Social Norms, Expectations and Experiences in Urban and Rural Contexts

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SES-1061591Linda BurtonDuke UniversityIn the context of America's current changing urban and rural communities, the research team will study the social norms, behavioral expectations, and social experiences that are shaping contemporary U.S. family life. The study will examine the types of social norms, expectations, and experiences that are contributing to the development of sustained families and why they prevail for some in certain urban and rural contexts and not others. The investigators will pay special attention to whether contemporary beliefs and behaviors about marriage lead to establishing long-term committed unions or alternative transient family structures with children. The study will complete a secondary analysis of comprehensive longitudinal team ethnographies of urban and rural families. Data will be analyzed using life history methods with special attention given to how urban and rural cultures influence family structures and behaviors.Given recent dramatic changes in patterns of marriage, cohabitation, and non-marital childbearing in the U.S., numerous questions about the social norms, expectations, and experiences that shape the lives of contemporary families have become a central concern of social scientists as well as the broader American society. The proposed research will directly address these concerns by conducting a detailed assessment of women's beliefs and behaviors around family and whether they differ in urban and rural communities. The study will also shed light on whether those similarities and differences extend to issues of race by comparing the lives of White, African American, and Latino mothers and their families. Given the growing diversity of U.S. society, this study promises to provide valuable insights on the contextual and cultural behaviors of different groups relative to family structures. Research findings will contribute to both general and theoretically-based knowledge about a topic of considerable national concern. The project also provides trains undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctorates how to conduct rigorous, detailed scientific investigations of contemporary American family life.