A Generation at Risk: Growing Up in an Era of Family Upheaval - Softcover

Amato, Paul R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674003985 ISBN 13: 9780674003989

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Just what do we know about the current generation of young Americans? So little it seems that we have dubbed them Generation X. Coming of age in the 1980s and '90s, they hail from families in flux, from an intimate landscape changing faster and more profoundly than ever before. This book is the first to give us a clear, close-up picture of these young Americans and to show how they have been affected and formed by the tremendous domestic changes of the last three decades.

How have members of this generation fared at school and at work, as they have moved into the world and formed families of their own? Do their struggles or successes reflect the turbulence of their time? These are the questions A Generation at Risk answers in comprehensive detail. Based on a unique fifteen-year study begun in 1980, the book considers parents' socioeconomic resources, their gender roles and relations, and the quality and stability of their marriages. It then examines children's relations with their parents, their intimate and broader social affiliations, and their psychological well-being. The authors provide rare insight into how both familial and historical contexts affect young people as they make the transition to adulthood.

Perhaps surprising is the authors' finding that, in this era of shifting gender roles, children who grow up in traditional father-breadwinner, mother-homemaker families and those in more egalitarian, role-sharing families apparently turn out the same. Also striking are the beneficial influence of parental education on children and the troubling long-term impact of marital conflict and divorce--an outcome that prompts the authors to suggest policy measures that encourage marital quality and stability.

About this title

About the Author

Paul R. Amato is Professor of Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University. Alan Booth is Professor of Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University.

From the Back Cover

This book offers a clear picture of how young Americans have been affected by the tremendous domestic changes of the last three decades. Based on a fifteen-year study begun in 1980, the book considers parents' socioeconomic resources, their gender roles and relations, and the quality of their marriages. It also examines children's relations with their parents, their social affiliations, and their psychological well-being. The authors provide new insights into how both familial and historical contexts affect young people as they make the transition to adulthood.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674003985
• ISBN 13: 9780674003989
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 334