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Fertility trends reveal an increased prevalence of childlessness in the recent decades; yet, little research has studied its socioeconomic and demographic correlates or compared the characteristics of voluntarily and involuntarily childless women. Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), we analyze changes in the associations between childlessness and key sociodemographic factors from the 1980s to the late 2010s. Our preliminary results show a convergence in the prevalence of childlessness by partnership status, education, and, small differences by race/ethnicity, although whites are more likely to be voluntarily childless. Higher earnings and being employed full-time are associated with a higher prevalence of childlessness, and the association is stronger for being voluntarily childless. The voluntarily childless are also more likely to be single never married, whereas involuntary childless women are more likely to be Hispanic and have been ever married. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of coresidential grandparent families experienced a substantial growth following the recent economic recession. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), we found that this increase was driven primarily by the rise in multigenerational households headed by grandparents. While the vast majority of grandparent households are maintained by grandparents, great variation in family structure exists by race/ethnicity and nativity, as the rates of grandparent-maintained and skipped-generation households are higher among disadvantaged ethnic minorities and non immigrant families. We also found that African American, Native American, as well as native-born grandparents are also more likely to assume primary responsibility for grandchildren. Part of the racial/ethnic and nativity difference in the odds of claiming primary responsibility for grandchildren is explained by the higher rates of absent parents and economic hardship among these grandparent families. Coresidential grandparents who maintain their households, live in skipped-generation families, and/or experience economic hardship, are more likely to assume primary responsibility for grandchildren. This finding attests to the importance of grandparents as caretakers for disadvantaged children. We also found that although grandmothers are more likely to be coresiding with grandchildren and provide childcare, they are less likely to claim primary responsibility for grandchildren when a grandfather is also present in the household. This result suggests that relying on survey data may underestimate the important role that grandmothers play for American grandchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades in the US the age of marriage has risen, divorce rates have remained relatively stable, cohabitation has soared, nonmarital childbearing has become more prevalent, and marrying and having children have become less common (Casper & Bianchi, 2002). These changes in family patterns invite questions about the demographics of the black middle class. The literature on the black middle class has focused predominantly on married-couple families with children, reflecting a conception of the black middle class as principally composed of this type of household. If that conception is correct, then declining rates of marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in presence and the vitality of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the implication that researchers typically draw from the decline in black marriage rates. However, an alternative view might suggest that the decline in marriage and childrearing is producing a shift in the types of household comprising the black middle class. This paper assessesâ?”and affirmsâ?”that alternative view. Our research shows that, indeed, one-person, never-married, childless households constitute a rapidly growing segment of the black middle class, a development which requires rethinking how the black middle class is conceptualized and studied. Borrowing the title of the popular film depicting members of this new black middle class, we dub this new group the "Love Jones Cohort." ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis uses the 2003 American Time Use Study to examine variation in mothers'time in housework, child care, and free time. The findings indicate that never married anddivorced mothers spend more time in paid work and less time in housework comparedwith married mothers. Child care time does not vary by mothers' marital status however,suggesting that all mothers make time-trade offs to preserve time with children. Contraryto the time-poverty thesis, however, married mothers have the least amount of leisuretime, suggesting that gendered dynamics in couple households may reduce marriedmothers access to leisure as much as time constraints from employment and otherobligatory time demands. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]