Gender, Family, and Social Change
Broad changes in recent decades, including economic restructuring and the stagnation of male wages, the gender revolution and the entry of women into labor force, and the aging of most populations, have transformed family life in ways that are still not well understood. MPRC researchers are leaders in the study of how these larger changes affect families and individuals in both the U.S. and in other countries. Many aspects of family life (how they form, their size, composition and stability, and inequalities in family experiences) have direct impact on larger demographic processes underlying the composition, geographic distribution, and growth of the population. Thus the study of family life is of central concern to population research.
Areas of focus include :
- Transition to adulthood and family formation
- Parenting over the life course
- Intersection between gender, work, and family
Examples of current projects in these areas can be found below.
"Rosie" learns Spanish: The AI-powered chatbox bridging disparities in maternal and infant health
Nguyen and Aparicio receive $200k from NIH to expand access to healthcare information
A cross-national investigation of women's empowerment
Desai and Yu tap into dimensions of empowerment in household, work, and education across 28 countries
The opioid epidemic's effects on families
Caudillo and Cohen investigate how family structures have changed with rising opioid epidemic death rates
Local violence accelerates cohabiting union transitions among disadvantaged women
Mónica Caudillo investigates this using national survey data from Mexico
Expectations for male provision and women's sexual health risks in sub-Saharan Africa
Stoebenau took a mixed-methods approach to develop the Gender Role and Male Provision Expectation scale
Beyond the (family) binary: Family environment heterogeneity among transgender adults
Dr. Jessica N. Fish and colleagues examine family response and outcomes for transgender individuals
Racial Disparities in Maternal Mortality
Associates Marian MacDorman and Marie Thoma, with colleagues Eugene DeClerq and Elizabeth Howell examine birth records
Gender, Transport, and Employment in Mumbai
Maureen Cropper and colleagues examine mobility patterns and a gender gap
Engaging Women in the Market for Mobile Money
Faculty Associate Jessica Goldberg awarded National Science Foundation three-year grant to examine questions of participation and impact for women
Kinship, Nuptiality and Child Health Outcomes in a Low Income Urban Area - JAMAA na AFYA ya MTOTO (JAMO)
Sangeetha Madhavan PI, with Kristen Stoebenau, Kenneth Leonard and Michael Wagner
Exploring perceived coercive aspects of transactional sex in Central Uganda
Kirsten Stoebenau examines the Central Uganda Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW)'s participation in transactional sex
Trends in stratification of pre-marital childbirth
Kirsten Stoebenau and Sangeetha Madhavan examine impact of economic inequality through NICHD R03
Empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of the one-child policy in terms of child trafficking in China
Implementation of the one-child policy and deep-rooted cultural preference for boys have together significantly increased both child abandonment and child abduction in China
Advanced School Progression Relative to Age and Early Family Formation in Mexico
Mónica Caudillo Demography article re-examines education outcomes in light of advanced school progression by age
Sexual minority youth less likely to exit foster care
Jessica Fish and her colleagues published a study presenting sexual minority youth as an overrepresented population in foster care, child welfare and out-of-home placement
More Women Opting to Give Birth Outside of a Hospital
Data shows rate of births at home and in birth centers reaches highest level in 30 years; demand may actually be greater
SPH Study Explores Maternal Experience of IPV in Young Children in Tanzania
Natalie Slopen and colleagues published a new study exploring the health implications of intimate partner violence on children
Cabrera on Mothers’ and Fathers’ Playfulness
Playfulness is associated with children's emotion regulation and vocabulary skills
Abraham and Kearney examine secular decline in US employment over the past two decades
Robots and offshoring seen as important factors in decline of employment rates
Methodological Issues in Maternal Mortality Research
NICHD R21 project seeks to clarify maternal mortality records