New Research from the Global Family Change Project

PSC/PARC Researchers Hans-Peter Kohler, Frank F. Furstenberg, Andres Felipe Castro Torres, and Luca Maria Pesando were featured in a Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research press release on their new article, "Family Change and Variation Through the Lens of Family Configurations in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," published in Population, Space, and Place and supported by the National Science Foundation. This paper is a result of the Global Family Change project, supported by the PSC, which is also a PARC Research Network.Key Points:This paper finds a strong correlation between traditional partnership regimes (early and widespread marriage and early transition to motherhood) and traditional gender norms within the household and at a societal level.The correlation between traditional partnership and gender regimes is relatively independent of reproduction levels, meaning it exists in countries with both high and low fertility levels and contraceptive use.In some countries, traditional partnership and gender regimes differentiate between urban and rural geographies suggesting the influence of the Western family model is uneven cross-nationally and more present in urban areas.The family configurational approach developed in this paper encompasses more dimensions, characteristics, and functions in the study of families in a global comparative context. These characteristics include, for example, family formation patterns, gender roles, and fertility.This approach provides new insights and questions on how and why the institution of the family has and will change.