Informal Networks Social Capital of Fathers: What Does the Social Engagement Survey Tell Us?

Using the General Social Survey on Social Engagement conducted by Statistics Canada in 2003, this paper examines social capital derived from informal networks and its variation among men categorized as: (1) men with no children, and (2) men living with children in (a) intact, (b) step, and (c) lone parent families. The focus on men stems from a concern that their role in families has not been as extensively studied as that of women. The results show that married men living with children have higher social capital - measured in terms of the number of friends, relatives, and neighbours, and in their level of trust in them - than lone fathers or step fathers in cohabiting unions. Compared to child-free men, married fathers have higher social capital but also tend to have friends who are more similar to themselves in age, education, or income

Life Course and Structural Factors in Childlessness: The Waiting Game and Constrained Choices in the Second Demographic Transition

No abstract availabl

Work and Family Life Trajectories of Young Canadians: Evidence from the 2001 General Social Survey

From the 1980s, there has been a trend among young Canadians to delay their transition to adulthood. This is seen as an indicator of greater investment in career and work life (most often, with parental help) before investing in reproduction. However, there are concerns expressed particularly for women that those with smaller parental and personal resources follow a different life course trajectory. They become parents at younger ages and are more likely to experience family dissolution and lone parenthood. The study uses Statistics Canada’s 2001 General Social Survey on Family History and focuses on men and women born from 1966 to 1975. The timing of transitions by social status is examined for events related to work (school completion and start of regular work) and family life (home-leaving, first union, and first birth). The trajectories through these life course events (or states) are then traced for men and women by categories of social status. A multi-state life table technique of analysis is used to examine the probabilities of experiencing particular pathways among the various states and the duration of stay in each state. We find that the onset of parenthood differs by social status with differences larger for women than men. As for trajectories to parenthood, the normatively preferred trajectory wherein parenthood is preceded by graduation from post-secondary education, regular work, and marriage is common mainly for those with high social status. Our analysis also shows that becoming parents without marrying is more likely among those with low status; and that the age at onset of parenthood is largely determined by the number of prior transitions

An Interpretation of Family Change, with Implications for Social Cohesion

Data on family change point to a greater flexibility in the entry and exit from relationships, a delay in the timing of family events, and a diversity of family forms. These changes have undermined the complementary-roles model as women gained equal opportunities in a variety of domains. Children have been affected such that their interests are no longer paramount in the structuring of adult lives. On the whole, the family has been de-institutionalized with less function and less power. An interpretation of the changes suggests that the family has shifted from a unit of survival in which relations were based on division of labour to a unit of solidarity based on a sense of common identity and expressive relationships. Policies that would further push families in the direction of a collaborative model would promote new kinds of cohesion within families and at the societal level

Bifurcation by Social Status in the Onset of Fatherhood

Abstract not availabl

Membership in Organizations and Confidence in Institutions: Men’s Social Capital and Its Differentials by Family Structures

Abstract not availabl

Family Models for Earning and Caring: Implications for Child Care

The bases for family change include an economy that provides more work opportunities for women, and a cultural orientation that values equal opportunity and legitimates family models other than the traditional breadwinner model. At the same time, both quantitative and qualitative evidence suggest a prevalent preference for making accommodations for children that include considerable time with children, especially in the infant and toddler years. Thus the average experience is for women to do less and for men to do more paid work in two-parent families that include young children in the home. Our reading of parental preferences suggests an interest in more services for young children in the form of early childhood education and child care, but also interest in policy directions that would allow parents to spend more time with children, in the form of leaves, part-time work with good benefits, and subsidies that supplement market income. These accommodations are often less feasible in lone-parents, and thus child care is a higher priority in these families

Life Course Trajectories Before and After Retirement

Abstract not availabl