Divergent Trends in Family Instability by Socioeconomic Status

• In Event: 1283 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Inequality, Instability, and Family Transitions

Abstract

This study tests if levels of family stability have diverged by maternal education, and decomposes changes in stability into those attributable to changes in prevalence versus changes in churning (e.g., entrances and exits from unions). Data come from five waves of the National Survey of Family Growth; first-born children were observed until age five. Children born to mothers without a college degree experienced increased instability; transitions rose because cohabitation became more widespread rather than because of a change in churning. Even though more disadvantaged children had a marginal decline in churning within cohabitation, cohabitation differs from marriage in terms of its stability, and remains an unstable family form. Children born to mothers with a college degree had no change in levels of stability and predominantly experienced marriage with low levels of churning. Findings suggest that family transitions are likely an important and growing axis of inequality.

Authors

• Heather Molly Rackin, Duke University

• Christina Gibson-Davis