In Ireland, historically and in the current era, family has been a central concern for society and the State. This article provides a descriptive overview of family life in Ireland and of major family-related changes over the past 40 years. It presents a general framework of analysis within which these changes can be understood, considers the…

Following the ongoing increase in nonmarital fertility, policy makers have looked for ways to limit the disadvantages faced by children of unmarried mothers. Recent initiatives included marriage promotion and welfare-to-work programs. Yet policy might also consider the promotion of three generational households. We know little about whether…

High rates of nonmarital fertility and divorce mean that many fathers do not live with some or all of their children. Using the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, this research compares socioeconomic and family characteristics among men with only coresidential children (n = 762), with both coresidential and nonresidential children (n = 107),…

As more unmarried couples become parents, it is important to understand the dynamics that help these couples to maintain strong relationships. This article explores the association of the two partners' beliefs about father involvement with their likelihood of union dissolution and transition to marriage, using the first two waves of the Fragile…

The purpose of this article is to examine work-family conflict among low-income, unmarried mothers. Analyzing the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national sample of nonmarital births, I examine how social capital affects work-family conflict and how both social capital and work-family conflict affect employment. Results show that…

Examines why older, single women become mothers and how their premotherhood motivation and experience compare to those of demographically-similar married mothers. The composite picture that emerged from the single mothers was one of ambivalence toward marriage: a combination of an idealized image of marriage and an unwillingness to accept…

Examined gender differences in adolescents' personal views about pregnancy resolution and family formation. Surveyed adolescents (n=577) using vignette involving unplanned pregnancy. Findings showed similar percentages of males and females preferred abortion and adoption as strategies for handling pregnancy, but females were more likely to select…

The promotion of marriage and two-parent families as a strategy to reduce welfare dependency continues to be a major public policy goal of the 1996 welfare reform. Based on the assumption that women will marry employed men and that their earnings will lift poor mothers and their children from public dependency, this objective raises important…

Social disorganization in the family was found to be strongly related to the likelihood of child maltreatment. Utilization of social services, on the other hand, had a counterbalancing, negative impact on the occurrence of child maltreatment. (Author/CS)

Stricter child support enforcement may reduce unwed childbearing by raising the costs of fatherhood. The authors investigate this hypothesis using a sample of young women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, to which they add information on state child support enforcement. Models of the probability of a teenage premarital birth and of…

Examined differences in divorced (n=1,916) and never-married (n=878) single mothers' decisions to participate in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Divorced mothers were twice as likely to receive AFDC benefits as never-married mothers. Discusses differences in AFDC decision-making processes and suggests ways to move single mothers…