This book provides an up-to-date survey on the nature, causes, and patterns of family change. The traditional nuclear family has been replaced by a multiplicity of other forms, as widespread cohabitation, high levels of divorce and union dissolution, rising childlessness, and far below replacement fertility have emerged to an extent never before seen. Theoretical perspectives on this “Second Demographic Transition” are presented, highlighting the dramatic changes in gender roles. New methodological strategies for assessing family dynamics are presented, from multistate models of marriage and divorce combined with fertility to improved techniques for combining census and survey data on the family to a new approach for disentangling age, period, and cohort effects. While the volume emphasizes Western nations, insightful case studies range from analyzing family complexity in cohorts of parents and children in the UK to the impact of interpartner violence on family formation, to the emergence of a “gender war” in South Korea. By providing new insights into where we are today and how we got here, the book will be of value to all those interested in the contemporary family.

This book provides an up-to-date survey on the nature, causes, and patterns of family change. The traditional nuclear family has been replaced by a multiplicity of other forms, as widespread cohabitation, high levels of divorce and union dissolution, rising childlessness, and far below replacement fertility have emerged to an extent never before seen. Theoretical perspectives on this “Second Demographic Transition” are presented, highlighting the dramatic changes in gender roles. New methodological strategies for assessing family dynamics are presented, from multistate models of marriage and divorce combined with fertility to improved techniques for combining census and survey data on the family to a new approach for disentangling age, period, and cohort effects. While the volume emphasizes Western nations, insightful case studies range from analyzing family complexity in cohorts of parents and children in the UK to the impact of interpartner violence on family formation, to the emergence of a “gender war” in South Korea. By providing new insights into where we are today and how we got here, the book will be of value to all those interested in the contemporary family. "Delayed Fertility as a Driver of Fertility Decline?" available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

In this book, leading authorities on the family show how families, parents, and children have been affected by changing patterns of marriage and cohabitation. Taking a long historical perspective, some authors consider trends such as the decline of multigenerational families and group differences in the relationships between economic opportunity and the timing of marriage. But the focus is predominantly on questions of current interest: patterns of union formation, differences between marriage and cohabitation, contact between divorced fathers and their children, the division of household labor, and the transmission of attitudes and behavior across generations. Intended for scholars and advanced students, this book offers essential analysis of the changing dimensions of the American family.

Continuity and Change in the American Family engages students with issues they see every day in the news, providing them with a comprehensive description of the social demography of the American family. Understanding ever-changing family systems and patterns requires taking the pulse of contemporary family life from time to time. This book paints a portrait of family continuity and change in the later half of the 20th century, with a focus on data from the 1970′s to present. The authors explore such topics as the growth in cohabitation, changes in childbearing, and how these trends affect family life. Other topics include the changing lives of single mothers, fathers, and grandparents and increasing economic disparities among families; child care and child well-being; and combining paid work and family. The authors are talented writers who bring considerable professional and scholarly background to bear in illuminating this topic in a thoughtful yet lively presentation.

Is the American family a thing of the past? Almost anyone can tell a story that illustrates how dramatically things have changed in the past decades. Nonmarriage, childlessness and divorce are commonplace. Most children leave their parents' home and live for increasing periods before marriage as independent adults. But there are also signs of strengths. Some parents play more equal roles, both financially and in coping with household tasks. In this revealing new study, Frances Goldscheider and Linda Waite discuss cogently the question of whether we are headed for no families, or new families. Adults across the nation who reached "thirtysomething" in the early 1980s are the primary focus of the book, although broader patterns of social change are seen in the influence of their parents' experiences on them and in their own children's experiences of family life. The authors begin with their subjects as very young adults, examining their plans for work and family and their attitudes toward women's work and family roles. As these young men and women move farther into adulthood, we learn what influences their chances of marriage, their patterns of family building (and dissolving), and the division of labor in the families they form. In each case the authors focus on the effects of exposure to different family structures in childhood and young adulthood. The authors find, surprisingly, that the real threats to the family are in the home itself: the new option of "a home of one's own" in a variety of circumstances outside of marriage, most men's noninvolvement in the home and its tasks, and the fact that knowledge of and respect for basic skills involved in making a home are not being taught to today's sons and daughters.

Whether considered from an American or a European perspective, the past four decades have seen family life become increasingly complex. Changing Family Dynamics and Demographic Evolution examines the various stages of change through the image of a kaleidoscope, providing new insights into the field of family dynamics and diversity.