Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition
@article{McLanahan2011DivergingDH, title={Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition}, author={Sara McLanahan}, journal={Demography}, year={2011}, volume={41}, pages={607-627} }
In this article, I argue that the trends associated with the second demographic transition are following two trajectories and leading to greater disparities in children’s resources. Whereas children who were born to the most-educated women are gaining resources, in terms of parents’ time and money, those who were born to the least-educated women are losing resources. The forces behind these changes include feminism, new birth control technologies, changes in labor market opportunities, and…
Figures and Tables from this paper
1,100 Citations
Diverging Destinies Revisited: The Threat to Child Development and Social Mobility
- Economics
- 2015
Constantly increasing family social and economic inequality has a large tangible cost—that of diverging destinies for children as witnessed by trends toward lower social mobility and less equal life…
Diverging Destinies Revisited
- Psychology
- 2015
In her 2004 presidential address to the Population Association of American, Sara McLanahan argued that in the USA and other Western countries, the second demographic transition was leading to two…
Diverging Destinies in Rural America
- Education
- 2015
This chapter extends McClanahan and Jacobsen’s (Chap. 1) arguments to rural America with an emphasis on better understanding the converging downward destinies of women without a high-school education…
Children at Risk: Diversity, Inequality, and the Third Demographic Transition
- Economics
- 2018
We draw on a variety of current data sources to examine racial change and diversity, the changing living arrangements of U.S. children, and the shifting patterns of poverty and economic inequality.…
The Diverging Destinies of Fathers and What it Means for Children’s Lives
- Psychology
- 2015
There is a growing social class divide in the American family. While the most-educated couples are enjoying greater stability in family life than in previous decades, the opposite is true for those…
Family Size as a Social Leveller for Children in the Second Demographic Transition
- Economics
- 2014
Steep socio-economic gradients in family size were a major source of disparities for children in the early 20th century and prompted much social research and public commentary. By the 1960s, a…
The Sibsize Revolution and Social Disparities in Children’s Family Contexts in the United States, 1940–2012
- SociologyDemography
- 2017
A sharp decline in children’s sibling numbers (sibsize) that occurred in the United States since the 1970s and was large enough among children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) to amount to a revolution in their family circumstances is pointed to.
A Multidimensional Approach to Inequality of Opportunity
- Economics
- 2014
In recent decades, new types of families, such as non-marital cohabitations and single parenthood, have been on the rise and are increasingly superseding the traditional nuclear family. This paper…
The Nature of Nurture: Poverty, Father Absence and Gender Equality
- EconomicsPhilosophy and Poverty
- 2019
Progressive family policy regimes typically aim to promote and protect women’s opportunities to participate in the workforce. These policies offer significant benefits to affluent, two-parent…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 158 REFERENCES
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY AMONG CHILDREN
- Economics
- 1997
The deteriorating economic well-being of children portends less well-adjusted adults and a diminished economic future for America. A disproportionate share of today's poor children will become…
One percent for the kids : new policies, brighter futures for America's children
- Economics
- 2003
In the United States, long considered the land of opportunity, children born into different types of families begin life with very unequal prospects. A growing group of children is being raised in…
America's Children: Resources from Family, Government, and the Economy. A Census Monograph Series.
- Economics
- 1993
The authors use census and survey data for the period 1940-1990 to analyze changes affecting childhood in the United States over the past 50 years. They show "how important revolutions in household…
Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries
- Economics
- 1996
This volume focuses on the relationship between change in the family and change in the roles of women and men on contemporary industrial societies. Of central concern is whether change in gender…
High hopes but even higher expectations: The retreat from marriage among low-income couples.
- Psychology
- 2005
This study examines why low-income, unmarried parents who say that they plan to marry at the time their child is born do not follow through on their plans. We use data from a nationally…
Explaining trends in child support: Economic, demographic, and policy effects
- EconomicsDemography
- 2011
The findings suggest that political, demographic, and economic forces all exerted downward pressure on child-support payments during this 30-year period, with inflation, the shift to unilateral divorce, and declines in fertility and men’s earnings being more important during the earlier years and decreases in men's earnings during the later years.
Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity?
- Psychology, EconomicsDemography
- 2011
Within marriage, fathers are spending more time with their children than in the past, perhaps increasing the total time children spend with parents even as mothers work more hours away from home.
Cohabitation and Divorce Across Nations and Generations
- Psychology
- 2003
Parental divorce has been an increasing experience amongst the generations of children born since the 1970s in European countries. This study analyses data on the partnership and parenthood behaviour…
Changes in children’s time with parents: United States, 1981–1997
- PsychologyDemography
- 2011
Children’s time with parents did not decrease over the period; in two-parent families it increased substantially; and population-level changes in demographic characteristics exerted only small direct effects on the time children spent with parents.
Welfare, the family, and reproductive behavior : research perspectives
- Economics
- 1998
The design of welfare programs in an era of reform and devolution to the states must take into account the likely effects of programs on demographic behavior. Most research on welfare in the past has…