Forbes reported that the 2020 American Family Survey, Family Life During a Pandemic, has just landed, and it provides both surprising – and unsurprising – insights into how American families are experiencing work, life, and family in the midst of the pandemic. 

On issues concerning how economics affected their families, on race and gender, on parenting, and on policy preferences, here are some of the key Survey findings.

·     First, on economics, almost a third of respondents said they or a partner had experienced a loss of income, and even more reported an employment change. Black and Hispanic families were more likely than white families to report that their financial situation was worse now compared to before the pandemic (p. 19)....

·      Second, on gender, not surprisingly, men reported that they shared household chores equally, while women reported that they did more, a finding that was fairly consistent across income groups. But, somewhat surprisingly, men and women agreed on the amount of work their children performed. Men were more likely than women to say “I feel as if I am failing as a parent” (32 to 22%), and to report that their children had “become more difficult” (31 to 19%) (p. 27). They were also more likely to report that they were struggling with the home and work balance (40 to 31%). That may be because, speculates Professor Gregg Strauss, co-director of the UVA Family Law Center, “the experience of spending more time at home around their children affects men and women differently. Women always performed a greater share of domestic work, while men are now seeing more of the domestic and childcare labor and, hence, experiencing more of its stress than usual.” 

·      Third, on parenting. Black and single parents were less likely than white, or Hispanic, or Republican respondents to report that they “are failing as parents.” (p. 23)....

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