Citation

Burgess EW. Am. J. Sociol. 1942; 48(3): 343-352.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1942, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/219181

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

War, like any other crisis, has its obvious, although more superficial, and its subtler, but more profound, effects upon the family. Among the more observable effects of war on the family are the withdrawal of Young men from civilian, and their entrance into military, life, with a consequent increase in socially disapproved forms of behavior; the entrance of women into industry to replace the men drawn into the armed forces, with an accompanying neglect of small children and an increase in juvenile delinquency; and changes in marriage, divorce, and birth rates. The more profound effects of the war upon the family include intensification of the trend toward the companionship type of family; a further rise in the status of women; further losses of family function, with the increasing use of nursery schools for the rearing of preschool-age children and the extension of governmental provision for family security; further liberalization of the code of sexual morality; and an increase in family instability as an accompaniment of the transition from the institutional to the companionship type of family.