There are no obvious or easy prescriptions for reversing the trends of the familial challenges that have grown deeper and wider in the last fifty years in regard to the number of babies born to unwed mothers, with the majority of all children born to women in their 20s. This article discusses the challenges regarding the marriage crisis in…

In this article, the author talks about the registers of the religious and focuses on the Terence H. McLaughlin lecture 2010. He starts from MacIntyre's observation that people live in a world characterized by a vocabulary of value whose purchase on life is no longer authentically experienced: "MacIntyre's diagnosis of the impoverished…

Robert Hummer and Erin Hamilton note that the prevalence of fragile families varies substantially by race and ethnicity. African Americans and Hispanics have the highest prevalence; Asian Americans, the lowest; and whites fall somewhere in the middle. The share of unmarried births is lower among most foreign-born mothers than among their U.S.-born…

Since the mid-1970s the U.S. imprisonment rate has increased roughly fivefold. As Christopher Wildeman and Bruce Western explain, the effects of this sea change in the imprisonment rate--commonly called mass imprisonment or the prison boom--have been concentrated among those most likely to form fragile families: poor and minority men with little…

Over past decades, the demographics of the United States have changed markedly. The proportions of married and single people are changing; so too are the nature and functions of marriage and the family. However, people who are single, and perspectives not based on conventional marriage, remain underrepresented or misrepresented in scholarship and…

Approximately 10 to 15 years ago the Swedes became aware that the incidence of cohabitation under marriage-like conditions but without marriage had increased tremendously. This increasingly prevalent social behavior raised problems concerning the legal custody of the children of such unions and, ultimately, a way of granting unmarried parents…

Noting that access to higher education has expanded dramatically in the past several decades, Sara Goldrick-Rab and Kia Sorensen focus on how unmarried parents fare once they enter college. Contrary to the expectation that access to college consistently promotes family stability and economic security, the authors argue that deficiencies in current…

Proposes way of resolving competing hypotheses about class identification among employed married women. Asserts that employed married women who believe in traditional gender role norms consider only husband's characteristics in deciding their own class identification; women who believe in egalitarian gender role norms consider both their own and…

Economic well-being after retirement depends on an individual's portfolio which includes income from Social Security, pensions, transfers from public or private sources, and accumulated wealth. Any event which interrupts the savings process can have an adverse effect on an individual's economic status after retirement. Dissolution of marriage,…

Suggests that preventing early childbearing among those who are still young and unmarried is likely to yield significant social benefits, including the restoration of marriage, discussing whether marriage is the solution to the problem of early motherhood. Explains the need for strong efforts to prevent early childbearing, examining teen pregnancy…

Examines problems of being old, poor, and female in the United States. Explores structural roots of the feminization of poverty with attention to sexual division of labor, dual labor market economy, and notions of dependency and deservingness in American society. Discusses budget cuts and implications for research, practice, and policy.…

The social and political implications of marriage, divorce, and the one-parent family are discussed. (LD)

Describes learned helplessness and its effect on ability of displaced homemakers to enter or reenter the work force successfully. Suggests that success in making transition from homemaker to worker may depend on attributions women provide for their failed or ended marriages. Discusses ways in which counselors may assist displaced homemakers in…

Considers how ritual processes function to reduce the usual ambiguities, tensions, and conflicts following divorce. Examines ritual in collective gatherings when ex-spouses must interact, and observable behaviors that are formalized on the basis of rules of etiquette. Presents a ritual model of family reorganization, highlighting formal and…

Reviews factors such as income, employment, housing, and transportation which tend to keep women and female-headed families concentrated in cities. Proposes that cities are ideal places for future experimentation in lifestyles not based on traditional sex roles. (GC)