About

Rachel Dunifon is associated with the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University. The center assists faculty in developing translational research projects, providing support such as proposal preparation, training, technical assistance, and fostering collaborative relationships. The center also offers workshops, summer institutes, and talks on current research topics, aiming to facilitate the dissemination and funding of translational research. Specific details about her research focus, background, or key contributions are not provided on the page.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Demographic economics
• Socioeconomics
• Demography
• Economics
• Economic growth
• Geography

Selected publications

• Grandchildren’s spatial proximity to grandparents and intergenerational support in the United States

  Demographic Research · 2025-06-02 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Results 4.1How close do grandchildren live to grandparents?4.2In which types of families do grandchildren and grandparents live very close to one another? 4.3When grandchildren and grandparents live close to one another, are they also more likely to transfer time and money?

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Why mothers double up: The role of demographic, economic, and family characteristics

  Journal of Marriage and the Family · 2023-01-16 · 11 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Objective We examine how mothers' characteristics are associated with forming a doubled‐up household as a host (allowing adult extended family members/nonrelatives to join their household) and guest (moving into a home owned/rented by extended family/nonrelatives). Background Doubled‐up households are increasingly common and shape families' lives in meaningful ways. Although doubling up is often considered a response to economic need, few studies directly examine the range of characteristics that may predict entry into doubled‐up households. Method Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine how demographic, economic and housing, and family characteristics are associated with mothers' risk of becoming doubled‐up as hosts and guests. Results Multiple factors have independent links to doubling up, including race/ethnicity, housing assistance receipt, and socio‐economic status. Family factors are especially important; in particular, experiencing a new birth and having a young child are associated with doubling up as a guest, and romantic relationship changes are associated with doubling up as either a host or guest. Additionally, many predictors of doubling up as a host and guest differ. Finally, we find that almost one‐third of adult mothers who are doubled‐up as guests never transitioned into a doubled‐up household; rather, they remained in their childhood home. Conclusion A full accounting of when and why families double up requires researchers to attend to mothers' needs—and changes in these needs—across multiple dimensions and to distinguish between hosts and guests.

  PublisherDOI

• Under Whose Roof? Understanding the Living Arrangements of Children in Doubled-Up Households

  Demography · 2021-03-25 · 40 citations

  articleOpen access

  A growing literature in family demography examines children's residence in doubled-up (shared) households with extended family members and nonkin. This research has largely overlooked the role of doubling up as a housing strategy, with "hosts" (householders) providing housing support for "guests" living in their home. Yet, understanding children's experiences in doubled-up households requires attention to host/guest status. Using the American Community Survey and Survey of Income and Program Participation, we identify the prevalence of children doubling up as hosts and guests in different household compositions (multigenerational, extended family, nonkin), show how this varies by demographic characteristics, and examine children's patterns of residence across these household types. We find large variation by demographic characteristics. More disadvantaged children have higher rates of doubling up as guests than hosts, whereas more advantaged children have higher rates of doubling up as hosts than guests. Additionally, compared with hosts, guests more often use doubling up as a longer-term strategy; a greater share of guests live consistently doubled up over a three-year period, but those who do transition between household types experience more transitions on average than do hosts. Our findings show the importance of attending to both housing status and household composition when studying children living in doubled-up households.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Historical Trends in Children Living in Multigenerational Households in the United States: 1870–2018

  Demography · 2020 · 82 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Demography

  Over the last two decades, the share of U.S. children under age 18 who live in a multigenerational household (with a grandparent and parent) has increased dramatically. Yet we do not know whether this increase is a recent phenomenon or a return to earlier levels of coresidence. Using data from the decennial census from 1870 to 2010 and the 2018 American Community Survey, we examine historical trends in children's multigenerational living arrangements, differences by race/ethnicity and education, and factors that explain the observed trends. We find that in 2018, 10% of U.S. children lived in a multigenerational household, a return to levels last observed in 1950. The current increase in multigenerational households began in 1980, when only 5% of children lived in such a household. Few differences in the prevalence of multigenerational coresidence by race/ethnicity or education existed in the early part of the twentieth century; racial/ethnic and education differences in coresidence are a more recent phenomena. Decomposition analyses do little to explain the decline in coresidence between 1940 and 1980, suggesting that unmeasured factors explain the decrease. Declines in marriage and in the share of White children most strongly explained the increase in multigenerational coresidence between 1980 and 2018. For White children with highly educated parents, factors explaining the increase in coresidence differ from other groups. Our findings suggest that the links between race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status and multigenerational coresidence have changed over time, and today the link between parental education and coresidence varies within racial/ethnic groups.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Conclusion: Invigorating research and practice to promote equality of opportunity for children.

  American Psychological Association eBooks · 2020-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Introduction: What does it take to achieve equality of opportunity for children?

  American Psychological Association eBooks · 2020-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• You've Always Been There for Me

  Rutgers University Press eBooks · 2019-10-07

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Today, approximately 1.6 million American children live in what social scientists call “grandfamilies”—households in which children are being raised by their grandparents. In You’ve Always Been There for Me , Rachel Dunifon uses data gathered from grandfamilies in New York to analyze their unique strengths and distinct needs. Though grandfamilies can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of mature adults raising children for a second time, Dunifon notes, such families also face high rates of health problems as well as parenting challenges related to a large generation gap. Grandfamilies are also largely hidden in American society, flying under the radar of social service agencies, policymakers, and family researchers. This book gives family researchers a greater understanding of a unique family form, and also offers service providers, policymakers and the general public important information about the lives of an important group of American families.

  PublisherDOI

• Time with Grandchildren: Subjective Well-Being Among Grandparents Living with Their Grandchildren

  Social Indicators Research · 2019-10-15 · 34 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• You've Always Been There for Me: Understanding the Lives of Grandchildren Raised by Grandparents

  2018-08-17 · 7 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Today, approximately 1.6 million American children live in what social scientists call "grandfamilies"—households in which children are being raised by their grandparents. In You’ve Always Been There for Me, Rachel Dunifon uses data gathered from grandfamilies in New York to analyze their unique strengths and distinct needs. Though grandfamilies can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of mature adults raising children for a second time, Dunifon notes, such families also face high rates of health problems as well as parenting challenges related to a large generation gap. Grandfamilies are also largely hidden in American society, flying under the radar of social service agencies, policymakers, and family researchers. This book gives family researchers a greater understanding of a unique family form, and also offers service providers, policymakers and the general public important information about the lives of an important group of American families

  PublisherDOI

• Backup Parents, Playmates, Friends: Grandparents' Time With Grandchildren

  Journal of Marriage and the Family · 2018-03-05 · 102 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Grandparents play varied roles in their grandchildren's lives. Prior work has focused mostly on historical trends in and implications of grandparent coresidence and has not considered more broadly how grandparents and grandchildren interact. Using time‐use diary data for 6,762 person‐years from the 1997 to 2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Survey, the authors examine patterns in the amount and activity composition of time American children spent with their grandparents, differentiated by family structure, adult employment, and child's age. Results showed that although only about 7% of children lived with their grandparents, many more children spent time with their grandparents: about 50% of young children, 35% of elementary‐age children, and 20% of teens spent at least some time with their grandparents in a typical week. This suggests that grandparents play a variety of roles in their grandchildren's lives, depending on the amount and kinds of support needed.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HD057952

  NIH · $983k · 2013

• NIH Grant F32HD008627

  NIH · $52k

Frequent coauthors

• Lisbeth Palmhøj Nielsen

  Aarhus University

  22 shared

• Sean Nicholson

  Policy Analysis (United States)

  20 shared

• Ariel Kalil

  19 shared

• Anne Toft Hansen

  15 shared

• Natasha Pilkauskas

  12 shared

• Lori Kowaleski‐Jones

  University of Utah

  12 shared

• Kathleen M. Ziol‐Guest

  9 shared

• Kelly Musick

  8 shared

Awards & honors

• William T. Grant Foundation's inaugural Institutional Challe…