This is the first book to systematically track postwar changes in family formation in Western Europe and the United States. Cohabitation and motherhood outside of marriage have become more widespread at the same time that women's social roles are evolving. Women are attaining higher levels of education, marrying at an older age, more frequently working outside the home, and have more reproductive freedom due to new advances in contraception. In this original collection of essays, sociologists and demographers from eight Western European countries and the United States use longitudinal data to compare national variations and explain the connection between the new role of women and family formation in postwar society. The contributors provide a thorough review of the social demographic literature to advance a variety of hypotheses about the relationships between changing women's education and family formation outcomes, which are empirically examined and compared across countries.

This is the first book to systematically track postwar changes in family formation in Western Europe and the United States. Cohabitation and motherhood outside of marriage have become more widespread at the same time that women's social roles are evolving. Women are attaining higher levels of education, marrying at an older age, more frequently working outside the home, and have more reproductive freedom due to new advances in contraception. In this original collection of essays, sociologists and demographers from eight Western European countries and the United States use longitudinal data to compare national variations and explain the connection between the new role of women and family formation in postwar society. The contributors provide a thorough review of the social demographic literature to advance a variety of hypotheses about the relationships between changing women's education and family formation outcomes, which are empirically examined and compared across countries.

During the 1990s lone mothers reached the top of the political agenda, viewed as both a drain on public expenditure and a moral threat. What has been missing from the debate is an understanding of how we have got to where we are. This study, by three leading experts in the field, sets out first to investigate the demographics of lone motherhood - how the pathways into lone motherhood have changed, and whether the changes of the last quarter of a century are as dramatic as they appear. Second, it looks at the wider context for the changes in lone motherhood in terms of ideas about marriage, and the changes in the construction of the never-married mother, from victim in the 1950s to parasite in the late 1980s. Finally, it examines the way in which policies have defined the problem of lone motherhood over time and the way in which lone mothers have been treated with regard to housing, social security, and employment. The study concludes that there is little possiblility of putting the genie back in the bottle in terms of reducing the number of lone mothers - efforts to do so by reducing public expenditure on them may be effective, but at the expense of the children involved. Instead,

Our volume examines the potential for change during the life course and across generations. We address the possibilities for promoting healthy development from infancy to adulthood in three key domains: human capital, partnership behavior, and child and adolescent development. Drawing from the disciplines of economics, demography, sociology, psychology, and psychiatry, our volume takes a multidisciplinary approach to review relevant empirical work regarding aspects of change and continuity, and the ways in which policies and programs might bring about change. We feature chapters from leading researchers in five countries to address these important issues. The main purpose of our volume is to link and integrate the lessons learned from multiple disciplines about change and continuity in order to examine how our nations can improve life chances.

Our volume examines the potential for change during the life course and across generations. We address the possibilities for promoting healthy development from infancy to adulthood in three key domains: human capital, partnership behavior, and child and adolescent development. Drawing from the disciplines of economics, demography, sociology, psychology, and psychiatry, our volume takes a multidisciplinary approach to review relevant empirical work regarding aspects of change and continuity, and the ways in which policies and programs might bring about change. We feature chapters from leading researchers in five countries to address these important issues. The main purpose of our volume is to link and integrate the lessons learned from multiple disciplines about change and continuity in order to examine how our nations can improve life chances.