We will review existing knowledge on family and fertility change and on variation in family attitudes and behavior between women and men and among members of different race/ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups. We will use the reviews to identify areas in which important progress can be made through new analyses, data collection, and methodologies. We will explore new ways to use existing data and new methods for studying family and fertility change to advance understanding of causal relationships. Commissioned papers and pilot projects will inform recommendations for future research and data collection on family and fertility change. The project identifies five areas for intensive study through a coordinated set of working groups with intersecting memberships and synchronized work schedules. To advance scientific understanding of family change, we adopt a strategy of routine and open consultation with researchers in multiple disciplines.

The goals of this project are to better understand the driving forces behind this change and its implications for the well-being of men, women, and children in the United States. Specifically, we will develop an ambitious new inter-disciplinary research program to advance scientific understanding about the factors and processes that produce family change in populations over time and that influence variation in family change and behavior among racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, regional, and cultural groups, and among men and women. We argue below that the changing social context in which families form and operate is important to understanding these changes. For this reason, our research program also explores the experiences of other parts of the world in comparison to the United States. Our research will provide a comprehensive evaluation of the current theoretical, empirical and methodological literatures on the family, including research on marriage and cohabitation, fertility and sexual behavior, the cognitive and social development of children, parenting and intergenerational relationships, work and family interrelationships, and family decision-making. We also focus on ways to assess causation, a task that is especially important for anticipating how policies affect family behavior. Our studies will conclude with integrative new theory and suggestions for subsequent research that will significantly advance our understanding of the factors and processes that drive family change at both the individual and societal levels. This research program will aid NICHD - and the scientific community - in setting the stage for the next generation of research and data collection on the family.