kristin anderson moore, laura lippman, camille whitney child trends brad wilcox university of...
TRANSCRIPT
Kristin Anderson Moore, Laura Lippman, Camille WhitneyChild TrendsBrad WilcoxUniversity of Virginia
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The WFMP has three primary intellectual goals: Monitoring the health of marriage &
family around the globe Analyzing the social, cultural, and
economic forces affecting marriage & family across the world
Explaining how strong families foster child well-being around the globe
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What are the unique strengths & challenges facing families, not just in the Western world, but also in the non-Western world? The extended family in Africa, Asia, & the
Middle East HIV-AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
How can we help indigenous groups & organizations build on these strengths & face these challenges? 3
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The World Family Map Prototype serves 3 important purposes: Provides a model of the kinds of data
monitoring & analysis the WFMP is capable of
Provides an overview of 3 key global family trends
Affords a sense of the project’s potential
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The World Family Map Project will report on four types of family indicators:
Family structureFamily cultureFamily processFamily economics
After reviewing the available data, 3 key global family indicators were selected for the prototype report:
Family structure – Children living with two biological parents
Family culture – Attitudes toward marriage
Family process – Domestic Violence
How data sources were selected: Representing regions of the world Several indicators in the data set Rigorous and repeated measures over
time Comparable across countries
Surveys with same items and data collection procedures across countries
Or, data are harmonized across countries
How we selected countries: Regional representation Developing and developed
countries Data available for desired time
period
Motivation: A large body of social scientific evidence
indicates children in the U.S. do best with both biological parents.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child holds a child shall have “as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”
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Measure: The percentage of children living with two probable biological parents
Countries (16) Asia: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia Europe: Great Britain, Spain, Sweden Latin America: Colombia, Mexico, Peru Middle East: Egypt North America: Canada, United States Oceania: Australia Sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, South Africa
Data sources: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Census data (IPUMS), plus country sources: circa year 2000
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Possible explanations for why higher proportions of children live with both biological parents in Asia and the Middle East than in other regions: Asian and Middle Eastern countries retain more
traditional family structure and are more family oriented
Sub-Saharan Africa: HIV-AIDS has orphaned many children; fathers migrate to work and kinship system has strong maternal focus
N. America/Europe/Oceania are more individualistic Latin America has history of informal unions and
increasing single parenthood
Motivation: Much of the developed world is in the
midst of an international retreat from marriage marked by increases in cohabitation, divorce, illegitimacy, and lifelong singleness
Are these demographic shifts paralleled by declines in public support for marriage?
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Measure: Percentage of adults who disagree that “marriage is an outdated institution”
Countries (20) Asia: China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore Europe: Great Britain, Spain, Sweden Latin America: Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru Middle East: Egypt, Saudi Arabia North America: Canada, United States Oceania: Australia, New Zealand Sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, South Africa
Source: World Values Survey, circa year 2000
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Findings in context of other patterns and research Countries with more economic development and
individualistic ethos tend to have lower rates of marriage
Religion is one likely source of variation in rates of support for marriage▪ Egypt, Indonesia, and the U.S. have higher rates of
support and more religious populations
History of high cohabitation rates in parts of Latin America and maternal focus of families in Sub-Saharan Africa
Motivation: Witnessing or experiencing physical
violence in the home is associated with a range of social and psychological problems among children
The international community is largely united in its moral opposition to domestic violence
High rates of exposure to domestic violence reported by youth
Measure: Percentage of youth (ages 9-18) reporting violence at home
Countries Conducted in over 70 countries Only in the regions of East Asia and the
Pacific, Europe, and Latin America
Data Source: UNICEF children’s opinion polls, 1999-2001
High rates of exposure to domestic violence reported by youth
Findings in context of other research Economic: poverty is associated with domestic
violence, which could help explain higher rates in less developed countries
Cultural: Higher rates in Latin America may be related to culture of “machismo”, and in East Asia and the Pacific to cultural traditions of patriarchal authority
Legal: laws banning corporal punishment appear to have reduced rates of corporal punishment in Europe, and may also have reduced the prevalence of domestic violence
High rates of exposure to domestic violence reported by youth
Motivation for choosing this analysis The WFMP Advisors chose to focus on
education for this first analysis Education is one of the most important
outcomes for children It is one of the United Nations
Millennium Goals to achieve universal primary education
Measures for analysis Outcome: Whether secondary school-
age youth (11-14) are enrolled in school Predictor: Number of the youth’s
biological parents in the householdData Source
Demographic and Health Surveys▪ Data from most recent year for each country
Countries and years included in the analysis Egypt – 2000 India – 2005-06 Kenya – 2003 Nigeria – 2003 Peru – 2000 Colombia – 2005
Does the # of biological parents at home relate to school attendance?
Hypothesis 1: Two biological parents are better than one Youth living with two biological parents
will attend school at higher rates than those living with one
Hypothesis 2: Mother knows best Youth living with one biological parent will
attend school at higher rates than those living with two
Hypothesis 3: Parents don’t matter
Discussion of the findings Why is living with a single biological parent a
disadvantage ONLY in Colombia, after controls?▪ Family structure may be less related to school
attendance than other factors in developing countries▪ Single parents in Africa and Asia may tend to control
resources and devote them to children▪ Single parents may be getting help from extended
family, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia▪ Biological fathers may be less involved in their children’s
education in some countries, compared to intact families in North America
Living with no biological parent is a disadvantage compared to with living with 2 bio parents across the globe. As this % increases, we must monitor its effects.
The WFMP will assemble an International Board of Advisors
The WFMP will launch its inaugural World Family Map © in late 2010 or early 2011.
The project will release periodic indicator reports as well as about 2 analytical briefs each year
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