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

Smock, Pamela J.; Greenland, Fiona Rose

doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00719.x

Cited by 137 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(110 reference statements)

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“…Explanations for increasing rates of childlessness focus on key social changes such as the feminist movement of the 1970s, increased reproductive choice, and for White and middle-class women, increasing labor force participation (Bartlett, 1996;Campbell, 1985;Gillespie, 2003;Ireland, 1993;McAllister & Clarke, 1998). These explanations are supported by findings that childfree women are more likely than those who are not childfree to have professional and managerial occupations and that they have more work experience in general than those who are not childfree (Bachu, 1999;Crispell, 1993;Smock & Greenland, 2010). Labor market trends may also play a role for men who decide against having children, though perhaps for different reasons.…”

Section: To Parent or To Not Parentmentioning

confidence: 98%

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“There’s More Thinking to Decide”

Blackstone

Stewart

2016

The Family Journal

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The processes by which women and men decide not to have or rear children are lengthy and complex. Analysis of data from qualitative interviews with 21 women and 10 men reveals two primary themes in adults' descriptions of their decision not to have children: (1) that the decision was a decidedly conscious decision and (2) that the decision occurred as a process as opposed to a singular event. The features of these two themes are considered, as are their gendered dimensions and social and practical implications.

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Section: To Parent or To Not Parentmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In the 2000s, nearly twice as many women aged 40-44 were childless than were so in the 1970s (Osborne, 2003;Smock & Greenland, 2010). Data from the National Survey of Family Growth show that in 2006-2010, 15% of women and 24% of men remained childless by the time they reached age 40 (Martinez, Daniels, & Chandra, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“There’s More Thinking to Decide”

Blackstone

Stewart

2016

The Family Journal

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“…Sociologists and psychologists who are interested in assessing the importance of family ties that connect individuals across households (see, for example, Smock & Rose Greenland, 2010) would similarly take issue with survey designs that pay so little attention to non-resident fathers.…”

Section: Bridges To Other Disciplinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fathers and Fatherhood in the European Union

Sigle‐Rushton¹,

Goisis²,

Keizer³

Handbook of Father Involvement

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2 1. Brief Historical Overview and Theoretical PerspectivesOver the past two decades, issues related to fathers and fatherhood have attracted the attention of policymakers and researchers in both the United States and Europe, but in somewhat different ways. Public concerns about early and unmarried parenthood, increasing numbers of fathers living apart from their children, and the role of (biological) fathers in family life have been key issues in the United States (Eggebeen 2002;Marsiglio, Amato, Day, & Lamb, 2000;Pleck, 2004). On the other side of the Atlantic, new social and political challenges such as global economic competitiveness, low fertility, and the long-term financial sustainability of social programs raised questions about gendered policy logics concerning paid work and child care. Directly and indirectly, fathers were incorporated into European Union (EU) debates about how best to promote equal opportunities, to increase female labor market participation, and to improve child outcomes. Most notably, strong incentives to encourage greater father involvement, at least when their children are young, have been embraced as both legitimate and achievable policy goals. In what follows, we draw on theoretical perspectives of gendered welfare regimes to trace how shifting policy logics concerning work and care have incorporated new understandings and expectations of the role of fathers in Europe. The Male Breadwinner as Basis for European Welfare RegimesThe decades following the Second World War were, in most western European countries (the countries that comprised the EU prior to the fifth enlargement which began in 2004), characterized by rapid economic growth and welfare state expansion. At that time, the male breadwinner was the ideal (if not always the norm, 3 especially in working class families), and good fathering was implicitly equated with being steadily employed and a good economic provider (Gillis, 2000). Against this backdrop, new and generous welfare state policies were developed which presumed, reinforced and rewarded a gendered division of labor in which men took responsibility for earning an income and women took responsibility for unpaid work and child care. Indeed, prior to the 1970s, all western European welfare states more or less subscribed to a strong "male breadwinning" ideology (Lewis, 1992). The welfare models that were built around this ideology relied, in most European countries, on the assumption of a generous supply of well-paid jobs, a growing working age population (to fund generous benefits for both workers and their dependent wives and children), and legally recognized and stable (if not permanent) marriages. Sustainability of male breadwinner welfare systems challengedFrom the 1970s, economic and social changes resulted in new risks, some of which directly challenged the underlying policy logics of strong male breadwinner welfare regimes. Existing policy approaches were not well equipped to deal with the challenges of a post-industrial economy with its insecure employment...

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“…White mothers, compared with mothers of color, are more likely to marry (Gibson-Davis 2011;Smock and Greenland 2010); maternal age and educational attainment also positively predict post-birth marriage (Lichter and Graefe 2007). These post-birth marriages have higher odds of dissolving than do marriages formed pre-birth, and black mothers have a higher incidence of divorce than white mothers (Amato 2010;Teachman 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Magic Moment? Maternal Marriage for Children Born Out of Wedlock

Gibson‐Davis

2014

Demography

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To test the existence of the "magic moment" for parental marriage immediately post-birth and to inform policies that preferentially encourage biological over stepparent marriage, this study estimates the incidence and stability of maternal marriage for children born out of wedlock. Data came from the National Survey of Family Growth on 5,255 children born nonmaritally. By age 15, 29 % of children born nonmaritally experienced a biological-father marriage, and 36 % experienced a stepfather marriage. Stepfather marriages occurred much later in a child's life-one-half occurred after the child turned age 7-and had one-third higher odds of dissolution. Children born to black mothers had qualitatively different maternal marriage experiences than children born to white or Hispanic mothers, with less biological-parent marriage and higher incidences of divorce. Findings support the existence of the magic moment and demonstrate that biological marriages were more enduring than stepfather marriages. Yet relatively few children born out of wedlock experienced stable, biological-parent marriages as envisioned by marriage promotion programs.

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

Cited by 137 publications

References 93 publications

“There’s More Thinking to Decide”

“There’s More Thinking to Decide”

Fathers and Fatherhood in the European Union

Magic Moment? Maternal Marriage for Children Born Out of Wedlock

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