This is a proposal to study two central dimensions of social life in the United States today: 1) marriage and marital process, including cohabitation and nonresidential unions; and 2) childbearing, involving both the bearing and rearing of children. Although we begin from an interest in behavioral aspects of marriage and childbearing, this research centers on the systems of attitudes, values, beliefs, preferences, and social norms underlying and providing motivations for marriage, cohabitation, childbearing, and childrearing. Whereas extensive research has been conducted concerning marriage and childbearing behavior, relatively little work has been done on the ideational phenomena underlying and motivating these behaviors. Our research plan focuses on the forces determining marriage and childbearing attitudes, values, beliefs, preferences, and perceptions of social norms among young adults. Our first goal is to examine how aspects of the parental family- including socioeconomic factors, the social organization of the parental family, parental religious affiliation and participation, and parental marital and childbearing experience--influence ideational phenomena of the children growing up in these parental families.
The second aim of our analysis is explication of the ways in which parental attitudes, values, beliefs, preference, and perspections of social norms influence children's ideas. Our third goal shifts to the impact of children's own experiences with school, work, marriage, and childbearing on their ideas about marriage and childbearing. The empirical analyses will rely on three data sources that each include key measures from two generations: (1) the National Survey of Children (NSC); (2) the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH); and (3) the Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children (IPSPC). These three data sets each provides the essential ingredients for a study of the intergenerational determinants of ideational phenomena related to marriage and childbearing.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37HD039425-04
Application #
6795591
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SNEM-1 (02))
Program Officer
Bachrach, Christine
Project Start
2001-07-01
Project End
2006-06-30
Budget Start
2004-07-01
Budget End
2005-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$339,750
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Biostatistics & Other Math Sci
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Thornton, Arland; Binstock, Georgina; Young-DeMarco, Linda et al. (2016) Evaluating the measurement reliabilities and dimensionality of developmental idealism measures. Chin J Sociol 2:609-635
Ghimire, Dirgha J; Axinn, William G; Smith-Greenaway, Emily (2015) Impact of the spread of mass education on married women's experience with domestic violence. Soc Sci Res 54:319-31
West, Brady T; Ghimire, Dirgha; Axinn, William G (2015) Evaluating a Modular Design Approach to Collecting Survey Data Using Text Messages. Surv Res Methods 9:111-123
Lai, Qing; Thornton, Arland (2015) The making of family values: developmental idealism in Gansu, China. Soc Sci Res 51:174-88
Thornton, Arland; Pierotti, Rachael S; Young-DeMarco, Linda et al. (2014) Developmental Idealism and Cultural Models of the Family in Malawi. Popul Res Policy Rev 33:693-716
Melegh, Attila; Thornton, Arland; Philipov, Dimiter et al. (2013) Perceptions of societal developmental hierarchies in Europe and beyond: A Bulgarian Perspective. Eur Sociol Rev 29:603-615
Binstock, Georgina; Thornton, Arland; Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad J et al. (2013) Influences on the Knowledge and Beliefs of Ordinary People about Developmental Hierarchies. Int J Comp Sociol 54:325-344
Thornton, Arland; Binstock, Georgina; Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal et al. (2012) Knowledge and beliefs about national development and developmental hierarchies: The viewpoints of ordinary people in thirteen countries. Soc Sci Res 41:1053-68
Thornton, Arland; Binstock, Georgina; Yount, Kathryn M et al. (2012) International fertility change: new data and insights from the developmental idealism framework. Demography 49:677-98
Thornton, Arland; Ghimire, Dirgha J; Mitchell, Colter (2012) The measurement and prevalence of an ideational model of family and economic development in Nepal. Popul Stud (Camb) 66:329-45

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