Parenthood is an increasingly isolated job, Brown sociologists say
As the 20th century progressed, parents shouldered the care and financial burdens of raising children with less and less help, say Brown sociologists. Frances K. Goldscheider and colleagues analyzed census data from 1880 to 1990 and presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Take a family a century ago. Subtract a few relatives who might have helped mom with the childcare or housework and a few more who might have helped dad pay the bills, and you’ve got the modern family: isolated.
Using census data from 1880 to 1990, Brown researchers led by Frances K. Goldscheider, professor of sociology, found that the likelihood of parents functioning in residential isolation from other caregiving and income-earning figures increased over the years. Goldscheider presented the findings Aug. 18, 2002, at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
“There’s this myth that American families were always nuclear and hence parents were always isolated,” said Goldscheider, “but clearly, there used to be quite a bit more help around in the household.”
The study fills out the historical picture of the family, which had been formed mainly by research on the lives of women – especially in regards to fertility – and of children, ignoring men and even parenthood as a central adult role, said Goldscheider.
In the late 19th century nearly half the mothers of young children had another adolescent or adult female in the household who could help with the home and children, but by the end of the 20th century that figure had fallen to about 20 percent. Researchers looked at childcare support for mothers of children below the age of 5, when care needs are most acute.
The largest group of female help throughout the period was older daughters, followed by non-employed mothers or mothers-in-law. In 1880, half of those women were neither working nor in school, but by 1990 three-quarters had work or school commitments. Most of the change occurred between 1940 and 1980. With the end of the Depression, the advent of Social Security, and perhaps increased preferences for residential independence, surviving grandmothers began to live alone, said Goldscheider....ect.... Full Press Release at:
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2002-03/02-007.html
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