Although African American trends have been more extreme, virtually all segments of American society have experienced substantial changes in marital patterns and family organization over the last twenty years. Nevetherless, similarity in consequence does not necessarily connote similarity in the conditions supporting these changes. The proposed three year project addresses recent changes in family formation patterns in the U.S. among Blacks and Whites in nine cities and Latinos in three cities. The study's overall objective is to examine the social context and social and psychological correlates of current family formation behaviors and attitudes, focusing in particular on mate availability and economic concerns as marital inhibitors and facilitators. Using multi-level conceptual and analytical strategies, the study examines linkages between macro perspectives on family formation and micro theories of relationship formation.
The specific aims are: 1. to determine if family formation patterns (marital behavior, childbearing) and attitudes (marital and childbearing values and expectations) are related to perceived mate availability, perceived economic constraints on relationship formation, and other socioeconomic and demographic indicators (gender, age, income, marital status, etc.), 2. to determine if subjective distress is associated with perceived mate availability and perceived economic constraints on relationship formation, controlling for other socioeconomic and demographic indicators, 3. to determine whether the relationships indicated in objectives l and 2 are differentially observed within different ethnic groups, and 4. to determine the relationship between social context (conceived in terms of sex ratio and selected male and female economic indicators) and the micro-level relationships indicated in objectives 1, 2 and 3. Half-hour telephone interviews will be conducted with 4,800 persons age 18-55 in nine cities representing different geographic regions and varying in sex ratio. Under the direction of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, probability samples (i.e., standard two-stage Random Digit Dialing (RDD)] of 200 blacks and 200 whites will be contacted and interviewed within each city. Samples in Los Angeles, CA and Houston, TX, will also include 200 persons of Mexican descent; and in New York 200 Puerto Ricans. Blacks and Latinos will be disproportionately sampled. Data analysis in accord with the specific aims of the research will include descriptive statistics, logistic and linear regression, dummy variable regression and structural equation modelling, and multi-level analysis.
