The Economic Deterioration of the Family: Historical Contingencies Preceding the Great Recession

U.S. children today have increasingly diverse living arrangements. In 2012, 10 percent of children lived with at least one grandparent; 8 percent lived in three-generational households, consisting of a parent and a grandparent; while 2 percent lived with a grandparent and no parent in the household. This article reviews the literature on grandparent coresidence and presents new research on children coresiding with grandparents in modern families. Findings suggest that grandparent coresidence is quite common and that its prevalence increased during the Great Recession. Additionally, these living arrangements are diverse themselves, varying by the marital status of the parent, the home in which the family lives, and the economic well-being of the family. Suggestions for future research are also proposed.

Download Full-text

Economic Insecurity and Family Well-Being

Encyclopedia of Social Work ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1144 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Janice Berry-Edwards

Keyword(s):

Great Recession ◽

Well Being ◽

Economic Security ◽

Economic Insecurity ◽

The Great Recession ◽

The Family ◽

American Society ◽

Multiple Strains ◽

The Impact

Economic insecurity and family Well-Being is a growing concern for American society. With the dramatic changes that occurred following the “great recession” of 2008, and the lingering effects since, families have experienced stressors and multiple strains in their adjustment to the impact of the changing fiscal climate and their financial demands. To understand the experience of economic insecurity, an understanding of economic security is helpful in providing a context for how these two dynamics emanate and impact families and their Well-Being. This article provides a glimpse of how the fragility of the economy and the mental tax experienced by the family are inextricably interdependent and connected.

Download Full-text

Framing immigrants as seekers of social benefits: a transnational examination of the impact of the Great Recession at the family-level and the development of anti-immigrant anxieties

Trabajo Social Global-Global Social Work ◽

10.30827/tsg-gsw.v9i16.8494 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (16) ◽

Author(s):

Luis Fernández-Barutell

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Great Recession ◽

The United States ◽

Social Benefits ◽

Southern Europe ◽

The Great Recession ◽

The Family ◽

The Impact

Substantial research has addressed the association between economic factors (e.g., employment rate) and perception of immigrants among the general public in the host societies. This study used the Transatlantic Trends Survey 2014 to examine whether the characterization of immigrants as social benefits seekers is related to one´s family financial situation being greatly affected by the Great Recession. We conducted a series of ordinal logistic regressions to compare three different geopolitical contexts, namely the United States, the Southern Europe region, and the triad France-Germany-United Kingdom. Our results confirmed that framing immigrants as social benefits seekers is indeed related to one´s family being greatly impacted by the Great Recession. Significantly, the direction of such association varies among contexts, as those greatly impacted by the crisis in Southern Europe showed lower odds of framing immigrants as social benefits seekers, while the opposite happening in both the United States and the triad France-Germany-United Kingdom. Recommendations for practice and research are discussed.

Download Full-text

Women’s Work and Economic Crisis Revisited

10.5406/illinois/9780252040320.003.0011 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Ruth Milkman

Keyword(s):

Great Depression ◽

Great Recession ◽

Political Transformation ◽

The Great Recession ◽

The Great Depression ◽

Economic Downturns ◽

The Family ◽

The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽

The Many ◽

The Relationship

This chapter compares the gender dynamics of the Great Depression of the 1930s with those of the Great Recession associated with the 2008 financial crisis. It begins with a discussion of the relationship between gender and unemployment, and between gender and family dynamics during the economic crises. It then examines the family wage and married women's employment in the 1930s as well as inequality among women during the Great Recession. Despite the many changes in gender relations that unfolded in the intervening decades, the chapter shows that the structural effects of the two economic downturns were similar. In both cases, female unemployment increased less, and later, than male unemployment, and birth, marriage, and divorce rates declined as well. The Great Depression spurred a political transformation that led to a sharp reduction in economic inequality, accompanied by a dramatic upsurge in union organizing. Neither of these developments took place after the 2008 crisis. Instead, inequalities between the haves and have-nots have continued to widen, and especially class inequality among women.

Download Full-text

Financial Crisis and Migrant Domestic Workers in Spain: Employment Opportunities and Conditions during the Great Recession

International Migration Review ◽

10.1177/0197918318798341 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 53 (4) ◽

pp. 1209-1229 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Zenia Hellgren ◽

Inmaculada Serrano

Keyword(s):

Great Recession ◽

Domestic Workers ◽

Job Destruction ◽

The Great Recession ◽

The Family ◽

Job Conditions ◽

The Impact ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Female Migrant ◽

Migrant Domestic Workers

This article explores the impact of the Great Recession on migrant domestic workers in Spain. We argue that the domestic service sector’s relative resistance to job destruction has transformed it to some extent into a refuge activity for unemployed women from other sectors, both migrants and native Spanish workers. This leads to intensified competition over jobs and increasing stratification among domestic workers, with serious consequences both for migrant women’s opportunities to make a living in Spain and for their migration projects at an international level. Based on 90 in-depth interviews with female migrant domestic workers and stakeholders, we find that this group of workers has been seriously affected by unemployment, underemployment, and worsened job conditions. As a consequence, new and already settled migrants find the chances to gain their livelihood in Spain substantially reduced, and many of those who migrated in order to support the family back home through remittances, or to save some money and eventually return, are at present unable to do so.

Download Full-text

Family Self-Sufficiency Program Outcomes for Participants Enrolling During and After the Great Recession

Families in Society The Journal of Contemporary Social Services ◽

10.1177/10443894211051008 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 104438942110510

Author(s):

Anna Maria Santiago ◽

Joffré Leroux

Keyword(s):

Great Recession ◽

Housing Authority ◽

Economic Shocks ◽

Program Outcomes ◽

Earned Income ◽

The Great Recession ◽

Self Sufficiency ◽

Vulnerable Families ◽

The Family ◽

Additional Capacity

Utilizing administrative data from the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program operated by the Denver Housing Authority, four program outcomes, (a) savings and escrow growth, (b) credit and debt reduction, (c) employment and earnings, and (d) positive exits from subsidized housing, are examined to assess if any differences exist between participants ( n = 424) who enrolled during or after the Great Recession. Propensity score matching with replacement was employed to match FSS enrollees. Compared to post-Great Recession enrollees, results suggest that enrollees entering the program during the Great Recession were more likely to reduce their monthly contractual debt and derogatory debt, increase monthly earned income, and remain in the FSS Program longer. Findings suggest that attaining participant financial capability goals is possible during severe economic shocks and may provide vulnerable families with additional capacity to weather such shocks.

Download Full-text