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Within the last 50 years, the work-family-household arrangements upon which social policy systems in industrial nations were formulated have disappeared. This briefing paper examines how social policies of the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, and France have responded. The paper is presented in two major sections. The first section describes family policies in each country concerning parental leave, child benefits/family allowances, child care, marriage/cohabitation, and divorce. The second section discusses the mixed effects of maternity leave on womens employment, the lack of a relationship between fertility and maternity leave and fertility and cash benefits, and factors that complicate the relationship between countries' social spending and child poverty. Job-protected maternity leave is described as the most basic entitlement reflecting public acknowledgment of the economic necessity of working motherhood. Analyses suggest that fertility rates do not seem responsive to cash benefits or other policies, such as extended maternity leave, that function as wages for motherhood. In countries where child care provisions are not widely available, lengthy paid leaves have the effect of bringing women into the home for long periods of time. The most important role of cash benefits is to reduce child poverty, as illustrated by patterns in the U.S., France, and Germany. The paper concludes by asserting that Western European nations family policy can be divided into two types, one in which the social welfare system provides a comprehensive array of universal family benefits and services, and the other in which benefits are nonuniversal and accompanied by higher child poverty rates. The United States fits neither of the European patterns and is characterized by several contradictions contributing to the lack of political support for families. (Contains 98 references.) (KB)

This annotated brief summarizes research on the effects of family structure on child wellbeing, identifying issues that remain to be explored. On average, children who grow up in families with both their biological parents in a low-conflict marriage are better off in several ways than children who grow up in single-, step-, or cohabiting-parent households. Compared to children raised by their married parents, children in other types of families are more likely to achieve lower educational levels, become teen parents, and experience health, behavior, and mental health problems. Also, children in single- and cohabiting-parent families are more likely to be poor. Nonetheless, most children not living with married, biological parents grow up without serious problems. In individual situations, marriage may or may not make children better off, depending on whether the marriage is "healthy" and stable. Marriage may be a proxy for other parental characteristics associated with relationship stability and positive child outcomes. The legal basis and public support involved in the institution of marriage helps create the best conditions for developing factors that children need most to thrive: consistent, stable, loving attention from two parents who cooperate and who have sufficient resources and support from two extended families, two sets of friends, and society. (Contains 52 endnotes.) (SM)

Social support from kin has been discussed as an important feature of family life among Puerto Rican families. This study examines the association between kinship support, family organization, and adolescent adjustment in Puerto Rican families. (Author)

This brief discusses how living arrangements in general, and cohabitation in particular, affect children's material wellbeing and socioeconomic outcomes, documenting how poverty rates and food insecurity differ across living arrangements using data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF). It examines how other measures of child wellbeing (the share of young children age 0-5 years who are read to infrequently and the share of older children age 6-11 years and teens who exhibit behavioral problems) vary by living arrangements. Finally, the brief discusses how and why the relationship between cohabitation and wellbeing is changing compared with overall trends using data from the 1997 and 1999 NSAFs. Children living with cohabitors are more likely to be poor, food insecure, and read to infrequently and to exhibit behavioral problems than are children living with married couples. Between 1997-99, the wellbeing of children living with both their unmarried biological parents improved relative to children in general. This was not the case for children living with one parent and that parent's unmarried partner who was not the child's parent. The changing characteristics of cohabiting parents accounted for about one-third of the decline in poverty among children living with unmarried parents. (Contains 11 references and 10 notes.) (SM)

This paper summarizes changes in key elements of welfare policy and in closely related policies on child support enforcement and sex education and family planning programs. Drawing on a conceptual framework that highlights how incentives created by public policy can affect demographic behaviors, the paper concludes that, as Congress intended, reform has shifted welfare's incentives in directions that encourage marriage and discourage nonmarital pregnancy and childbearing, childbearing while on welfare, divorce, living independently from relatives, and avoiding child support responsibilities. The paper reviews the empirical evidence about welfare's effects on demographic behavior, including nonmarital childbearing, abortion, sexual activity, contraceptive use and pregnancy among teenagers, marriage and divorce, single parenthood, living arrangements, and nonresident parenting behavior. The general tenor of this evidence is that behavioral effects consistent with theoretical expectations and policymakers' intentions do exist. Their magnitudes are small or uncertain. A tentative but reasonable "bottom line" is that one should not expect welfare reform to dramatically alter low-income Americans' demographic behavior, but one can expect it to have modest effects in the directions desired by policymakers. There is little or no evidence about how several important aspects of recent reform are likely to affect demographic behavior. (Contains 81 references.) (Author/SM)

Using a sample of 7,656 children observed over a 3-year period in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), the paper documents the proportion of time children spend in various living arrangements and the number of transitions among them. It focuses on four types of living arrangements for children: living with a married mother; coresiding with a single mother and her parents; cohabiting with a single mother and her male partner; and living with a single mother who is neither coresiding nor cohabiting. A substantial number of children experience coresiding and cohabiting arrangements, and approximately 11 percent of the children experience at least one transition. Results suggest that living with a single mother or living in a cohabiting arrangement is associated with poorer child development outcomes relative to living in married mother arrangements. In contrast, children in coresiding arrangements do not have poorer outcomes relative to children in married mother arrangements. (Contains 35 references.) (Author/SM)

This brief uses data from the first two waves of the National Survey of America's Families to examine how living arrangements for families with children changed between 1997-99. During the late 1990s, welfare reform efforts centered on moving families from welfare to work. Lost in the discussions of declining caseloads and post-welfare employment rates has been a serious consideration of other clearly articulated goals of welfare reform (e.g., reducing nonmarital childbearing, encouraging marriage, and encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families). The data show that the share of families composed of a single mother living independently declined. At the same time, the share of families composed of cohabiting couples with children rose. An increasing share of children lived in families without either parent present. There were larger changes in living arrangements among the population subgroups most likely to be affected by welfare policies (i.e., lower income and less educated families) than among other subgroups, such as moderate income families. This suggests that welfare policies may have contributed to the decline in single parenting and the rise in cohabitation between 1997-99. (Contains 14 references.) (SM)

This brief uses data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families to examine whether children living with their mothers and their mothers' boyfriends (who are not related to the children) are any better or worse off than children living with just a single mother. The brief also compares outcomes for children living in families in which their mothers have married their boyfriends (forming blended families) with outcomes for children living with single mothers as well as with outcomes for children living with married biological parents. The brief focuses on teenagers' behavioral problems. After documenting teenagers' living arrangements, the brief uses a multivariate, regression-based model to examine the issue. Overall, teenagers' living arrangements vary significantly by race and ethnicity, with white teenagers far more likely to live with married biological parents and black teenagers more likely to live in single-parent families. Differences in living arrangements relate to differences in teenagers' behavior. Living with a single mother and her boyfriend is no better than living with a single mother, and in many cases, it is significantly worse. The most favorable outcomes are for teenagers living with their biological parents. (SM)

Many studies have established that married people fare better than their never-married counterparts in terms of psychological well-being. Tests hypotheses based on both selection and relationship effects. Results indicate no evidence of selection of less depressed persons into either marriage or cohabitation, but a negative effect of entry into marriage on depression. (Contains 38 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

Assesses the well-being of adolescents in cohabiting parent stepfamilies. Teens living with cohabiting stepparents often fare worse than teens living with two biological married parents. Adolescents living in cohabiting stepfamilies experience greater disadvantage than teens living in married stepfamilies. Most of these differences, however, are explained by socioeconomic circumstances. (Contains 41 references and 5 tables.) (GCP)

The rise of cohabitation and the growing share of births to cohabiting couples have led to speculation that the boundary between marriage and cohabitation is blurring. Examines this issue with an analysis of the financial arrangements of fathers of mainland Puerto Rican children. Reveals that married fathers are more likely than cohabiting fathers to pool their income. (Contains 38 references, 4 tables, and 1 appendix.) (GCP)

Examines the relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital dysfunction a sample spouses in two marriage cohorts: those married between 1964 and 1980 (when cohabitation was less common) and those married between 1981 and 1997 (when cohabitation was more common). Spouses in both cohorts who cohabited prior to marriage reported poorer marital quality and greater marital instability. (Contains 45 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Examines comparative patterns of educational and racial assortative mating or homogany among married and cohabiting couples, and evaluates whether women and men trade in socioeconomic status and racial caste prestige. Lists several findings, including married/cohabiting couples are highly homogenous with respect to race and education. Suggests research can no longer ignore the different mate selection processes of cohabiting couples. (Author/JDM)

There are many studies of violence in marriage and in dating. Methodological differences between studies, however, make it difficult to determine differences in the nature and extent of physical assault between marital status groups. This study analyzed data from two surveys: a study of 526 dating couples at a large midwestern university, and a study of a national probability sample of 5,005 married and 237 cohabiting couples. The results showed that cohabiting couples had a higher rate of assault than did married couples. These findings persisted after controls for age and socioeconomic status were introduced. Violence was also more severe in cohabiting than in married or dating couples. A number of factors may account for the more frequent violence in cohabiting relationships. These include social isolation, the publicity given to wife-beating by the women's movement, questions of autonomy and control, and the investment in the relationship. When age was controlled, dating couples had the lowest violence rate of the three marital status groups. The fact that those who date generally are in a less serious/committed relationship as compared to those who cohabit or are married, may explain the lower rate of dating violence. (Author)

States that the number of unmarried heterosexual couples involved in counseling is increasing. Although they share problems with married couples, cohabitation often raises a distinctive set of issues. Presents three case examples. Treatment approaches include family of origin, feminist, and structural interventions. Also discusses problems of legal recognition for cohabitating relationships. (Author/MKA)

Examined whether spouses' attributions for partner behavior are related to their behavior by assessing their attributions and observing the problem-solving discussions of cohabitating couples (n=52) in which neither spouse was depressed or distressed, the wife was depressed and both spouses were distressed, and the wife was not depressed and both spouses were distressed. Discusses findings. (KW)

Examines cohabitation in premarital childbearing among U.S. women. Utilized data from the National Survey of Families and Households and the New York Fertility, Employment, and Migration Survey. Marked racial and ethnic differences in the role of the cohabiting union in family building were evident. Interprets findings in terms of long-standing family patterns and cultural traditions within ethnic groups studied. (KW)

The timing of the first childbirth is studied using information about characteristics of both partners. The context specificity of the determinants of childbearing is examined by comparing couples with and without cohabitation experience. The sociocultural specificity is studied using data from the Netherlands and Flanders. Discusses findings. (KW)

Using the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households, this research examines normative beliefs about marriage and cohabitation among non-Latino whites, Mexican Americans, and mainland Puerto Ricans. Results indicate Mexican Americans tend to be more pronuptial than non-Latino whites. They evaluate marriage more positively relative to singlehood, and marriage intentions significantly boost their approval of cohabitation. Discusses other findings. (KW)

Using sexual exclusivity as an indication of commitment to a partner, examines commitment within dating, cohabitation, and marriage. Employing data from the National Survey of Women (1991), finds that cohabitation, in terms of sexual commitment, is more similar to dating than marriage, and that cohabitation, relative to marriage, is selective of less committed individuals. Discusses other findings. (KW)

Analysis of National Survey of Families and Households data (1987-88) on 4,283 families with children reveals that family net wealth and total private financial transfers received from kin and nonkin varied by family structure: between marriage and remarriage, between marriage and cohabitation, and between male and female single-parent families. Marriage enhanced family wealth. Contains 37 references. (SV)

Evaluates extent to which cohabitation is similar to marriage among black, and white Americans ages 19-48 using data from the 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households. Cohabitors reported poorer relationship quality than their married counterparts. Majority of cohabitors planned to marry their partner; these cohabitors are involved in relationships not significantly different from marriages. Discusses other results. (RB)

Examines the prevalence of cohabitation, trends in cohabitation between 1960 and 1990, and the conditions leading older persons to cohabit. Variables measuring individual characteristics, economic motivations, and the social context are used to predict cohabitation. Presents results, and discusses implications for the future as cohorts with significantly higher levels of cohabitation will enter old age. (RB)

Found an excess mortality, especially among women, among people who are remarried and cohabiting. A narrower than expected gender mortality difference existed when work status and number of children were taken into consideration. Unemployed women, as well as unskilled male workers, were in particularly vulnerable situations at divorce. (RJM)

Using data from the 1990 Friends and Family Survey, examined the childbearing experiences of cohabiting women after their entry into a cohabitational relationship. Found that the hazard rate of a cohabiting woman bearing a child within the union is associated with her age, educational status, nativity, and other factors. (RJM)

Compared racial identity of white students who had black roommates with whites who lacked such interaction. Administered the White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale to 187 white students. Scores from white students who were randomly assigned with black roommates were not significantly different from those of white freshmen, seniors, and resident advisors. (RJM)

Analysis of first-year roommate pairs found that versions of the Roommate Compatibility Questionnaire better predicted roommate conflict than did the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Discrepancies between perception of a roommate and descriptions of an ideal roommate predicted the most variance on a measure of roommate conflict. Discusses roommate-matching strategies. (RJM)