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Family Formation, Fertility, and Children

Since 1955, when the Center's founder, Ronald Freedman, directed the first national survey of fertility behavior in the U.S. (the Growth of American Families Study), Michigan established itself as a demographic research center devoted to the study of fertility and the family via the collection of primary data. Today our researchers continue this tradition. They have been instrumental in creating large-scale data collections such as the Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children, the National Survey of Gamily Growth, and the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. And they have led the field in the analysis of national and international data in the research areas listed below.