative data to guide recruitment of a large sample for qualitative interview data collection on factors influencing different aspects of family formation among heterosexual females and males (18–35 years) in the context of individuals’ social position. This methodological paper describes the use of a ‘quantitatively-informed’ purposive sampling approach in a large metropolitan area to collect qualitative data (through in-depth interviews) from a large sample (n = 200), utilizing web-based tools for successful community-based recruitment and project management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]