Family Complexity, the Family Safety Net, and Public Policy

Structural disadvantages to the kin network from intergenerational racial health inequities

This article utilizes the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to demonstrate how disadvantages in healthy life expectancies accumulated across generations create disparate kin structures among African American families in the United States. The analysis quantifies the overlap in parents' healthy years with their adult children's healthy life expectancies and examines how much the overlap coincides with the adult children's childrearing years. Non-Hispanic Black adults experienced parental illness and death sooner than non-Hispanic White adults, and their parents' poor health coincided longer with their own health declines. Non-Hispanic White adults, on the other hand, enjoyed more years in good health with two healthy parents. The intergenerational accumulation of unequal healthy life expectancies directly translated into unequal kin structures for the subsequent third generation. Race inequities in the intergenerational kin structure and health were greater among women than among men, and non-Hispanic Black women spent the most years raising children in poor health with unhealthy or deceased parents. Disparities in the intergenerational tempos of fertility, mortality, and morbidity are building profound structural racial inequities within a fundamental social institution-the family.

Race and ethnic differences in step- versus biological parent support to adult children

Objective

This brief report examines differences in step- versus biological family support between White, Black, and Hispanic families in the United States.

Background

The increasing share of stepfamilies reflects a potential shift in family relationships. Although research finds that stepfamilies are generally less likely to engage in instrumental support than biological families, recent work suggests that the relationship between family structure and family behaviors may vary across racial/ethnic groups.

Method

Using data from the 2015-2017 Add Health Parent Study, this report examines racial/ethnic differences in step- versus biological family support between parents and adult children. Specifically, parents' likelihood of and hours of providing instrumental support to adult children are assessed.

Results

Findings from this report indicate for Black and White families, stepfamilies are less likely to provide instrumental support to their adult children than biological families. Among Hispanic families, however, stepfamilies are not more or less likely to provide support than biological families. When hours of instrumental support are examined, White stepfamilies provide fewer hours of support than biological families, whereas no difference is found for Black or Hispanic families.

Conclusion

Findings from this study contribute to broader work that calls for more nuanced understanding of the differential effects of family structure across social groups. Future research should consider applying within-race/ethnicity analyses when examining the association between family structure and intergenerational support.

Sex, gender, sexual orientation, and more: Sexual diversity in Alzheimer's research needs a new lens to achieve inclusive research and generalizable results

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) research are guiding the adoption of two-step self-report questions that capture research participants' identity based on categories of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The intent is to facilitate inclusion and representation of sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) communities in ADRD research. The data from using these questions are on a collision course with another National Institute of Aging initiative, which is aimed at understanding sex differences in ADRD mechanisms. Here, we critically analyze the goals and methods of the two initiatives. We propose that, in addition to being SGM focused, DEI efforts are needed to expand how scientists consider and measure sexual diversity itself.

Highlights

Sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SSOGI) will be asked in ADRD studies.SSOGI data will expand representation of research participant identities.SSOGI data are on a collision course with sex differences research.Both emphasize sexual diversity (SD) largely as SSOGI identity categories.Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts must develop SD methods in ADRD research.

Keeping kin close? Geographies of family networks by race and income, 1981-2017

Objective

This study examined changes in geographic proximity to family members among race and income groups in the United States from 1981 to 2017.

Background

Close geographic proximity to family members can facilitate mutual support and strengthen family bonds. Some scholars argue that institutional sources of support have replaced many core family functions, which might mean that households are likely to live increasingly farther away from family. Advancing technology and changing labor market opportunities might reinforce this pattern. Yet, the ongoing cultural and emotional salience of family might curtail the effects of these factors on the increasing distance to family.

Method

We conducted a quantitative analysis of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We utilized the multigenerational structure of the PSID and restricted-use geocodes to map kin proximity at every interview from 1981 to 2017. We cross-classified our sample by race and income, focusing on Black and White respondents across income quartiles (n = 171,501 person-periods).

Results

High-income White respondents showed the greatest increases in distance from kin over time, whereas proximity to kin among other race-income groups was relatively stable.

Conclusion

Proximate kin has become less central in the lives of high-income White households over time, whereas close proximity to kin has been the norm over time for other racial and income groups. These results have implications for racial and income differences in kin relations over time.

Relationship Status-Based Health Disparities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Previous research finds that marriage is a privileged family form with health benefits. These health advantages may have shifted during the pandemic, as more time was spent at home and resources strained. This study compares differences in three health outcomes across relationship statuses between April and December 2020 using a nationally-representative US survey, the Household Pulse Survey (N = 1,422,733). As the pandemic progressed, larger differences emerged when comparing married and never married respondents' probabilities of fair or poor health, depression, and anxiety as never married people had the steepest decline in health, even adjusting for pandemic-related stressors (e.g., food insufficiency). Yet, widowed and divorced/separated respondents' greater probabilities of these three health outcomes compared to married respondents' narrowed over this same period. During the pandemic, relationship status and self-rated health patterns were similar for men and women, but for mental health there was evidence that the growing advantage of marriage relative to never being married was more pronounced for men, whereas the shrinking advantage of marriage relative to being previously married was more pronounced for women. This study identifies the unique health needs for never married adults during the pandemic, demonstrating that social conditions around the pandemic likely exacerbated health disparities by relationship status.

What Decides the Well-Being of the Relationship between Parents and Adolescents

The literature indicates a variety of factors that contribute to adolescent well-being: among these, the parent-adolescent relationship has a key role. The present article offered an overview of studies on parent-adolescent relationships across diverse family forms, not limited to the traditional family but also including "non-traditional" and "modern" families. To do so, this article described the evolution of the concept of family over the last fifty years and traced the significant family variables that guarantee adolescent well-being. Additionally, this article discussed the changes that occurred in family research, shifting from studies that considered only the family structure to more recent studies that investigated family processes and contextual factors. Overall, the reviewed studies indicated that the quality of parent-adolescent relationship, the interparental conflict and the consequent spillover effect on the child subsystem, and the changes in the economic situation following parental separation/divorce override the effect of the family structure. Finally, this article pointed out the need to examine, in the future research, adolescent well-being across diverse families by adopting more fine-grained methodologies, collecting data from the entire family system, and using a multi-method assessment to obtain a more ecological view of family complexity.

The Mentoring Relationship with the Closest Grandparent and Identity Processes Among Emerging Adult Grandchildren in Poland: The Role of Perceived Grandparents’ Perspective Taking

The aim of the current study was to examine the mentoring relationship with the closest grandparent, considering perceived grandparent’s perspective taking, and identity processes among Polish emerging adult grandchildren. A total of 424 emerging adults (41.3% male) aged 18–25 completed self-assessment measures. The structural equation modeling analysis revealed positive associations between perception of mentoring relationships with the closest grandparent (mostly grandmother), their perspective taking, and emerging adults’ identity synthesis. The results indicated no significant gender differences in the hypothesized model. To sum up, relationships with grandparents may be perceived as important in promoting coherent identity development among emerging adults.

The Role of Kinship in Racial Differences in Exposure to Unemployment

Most studies on unemployment have assessed its individual-level costs. However, beyond its effects on individuals, unemployment incurs costs for their immediate families and extended kin. Close kin provide the majority of social support for unemployed adults. Applying demographic and statistical techniques to official statistics and using COVID-19 survey data on kinship and labor force experience, we assess the unemployment level and exposure to unemployment in the United States from a kinship perspective. The results indicate dramatic racial disparities in the number of unemployed kin and the number of kin affected by an unemployed person. Specifically, during the pandemic-induced recession, Black Americans had 1.7 unemployed people in their extended family compared with 1.2 among Whites. Further, every job loss in a Black extended family affected approximately 23 related members of the family through kinship ties, compared with approximately 20 among Whites. The racial gap in the number of unemployed kin is evident in all age-groups and escalates with age. This study's findings highlight the need to understand unemployment and its demographic implications, which are stratified by race.

Benevolent Childhood Experiences and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Undergraduates: A Moderated Mediation Model Examining the Roles of Uncertainty Stress and Family Relationship

Background: The evidence on the association between benevolent childhood experience (BCE) and depressive symptoms in students is complex. This study aims to explore the underlying mediation mechanism of BCE toward depressive symptoms and whether this link was moderated by the family relationship among Chinese undergraduates. Methods: From March 2021 to May 2021, a cross-sectional study was conducted in China, and 1821 undergraduates were recruited in this study. Participants were asked to complete a self-reported electronic questionnaire. The software SPSS PROCESS macro was used to test the mediation and mediated moderated modeling analysis. Results: Mediation analysis indicated that uncertainty stress (US) partly mediated the link between BCE and depressive symptoms (indirect effect = -0.47, 95% bootstrap CI = -0.55, -0.39). The indirect effect of the US accounted for 39.63% of the total variance in depression. Moderation analysis indicated that the association between the US and depressive symptoms was significantly modified by family relationships (interact effect = -0.019, P < 0.001). An integrative moderated mediation analysis indicated that the indirect effect from BCE to depressive symptoms through the US was also moderated by family relationships (interact effect = -0.012, P = 0.014). Conclusion: Uncertainty stress plays a key role in bridging BCE and depressive symptoms while the family relationship can buffer the impact of the US on depressive symptoms among Chinese undergraduates. Enhancing tolerance of uncertainty and improving family relationships are needed to protect undergraduates from depressive symptoms.

Heteronormativity in the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Young People

Heteronormativity, as defined in queer theory, is the presumption and privileging of heterosexuality. Research on how young people make sense of and narrate heteronormativity in their own lives is needed to inform theories of heteronormativity. Using queer and intersectional frameworks, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 sexual and gender minority young people (ages 18 to 24), analyzed using thematic analysis, to examine how young adults make sense of heteronormativity. Participants discussed how gender expression informed both sexuality and sexual attraction. Participants prioritized biological parenthood over other family constructions but rarely discussed marriage. Gender, sexuality, and race contributed important contexts for how participants described heteronormativity in their lives and should be the focus of future research. Finally, binaries of gender, sexuality, and family intersected in participants' lives and their narrative constructions.

How Families Matter for Health Inequality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

We theorize that social conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to increase the importance of families for health and widen existing inequalities. We suggest three primary tenets important for understanding families and health during COVID-19. First, risks of specific COVID-19 outcomes and other health problems are unevenly distributed across families. Second, how families impact health during the COVID-19 pandemic is conditional on public policies, organizational decisions, and concurrent events. Third, many health inequalities driven by racism, sexism, classism, and other oppressive societal force are amplified during COVID-19, but the extent to which this is occurring is shaped by families and by the public policies, organizational decisions, and concurrent events that also impact families and health. As health disparities continue to emerge from this pandemic, we call on researchers and policy-makers to pay attention to the multiple ways that families matter.

Multiple-Partner Fertility and Cohort Change in the Prevalence of Half-Siblings

The transformation of the American family under the second demographic transition has created more opportunities for parents to have children with multiple partners, but data limitations have hampered prevalence estimates of multiple-partner fertility from the perspective of children. This study uses nationally representative data from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to examine cohort change in children's exposure to multiple-partner fertility. We find that one in five children in the 1979 cohort had at least one half-sibling by their 18th birthday, and the prevalence grew to more than one in four children by the 1997 cohort. A strong educational gradient in exposure to half-siblings persists across both cohorts, but large racial/ethnic disparities have narrowed over time. Using demographic decomposition techniques, we find that change in the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic composition of the U.S. population cannot explain the growth in exposure to half-siblings. We conclude by discussing the shifting patterns of fertility and family formation associated with sibling complexity and considering the implications for child development and social stratification.

Intergenerational Transmission of Multipartner Fertility

Using data from administrative registers for the period 1970–2007 in Norway and Sweden, we investigate the intergenerational transmission of multipartner fertility. We find that men and women with half-siblings are more likely to have children with more than one partner. The differences are greater for those with younger versus older half-siblings, consistent with the additional influence of parental separation that may not arise when one has only older half-siblings. The additional risk for those with both older and younger half-siblings suggests that complexity in childhood family relationships also contributes to multipartner fertility. Only a small part of the intergenerational association is accounted for by education in the first and second generations. The association is to some extent gendered. Half-siblings are associated with a greater risk of women having children with a new partner in comparison with men. In particular, maternal half-siblings are more strongly associated with multipartner fertility than paternal half-siblings only for women.

Beyond the Nuclear Family: Trends in Children Living in Shared Households

Using data from the 1996–2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the 2009–2016 American Community Survey, we examine trends in U.S. children living in shared households (living with adults beyond their nuclear (parent/parent’s partner/sibling) family). We find that although the share of children who lived in a shared household increased over this period, the rise was nearly entirely driven by an increase in three-generation/multigenerational households (coresident grandparent(s), parent(s), and child). In 1996, 5.7 % of children lived in a three-generation household; by 2016, 9.8 % did likewise—more than a 4 percentage point increase. More economically advantaged groups (older, more educated mothers, married households) experienced the largest percentage increase in three-generation coresidence, although correlates of coresidence remained largely stable. Decomposition analyses suggest that the rise in Social Security receipt and changes in parental relationship status (less marriage, more single parenthood) most strongly explained the increase in three-generation households. Given the dramatic rise in three-generation households, more research is needed to understand the consequences of these living arrangements for children, their parents, and their grandparents.

Trends in the prevalence of grandparents living with grandchild(ren) in selected European countries and the United States

Research from the United States has shown significant increases in the prevalence of three-generation households and in households consisting solely of grandparents and grandchildren. Such shifts in household composition, which are associated with socio-economic disadvantage, may reflect the activation of grandparents as a latent network of support in response to social and demographic changes such as rising partnership disruption. However, to date, little is known in Europe about trends in grandparent households or whether these households are also likely to be disadvantaged. Moreover, we know little about how the familistic and defamilised policy environments in Europe may affect the activation of such latent kin networks. Employing the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-International and the Office for National Statistics' Longitudinal Study for England and Wales, we used multivariate techniques to investigate changes in prevalence over time in co-residence with a grandchild across Austria, England and Wales, France, Greece, Portugal, Romania, and the United States. We expected increases in grandparent households in Portugal and Greece, familistic societies with few public alternatives to family support. However, only Romania (like the US) showed an increase in the percentage of people aged 40 and over co-residing with their grandchildren in three-generation households between the late 1970s and 2002. Given rises in poverty and limited support for low-income families in Romania, rises in grandparent coresidence may reflect a coping strategy among poorer families to increasing financial hardship. Regardless of the trends, grandparent households in all the countries studied remained associated with socio-economic disadvantage.

Step-grandparenthood in the United States

Objectives

This study provides new information about the demography of step-grandparenthood in the United States. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of step-grandparenthood across birth cohorts and for socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups. We also examine lifetime exposure to the step-grandparent role.

Methods

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Health and Retirement Study, we use percentages to provide first estimates of step-grandparenthood and to describe demographic and socioeconomic variation in who is a step-grandparent. We use life tables to estimate the exposure to step-grandparenthood.

Results

The share of step-grandparents is increasing across birth cohorts. However, individuals without a college education and non-Whites are more likely to become step-grandparents. Exposure to the step-grandparent role accounts for approximately 15% of total grandparent years at age 65 for women and men.

Discussion

A growing body of research finds that grandparents are increasingly instrumental in the lives of younger generations. However, the majority of this work assumes that these ties are biological, with little attention paid to the role of family complexity across three generations. Understanding the demographics of step-grandparenthood sheds light on the family experiences of an overlooked, but growing segment of the older adult population in the United States.

Cross-National Comparisons of Union Stability in Cohabiting and Married Families With Children

Increases in cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, and partnership dissolution have reshaped the family landscape in most Western countries. The United States shares many features of family change common elsewhere, although it is exceptional in its high degree of union instability. In this study, we use the Harmonized Histories to provide a rich, descriptive account of union instability among couples who have had a child together in the United States and several European countries. First, we compare within-country differences between cohabiting and married parents in education, prior family experiences, and age at first birth. Second, we estimate differences in the stability of cohabiting and married parents, paying attention to transitions into marriage among those cohabiting at birth. Finally, we explore the implications of differences in parents' characteristics for union instability and the magnitude of social class differences in union instability across countries. Although similar factors are associated with union instability across countries, some (prior childbearing, early childbearing) are by far more common in the United States, accounting in part for higher shares separating. The factors associated with union instability-lower education, prior childbearing, early childbearing-also tend to be more tightly packaged in the United States than elsewhere, suggesting greater inequality in resources for children.

Clinical Guidelines for Working With Stepfamilies: What Family, Couple, Individual, and Child Therapists Need to Know

This article draws on four decades of research and clinical practice to delineate guidelines for evidence-informed, clinically sound work with stepfamilies for couple, family, individual adult, and child therapists. Few clinicians receive adequate training in working with the intense and often complex dynamics created by stepfamily structure and history. This is despite the fact that stepfamilies are a fundamentally different family form that occurs world-wide. As a result many clinicians rely on their training in first-time family models. This is not only often unhelpful, but all too often inadvertently destructive. The article integrates a large body of increasingly sophisticated research about stepfamilies with the author's four decades of clinical practice with stepfamily relationships. It describes the ways in which stepfamilies are different from first-time families. It delineates the dynamics of five major challenges stepfamily structure creates: (1) Insider/outsider positions are intense and they are fixed. (2) Children struggle with losses, loyalty binds, and change. (3) Issues of parenting, stepparenting, and discipline often divide the couple. (4) Stepcouples must build a new family culture while navigating previously established family cultures. (5) Ex-spouses (other parents outside the household) are part of the family. Some available data are shared on the impact of cultural and legal differences on these challenges. A three-level model of clinical intervention is presented: Psychoeducational, Interpersonal, and Intrapsychic/Intergenerational Family-of-Origin. The article describes some "easy wrong turns" for well-meaning therapists and lists some general clinical guidelines for working with stepfamily relationships.