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.
Examining the effects of maternal smoking on offspring depression
Maternal smoking quantity seen as vital factor
Temporal trends in mental health disparities among sexual minorities
Research shows persistent mental health disparities among sexual minority populations
Improving mental health for older adults
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) could reduce health disparities
Medication and procedural abortions before 13 weeks gestation and risk of psychiatric disorders
Faculty Associate Julia Steinberg and colleaguse set out to test risks associated with having a medication or procedural abortion prior to 13 weeks of pregnancy
Dyadic patterns in childbirth intention
Monica Caudillo, with MPRC affiliate colleagues, uses National Survey of Family Growth Data for Population Research and Policy Review article
Wildfires and Child Health
Faculty Associate Michel Boudreaux leads an R01 to measure impact of increasing particulant pollution on child health
"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