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Over half of all births to young adults in the United States now occur outside of marriage, and many are unplanned. The result is increased poverty and inequality for children. The left argues for more social support for unmarried parents; the right argues for a return to traditional marriage.
In Generation Unbound, Isabel V. Sawhill offers a third approach: change "drifters" into "planners." In a well-written and accessible survey of the impact of family structure on child well-being, Sawhill contrasts "planners," who are delaying parenthood until after they marry, with "drifters," who are having unplanned children early and outside of marriage. These two distinct patterns are contributing to an emerging class divide and threatening social mobility in the United States.
Sawhill draws on insights from the new field of behavioral economics, showing that it is possible, by changing the default, to move from a culture that accepts a high number of unplanned pregnancies to a culture in which adults only have children when they are ready to be a parent."
List of contents
1. An Introduction 2. Changes in the Family: More Diversity, a Bigger Divide 3. Why We Should Worry: The Consequences of Choices about Marriage and Childbearing 4. A Growing Class Divide: Planners vs. Drifters 5. The Traditionalists vs. the Villagers: Why Government Alone Can't Solve the Marriage Problem 6. Making Better Decisions: The Need to Change the Default 7. Peering into the Future: Less Marriage, Fewer Children?
About the author
Isabel V. Sawhill is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings, where she holds the Cabot Family Chair. She also serves as codirector of the Center on Children and Families. She is the coauthor (with Ron Haskins) of
Creating an Opportunity Society (Brookings, 2009) and board president of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Summary
Discusses likely causes for recent changes in the family, such as an increase in women's economic opportunities, the declining economic prospects of men, greater access to birth control and abortion, and new social norms that allow young people more choice - but provide less guidance on what it means to be an adult.
