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Twenty years ago, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) issued a request for proposals that resulted in the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), a unique survey valuable to a wide range of family scholars. This paper describes the efforts of an interdisciplinary group of family demographers to build on the progress enabled by the NSFH and many other theoretical and methodological innovations. Our work, also supported by NICHD, will develop plans for research and data collection to address the central question of what causes family change and variation. We outline the group's initial assessments of orienting frameworks, key aspects of family life to study, and theoretical and methodological challenges for research on family change. Finally, we invite family scholars to follow our progress and to help develop this shared public good.

Objective: This study examines how occupational resources and demands are associated with parents' childcare time. Background: Scholars recognize parental employment as important for understanding parental time use. Yet, given data limitations, we know relatively little about how strain‐based demands (demands that can produce negative psychological states) are associated with parent's time with children. Method: Occupational‐level data in the O*NET Database are linked to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2011–2019 (n = 10,274 workday diaries from employed parents in 427 occupations). Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS) is used to examine how occupational resources and demands are associated with parents' time with children and in childcare on workdays. Results: Mothers in occupations with greater strain‐based demands—competitive pressure, aggression‐conflict, monotony, and physicality‐hazards—spend less time with their children and less time on physical childcare activities. For fathers, associations are weaker with monotonous jobs also associated with less time with children. Workplace conditions, however, are weakly or even positively associated with parents' time on nonworkdays, suggesting that the daily experience of work affects parents' time use at home. Autonomy, an occupational resource, is positively associated with fathers' time with children and with mothers' time in interactive care. Conclusion: Resources and strain‐based demands—measured at the occupational‐level—are associated with parents' time use. The O*NET Database can be linked to the ATUS to better understand families' time use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use 1995 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine how race and class are related to self-care among children 5 to 13 years old. We find that contrary to popular belief, self-care is less common among minority and lower-class children. We also find that factors such as income and neighborhood safety are related to self-care and can attenuate the relationships observed between race, class, and self-care. Our analyses also indicate that variations in self-care by race, class, income level, and neighborhood safety are dependent on the age of the child, with a major transition in self-care occurring between the ages of 8 and 10.

Extensive research about American family makeup, parenting styles, and economics has disclosed several salient features. These include family importance as an anchor for individual well-being, continuing evolution as women and men assume new roles, and that young people will probably live in various settings in and outside families.

Data from the 1988, 1991 and 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation studies were used to gauge shifts in the percentage of fathers caring for their children over time. Also investigated was the manner in which work/income are linked to the likelihood that a father provides care for his preschool child and whether this relationship is affected in different economic periods. Research methodology, results, analyses and implications are presented.

This paper examines the effects of kin access on prenatal health practices, birth outcome, and postnatal health practice for infants born to black and white mothers age 21 to 28 in the U.S. during 1984-86. The data used for this research were compiled from three sources: (1) The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; (2) The Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; (3) special kin access data files, which were created specifically for this study. Logistic regression procedures are used to assess the effects of kin proximity, maternal grandmother proximity, and presence of the child's father on health practices (N = 1,030) and birth outcome (N = 1,385), controlling for the mother's educational attainment, work experience, poverty, presence of the child's father, and birth order of the child. We find no evidence supporting the notion that kin access positively affects the prenatal and postnatal health practices of young mothers. The results suggest that young mothers who reside with their mothers or other adult kin, and those who are in close proximity to them, are no more likely to seek prenatal care during the first trimester, or to avoid smoking or drinking during pregnancy. Mothers who live with a sexual partner or husband are, however, somewhat more likely to seek prenatal care and to avoid alcohol use during pregnancy. Closer kin access is associated with a lower probability of breastfeeding. These results suggest that it will not be adequate to rely on kin networks or kin assistance to improve the prospect of healthy birth outcomes.