Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage - Tapa dura

"Forty years ago, Isabel Sawhill inspired a generation of scholars, including myself, with her landmark research on divorce. Now, she does it again, turning her sharp eye on non-marital childbearing with equal success. Free of ideology and comprehensive in scope, her story highlights how the decline in marriage is affecting children's life chances and what might be done to reverse the trend." --Sara McLanahan, William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University "Belle Sawhill has written an extraordinary book that surfaces and analyzes the most important demographic shift over the last 50 years: the trend of young adults drifting into parenthood, rather than planning for it. The negative implications for the ability of young adults and their children to achieve the American Dream are profound and deeply troubling, but this superbly written book, drawing on insights from behavioral economics, provides clearheaded, actionable recommendations of how we can change course and ensure that every young person can achieve their full potential. Generation Unbound is a must read for policy makers, change agents, parents, anyone working to ensure that America continues to be the land of opportunity." --Mark Edwards, Executive Director, Opportunity Nation "Dr. Sawhill makes a thoughtful, fresh, rigorously documented case for reducing unplanned pregnancies. She pushes against a strong headwind to argue for two parent families as often as possible. If she is right about the economc and cultural implications about pur changing procreation behavior, we have a lot of work to do." --Donna Shalala, Former Secretary of Health and Human Services "No one is better qualified than Belle Sawhill to tackle two of the most important questions facing America today. At a time of rapidly changing family structure, who is best able to raise children? And how can we do a better job of making sure the children who are born are welcomed by parents who are prepared to give them the love and sustained attention they deserve? Full of new research and analysis, this book will make you re-think what you know about both." --Judy Woodruff, PBS Newshour

Half of all pregnancies in the United States are either unplanned or unintended. Moreover, while fewer people are getting married, childbearing outside of wedlock is on the rise. These trends suggest that couples who have unplanned children are ambivalent or unenthusiastic about becoming parents, or, at the very least, are unprepared for parenthood. What kind of future does this mean for their kids . . . and for society as a whole? In Generation Unbound, nationally known budget expert Isabel V. Sawhill presents likely causes for the recent changes in the traditional family structure, such as the increase in women's economic opportunities, declining economic prospects of men, access to birth control and abortion, and new social norms that allow young people more choices - but provide less guidance on what it means to be an adult. Sawhill reveals an emerging class divide in patterns of marriage and childbearing: at the top of the ladder are "planners," who are marrying and having children only after establishing a career; at the bottom, and increasingly in the middle, are "drifters" who are having children early, outside of marriage, and without the stable support of the second parent. Sawhill sees merit in the views of those on the political left, who argue for more social support for the drifters, including expanded child care, parental leave, family-friendly workplaces, and financial assistance, and for those on the right who argue for restoring traditional marriage so that children are raised in a stable family. But, she also points out that while collective responses are needed, they alone can't solve the problem. Any such efforts must be combined with the exercise of greater personal responsibility by potential parents themselves.