Research Highlights

Family Instability in Childhood Affects American Adults’ Economic Mobility

People who did not spend their entire childhoods living in a stable two-parent family face greater chances of downward economic mobility than their peers who did, finds Deirdre Bloome of the University of Michigan.[1] Children who experience changes in family living arrangements because of divorce, cohabitation, or remarriage are more likely to “fall down the…

Children who enter kindergarten after experiencing repeated household changes are more likely to display problem behaviors that inhibit learning and disrupt classrooms, Paula Fomby of the University of Michigan and Stefanie Mollborn of the University of Colorado show. Such changes include residential moves and shifts in family composition and household routines. Their findings—coupled with other…

Births to teenage mothers in the United States have hit record lows for eight successive years, but experts are quick to point out that U.S. teen birth rates are far above those in other high-income countries.

Neighborhoods that are more walkable, with accessible public transportation, and amenities such as parks that promote physical and social activity are associated with better health.

Mothers’ Reading Skills Linked to Improved Child Survival and Student Achievement

In Nigeria, where 10 percent of the world’s deaths to children occur, literate mothers are much less likely to see their children die before their fifth birthday than their illiterate peers, according to a new study published online in the journal, Demography.1 And having a mother who can read well also makes a difference for…