ANN ARBOR—The American family has been changing and, starting Feb. 1, a team of University of Michigan researchers will visit thousands of households across the country to find out just what those changes have been.

Health, wealth, marriage, children, living arrangements and employment history will be the focus of the Family Economics Study, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and several federal departments, including the Department of Health and Human Services.

For the study, researchers from the U-M Survey Research Center will interview some 6,000 households that have participated in the study since 1968. They also plan to interview 750 new families, who have come to the United States from around the world since 1968. This addition will help make the study look more like the U.S. population today.

For the first time, interviewers will collect detailed information on how children from infancy to age 12 spend their time.

“This information will provide the first national picture since the early 1980s on how children spend their time, and how much time parents spend with them,” says U-M sociologist Sandra Hofferth, co-director of the study with U-M economist Frank Stafford.

Completed interviews will be processed in Ann Arbor, Mich., where names and other identifying information will be removed to protect the identity of respondents. Participating families will receive a modest monetary gift, along with an annual report on the study findings.

Phone: (313) 647-4416

National Science Foundation