ABSTRACT
The demography of the family in most developed western countries has changed substantially since the beginning of the 1970s and looks likely to continue to do so. Revolutionary changes in ideas about birth, marriage, divorce, child-rearing, gender and death have been so dramatic that they have been termed by some the ‘Second Demographic Transition’ (Lesthaeghe, 1991). None of these changes in western family life had been predicted. The most obvious manifestation is that living arrangements have changed dramatically in the past two generations. The changes in demographic behaviour are a subject of great complexity and heated debate. Traditionalists believe the family is collapsing while modernists welcome the new opportunities and equality for women. These choices for parents and gains for women may be at the expense of their children.
