Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

During the past decade, scholars continued to focus on how larger economic trends impacted families across the income spectrum. From income and wealth inequality to economic insecurity, the gaps between the haves and the have nots remained, and some widened during this period. The authors' comprehensive review found the following three major takeaways: first, the biggest economic divides run through families with children; second, low-income families face concentrated disadvantage marked by insecurity and precarity; and third, inequality and insecurity shaped the “dynamism” of family life, including how families respond culturally and emotionally to economic changes, and how these responses unfold over time. They examine active areas of research, including parenting trends and the transition to adulthood. They also document a new scholarly emphasis on uncertainty and instability along with the forces that exacerbate or mitigate them, such as job quality, economic volatility, wealth, and incarceration. Research during the past decade focused on the experience and consequences of dynamism, reflecting not only the reality that families evolve but also that they face continual change in their economic, social, and political contexts. The authors highlight research investigating how families “do dynamism,” work that looks over time or offers in-depth examinations of how families adapt to and cope with dynamism every day. This research reveals that inequality and insecurity are not only matters of levels and gaps but also ongoing matters of meaning-making, identity, and feeling. The authors conclude by highlighting some strengths and weaknesses of these research streams and pointing out new avenues for future scholarship.     

Implications of Recent Research on Eastern European Adoptees for Social Work Practice

Social workers engaged in preparing and supporting families that adopt non-infants and sibling groups from Russia and other Eastern European countries need to be well-versed in: (1) the issues that affect this population of adoptees and adopters; and (2) the recent research on both. They also need to expand the model of adoptive families that drives their work. The authors identify three areas of risk to successful older-child adoptee and adoptive family functioning, explore the consequences of detrimental adoption policies and practices on the micro and macro-levels, and make recommendations for needed changes. The changes the authors identify are framed through an investigation of recent research on international adoptees and their adoptive families. The authors use adoptive parents’ own words to make the issues they discuss more concrete. Implications for social worker training and practice, and expanded roles for social workers, are identified.     

Spanning Borders,Cultures, and Generations: A Decade of Research on Immigrant Families

The authors review research conducted during the past decade on immigrant families, focusing primarily on the United States and the sending countries with close connections to the United States. They note several major advances. First, researchers have focused extensively on immigrant families that are physically separated but socially and economically linked across origin and destination communities and explored what these family arrangements mean for family structure and functions. Second, family scholars have explored how contexts of reception shape families and family relationships. Of special note is research that documented the experiences and risks associated with undocumented legal status for parents and children. Third, family researchers have explored how the acculturation and enculturation process operates as families settle in the destination setting and raise the next generation. Looking forward, they identify several possible directions for future research to better understand how immigrant families have responded to a changing world in which nations and economies are increasingly interconnected and diverse, populations are aging, and family roles are in flux and where these changes are often met with fear and resistance in immigrant-receiving destinations.     

Empowering Community-Based Programs for Youth Development

This article discusses the need for community-based programs for youth and their families and urges the social work profession to resume its historical leadership in such programs while incorporating recent theory and practice. The authors describe the reasons why social workers abandoned neighborhood-based youth development services, the intended outcomes of such services, and current societal and professional trends that support a revival of social work’s involvement in youth development. They discuss one school of social work’s current participation in a youth agency partnership and examine implications of the suggested revival for social work education. Collaboration among families, schools, diverse community services, agencies, and educators is emphasized.     

A call for greater attention to the role of employers in developing,transforming, and implementing family policies

The authors contend that employer-initiated workplace policies should be considered as part of the patchwork that constitutes U.S. family policy. To provide a background, historical evidence of employer-initiated policies intentionally used as family policies is summarized. The view is then explicated that failure to take economic conditions and workplace policies into account may lead to faulty conclusions about the reasons for major changes in family life. The current status of selected employer-initiated workplace policies and recent trends is summarized. Next, some of the dilemmas inherent in considering connections between government- and employer-initiated policies are identified. Finally, suggestions for future directions are offered. The article should be considered with the following caveat in mind: the focus is exclusively on the influence of policies on families, but families are not merely reactive. She received her Ph.D. and M.B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center on relationships between jobs and family life, with emphasis on work-family relationships in small businesses, and on adult workers as developing individuals. Her research interests focus on the intersection of social problems and family problems, including families and work, coping with unemployment, and adult children as caregivers of dependent parents. She received her Ph.D. from Purdue University.     

The Role of Behavioral Theory in Model Development Research with Single Parent Families

In this paper, the authors critically examine the plight of single parent families with young children. Next, they lay out in detail the contributions of the behavioral perspective to practice model development research with single-parent families of children under the age of 12. The authors discuss implications for future theory driven practice model development research with cultural specific single parent families. They believe that future model development research efforts with culturally diverse single parent families will aid in advancing the state of cultural competence research in social work while assisting single parents relieve suffering and enhance child and family well-being.     

Child abuse in the context of domestic violence: prevalence, explanations, and practice implications

This article addresses the following questions: (a) How common is child abuse among domestically violent families? (b) Are there specific patterns of child abuse among domestically violent families? (c) What may explain occurrences of child abuse in domestically violent families? (d) How might domestic violence affect treatment for child abuse? We review research on child abuse in the context of domestic violence. We discuss implications of this research for service-delivery programs for domestically violent families.     

Pathways to Parenthood in Social and Family Contexts: Decade in Review, 2020

Whether, and under what circumstances, people become parents has implications for individual identity, family relationships, the well-being of adults and children, and population growth and age structure. Understanding the factors that influence pathways to parenthood is central to the study of families and can inform policies aimed at changing childbearing behaviors. This review summarizes recent trends in fertility as well as research on the predictors and correlates of childbearing, with a focus on the United States and on research most relevant to family scholars. U.S. fertility has declined in recent years, perhaps reflecting the influence of the Great Recession and increasing economic inequality, and there is growing divergence in behaviors across social class. Scholars of childbearing have developed theories to better understand how childbearing is shaped by life course processes and social contexts, but more work is needed to understand group differentials, refine measurement and theories, and better integrate men and couples. Childbearing research has important implications for social policy, but the application of research to policy is hindered by ideological factors.     

Family Policy: Becoming a Field of Inquiry and Subfield of Social Policy

This decade review centers on 2 disconnects between rhetoric and reality. First, public investments in families continue to grow, yet family policy is still not a term widely used by policymakers or the public. Second, social science studies increased in number and sophistication, with some family sensitive and others policy relevant. Few focus on both, which is what is most needed if research is to inform family policy. In exploring these disconnects, we summarize recent trends in family policies and the influence of research on family policymaking. We suggest a rationale for family policy and illustrate its value using the examples of early childhood, welfare reform, and parent education policies. We conclude with suggested next steps.     

What Does Parental Divorce or Marital Separation Mean for Adolescents? A Scoping Review of North American Literature

Parental divorce in North America and the resulting changes to the traditional family unit as seen in current academic literature are troubling. These changes are especially worrisome as they relate to adolescent life and development. This scoping review examines the past 11 years of North American English language literature concerning adolescents who have experienced parental divorce. Literature was taken from health-related databases using the search terms adolescent and divorce. The resulting articles were analyzed and pared down to 53 papers that adhered to predetermined criteria. Analysis revealed trends in how the studies are conducted as well as seven themes throughout the literature. The authors suggest future research directions based on the trends, themes, and found knowledge gaps in the recent literature.     

Critical Race Theories,Colorism, and the Decade's Research on Families of Color

In the millennium's inaugural decade, 2 interrelated trends influenced research on America's families of color: the need for new knowledge about America's growing ethnic/racial minority and immigrant populations and conceptual advances in critical race theories and perspectives on colorism. Three substantive areas reflecting researchers' interests in these trends emerged as the most frequently studied topics about families of color: inequality and socioeconomic mobility within and across families, interracial romantic pairings, and the racial socialization of children. In this review, we synthesize and critique the decade's scholarly literature on these topics. We devote special attention to advances in knowledge made by family‐relevant research that incorporated ways of thinking from critical race theories and the conceptual discourse on colorism.     

Diversity in Pathways to Parenthood: Patterns,Implications, and Emerging Research Directions

This review examines and synthesizes recent research on pathways to parenthood. We begin by providing basic information about patterns, differentials, and trends and discussing adoption and new reproductive technologies. We next turn to several areas of inquiry that became particularly prominent in the last decade: the continued “decoupling” of marriage and childbearing, the parental relationship context of nonmarital childbearing, family structure stability, multiplepartner fertility, and racial and ethnic variation in childbearing patterns. We then consider the implications of this body of scholarship and identify avenues for future research. Throughout, we highlight racial/ethnic and social class variation in childbearing patterns.     

Expectations concerning future familial patterns among urban and kibbutz youth in Israel

"The purpose of this study was to compare the expectations and concepts urban and kibbutz adolescents [in Israel] have concerning their future families, and to compare the patterns desired by adolescents with the patterns existing in their parents' homes. The areas investigated included role allocation between husband and wife, and desired age [at] marriage and family size. The research population consisted of urban (174) and kibbutz (97) adolescents ages 17-18." "Overall..., concerning desired patterns of familial role allocation and marriage age, kibbutz and city adolescents show similar trends. However, concerning family size, differences still exist. Also, in both localities, there seem to exist differences between boys and girls concerning their future families."     

The Changing Financial Circumstances of Households with Children

SUMMARY. The last fifteen yeas have seen rapid changes in the financial circumstances of households with children. They are increasingly found among those on the lowest incomes and are over-represented among households dependent on income support for their survival. At the same time, changes in the social security system have left claimant families with greater financial responsibility and reduced access to additional sources of financial support from the state. The article reviews these changes in the economic welfare of households with children, paying particular attention to the circumstances of low-income families. It looks in turn at trends in household income, at changes in the social security system and at the patterns of debt and unmet needs reported by parents caring for children on low incomes.     

Marital Processes and Parental Socialization in Families of Color: A Decade Review of Research

Research published during the past decade on African American, Latino, and Asian American families is reviewed. Emphasis is given to selected issues within the broad domains of marriage and parenting. The first section highlights demographic trends in family formation and family structure and factors that contributed to secular changes in family structure among African Americans. In the second section, new conceptualizations of marital relations within Latino families are discussed, along with research documenting the complexities in African American men's conceptions of manhood. Studies examining within‐group variation in marital conflict and racial and ethnic differences in division of household labor, marital relations, and children's adjustment to marital and family conflict also are reviewed. The third section gives attention to research on (a) paternal involvement among fathers of color; (b) the relation of parenting behavior to race and ethnicity, grandmother involvement, neighborhood and peer characteristics, and immigration; and (c) racial and ethnic socialization. The article concludes with an overview of recent advances in the study of families of color and important challenges and issues that represent research opportunities for the new decade.     

Divorce,Repartnering, and Stepfamilies: A Decade in Review

This article reviews key developments in the past decade of research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies. Divorce rates are declining overall, but they remain high and have risen among people older than age 50. Remarriage rates have declined, but the overall proportion of marriages that are remarriages is rising. Transitions in parents' relationships continue to be associated with reduced child well-being, but shifting patterns of divorce and repartnering during the past decade have also reshaped the family lives of older adults. We review research on the predictors and consequences of these trends and consider what they reveal about the changing significance of marriage as an institution. Overall, recent research on divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies points to the persistence of marriage as a stratified and stratifying institution and indicates that the demographic complexity of family life is here to stay.     

Comparing Service Use of Early Head Start Families of Children With and Without Disabilities

The current study compared patterns of service utilization reported by Early Head Start (EHS) families of children with and without disabilities by secondary analysis of data from the longitudinal investigation of the effectiveness of EHS. Findings reveal comparable positive trends for both groups of families for receipt of services corresponding to EHS performance standards promoting child and family development, family support, and health care. Service challenges remain in the low use of dental services overall and the higher use of acute health care services for children with disabilities. Future research should examine causes and outcomes of service use.     

Family Theory and Research in Greece:

Major influences on the Greek family of recent decades have been decrease in the birthrate, the abolition of the institution of the dowry, and changes in migratory patterns. This review highlights specific studies of family change related to demographic and eco- nomic changes in Greece. The authors conclude that family research has been closely linked with family policy. Little attention is given to the need for theoretical development, methodological refinement, or collaboration.     

State of Family Research and Theory in Korea

This paper is a review and assessment of 246 articles from 6 journals published from 1980 to 1992 in Korea. Theoretical and methodological issues, changes in values and functions of the families, premarital, marital and parent-child relations, families in the middle and the later years, and families with problems are the major areas examined. The review indicates that the areas of parent-child and marital relations are dominantly investigated and that researchers have given much effort to identify the emerging changes and continuing patterns of the Korean family in the context of societal and familial changes. The authors suggest, however, that because of the lack of the cumu- lative information, conceptual clarification and methodological rigor, generalizations of the findings are considered to be tentative.     

Family support: A review of the literature on families of adolescents with disabilities

ABSTRACT

For all youth, adolescence is a time of great change, marked by multiple transitions. For those with disabilities, these transitions can be especially challenging for the youth and their families. Although families of adolescents with disabilities often require support, it is unclear what types of assistance are most helpful. To understand the responsibilities of and, correspondingly, supports needed for parents and siblings, the authors conducted a comprehensive literature review. Specifically, the authors examined the literature to identify the supports that families provide to their adolescent relatives with disabilities, the impacts of caring for an adolescent relative with a disability, and the assistance that families receive. The authors conclude by discussing implications for future research about family support.