A paper examined trends in fertility across cohorts born between 1935 and 1975. The decline in fertility was shown to have two distinct phases first, a fall in third and higher-order births (affecting cohorts born 1935-45); and second, a delay in childbearing and a rise in childlessness (affecting cohorts born since 1945). The delay in childbearing and rise in childlessness could not all be explained by the rise in female participation in higher education: there had been increasing polarization in fertility and employment by education.
Source: Anita Ratcliffe and Sarah Smith, Fertility and Women s Education in the UK: A cohort analysis, Working Paper 06/165, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2006-Dec
A briefing paper summarized research into the factors associated with later childbearing and childlessness among men and women in Britain, and whether these had changed over time. The proportion of women remaining childless had almost doubled in recent decades, from 1 in 10 of women born in 1940 to nearly one-fifth of those born in 1959.
Source: Roona Simpson, Childbearing on Hold: Delayed childbearing and childlessness in Britain, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships/University of Edinburgh (0131 651 1832)
Links: Briefing
Date: 2006-Nov
An article examined the distribution in Britain of same-sex couples, births to cohabitants, and mothers' withdrawal from the worker role. It said that the 'individualization' of society might be better conceptualized as one part of pre-existing social and structural processes, and that its behavioural assumptions were unjustified.
Source: Simon Duncan and Darren Smith, 'Individualisation versus the geography of "new" families', Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 1 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Nov
An article used the Millennium Cohort Study to examine a number of aspects of non-residential fatherhood that commenced with the birth of a child.
Source: Kathleen Kiernan, 'Non-residential fatherhood and child involvement: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Oct
An article examined the effect of previous cohabitation and marriage on subsequent partnership transitions.
Source: Fiona Steele, Constantinos Kallis and Heather Joshi, 'The formation and outcomes of cohabiting and marital partnerships in early adulthood: the role of previous partnership experience', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 169 Issue 4
Links: Article
Date: 2006-Oct
A report said that successive governments had eroded and dismantled policy mechanisms that distinguished married from unmarried cohabiting families. The abolition of the term 'marital status' in government-sponsored family research concealed significant differences in family stability between married and unmarried couples in the early years of parenthood, even after discounting socio-economic factors.
Source: Harry Benson, The Conflation of Marriage and Cohabitation in Government Statistics: A denial of difference rendered untenable by an analysis of outcomes, Bristol Community Family Trust (0117 924 1480)
Links: Report | BCFT press release
Date: 2006-Sep
A report called for a wider range of social and demographic data to enable planners and policymakers to cope with huge changes in people's living arrangements - for example, there were increasing proportions of children not living with their biological parents (and often with step-parents), and adults with former partners alive.
Source: John Ermisch and Mike Murphy, Changing Household and Family Structures and Complex Living Arrangements, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2006-May
A survey claimed to have found that almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of people aged 25-34, and nearly half (46 per cent) of those aged 35-44, said that they relied on parental financial support in some way.
Source: Press release 3 April 2006, Insight Investment (01481 719742)
Links: Insight press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
Two linked papers examined trends and issues around the increasing numbers of people living alone - including the implications for poverty, inequality, and labour market policy; for housing policy; and for neighbourhoods, social capital, and health.
Source: Guy Palmer, Single Person Households: Issues that JRF should be thinking about, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241) | Jim Bennett and Mike Dixon, Single Person Households and Social Policy: Looking forwards, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Paper 1 | Paper 2 | Briefing
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined the kind of considerations that were necessary for a better understanding of the nature of risks and uncertainty arising from processes of individualization in society, drawing on in-depth interviews with a sample of co-habiting and married men and women. It explored the extent to which individuals regarded partnering and childbearing as risks, how they sought to manage them, and the implications for policy.
Source: Jane Lewis, 'Perceptions of risk in intimate relationships: the implications for social provision', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 35 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
A report mapped the state of relationships in daily life, including: friendship; love and marriage; relations with children, parents, work colleagues, neighbours and strangers; connexions made over the internet; and our identification with the 'virtual communities' of soap operas.
Source: Alessandra Buonfino and Geoff Mulgan, Porcupines in Winter: The pleasures and pains of living together in modern Britain, Young Foundation (020 8980 6263)
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan