Families are changing in response to large global trends. Military families are experiencing the same transitions which may be compounded by military service. Demographic changes will be discussed and the implications on family systems. In this webinar, participants share views of these changes, both personally and professionally.

1. 1
What does this
picture say to you
about family
transitions and
change?

2. 2
Event Materials Tech SupportLet’s Chat!
Visit the event page to download
a copy of the webinar slides and
any additional resources.
Select All Panelists & Attendees
from the drop-down when
commenting in the chat pod.
Experiencing issues? Email us!
MilFamLN@gmail.com
Event Page:
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/event/52261
Welcome!

3. 3
Event Materials
Visit the event page to download a copy of the
webinar slides and any additional resources.
This webinar has been approved for continuing
education credit. Stay tuned for more information
at the end of the webinar.
Continuing Education
Event Page:
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/event/52261
Family Systems Trends &
Transitions:
What they Mean for Military Families
Photo CC0 /The U.S. Army

4. This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
under Award Numbers 2015-48770-24368 and 2019-48770-30366.
Connecting military family service providers and
Cooperative Extension professionals to research
and to each other through engaging online
learning opportunities
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org
4

5. Today’s Presenter
5
Karen Shirer, PhD
Educational Program Specialist, MFLN Family Transitions
University of Minnesota
• Research interests: family education program
development, working families, and efforts that
strengthen individual and family resilience
• Designs curricula and program interventions for low-
income families and unmarried parents to help them
parent together

6. 6
© 2020 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
Family Systems Series

7. 7
Our Focus Today
• Examine family system trends and changes — global, U.S. and
military families
• Examine implications for military family resilience during transitions,
both military and family-related
• Discuss the implications for our practice
• Reflect on the impact of these trends for military families that you
serve

8. 8
What are three words that
describe changes you have
seen in families you serve?

9. 9
• Use term “family systems”
• Draw from field of “demography”
• Describe changes in terms of “trends”
Key Concepts

10. 10
Photo CC0 / PIxabay
One caveat!

11. 11
Family Trends Trivia

12. 12
Around the globe,
the age at which people marry for
the first time has been declining.
True or False?
Respond in the pop-up poll

13. 13
False
• Overall increasing age of first marriage — not only a Western
phenomena
• Not uniform but significantly widespread
• May be leading to less influence of family norms over people’s behavior
Furstenberg, 2019

14. 14
True or False?
Most parts of the world have seen a decline in fertility or childbearing.
Respond in the pop-up poll

15. 15
True
• The only part of the world it hasn’t increased is Africa and parts of
the Middle East
• Decrease attributed to delay in marriage and more women in the
labor force
• Most families in countries and regions with advanced economies are
choosing to remain childless
Furstenberg, 2019

16. 16
Divorce is becoming more common except
in countries that have traditionally had low-rates of divorce.
True or False?
Respond in the pop-up poll

17. 17
False
• Divorce rates increasing across most parts of the world, even in
countries where it hadn’t in the past
• In many countries, the patterns differ within the country
• Increased marital stability among educated
• Decreased marital stability among low-wage and skilled workers
• Divorce appears to be more acceptable as a means of addressing
an unsatisfactory relationship
Furstenberg, 2019

18. 18
Check all that apply -
Women’s labor force participation are related to these trends:
 Change in women’s and men’s household work roles
 More children being born or raised outside of marriage
 Greater access of women to education and the labor market
 Increased information available on women’s rights due to law and policy
changes
 An increase in divorce rates
Respond in the pop-up poll

19. 19
To some degree, all contribute
to women’s rise in the labor forces
• The ideology of gender equality remains ahead of concrete changes
• #MeToo movement
• More enforcement of spousal violence and sexual coercion in most
countries
• Much more needs to be done gender equity
Furstenberg, 2019

20. 20
Check all that apply -
The institution of marriage is changing related to these factors:
 Growing disparities between the rich and poor
 Change in the meaning and definition of marriage
 Increasing absence of fathers due to abandonment, separation and
divorce
 Rise in cohabitation among unmarried couples
Respond in the pop-up poll

21. 21
All contribute to changes in marriage
Research also shows that most people highly value marriage,
so much so that they want to ensure it is the right person or
the right situation and will delay marriage until it is.
Furstenberg, 2019; Cowan & Cowan, 2019

22. 22
What is one thing that
surprised you the most?

23. 23
Family Trends Trivia Summary
• Trends fueled by global economic changes
• More people delaying marriage or not getting married at all
• Families with fewer or no children
• Gender equality expanding and a “work in progress”
• Divorce more acceptable across the globe

24. 24
Please share your thoughts, questions, observations,
and experiences related to these trends.

25. 25
Changes and Trends in U.S. Families with Children
CC0/PixabayPhoxto CC0 / Virginia TattooxStoryBlocks CC 2.0/National Guard

26. 26
James Case Study
Sgt. First Class James Harrison is a hard-charging noncommissioned
officer by day and a solo dad by night to a 4-year-old son. Sgt.
Harrison’s son was born to his girlfriend at the time, but they broke up
and James received full custody.
Sgt. Harrison also has a 15-year old daughter from his first marriage
who lives 3 states away. He keeps in regular contact with her and
often vacations with her.

27. 27
Which of the global trends do you see in James’ life?
What challenges does James face as a solo dad?
What strengths does he have?

28. 28
U.S. Family Systems with Children
What do they look like? What do we know?

29. 29
U.S. Family Systems with Children
• Use Pew Research Report and supplement with other data primarily
from the Fragile Family and Child Well-being Research Project
• Focus on all families and take a closer look at unmarried parents
• Identify unique challenges of military families

30. 30
Terminology Used
• ”Fathers”, “mothers” and “parents” — people who are living with
their children younger than 18 years, and to people who are their
spouses and partners. May or may not be married
• Current Population Survey data — doesn’t ask about explicit
custody arrangements
• Cohabiting parents—those living together and not married
• Solo parents — married but not living with a spouse or partner and
those who are neither married nor living with a partner (use in lieu of
”single parenting”)

31. 31
1968 1977 1987 1997 2007 2017

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34
What else do we know?
• About half of solo parents have never been married
• 27% are poor
o 17% of solo fathers
o 30% of solo mothers
• 31% of solo fathers live with their parents
o 22% of solo mothers
o 4% of each married and cohabiting parents
• Fewer college grads among cohabiting parents vs. married parents
o 20% solo
o 15% cohabiting
o 43% married Pew Report, 2018

35. 35
U.S. Family Trends Summary
• More parents are unmarried
• More unmarried parents cohabit
• Cohabiting parents and solo parents tend to be younger, poorer
and have less education
• These changes in family systems is prevalent across all racial and
ethnic groups
Pew Research Center, 2018

36. 36
Ballard et al., 2018
“Families in the United States are more similar than
different to families throughout the world”

37. 37
Share one question you have about working
with these emerging family systems.

38. 38
Brenda serves as a Petty Officer First Class and has a 3-year-old
daughter.
She and her child’s father lived in San Diego but moved to Maryland for
Brenda’s change of station. She knew their relationship was rocky and it
soon fell apart after the move. He moved to Texas and she has not heard
from him since. Brenda talks to his grandmother occasionally and she
knows he is alive. Brenda is now a solo parent.
Brenda recognizes that he is totally out of the picture and that she needs to
raise her child alone.
Brenda Case Story

39. 39
How do Brenda’s circumstances
reflect the trends on solo parents?

40. 40
Learning More about Unmarried Families
• Began in 1998 to collect information from 5,000 families —
3,500 were headed by solo mothers
• Data collection began at the birth of a child
• Continued data collection through 2017
• Project website: https://fragilefamilies/princeton.edu
• Continues to produce scholarly papers, research briefs and books
Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, 2019

41. 41
Early Findings for Solo Moms
• Fathers present at child’s birth for 80% of couples — 50% cohabiting
and 30% not living with mother
• 80% of fathers provided support and 70% visited mothers in the
hospital. Most wanted to help raise the child
• Most mothers put the father’s name on the birth certificate
Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, 2006

42. 42
Early Warning Signs
When compared to married parents, these couples were more likely to:
• Be a teen parent
• Have children with other parents
• Be low-income and poor
• Experience depression and substance abuse disorders
• Have experienced incarceration
Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, 2006

43. 43
After five years
• 35% remained romantically involved with each other
• 15% married
• After relationships ended, most parents went onto new relationships and
had other children
• Father involvement and co-parenting declined
Family Working Group, 2011

44. 44
Complex Family Systems for Unmarried Parents
• Negative effects on children’s development
• Solo mothers experienced lower income and more mental health
problems
• Father involvement decreased further over time
• Good news: child support payments increased, improving financial
stability and – indirectly – father involvement
Fragile Families & Child Wellbeing, 2019

45. 45
Brenda & James Case Stories
Sgt. First Class James Harrison is a hard-
charging noncommissioned officer by day and a
solo dad by night to a 4-year-old son. He was
born to his girlfriend at the time, but they broke
up and James received full custody.
Sgt. Harrison also has a 15-year old daughter
from his first marriage who lives 3 states away.
He keeps in regular contact with her and often
vacations with her.
Brenda serves as a Petty Officer First Class
and is a solo mother of a 3-year-old
daughter.
Her child’s father and she lived in San Diego
but moved to Maryland for Brenda’s change
of station. She knew their relationship was
rocky and it soon fell apart after the move.
He moved to Texas and she has not heard
from him since. Brenda talks to his
grandmother occasionally and she knows he
is alive.
Brenda recognizes that he is totally out of the
picture and that she needs to raise her child
alone.

46. 46
Military Family Systems with Children — Context
• Unprecedented reliance on National Guard and Reserve
• Multiple deployments
• More female serving members — combat
• Changing nature of injuries
• Length of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
Gewirtz and Youssef, 2016

47. 47
The Whole Military Family Serves

48. 48
Please share your thoughts and reflections
on what these military realities mean for
families and your work.

49. 49
Military Families with Children in 2018
• Used U.S. Department of Defense comprehensive demographic
profile of the military
• Supplement the profile with other research
• Two Caveats: divorce status & specific data
2018 Demographic Profiles, 2019

50. 50
Total Military Force Families
https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2018-demographics-report.pdf

51. 51
2018 Demographics Report, Chart 4.01, page 121

52. 52
Chart 4.02, page 121, 2018 Demographics Report

53. 53
Chart 4.03, Page 122, 2017 Demographics Report

54. 54
Chart 4.04, Page 122, 2018 Demographics Report

55. 55
2018 Report, page 123. Chart 4.05

56. 56
Chart 4.06, Page 123, 2018 Demographics Profile

57. 57

58. 58

59. 59
What Research Tells Us about Military Families

60. 60
Active Service Members face
greater family demands than in the past
• Both parents often employed outside the home
• More families in which women are military members
• Single or solo military parents
Kelley et al., 2011

61. 61
More solo fathers than solo mothers
More men serving than women
However, solo mothers make
up a greater proportion of
women serving in the military
Kelley et al., 2011CC 2.0/National Guard CC 2.0 /Kentucky Guard

62. 62
Ashley Case Study
Ashley, who is 21 and an Army Cook, received orders to deploy to
Afghanistan but when it came time to go, she did not appear for her
flight. She had no one to care for her 10-month old son.
Ashley’s mother, who lives on the west coast, had initially taken her
son but became overwhelmed by the responsibility. Her mother
currently cares for Ashley’s grandmother, a daughter with special
needs, an ailing aunt, and 14 children in her home childcare business.
Ashley became pregnant after basic training. Her son’s father has
never been in the picture. The father’s name is not on the birth
certificate.

63. 63
What comes to mind when
thinking of Ashley’s experience as
a solo mother?

64. 64
Married and Solo Mothers & Solo Fathers
• Depend more on other caregivers
• Availability and quality of non-parental caregivers — either a risk
or protective factor
• Most difficult for solo mothers with young children, like Ashley
Kelley et al., 2011

65. 65
Military Support for Parents
Institutional support for parents:
• housing allowance
• coverage of medical expenses
• lower cost childcare
• required family care plans for deployments
Kelley et al., 2011

66. 66
Divorce & Remarriage
• 20% of all Service members experienced divorce
• 1/3 of all married personnel were in a remarriage either through
their own marital history or their spouse’s
• About 30% had non-residential children
Adler-Baeder et al., 2006

67. 67
Military Context Risk Factors for Divorce
• Lower age at first marriage, especially for men
• Economic stress associated with being younger
• More African Americans
• Job demands of serving in military
Adler-Baeder et al., 2006

68. 68
“military families cannot be
neatly pigeonholed […] they are a
strikingly diverse population with
diverse needs
[…] needs change over time as
they move through personal and
family transitions”
Clover & Segal, 2013

69. 69
What are three things we discussed today
that you’d like to learn more about?

70. Upcoming Event
For archived and upcoming webinars visit:
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/AllEvents/
70
Focusing on Co-Parenting:
Strengthening Diverse Military Family Systems
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. EST
Event Page:
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/event/52264
Explore how you can leverage the Military Family Readiness
System to help strengthen diverse family systems with a
focus on co-parenting knowledge and skills.
Continuing education credit available!
Photo CC0 /The U.S. Army

71. Evaluation & Continuing Education
71
This webinar has been approved
for the following continuing
education (CE) credits:
• 1.5 CE credits from the University of Texas at
Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work
• 1.5 contact hours from the National Council on
Family Relations
• A certificate of completion
Event Page:
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/event/52261
Questions?
Email Anita Hering
at aharris@umn.edu
Go to the event page for
evaluation and post-test link.
Evaluation Link

72. Subscribe and Stay Connected!
72
Subscribe Here!
Topics of Interest:
• Deployment
• Transitions for Military Families
• Community Capacity Building
Quarterly Newsletter
• Upcoming Events
• Latest Podcast Episode
• Articles of Interest
MilitaryFamiliesLearningNetwork.org/Family-Transitions
@MFLNFT

73. Explore upcoming events, articles, podcasts, and more
https://militaryfamilieslearningnetwork.org
For more …
73

74. 74
References
About the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (2019, April 17). Retrieved from
https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/about
Adler-Baeder, F., Pittman, J., and Taylor, L. (2006). The prevalence of marital transitions in military families. Journal of
Divorce and Remarriage, 44(1-2), 91-106. DOI: 10.1300/J087v44n01_05
Ballard S.M., Cassidy D., Taylor A.C., Robila M. (2018) Family Life Education in the United States. In: Robila M., Taylor A. (eds)
Global Perspectives on Family Life Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.ezp1.lib.umn.edu/10.1007/978-3-319-77589-
0_13
Clever, M. And Segal, D. R. (2013). The Demographics of Military Children and Families. The Future of Children, Vol. 23, No.
2. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23595618
Cowan, C. P. And Cowan, P. A. (2019). Changing Families: A prevention intervention perspective. Family Relations, 68 (3),
298-312. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12359
Family Working Group, Brookings Institution. (2011). A Closer Look at Unmarried Families: Children’s Experiences of
Relationship Instability and Family Complexity. Retrieved from https://fragilefamilies.princeton/files/ff_presentation.pdf

75. 75
Reference, cont’d
Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study. (2006). Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/publications
Furstenberg, F. (2019). Family Change in Global Perspective: How and Why Family Systems Change. Family Relations, 68 (3),
326-341. DOI: 10.1111/fare.12361
Gewirtz, A. H. And Youssef, A. M. (eds.), Parenting and Children’s Resilience in Military Families, Risk and Resilience in Military
and Veteran Families, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12556-5_1
Kelley M.L., Doane A.N., Pearson M.R. (2011) Single Military Mothers in the New Millennium: Stresses, Supports, and Effects of
Deployment. In: Wadsworth S., Riggs D. (eds) Risk and Resilience in U.S. Military Families. Springer, New York, NY.
Pew Research Center, April 2018, “The Changing Profile of Unmarried Parents” Retrieved from
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/04/Unmarried-Parents-Full-Report-PDF.pdf
United States Department of Defense. (2017). The Demographic Report: Profile of the Military Community. Retrieved from
URL https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2017-demographics-report.pdf
Usdansky, M. L., London, A. S., and Wilmoth, J. M. (2009). Veteran status, race-ethnicity, and among Fragile Families. Journal
of Marriage and Family, 71(4), 768-786. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00632.x