Publications

Brief report from CCF Early Career Scholar Dr. Vanessa Delgado shows that parental immigration status shapes adult children’s decisions to “give back” in immigrant families.

Brief report from CCF Early Career Scholar Dr. Meredith Zhang summarizes new research on how providing unpaid care for family and friends differs by gender, sexual orientation, and partnership status.

A new CCF symposium highlights what emerging research tells us about changes to family & work life during the COVID-19 pandemic and what they mean for the future of gender equality in the U.S.

In a new brief report from CCF, Jessica Su finds that breastfeeding benefits are modest, and reach some children more than others

A new brief report from CCF takes a look at how cognitive labor related to household management influences well-being in different ways for mothers and fathers.

New research on how mothers’ concerns about community COVID-19 transmission affects their labor force participation.

It turns out there is a big difference between dividing up the tasks so that each partner does different ones versus sharing or alternating the same tasks, so that partners contribute equally to each.

A new study estimates that about 70% of U.S. moms can expect to be primary financial providers before their children turn 18.

A new study finds that recognizing one type of inequality doesn’t automatically lead to recognition of another.

A new study explores how behaviors once seen as maladaptive may actually protect youth.

A new study explores the wide-ranging effects of student loan debt on young adults – and what they would do if they were forgiven.

Despite the important temporary relief provided to many families by the March 2020 CARES Act, millions of American families are experiencing financial hardship as we enter the new year.

Children face continued social isolation this fall, with 21 of the 25 largest school districts in the country choosing remote learning instead of in-person classes.

A briefing paper prepared by Kelley Fong from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Before and During COVID-19: Telecommuting, Work-Family Conflict, and Gender Equality A briefing paper prepared by Thomas Lyttelton (Yale Sociology), Emma Zang (Yale Sociology), and Kelly… Read more: Before and during COVID-19: Telecommuting, Work-Family Conflict, and Gender Equality

Although children appear to be less vulnerable than adults to serious COVID-19 medical complications, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that they are disproportionately endangered by the pandemic’s economic toll.

June 18, 2020 Fast Facts for Father’s Day (June 21, 2020): A fact sheet prepared by Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, Ohio State University and Kari Adamsons, University… Read more: How Dads Make a Difference for Their Children

A briefing paper prepared by Daniel L. Carlson (University of Utah), Richard J. Petts (Ball State University), and Joanna R. Pepin (University of Buffalo –… Read more: Men and Women Agree: During the COVID-19 Pandemic Men Are Doing More at Home

A briefing paper prepared by Amanda Miller, University of Indianapolis, and Sharon Sassler, Cornell University, for the Council on Contemporary Families. Much has been written… Read more: Challenges Facing Cohabiting Couples Differ from those of Married Couples in this Crisis

When “Helicopters” Go to School: Who Gets Rescued and Who Gets Left Behind? A briefing paper prepared by Jessica McCrory Calarco, Indiana University, for the… Read more: When “Helicopters” Go to School: Who Gets Rescued and Who Gets Left Behind?

January 23, 2020 A fact sheet on prospects for marriage in contemporary America prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Daniel L. Carlson, University… Read more: National Spouses Day Is This Sunday…. Feeling Any Pressure?

October 28, 2019 A fact sheet prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Dr. Jennifer Glass, Executive Director, Council on Contemporary Families and Professor… Read more: 10 Scary Facts About Child Poverty

Defining Consent takes an unflinching look at the thorny question, what should count as consent to sexual activity – and what should not? In the process, scholars document how to hard it is to define consent or even sexual activity in a college setting.

Parents Can’t Go It Alone introduces you to important new work about what parents need to meet their goals and successfully raise the next generation.

February 6, 2019 A fact sheet prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Youngmin Yi, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Cornell University. In the absence… Read more: Household Instability and Complexity among Undocumented Immigrants

Hiring-related Discrimination: Sexist Beliefs and Expectations Hurt both Women’s and Men’s Career Options A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Jill… Read more: Hiring-related Discrimination: Sexist Beliefs and Expectations Hurt both Women’s and Men’s Career Options

3q: Per Coontz, Equality is an Agenda for All Working People, Not Just Feminists Virginia Rutter interviews Stephanie Coontz on the new Council on Contemporary… Read more: Three Q: Per Coontz, Equality Is an agenda for all working people, not just feminists.

A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Arielle Kuperberg, Associate Professor of Sociology and Women and Gender Studies, UNC Greensboro.  October… Read more: From Countercultural Trend to Strategy for the Financially Insecure: Premarital Cohabitation and Premarital Cohabitors, 1956-2015

3q: American Intimacy in a Time of Escalating Inequality   A short interview with Stephanie Coontz by Virginia Rutter on a new CCF study.  … Read more: 3Q: Coontz, Cohabitation, and American Intimacy in Times of Escalating Inequality

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Mieke Beth… Read more: Same-Sex Couples Devote More Attention to End-of-Life Plans than Heterosexual Couples

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Stephen T.… Read more: Transgender Youth Allowed to Use Their Chosen Name Have Fewer Mental Health Problems

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Elizabeth Cozzolino Introduction Child support enforcement aims to increase… Read more: Who Goes to Jail for Child Support Debt?

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Kristine Hopkins,… Read more: Community College Students Want to Use More Effective Birth Control Methods But Can’t Always Get What They Want

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Kari White, Daniel… Read more: The Impact of Information about Abortion Safety on Texas Voters’ Opinions about Restrictive Laws

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Fatima Varner, Yang Hou, Tajma Hodzic, Noelle M. Hurd,… Read more: Parenting Patterns, Racial Discrimination, and African American Adolescents’ Psychological and Academic Outcomes

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Letícia J.… Read more: The Impact of the Zika Epidemic on Women’s Reproductive Intentions and Behaviors in Brazil

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Susan De Luca, Yan Yueqi, and Yolanda Padilla… Read more: What are the Effects of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Depression and Thoughts of Death on Their Children’s Level of Parental Connectedness?

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Abigail Weitzman Introduction… Read more: Improving Women’s Education Improves Maternal Health: Evidence from Peru

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Diane Coffey, Michael… Read more: Open Defecation and Anemia in Children: The Case of Nepal

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Daniel Grossman, Kari… Read more: How Greater Travel Distance Due to Clinic Closures Reduced Access to Abortion in Texas

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Debra Umberson Introduction Black Americans are more likely than… Read more: Black Deaths Matter: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Racial Disparities in Relationship Loss and Health

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Veronique Dupéré, Eric Dion, Tama Leventhal, Isabelle Archambault,… Read more: Is Dropping out of High School More Likely after Stressful Life Events?

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of this Brief Kelly Raley Introduction… Read more: Cohabitating Couples With Lower Education Levels Marry Less. Is This Because They Do Not Want To?

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Download a PDF of the Brief Amanda M. Pollitt,… Read more: Perceptions of Shared Power, Gender Conformity, and Marital Quality in Same- and Different-Sex Marriages

A Brief Report Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center   Jennifer Glass, Robin W. Simon and Matthew A. Andersson Introduction… Read more: The Parenthood “Happiness Penalty”: The Effects of Social Policies in 22 Countries

A Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center   Debra Umberson, Mieke Beth Thomeer, Corinne Reczek, Rachel Donnelly, and Rhiannon… Read more: Do Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Spouses Differ in the Ways They Care for Each Other During Physical Illness?

Not All Housework is Created Equal: Particular Housework Tasks and Couples’ Relationship Quality A brief report prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Dan… Read more: CCF BRIEF: Not All Housework is Created Equal: Particular Housework Tasks and Couples’ Relationship Quality

Patterns of Progress? Changes in Gender Ideology 1977-2016 A briefing paper prepared for The Council on Contemporary Families by David A. Cotter, Department of Sociology,… Read more: CCF BRIEF: Patterns of Progress? Changes in Gender Ideology 1977-2016

September 12, 2017 A fact sheet prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families to mark Unmarried and Single Americans Week, September 17-23, by Bella DePaulo,… Read more: Reminder: Marriage is No Longer the Mode

On August 26, 2017, Women’s Equality Day Turns 44.   A fact sheet compiled for the Council on Contemporary Families by Nika Fate-Dixon and Stephanie… Read more: CCF BRIEF: On August 26, 2017, Women’s Equality Day Turns 44

A Reversal in Predictors of Sexual Frequency and Satisfaction in Marriage A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Sharon Sassler, Professor,… Read more: CCF BRIEF – A Reversal in Predictors of Sexual Frequency and Satisfaction in Marriage

Social Policies, Parenthood, and Happiness in 22 Countries A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Jennifer Glass, University of Texas; Robin… Read more: CCF BRIEF: Parenting and Happiness in 22 Countries

The Way We Still Never Were: Another Quarter Century of Family Change and Diversity A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by… Read more: The Way We Still Never Were: Another Quarter Century of Family Change and Diversity

  It’s Women’s History Month: Why is pay for caregiving work so low relative to other jobs with similarly low requirements for formal education?  A… Read more: It’s Women’s History Month: Why is pay for caregiving work so low relative to other jobs with similarly low requirements for formal education?

A Briefing Paper Prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Arielle Kuperberg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro… Read more: The Date’s not Dead after all: New Findings on Hooking Up, Dating and Romantic Relationships in College

What Helps Women Entrepreneurs Flourish? A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Sarah Thébaud, University of California at Santa Barbara November… Read more: What Helps Women Entrepreneurs Flourish?

September 16, 2015; The U.S. Census Bureau’s report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage, released today, reflects the continued uncertainty for U.S. families that… Read more: Health Care Is a Family Stressor—So There’s Good News

What Happens When Couples Marry after the First Baby?   A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Kelly Musick, Cornell University… Read more: What Happens When Couples Marry after the First Baby?

  Gender Revolution and the Restabilization of Family Life  A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Frances Goldscheider, College Park Professor… Read more: Gender Revolution and the Restabilization of Family Life

Dating Partners Don’t Always Prefer “Their Own Kind”: Some Multiracial Daters Get Bonus Points in the Dating Game A briefing paper prepared for the Council… Read more: Dating Partners Don’t Always Prefer “Their Own Kind”: Some Multiracial Daters Get Bonus Points in the Dating Game

Remarriage in the United States: If at first they don’t succeed, do most Americans “try, try again”? A briefing paper prepared for the Council on… Read more: Remarriage in the United States: If at first they don’t succeed, do most Americans “try, try again”?

The Origin of Gender Inequalities in Dual-Earner, College Educated Couples: The Division of Labor at the Transition to Parenthood A briefing paper prepared for the… Read more: The Origin of Gender Inequalities in Dual-Earner, College Educated Couples: The Division of Labor at the Transition to Parenthood

The Continuing “Gender Revolution” in Housework and Care: Evidence from Long-term Time-use Trends A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium… Read more: The Continuing “Gender Revolution” in Housework and Care: Evidence from Long-term Time-use Trends

The Complexities of Interpreting Changing Household Patterns A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium on Housework, Gender, and Parenthood by… Read more: The Complexities of Interpreting Changing Household Patterns

First comes love, then comes…housework? A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium on Housework, Gender, and Parenthood by Arielle Kuperberg,… Read more: First comes love, then comes…housework?

A Review of National Crime Victim Victimization Findings on Rape and Sexual Assault A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium… Read more: A Review of National Crime Victim Victimization Findings on Rape and Sexual Assault

Sexual Assault on Campus A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium on Intimate Partner Violence by Elizabeth Armstrong, Professor of… Read more: Sexual Assault On Campus

THE TRICKY BUSINESS OF SORTING OUT SEXUAL ASSAULT: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CCF SYMPOSIUM ON INTIMATE VIOLENCE by Stephanie Coontz , Director of Research and Public… Read more: The Tricky Business of Sorting Out Sexual Assault: An Introduction to The CCF Symposium On Intimate Partner Violence

Interpersonal Violence and the Great Crime Drop A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online Symposium on Intimate Partner Violence by Samuel… Read more: Interpersonal Violence and the Great Crime Drop

Women Not Enrolled in Four-Year Universities and Colleges Have Higher Risk of Sexual Assault A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families Online… Read more: Women Not Enrolled in Four-Year Universities and Colleges Have Higher Risk of Sexual Assault

  AMERICA’S FRAGMENTED CHILD CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION SYSTEM A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families by Sara Gable, Associate Professor of… Read more: America’s Fragmented Child Care and Early Education System

“DADDY’S HOME!” INCREASING MEN’S USE OF PATERNITY LEAVE This briefing is based on a study by Dr. Ankita Patnaik. The original paper is available here and is… Read more: “Daddy’s Home!” Increasing Men’s Use of Paternity Leave

For the 50th Anniversary of the Moynihan Report, this briefing paper was prepared as part of an online symposium Moynihan+50: Family Structure Still not the… Read more: The Moynihan Report, Then and Now

This briefing paper was prepared as part of an online symposium Moynihan+50: Family Structure Still not the Problem for the Council on Contemporary Families and… Read more: Moynihan’s Half Century: Have We Gone to Hell in a Hand Basket?

An Analysis of New Census Data on Family Structure, Education, and Income A report and commentary prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families prepared for… Read more: An Analysis of New Census Data on Family Structure, Education, and Income

The majority of American parents are doing well on key parenting indicators, despite some differences by family type. But America has higher proportions of poor… Read more: Child-Rearing Norms and Practices in Contemporary American Families

People often think of social change in the lives of American children since the 1950s as a movement in one direction – from children being raised in married, male-breadwinner families to a new norm of children being raised by working mothers, many of them unmarried. Instead, we can better understand this transformation as an explosion of diversity, a fanning out from a compact center along many different pathways.

Six charts demonstrate a renewed progress towards gender equality starting around 2006.

Husbands and wives who share similar levels of education now enjoy a lower risk of divorce than those in which husbands have more education—a trend consistent with a shift toward egalitarian marriages.

The growing wage premium for long work hours slows progress toward gender equality. If the relative hourly wages for overwork had stayed constant between 1979 and 2007, the gender gap in wages would be about 10 percent smaller than it is today.

This look at sexual frequency among younger couples in equal marriages refutes recent claims that when a man share the housework equally, it is bad for the couple’s sex life.

National surveys and other studies continuously tell us that work is a major source of stress for Americans. But this study has found that people have significantly lower levels of stress at work than at home. These low levels of cortisol may help explain a long-standing finding that has always been hard to reconcile with the idea that work is a major source of stress: People who work have better mental and physical health than their non-working peers.

Experts recommend we delay, protect, and look for more change in the future.

By Arielle Kuperberg The University of North Carolina at Greensboro atkuperb@uncg.edu In the last 50 years, the percentage of men and women who cohabit before… Read more: Does Premarital Cohabitation Raise Your Risk of Divorce?

Today the Council on Contemporary Families releases the third set of papers in a three part symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The first two sets of papers described changes in America’s religious and racial-ethnic landscape in the half century since it became illegal to discriminate on the basis of religion, skin color, national origin, race, ethnicity or gender.

By Joan C. Williams University of California, Hastings College of the Law Fifty years after discrimination on the basis of sex was outlawed, women have… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Dilemmas Facing High-Achieving Career Women

By Max Coleman, Research Intern Council on Contemporary Families Fifty years ago, the United States adopted the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination on the basis… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Civil Rights for Women, 1964-2014

Overview: Changing Racial-Ethnic Realities since the Civil Rights Act Remarks by: Stephanie Coontz Today the Council on Contemporary Families releases the second set of papers… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Racial-Ethnic Realities since the Civil Rights Act

By Velma McBride Murry and Na Liu Vanderbilt University In 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Are African Americans Living the Dream 50 Years After Passage of the Civil Rights Act?

By Raha Forooz Sabet University of Miami When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, racial differences in the United States were almost literally… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Changes in America’s Racial and Ethnic Composition Since 1964

By Kimberlyn Fong Mount Holyoke College In the past 50 years there has been a true revolution in American attitudes toward interracial marriage. In the… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: Changes in Interracial Marriage

By Rogelio Sáenz University of Texas at San Antonio Latinos are increasingly driving the demographic fortunes of the United States. Between 2000 and 2011, the… Read more: CCF Civil Rights Symposium: The State of Latino Children

The Council on Contemporary Families asked a dozen researchers to discuss what has changed in the past half century for each of the populations affected by the law – religious groups, racial and ethnic minorities, and women. Today, February 4, the Council is releasing an update on the changing religious landscape of America.

David McClendon from the University of Texas-Austin, traces the increase in the proportion of marriages contracted between couples from different religious traditions. Even more dramatic has been the increase in the number of marriages where both partners maintain their separate beliefs and practices, rather than one or both changing so that their religions match. The proportion of mixed-religion marriages has doubled since the 1960s.

In 1964 the provisions outlawing discrimination on the basis of religion were less controversial than those against discrimination on the basis of race and sex, even though blatant bigotry and outright violence against Catholics and Jews had been pervasive in American history right up through World War II. Prejudices had begun to ease by the early 1960s, but the Civil Rights Act remains an important safeguard for religious (and non-religious) minorities, according to Jerry Z. Park, Joshua Tom and Brita Andercheck, of Baylor University.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. In this report, University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen examines the many early victories, as well as the setbacks in the War on Poverty.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. Many politicians blame the resurgence of poverty on the spread of unwed motherhood and conclude that promoting marriage among low-income individuals would do more to reduce poverty than government investments. In this report, Ohio State University sociologist Kristi Williams examines how efforts to get impoverished single mothers to marry are unlikely to make much of a dent in poverty rates and may even have some harmful outcomes for mothers and children alike.

Experts respond to a new briefing report for the Council on Contemporary Families that documents how the way you look affects your life prospects.

How do your looks affect your life? Is being attractive or unattractive a source of systematic social inequalities in people’s access to wealth, power and privilege? Should we add “beauty bias” to racism and sexism as a type of unacceptable discrimination? A new briefing report for the Council on Contemporary Families documents how the way you look affects your life prospects.

By Sheryl Sandberg Chief Operating Officer, Facebook and Founder, www.leanin.org For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact Andrea Saul: press@leanin.org In 1947, Anita… Read more: Gender Bias and the Fight for Equal Pay