Bumpass current research includes recent trends in cohabitation and in the time children spend in various family contexts, the stability of marital and cohabiting unions, and the comparison of family changes in East Asia to changes observed in the West. He is participating with colleagues at the East-West Center and Tokyo in the analysis of surveys in Japan that they designed and directed: a followup of a national survey conducted in 2000, and a new cross-sectional survey that uses the same instrument. With Jim Raymo, and with the EWC team, his research on Japan has documented and contiues to study increases in divorce and cohabitation, factors involved in the very low rates of marriage and childbearing, household task allocation and preferences for wive's employment, marital satisfaction, and family related attitudes, among other topics.