Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage

Over half of all births to young adults in the United States now occur outside of marriage, and many are unplanned. The result is increased poverty and inequality for children. The left argues for more social support for unmarried parents; the right argues for a return to traditional marriage. In Generation Unbound, Isabel V. Sawhill offers a third approach: change ""drifters"" into ""planners."" In a well-written and accessible survey of the impact of family structure on child well-being, Sawhill contrasts ""planners,"" who are delaying parenthood until after they marry, with ""drifters,"" who are having unplanned children early and outside of marriage. These two distinct patterns are contributing to an emerging class divide and threatening social mobility in the United States. Sawhill draws on insights from the new field of behavioral economics, showing that it is possible, by changing the default, to move from a culture that accepts a high number of unplanned pregnancies to a culture in which adults only have children when they are ready to be a parent.

About the Author :
Isabel Sawhill is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she holds the Cabot Family Chair and serves as codirector of the Center on Children and Families. She previously served as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget. From 2003 to 2006, she was vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings. She is the editor of One Percent for the Kids: New Policies, Brighter Futures for America's Children (Brookings, 2003), coeditor with Alice Rivlin of Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005 (Brookings, 2005), and coauthor with Rudolph G. Penner and Timothy Taylor of Updating America's Social Contract (Norton, 2000).

Review :
Dr. Sawhill makes a thoughtful, fresh, rigorously documented case for reducing unplanned pregnancies. She pushes against a strong headwind to argue for two-parent families as often as possible. If she is right about the economic and cultural implications of our changing procreation behavior, we have a lot of work to do.--Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Forty years ago, Isabel Sawhill inspired a generation of scholars, including myself, with her landmark research on divorce. Now she does it again, turning her sharp eye on nonmarital childbearing with equal success. Free of ideology and comprehensive in scope, her story highlights how the decline in marriage is affecting children's life chances and what might be done to reverse the trend.--Sara S. McLanahan, William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University No one is better qualified than Isabel Sawhill to tackle two of the most important questions facing America today. At a time of rapidly changing family structure, who is best able to raise children? And how can we do a better job of making sure the children who are born are welcomed by parents who are prepared to give them the love and sustained attention they deserve? Full of new research and analysis, this book will make you re-think what you know about both.--Judy Woodruff, PBS Newshour This superbly written book, drawing on insights from behavioral economics, provides clearheaded, actionable recommendations on how we can change course and ensure that every young person can achieve their full potential.--Mark Edwards, Executive Director, Opportunity Nation