U.S. Social Policy and Family Complexity

The United States has a number of social policies that were designed explicitly to provide options and supports for individuals related to their family formation decisions, such as the Title X National Family Planning Program and the Healthy Marriage Initiative. At the same time, because social poli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2014-07, Vol.654 (1), p.213-230
Main Authors: LOPOO, LEONARD M., RAISSIAN, KERRI M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child custody
Children
Cohabitation
Decisions
Divorce
Divorce law
Divorce rates
Families & family life
Family Planning
Family structure
Fertility
Government Policy
Information Services
Knowledge
Literature Reviews
Marriage
Medicaid
Parents
Population
Public assistance programs
Social Policy
U.S.A
United States of America
Welfare reform
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Summary:The United States has a number of social policies that were designed explicitly to provide options and supports for individuals related to their family formation decisions, such as the Title X National Family Planning Program and the Healthy Marriage Initiative. At the same time, because social policies can have considerable implications for the populations they target, we have long known that government policy can impact family structure and individuals' fertility decisions even when such an impact was not the policy's stated objective. This article reviews both theoretical and empirical literature asking to what extent United States' social policy affects the complexity of families. Specifically, we review the literature on divorce and custody laws, means-tested transfer programs, and policies designed to provide information and services related to family formation. We report findings, and discuss common themes across the literature and identify important gaps in knowledge.
ISSN:0002-7162
1552-3349
DOI:10.1177/0002716214530372