Families in Latin America: Trends, Singularities, and Contextual Factors

We review demographic and sociological literature on family dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and systematize major trends in union formation and fertility in recent decades. We also highlight the singularities that distinguish family patterns and trends in LAC from those in other wo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnual review of sociology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 485 - 505
Main Authors Esteve, Albert, Castro-Martín, Teresa, Castro Torres, Andrés Felipe
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Palo Alto Annual Reviews 01.01.2022
Annual Reviews, Inc
Subjects
Change agents
Cohabitation
Coresidence
Demography
Education groups
Equality
extended families
Extended family
Families & family life
family
Family relations
Fertility
Gender inequality
inequality
Labor market
Latin America
Literature reviews
Relatives
single motherhood
Single mothers
Social classes
Social protection
Social systems
Trends
Unionization
Welfare state
Latin America
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We review demographic and sociological literature on family dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and systematize major trends in union formation and fertility in recent decades. We also highlight the singularities that distinguish family patterns and trends in LAC from those in other world regions and discuss the contextual factors underlying these singularities. Latin American families have undergone substantial changes in their configurations and dynamics. We highlight the persistence of an early pattern of family formation despite considerable educational expansion and emerging subreplacement fertility levels, the bottom-up diffusion of cohabitation from low- to high-education groups, the frequent coresidence of single mothers with extended family members, and the substantial divergence in family forms and trajectories across social classes. These family trends do not conform entirely to any of the major theoretical frameworks devised to explain family change in Western societies. Pervasive socioeconomic inequality, high levels of informality in the labor market, weak social protection systems, and slow progress toward gender equality are among the contextual factors that shape the diversity and singularities of Latin American families.
ISSN:0360-0572
1545-2115
DOI:10.1146/annurev-soc-030420-015156