Family Complexity, Poverty, and Public Policy

Multidisciplinary Research and Policy Conference

Co-Organized with the Institute for Research and Poverty (IRP)
July 11-12, 2013

Overview

Agenda

Family life in the United States has changed over the past 50 years, and an increase in family complexity is one of the most notable demographic shifts. High rates of cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, divorce, and repartnering present challenges for policymakers as well as for families, especially children. Particularly notable is an increase in multi-partner fertility or the proportion of adults who have biological children by more than one partner. These changes and trends in family life are important for understanding both the causes and consequences of poverty. As the reach and effects of many antipoverty policies vary with family structure, changes in family life pose challenges to the effective design of antipoverty programs and policies.

A multidisciplinary research and policy conference, co-organized with the Institute for Research and Poverty (IRP), took place on July 11 and 12, 2013. The first day of the conference focused on what is known, incorporating information on the ways complexity is linked to poverty and inequality. Experts in demography, economics, sociology, psychology, family studies, and social work presented commissioned papers. The three sets of papers:

• provide broad overviews about family complexity, including describing the nature of family patterns and roles that have increased complexity over the past half-century; exame the link between poverty/inequality and family change; and explore the prevalence of children's experiences with various aspects of family complexity;
• consider particular domains of complexity that are central to contemporary family life, including fertility (especially with multiple partners); union formation/dissolution (both marriage and cohabitation) and parental roles; grandparents' roles in childrearing; and incarceration as linked to family roles and relationships; and
• focus on how complexity plays out within families and affects family functioning/processes from the perspective of children, fathers, and mothers.

The second day of the conference focused on the relationship between family complexity and social policies affecting families with children. Primary goals for this day were to identify areas in which current complexity is creating difficulties or opportunities for policies and programs, to brainstorm about and discuss potential policy changes that might be considered, and to identify areas in which additional research would be useful.

A special issue of The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 654(1): Family Complexity, Poverty, and Public Policy, comprising the commissioned papers presented at conference were published in July 2014. Conference presentations and findings will be disseminated through the development of a policy brief aimed at policymakers and other practitioners. A mentoring meeting and workshop will precede the conference.

In addition to the seminar, IRP has established a series of interactive online seminars designed to more broadly disseminate current research on poverty and social inequality in the U.S. A webinar and PowerPoint slides are available for you to view The Implications of Complex Families for Poverty and Child Support Policy:

Webinar

Sessions, Papers, and Authors

I. Patterns of Family Change, Poverty and Inequality: The Big Picture

1. Fifty Years of Family Change and Growing Complexity
◊ Frank F. Furstenberg, University of Pennsylvania

2. Poverty and Inequality as Linked to Family Change
◊ Maria Cancian, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ron Haskins, Brookings Institution

3. Children’s Experiences of Family Complexity
◊ Wendy D. Manning, Susan L. Brown, and J. Bart Stykes,  Bowling Green State University

II. Domains of Family Complexity

1. Complexity and Fertility
◊ Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Bowling Green State University

2. Complexity in Unions and Parenting
◊ Lawrence M. Berger, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Sharon Bzostek, Rutgers University

3. Complexity and Grandparents
◊ Rachel Dunifon, Cornell University

4. Complexity and Incarceration
◊ Becky Pettit, University of Washington

III. How Families Operate Amidst Complexity

1. Complexity from the Perspective of Children
◊ Ariel Kalil, University of Chicago, and Rebecca Ryan, Georgetown University

2. Complexity from the Perspective of Fathers
◊ Laura Tach, Cornell University, Kathryn Edin, Timothy Nelson, and Brielle Bryan, Harvard University

3. Complexity from the Perspective of Mothers
◊ Linda Burton, Duke University

IV. Family Complexity and Public Policy

1. To What Extent Do Policies/Programs Take Family Complexity into Account?
◊ Jennifer L. Noyes, University of Wisconsin-Madison

2. How Do Public Policies/Programs Affect Family Complexity?
◊ Leonard L. Lopoo and Kerri M. Raissian, Syracuse University