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Global Family Change: Persistent Diversity with Development.
1Population Studies Center and Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania. Address: 332 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104 USA.
Population and Development Review
|July 26, 2021
Summary
Family structures in low- and middle-income countries show persistent diversity amid socioeconomic development. While some indicators like women's timing converge with the Human Development Index (HDI), others diverge, highlighting regional differences.
Area of Science:
- Demography
- Sociology
- Development Studies
Background:
- Socioeconomic development significantly impacts family structures globally.
- Understanding these changes is crucial for policy and social science research.
- Previous research often focused on specific regions or family aspects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically analyze the relationship between family change and socioeconomic development across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- To investigate global and regional associations between the Human Development Index (HDI) and multi-dimensional family change indicators.
- To examine cross-country convergence in family indicators relative to development levels.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Demographic and Health Surveys data from 3.5 million respondents across 84 LMICs.
- Conducted analyses on global and regional associations between HDI and family change indicators.
- Applied growth convergence methods to assess cross-country convergence in family indicators.
Main Results:
- Families in LMICs exhibit diverse transformations across domains, regions, and genders.
- Fertility, intra-couple decision-making, and women's life-course timing strongly correlate with HDI.
- Convergence is limited to women's life-course timing; other indicators show varied convergence or divergence.
- Marriage, cohabitation, household structure, and men's timing show weaker HDI associations and diverse convergence patterns.
Conclusions:
- The study describes a scenario of "persistent diversity with development" in family structures.
- Regional heterogeneity, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, drives observed patterns.
- Socioeconomic development influences family change, but not uniformly across all domains or regions.
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