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The family in a changing world

A prolegomenon to an evolutionary analysis

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Abstract

Increasing numbers of young mothers in the work force, more and more children requiring extrafamilial care, high rates of divorce, lower rates of remarriage, increasing numbers of female-headed households, growing numbers of zero-parent families, and significant occurrences of child maltreatment are just some of the social indicators indicative of the family in a changing world. These trends and their consequences for children are described and then examined from the perspectives of microeconomic theory, the relative-income hypothesis, sex-ratio theory, and one form of modernization theory. The paper concludes with a preliminary examination of the added explanatory power provided by evolutionary theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State University, S-110 Henderson Building, 16802, University Park, PA

    Robert L. Burgess

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  1. Robert L. Burgess
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Robert L. Burgess is Professor of Human Development in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Washington University, St. Louis. His research program focused first on social exchange and power and, subsequently, on the development of violence in families.

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Burgess, R.L. The family in a changing world. Human Nature 5, 203–221 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692161

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692161

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