Press Release - August 18, 2003
University Park, Pa. --- In most highly developed countries more and more women are choosing to have fewer or no children, to delay childbearing (often until the chances of having a viable pregnancy are greatly reduced), and to have children outside of marriage. Overall, adults appear to be less interested in investing in children now than in the past.
Family scholars from across the nation will converge on Penn State on October 9-10 for the Penn State Annual National Family Symposium to examine the reasons for depressed fertility and the factors people consider when deciding whether or not to have children and when to have them.
The symposium will be held at the Nittany Lion Inn on Penn State's University Park campus. This year it is titled "Creating the Next Generation: Social, Economic, and Psychological Processes Underlying Fertility in Developed Countries." Symposium speakers and discussants will consider what led to these contemporary fertility patterns and what they portend for union formation, the well-being of children and adults, and the integrity of society as a whole, now and in the future.
The symposium, organized by Alan Booth, distinguished professor of sociology, human development and demography, and Ann C. Crouter, professor of human development and family studies, both of Penn State, will be structured around four important issues that underlie these changes.
S. Philip Morgan, Duke University, will explore contemporary patterns and trends in U.S. fertility, focusing on where we have come from and where we may be headed. Jennifer Barber and William Axinn, University of Michigan, will examine how social and cultural values and attitudes shape fertility patterns in the developed world. Elizabeth Thomson, University of Wisconsin, will analyze the factors explaining how fertility has become uncoupled from marriage. Christine Bachrach, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Lynn White; University of Nebraska; and Daniel Lichter, Ohio State University, will each speak on the long-term consequences of current fertility trends for individuals, families, and society. After the last three presentations, the lead speakers from earlier sessions will participate in a panel discussion about this important issue.
Discussants will include Kelly Raley (University of Texas, Austin), Belinda Tucker (University of California, Los Angeles), Suzanne Bianchi (University of Maryland), Shelly Lundberg (University of Washington), Hans-Peter Kohler (University of Pennsylvania), Duane Alwin (Pennsylvania State University), Sara Jaffee (University of Pennsylvania), Harriet Presser (University of Maryland), and Nancy Landale (Pennsylvania State University).
This year's symposium is sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the Population Research Institute; the Center for Work and Family Research; the Children, Youth and Family Consortium; the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development; the Center for Human Development and Family Research in Diverse Contexts; the Departments of Sociology, Human Development and Family Studies, Psychology, Labor Studies and Industrial Relations; the Crime, Law and Justice Program; and the Women's Studies Program.
More information and registration materials are available on the symposium web site at http://www.pop.psu.edu/events/symposium/, or by contacting Ann Morris, Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802-6211; Phone (814) 863-6607; Fax (814) 863-8342; email: amorris@pop.psu.edu.