I just returned from the annual conference of the Council on Contemporary Families, a group that is a terrific resource for the latest research on gender, sexuality, family trends, and race, ethnic, and class diversity.

“Tipping Point? What Minority Families Become the Majority” was the theme of the April 8-9 Conference at the University of Illinois Chicago. Highlights included an evaluation of the interpersonal implications of new racial and ethnic data from the US census, an in-depth discussion of multiracial identity, a fascinating panel on sexual diversity, a discussion of the racial and ethnic tensions surrounding paid and unpaid caregiving, and a riveting series of reports on the challenges of raising children who can thrive — from the differences in the gestural communications between mothers and babies in various racial and income groups, to understanding the high suicide rates of Latina teens, to the efforts of Chicago Ceasefire to reduce violence in Chicago’s streets using the same methods that epidemiologists use to interrupt the spread of contagious diseases. Read More >>