bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transitions to Caregiving, Gender, and Psychological Well‐Being: A Prospective U.S. National Study
Authors: Marks Nadine F. , Lambert James David , Choi Heejeong
Published: February 2004

Guided by a life course perspective, this study examined the effects of transitioning into caregiving activity for a child, spouse, parent, other relative, or nonkin associate on nine dimensions of psychological well‐being. Data came from adults ages 19–95, who were noncaregiver primary respondents in the National Survey of Families and Households in 1987–88 and who were followed up longitudinally in 1992–93 (N= 8,286). Results from multivariate regression models confirmed that the transition to caregiving for primary kin (i.e., a child, spouse, or biological parent) was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms. However in selected instances, caregiving was associated with beneficial effects (e.g., women who began to provide nonresidential care to a biological parent reported more purpose in life than noncaregiving women). Evidence regarding gender differences was inconsistent, varying across caregiving role relationship types.
Is Family Cohesion a Risk or Protective Factor During Adolescent Development?
Authors: Baer Judith
Published: February 2004

This study investigated linear aspects of family cohesion using a cohort sequential design. Adolescents (N= 4,677) were surveyed and followed in three cohorts from 6th to 10th grade. Family cohesion was measured using the cohesion subscale of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales. Latent Growth Curve Modeling procedures were conducted to explore whether family cohesion decreased, increased, or remained stable from early to middle adolescence. Results show a linear trajectory with statistically significant decreases in family cohesion from 6th through 10th grades. The findings support the linear nature of the trajectories but the decrease in levels may not be substantive because of the large sample size.
Parental Behavior and the Quality of Adolescent Friendships: A Social‐Contextual Perspective
Authors: Cui Ming , Conger Rand D. , Bryant Chalandra M. , Elder Glen H.
Published: February 2004

On the basis of an evolving social‐contextual perspective, the authors predicted and found that socioeconomic advantage in terms of income and parental education promotes supportive and inhibits hostile parental behaviors toward an adolescent child (N= 221). These parental behaviors predicted similar actions by the child toward a close friend 4 years later. In turn adolescent supportiveness promoted close friendship ties, whereas hostility diminished the quality of friendships. The results support the notion that, to a significant degree, the quality of family interactions: (a) arises from the social context surrounding the family, (b) is transmitted across generations, and (c) has a demonstrable impact on the quality of adolescents' social ties outside the family.
Economic Disadvantage, Family Dynamics, and Adolescent Enrollment in Higher Education
Authors: Crosnoe Robert , Mistry Rashmita S. , Elder Glen H.
Published: February 2004

This study applies a family process model to the linkage between early economic disadvantage and later enrollment in higher education. Using two waves of data on low‐income youth, the authors found that the attitudes and behaviors of their parents, mostly mothers, mediate the impact of disadvantage on enrollment. Economically disadvantaged parents are less optimistic about their adolescents' educational chances and, in turn, engage less in the proactive parenting that promotes enrollment. The authors also found that parents' perceived efficacy buffers against the more negative consequences of disadvantage that can influence their adolescents' educational trajectories. Group comparisons reveal few differences by gender or ethnicity.
Parenting Practices, Child Adjustment, and Family Diversity
Authors: Amato Paul R. , Fowler Frieda
Published: February 2004

The authors used data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test the generality of the links between parenting practices and child outcomes for children in two age groups: 5–11 and 12–18. Parents' reports of support, monitoring, and harsh punishment were associated in the expected direction with parents' reports of children's adjustment, school grades, and behavior problems in Wave 1 and with children's reports of self‐esteem, grades, and deviance in Wave 2. With a few exceptions, parenting practices did not interact with parents' race, ethnicity, family structure, education, income, or gender in predicting child outcomes. A core of common parenting practices appears to be linked with positive outcomes for children across diverse family contexts.
Childhood Living Arrangements and the Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce
Authors: Teachman Jay D.
Published: February 2004

Using detailed data on the childhood living arrangements of children taken from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), the impact of multiple dimensions of parent histories on the likelihood of offspring divorce is investigated. Although past research is replicated by finding a positive impact of parental divorce on offspring divorce, the author also finds that living apart from both parents, irrespective of the reason, is associated with an increased risk of divorce. In particular, children who were born out of wedlock and who did not experience parental divorce or death experience a very high risk of marital disruption. However, neither the number of transitions in childhood living arrangements nor parental remarriage appear to substantially affect the risk of marital dissolution. Finally, variations in the timing of and circumstances surrounding marriage appear to mediate a substantial proportion of the effect of parent histories on offspring divorce.
Economic Development and the Effects of Family Characteristics on Mathematics Achievement
Authors: Schiller Kathryn S. , Khmelkov Vladimir T. , Wang Xiao‐Qing
Published: February 2004

This article explores the relationship between nations' level of economic development and the influence of adolescents' social backgrounds on their academic achievement. Using data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the authors found that the positive effect of higher parents' education on middle‐school students' mathematics test scores is remarkably consistent among the 34 nations examined. In contrast, the relative advantage of living in a traditional family for mathematics achievement varies systematically between nations, being significantly greater in those with stronger economies. Although the influence of socioeconomic status on educational stratification does not appear to change, the deepening academic disadvantage of living with only one natural parent in more developed nations may result from marginalization of families in these societies.
Premarital Cohabitation and Housework: Couples in Cross‐National Perspective
Authors: Batalova Jeanne A. , Cohen Philip N.
Published: February 2004

The authors examine the effect of premarital cohabitation on the division of household labor in 22 countries. First, women do more routine housework than men in all countries. Second, married couples that cohabited before marriage have a more equal division of housework. Third, national cohabitation rates have equalizing effects on couples regardless of their own cohabitation experience. However, the influence of cohabitation rates is only observed in countries with higher levels of overall gender equality. The authors conclude that the trend toward increasing cohabitation may be part of a broader social trend toward a more egalitarian division of housework.
Gender Differences in Union Formation in Mexico: Evidence From Marital Search Models
Authors: Parrado Emilio A. , Zenteno René M.
Published: February 2004

Although increasingly appreciated for their explanatory power in developed societies, marital search models have yet to be widely applied to developing nations. This article evaluates the applicability of marital search models to marriage timing in Mexico. The analysis compares separate models of union formation for men and women that include individual and marriage market predictors. Results show that union formation is closely linked to the uncertainties surrounding the transition to adulthood and the availability of marriageable partners. Improvements in women's economic position do not diminish the attractiveness of marriage, as female independence arguments would suggest. Instead, they are a central force behind the stability of marriage behavior in Mexico. A central transformation identified in the analysis is the reduction in sex differences in age at marriage as women expand their education and labor force participation.
The Effects of the Differential Undercount on Survey Estimates of Race Differences in Marriage
Authors: Raley R. Kelly
Published: February 2004

The fact that Blacks, and especially Black men, are not as well represented in survey data as Whites is well known among demographers. What is less well known is the potential impact of the differential undercount on estimates of race differences in various demographic behaviors. This research examines the potential effects of the differential undercount by race and marital status on estimates of race differences in marriage. The results show that the differential undercount has a surprisingly small effect on population distributions and on life‐table estimates of race differences in marriage formation. The author concludes that underrepresentation of unmarried Black men in survey data cannot explain why the race gap in marriage is smaller among men than among women.
Religion, Convention, and Paternal Involvement
Authors: Wilcox W. Bradford
Published: February 2004

Family scholarship has generally overlooked the influence that religion may have on paternal involvement. Accordingly, using longitudinal data taken from the National Survey of Families and Households, I examined the influence of religious affiliation and attendance on the involvement of residential fathers in one‐on‐one activities, dinner with their families, and youth activities and found religious effects for each of these three measures. Virtually no evidence was found for a competing hypothesis that these effects are artifacts of aconventional habitussuch that the type of men who are more conventional in their patterns of civic engagement are both more religious and more involved with their children. However, civic engagement is positively related to paternal involvement.
Economic Distress and Intimate Violence: Testing Family Stress and Resources Theories
Authors: Fox Greer Litton , Benson Michael L. , DeMaris Alfred A. , Van Wyk Judy
Published: February 2004

Hypotheses shaped by family stress and resource theories about the impact of household economic indicators on the risk of violence against women in intimate relationships are tested with a data set built from the initial two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the 1990 U.S. Census. Measures of employment status, job conditions, and economic well‐being for male and female partners are examined with logistic regression analyses as predictors of the odds of male‐to‐female intimate violence. Results underline the importance that partners attach to each other's work performance and their feelings of financial well‐being in assessing whether job holding and household income serve to elevate or reduce the risk of intimate partner violence toward women.
Gender, Work, and Intimate Violence: Men's Occupational Violence Spillover and Compensatory Violence
Authors: Melzer Scott A.
Published: February 2004

Researchers have rarely studied the effects of occupations on intimate violence, only occasionally distinguishing between blue‐collar and white‐collar work, and generally finding higher rates of reported abuse in the former group. This research incorporates ideas from feminist, work‐family, and power or resource theories to examine the potential effects of occupations on men's violence toward wives and cohabiting female partners. Data from the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) were analyzed using logistic regression techniques. Hypotheses related to occupational spillover and compensation were tested with results suggesting that men in physically violent, female‐dominated, professional specialty, and dangerous occupations are more likely to use violence against female partners, net of other commonly hypothesized predictors. The findings suggest that more detailed occupational data should be collected in future intimate violence research.
The Span of Collective Efficacy: Extending Social Disorganization Theory to Partner Violence
Authors: Browning Christopher R.
Published: February 2004

This research applies the social disorganization perspective on the neighborhood‐level determinants of crime to partner violence. The analysis brings data from the 1990 Decennial Census together with data from the 1994–1995 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, the 1994–1995 Chicago homicide data, and data from the 1995–1997 Chicago Health and Social Life Survey. The findings of this study indicate that collective efficacy—neighborhood cohesion and informal social control capacity—is negatively associated with both intimate homicide rates and nonlethal partner violence. Collective efficacy exerts a more powerful regulatory effect on nonlethal violence in neighborhoods where tolerance of intimate violence is low. Collective efficacy also increases the likelihood that women will disclose conflict in their relationships to various potential sources of support.
Perpetrator or Victim? Relationships Between Intimate Partner Violence and Well‐Being
Authors: Anderson Kristin L.
Published: February 2004

In national surveys, around half of intimate partner violence perpetrators are also victims of partner assaults. However, data on intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration are rarely examined together. This study examines the relationships between perpetration, victimization, and three psychosocial variables—depression, self‐esteem, and substance abuse—that have been constructed in prior research as both causes and consequences of partner violence. Results indicate that associations between substance abuse and self‐esteem and partner violence perpetration are mediated by controlling for victimization, but depression is associated with both victimization and perpetration. Associations between mutual violence and depression and substance abuse are greater among women than men, supporting the position that gender symmetry in reported violence perpetration does not imply symmetry in outcomes.
Do Child Abuse and Interparental Violence Lead to Adulthood Family Violence?
Authors: Heyman Richard E. , Slep Amy M. Smith
Published: February 2004

The cycle of violence posits that victimized children grow up to victimize others. Three forms of the cycle have never been tested: whether exposure to physical victimization and interparental violence additively or interactively increase risk for adulthood (a) child abuse perpetration; (b) partner abuse perpetration; or (c) partner abuse victimization. These hypotheses were tested in a nationally representative data set (1985 National Family Violence Survey) comprising 6,002 participants. Dually exposed, compared to singly exposed, women had significantly increased risk for adulthood family violence. Frequency of family‐of‐origin violence predicted adulthood child and partner abuse through both main and interactive effects.
Seasonality of Sexual Debut
Authors: Levin Martin L. , Xu Xiaohe , Bartkowski John P.
Published: February 2004

This study brings together insights from two bodies of scholarship that have heretofore existed as parallel research literatures, namely, research on the social antecedents of sexual debut and scholarship on the seasonality of coital activity. The authors use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to discover two seasonal peaks in the reported onset of first intercourse, one in the early summertime months for adolescents in general (the summer effect) and another during December for romantically involved adolescents (the holiday season effect). The authors explore the social contours of these patterns by analyzing the effects of gender, race, and partner relationship context (romantic vs. nonromantic) on each peak. Summertime debuts typically occur between nonromantic partners, and wintertime debuts typically occur between romantic partners.
Teen Sexual Behavior: Applicability of the Theory of Reasoned Action
Authors: Gillmore Mary Rogers , Archibald Matthew E. , Morrison Diane M. , Wilsdon Anthony , Wells Elizabeth A. , Hoppe Marilyn J. , Nahom Deborah , Murowchick Elise
Published: February 2004

We examined the utility of the theory of reasoned action for predicting sexual intercourse among teenagers and determined whether it holds for both genders and for those with and without prior sexual experience. The data include 749 students who were in 9th–11th grades when the predictors were measured and in 10th–12th grades when sexual intercourse was assessed. About half (53%) were girls, about half (48%) were non‐Hispanic European Americans. Results showed that prior sexual experience was related to a higher rate of sexual intercourse, but boys and girls did not differ. Tests of the causal model for subgroups (boy and girl virgins, boy and girl nonvirgins) yielded similar results. As predicted, paths from intentions to behavior and from norms and attitudes to intentions were significant, as were paths from outcome and normative beliefs to attitude and norm, respectively.
Relationship Dissolution as a Life Stage Transition: Effects on Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors
Authors: Wade Lisa D. , DeLamater John D.
Published: February 2004

In this paper, with the use of linear regressions to investigate how relationship dissolution affects sexual attitudes and behaviors, the authors address the stereotype that newly single people seek multiple sexual partners. Although the newly single people surveyed did obtain new sexual partners, the rate at which they acquired new partners did not support the stereotype. Specifically, men with custody of their children seemed oriented toward finding a steady partner. Additionally, men and women with low incomes reported relatively high rates of partner acquisition after relationship dissolution. The high rates reported by disadvantaged groups may be more directly related to familial instability accompanying poverty than to cultural characteristics associated with income or race. We argue that a life stage model with categorical stages in a rigid, anachronistic progression provides insufficient means to gain an understanding of newly single people.
Planned and Unplanned Childbearing Among Unmarried Women
Authors: Musick Kelly
Published: February 2004

This paper uses data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth to examine social, demographic, and economic correlates of planned and unplanned childbearing among unmarried women. I look at who has births outside of marriage, who plans births outside of marriage, and how childbearing patterns vary for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. I find that low education increases the likelihood of planned and unplanned childbearing outside of marriage for all race and ethnic groups. The same holds for cohabitation, although effects on planned births are notably stronger for Hispanics than others. Finally, spending time in a single‐parent family as a child increases planned and unplanned childbearing among White women, with modest or no effects among Blacks or Hispanics. Results suggest ways in which the meaning of childbearing depends on the context in which it occurs.
The Division of Labor Across the Transition to Parenthood: A Justice Perspective
Authors: Kluwer Esther S. , Heesink José A. M. , van de Vliert Evert
Published: February 2004

In a three‐wave longitudinal survey among 293 couples, we studied the determinants of husbands' and wives' fairness judgments regarding the division of labor across the transition to parenthood. We tested predictions derived from the distributive justice framework that perceptions of fairness regarding the division of labor are affected by (a) wants and values, (b) social comparisons, and (c) procedural justice. The model was supported for wives at all waves. For husbands, wants and values and social comparisons were the main predictors of fairness perceptions. In general, the model was consistently supported across the transition to parenthood. Support was also found for the long‐term influence of the variables in the model on husbands' and wives' perceptions of fairness across the transition to parenthood.
Multilevel Factors Influencing Maternal Stress During the First Three Years
Authors: Mulsow Miriam , Caldera Yvonne M. , Pursley Marta , Reifman Alan , Huston Aletha C.
Published: February 2004

This prospective study applies family stress theory to the influence of personal, child, and familial factors on a mother's parenting stress during the first 3 years of her infant's life. Participants included 134 mothers and their infants at ages 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months from one site of a multisite, longitudinal study. Mother's personality was most predictive of parenting stress cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Intimacy with partner reduced parenting stress early in the infant's life and at 36 months, whereas general social support was more important in the second year. Child temperament was influential at 1 and 36 months. Counterintuitively, mothers who were more satisfied with work or school choices were more likely to be chronically stressed. Implications are discussed.
Beyond Parental Status: Psychological Well‐Being in Middle and Old Age
Authors: Koropeckyj‐Cox Tanya
Published: February 2004

Surveys show little evidence of psychosocial disadvantage among childless middle‐aged and older adults, but less is known about the diverse experiences that influence subjective well‐being among parents and childless adults. In this article, the author uses the National Survey of Families and Households to test a parental‐status typology on the basis of attitudes among childless adults and parent‐child relationship quality and the connection of these factors with loneliness and depression. Poorer parent‐child relationships are linked to worse outcomes for both mothers and fathers, net of other factors. For childless adults, negative attitudes about childlessness are associated with greater distress for women than for men.
Work Choices of Mothers in Families with Children with Disabilities
Authors: Porterfield Shirley L.
Published: February 2004

This study used a sample of single and married mothers with children under the age of 20 drawn from the 1992 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine one facet of the economic implications a child with disabilities brings to a family. Specifically, the choice of women with children to work full time, part time, or not at all was estimated as a function of individual and family characteristics, including the number and ages of children with disabilities. The presence of young children, with or without disabilities, has a significant negative influence on the work choice of both single and married mothers. However, once children enter elementary school, single mothers with disabled or nondisabled children and married mothers with nondisabled children are significantly more likely to enter the labor market or increase their labor market hours than are married mothers of school‐age children with disabilities.
Comparing Father and Mother Reports of Father Involvement Among Low‐Income Minority Families
Authors: Coley Rebekah Levine , Morris Jodi Eileen
Published: February 2004

Currently available data and concerns about the validity of reports by mothers significantly truncate the ability of researchers to address a myriad of research questions concerning the involvement of fathers in families. This study aimed to inform this concern by examining predictors of father involvement and father‐mother discrepancies in reports of involvement within a low‐income, predominantly minority sample of families with both resident and nonresident fathers (n= 228). Paired hierarchical linear models were used to control for the interrelation between pairs of reporters. The results indicate that although fathers' and mothers' reports are similar, mothers consistently report lower levels of involvement than do fathers. Parental conflict, fathers' nonresidence, and fathers' age, as well as mothers' education and employment, predicted larger discrepancies between fathers' and mothers' reports.
Child Characteristics, Parenting Stress, and Parental Involvement: Fathers Versus Mothers
Authors: McBride Brent A. , Schoppe Sarah J. , Rane Thomas R.
Published: February 2004

This study examined variations in the relationships among child characteristics, parenting stress, and parental involvement. Participants were 100 two‐parent families with preschool‐aged children. Self‐report and interview data were collected to measure parental involvement, as well as perceptions of child temperament and parental stress. Analyses revealed significant, yet somewhat different, associations between child temperament and parental stress for mothers and fathers. More significant associations were found between perceptions of child temperament and involvement for fathers than for mothers. The associations between child temperament and parental stress and involvement differed on the basis of child and parent gender. Results are discussed in terms of future research on father involvement, as well as programs designed to encourage fathers to assume more active parental roles.
African American Children's Adjustment: The Roles of Maternal and Teacher Depressive Symptoms
Authors: Forehand Rex , Jones Deborah J. , Brody Gene H. , Armistead Lisa
Published: February 2004

This study examined the unique and interactive roles of mother and teacher depressive symptoms in child adjustment in 277 African American single mother‐headed families, as well as whether the associations differed depending on the age and gender of the child. Findings revealed a significant association between maternal depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms in girls, but not boys. Moreover, the combination of higher levels of both mother and teacher depressive symptoms was associated with the highest level of child depressive symptoms and, for younger children, externalizing symptoms. The importance of considering the multiple social contexts in which children interact is discussed.
Risk and Resiliency Factors Among Adolescents Who Experience Marital Transitions
Authors: Rodgers Kathleen Boyce , Rose Hilary A.
Published: February 2004

Using a resiliency framework, we examined familial and extrafamilial factors associated with adolescent well‐being in intact, blended, and divorced single‐parent families. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using a large sample of 7th‐, 9th‐, and 11th‐grade adolescents (N= 2,011) to test the moderating effect of peer support, school attachment, and neighbor support when parental support and monitoring were low. Significant two‐ and three‐way interactions were probed. Findings indicate that divorced and blended families have some of the same forms of resiliency as intact families. For adolescents in a divorced single‐parent family, peer support moderated the effect of low parental support on internalizing symptoms. We discuss the merits of examining divorce from a resiliency perspective.
Authorizing Family Science: An Analysis of the Objectifying Practices of Family Science Discourse
Authors: Knapp Stan J.
Published: February 2004

Contemporary objectifying practices in family science discourse, grounded in an objectivist epistemological framework, often deauthorize the scientific text and fail to frame the constructs in an explicit argumentative and theoretical context. Such practices contribute to the marginalization of theory and the acceptance of insufficiently analyzed empirical claims about families. Adopting an alternative set of objectifying practices, grounded in a constructionist epistemological framework that aims to fullyauthorizeand advance its knowledge claims in an open, self‐reflexive, argumentative process will invigorate the importance of theory in the field and promote the production of more empirically justifiable and scientific knowledge claims about families.
Tradition and Change in Vietnamese Family Structure in the Red River Delta
Authors: Hirschman Charles , Minh Nguyen Huu
Published: February 2004

One of the key features of Vietnamese family organization is patrilocality—the preference of married couples to coreside with the husband's parents. With data drawn from a retrospective survey of persons in 1,855 households in the largest province in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam, we found that more than 75% of married respondents reported having lived with the grooms' family after marriage. The proportion of newly married couples that follow the patrilocal custom appears to have increased in recent decades, although the average duration of coresidence has declined. Some aspects of modernization, especially nonagricultural occupations and later age at marriage, contribute to a lower incidence of intergenerational coresidence, but the underlying cultural preference to live with the grooms' parents immediately after marriage appears to have become stronger in Vietnam. In contrast to some features of traditional family life that conflict with modernity, intergenerational coresidence can be quite functional in modernizing societies.
Ideology, Context, and Obligations to Assist Older Persons
Authors: Killian Timothy , Ganong Lawrence H.
Published: February 2004

Are older adults responsible for meeting their own needs, is it their children's obligation to care for them, or is there a collective responsibility to see that older adults have their needs met? The purpose of this study was to examine the normative obligations of individuals, family members, and the government to provide for the needs of older adults. The authors examined how ideological beliefs and contextual circumstances are related to beliefs about obligations to older persons. Data were collected from phone interviews of a sample of 270 adults who were over 40 years old. The results indicate that ideological beliefs were better predictors of normative obligations than were contextual variables. Future research should reflect the complex relationships among ideological beliefs, contextual circumstances, and normative obligation beliefs.
Life Course Transitions, the Generational Stake, and Grandparent‐Grandchild Relationships
Authors: Crosnoe Robert , Elder Glen H.
Published: February 2004

Drawing on past research and prominent theoretical orientations, this research note suggests new approaches to intergenerational dynamics. For 316 grandparent‐grandchild pairs, we found that the transition of grandchildren to higher education, controlling for other transitions, improves the quality of the grandparent‐grandchild relationship. For grandparent mentoring, however, we see evidence of a generational stake, with grandparents overestimating their mentoring role, compared to grandchildren, during this transition. This generational stake reflects the importance of grandparent education, with increased mentoring for the college‐going grandchildren of college‐educated grandparents. These findings indicate that the intergenerational literature can be significantly advanced by taking a long‐term perspective, incorporating multiple points of view, and examining contextual variation. Moreover, greater understanding of these intergenerational ties will benefit research on families and individual development.
Continuity and Change in Marital Quality Between 1980 and 2000
Authors: Amato Paul R. , Johnson David R. , Booth Alan , Rogers Stacy J.
Published: February 2004

We use data from two national surveys of married individuals—one from 1980 and the other from 2000—to understand how three dimensions of marital quality changed during this period. Marital happiness and divorce proneness changed little between 1980 and 2000, but marital interaction declined significantly. A decomposition analysis suggested that offsetting trends affected marital quality. Increases in marital heterogamy, premarital cohabitation, wives' extended hours of employment, and wives' job demands were associated with declines in multiple dimensions of marital quality. In contrast, increases in economic resources, decision‐making equality, nontraditional attitudes toward gender, and support for the norm of lifelong marriage were associated with improvements in multiple dimensions of marital quality. Increases in husbands' share of housework appeared to depress marital quality among husbands but to improve marital quality among wives.
Satisfaction With Work and Family Life: No Evidence of a Cultural Reversal
Authors: Kiecolt K. Jill
Published: February 2004

Hochschild (1997) argued that in recent decades the rewards of work have increased relative to those of family life and that this cultural reversal has aggravated the time bind that families face by increasing working hours. To the contrary, pooled data from the 1973–1994 General Social Surveys indicate that in working families, women have shifted away from finding work more satisfying than home toward finding home a haven. Moreover, were it not for women's growing labor force participation and the changing distribution of marital status, the shift would have been even larger. Men's relative work–home satisfaction has been stable. Finally, finding work a haven is unrelated to weekly working hours, and it has not contributed to any increases in working hours over time.
Private Support and Public Assistance for Immigrant Families
Authors: Hao Lingxin
Published: February 2004

This paper examines private support and its relationship with public assistance among immigrant families, using native counterparts as a benchmark. It introduces spatial contexts to the set of conventional determinants (socioeconomic conditions, migration experiences, and nativity groups) of receiving private and public support and their potential substitutability. Examining private support reveals that immigrants have less access than natives to private support, and that both majority contact and coethnic contact increase their opportunity for private support. Examining private support and public assistance jointly reveals that, unlike Filipino and Korean backgrounds, which have a weak substitutability effect that increases the probability of receiving private support relative to public assistance, immigrants' coethnic contact does not have such a substitutability effect at all.
Family Cap and Nonmarital Fertility: The Racial Conditioning of Policy Effects
Authors: Jagannathan Radha , Camasso Michael J.
Published: February 2004

Using an experimental design, this research examines the effect of the nation's first family cap on the births, abortions, and contraception use of over 8,000 women receiving public assistance in New Jersey. The family cap denies additional cash benefits to children conceived while the mother is receiving public assistance. Our research shows that a targeted welfare benefit manipulation does influence fertility behavior; however, the effect is conditioned by race. We find that Black women in the experimental group have a 21% lower birth rate and a 32% higher abortion rate than Black women in the control group. We do not find a birth effect for Hispanic or White women. We discuss the policy implications of the effects of a segmented family cap.
Falling Through The Cracks: Gaps In Child Support Among Welfare Recipients
Authors: Bartfeld Judi
Published: February 2004

This article examines gaps in child support among welfare recipients in Wisconsin. Documented is the extent to which breakdowns at various stages—including paternity establishment, support orders, and payments—contribute to the low rate of child support receipt. Children were tracked over a 2‐year period to assess their progress through the child support system over time. Few welfare recipients are able to successfully negotiate the child support system, and mothers frequently achieve different degrees of success with different children. The characteristics of children who drop out prior to obtaining a support order suggest that, with an order in place, they would be as likely to receive support as are those children who already have orders.
Union Formation Among Men in the U.S.: Does Having Prior Children Matter?
Authors: Stewart Susan D. , Manning Wendy D. , Smock Pamela J.
Published: February 2004

Our study investigates whether fatherhood, and specifically involvement with nonresident children, influence men's entrance into marital and cohabiting unions. Using the National Survey of Families and Households, our findings suggest that neither resident nor nonresident children affect men's chances of entering a new marriage, but nonresident children have a positive effect on cohabitation. The positive association between nonresident children and men's union formation is not uniform; instead, we find that it is involvement with nonresident children, specifically visitation, that enhances men's chances of forming new unions. Whereas women's obligations to children from prior unions represent a resource drain that lowers their chances of union formation, our analysis suggests that involved nonresident fathers are more likely to enter subsequent unions than other men.
Cohabiting, Dating, and Perceived Costs of Marriage: A Model of Marriage Entry
Authors: McGinnis Sandra L.
Published: February 2004

This paper investigates the decision to marry among individuals in cohabiting and steady noncohabiting relationships, with emphasis on the effects of cohabitation in the decision‐making process. A model is proposed wherein cohabitation influences the perceived costs and benefits of marriage, which influence intentions and expectations to marry, which influence actual marriage entry. The model is tested using data from the first and second waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Cohabitation status is found to predict perceived costs and benefits of marriage, and also to predict marriage intentions and expectations. Cost perceptions further predict intentions and expectations among both cohabitors and daters, and perceived costs, intentions, and expectations to marry the partner predict actual marriage behavior. Cohabitation appears to significantly change the context in which decisions about marriage are made in romantic relationships and merits a greater place in the literature on dating and courtship.
Predicting Commitment to Wed Among Hispanic and Anglo Partners
Authors: Umaña‐Taylor Adriana J. , Fine Mark A.
Published: February 2004

Ethnic differences in commitment to wed were examined between 46 Hispanics (27 women, 19 men) and 160 Anglos (84 women, 76 men). Although limited by sample sizes, findings indicated that Hispanics and Anglos did not differ, on average, on measures of attitudes toward marriage, perceived family influence, commitment to wed, belongingness, and trust. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for age and income, attitudes toward marriage, perceived family support, and trust predicted commitment to wed for women, whereas only perceived family support emerged as a predictor among men. Finally, although no ethnic differences emerged for men, the degree to which trust, perceived family support, and attitudes toward marriage predicted commitment to wed for women varied by ethnicity.
Who Are the Marital Experts?
Authors: Ebling Rachel , Levenson Robert W.
Published: February 2004

We asked whether professional training or personal experience with marriage predicted accuracy in judging (a) marital satisfaction and (b) marital stability. Nine groups of participants viewed 3‐minute videotaped conversations of 10 married couples and rated each on level of marital satisfaction and whether they were likely to divorce in the future. Group differences were found in accuracy of marital satisfaction judgments. Those for whom marriage held high personal meaning (satisfied and dissatisfied long‐term marriages, newlyweds, recent divorcé[e]s), as rated by a panel of judges, were more accurate than those with professional training (pastoral counselors, clinical psychology graduate students, marital therapists, marital researchers). Neither professional training nor personal experience was associated with the ability to predict divorce.
Perfectionism, Coping, and Quality of Intimate Relationships
Authors: Haring Michelle , Hewitt Paul L. , Flett Gordon L.
Published: February 2004

The present study examined the associations among perfectionism, marital coping, and marital functioning in a community sample of 76 couples. A theoretical model was tested in which maladaptive coping mediates the relationship between trait perfectionism and poorer marital functioning. As predicted, one of the interpersonal dimensions of perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, was associated with maladaptive marital coping and poorer marital adjustment for both the self and the partner, even after controlling for depression and neuroticism. Finally, the use of negative coping strategies mediated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer marital functioning for both the self and the partner. Overall, this study highlights the importance of spouse‐specific forms of perfectionism in marital adjustment.
Family‐of‐Origin Experiences and Adjustment in Married Couples
Authors: Sabatelli Ronald M. , Bartle‐Haring Suzanne
Published: February 2004

Within this article a model is tested that examines the relationship between married individuals' experiences in their family of origin and patterns of marital adjustment. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures, making the couple the unit of analysis. This allowed for an exploration of how one partner's family‐of‐origin experience and the other partner's family‐of‐origin experience uniquely influence each of the partner's experiences of the marriage. Two aspects of the results stand out. First, both husbands' and wives' family‐of‐origin experiences emerged as significant influences on marital adjustment. Second, the data suggest that wives' experiences within their family of origin are more strongly related to both their own accounts of their marriages and their husbands' accounts of their marriages than are husbands' family‐of‐origin experiences.
The Legacy of a Grandparent's Divorce: Consequences for Ties Between Grandparents and Grandchildren
Authors: King Valarie
Published: February 2004

This study assesses the implications of divorce in the grandparent generation for grandparent‐grandchild relationships. The sample of 538 grandparents comes from the Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that many aspects of grandparenting are negatively associated with ever experiencing a divorce. Some of the negative effects of divorce are explained by ever‐divorced grandparents' greater geographic distance from, and weaker bonds to, their adult children. Negative effects of divorce are stronger for grandfathers and paternal grandparents. Furthermore, a good grandparent‐parent relationship can compensate for the negative effects of a grandparent's divorce on relations with grandchildren. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the increasing percentage of individuals moving into the later years who have experienced a divorce.
Gender Differences in Adult Children's Support of Their Parents in Taiwan
Authors: Lin I‐Fen , Goldman Noreen , Weinstein Maxine , Lin Yu‐Hsuan , Gorrindo Tristan , Seeman Teresa
Published: February 2004

This paper examines the patterns and determinants of four types of support provided by adult children to their parents, with particular attention to differences in the helping behaviors of sons and daughters. The data come from the 1989 wave of the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan. The analysis is based on 12,166 adult children from 2,527 families. We find that usually only one child in a family provides help with activities of daily living (ADLs) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), but for financial or material support the responsibility is likely to be shared among siblings. Sons generally carry the major responsibility for taking care of their older parents, and daughters fulfill the son's roles when sons are not available.
Redressing Inequity in Parent Care Among Siblings
Authors: Ingersoll‐Dayton Berit , Neal Margaret B. , Ha Jung‐hwa , Hammer Leslie B.
Published: February 2004

When inequities occur in the division of labor among adult siblings caring for older parents, conflict may result. This paper uses equity theory as a framework for understanding the processes used by siblings to rectify imbalances in their parental responsibilities. The study is based on a sample of 40 focus group participants who described caregiving relationships among siblings. Consistent with equity theory, these participants used two approaches to redress inequities in their sibling caregiving relationships: requesting behavioral changes from siblings and making cognitive changes. The findings suggest that these two approaches can result in more perceived equity but may also lead to even greater perceived inequity and distress.
Are All Dads Equal? Biology Versus Marriage as a Basis for Paternal Investment
Authors: Hofferth Sandra L. , Anderson Kermyt G.
Published: February 2004

The stepfather relationship provides a source of potential conflict in remarriage families, because the mother and partner may have different interests in the well‐being of children from a prior union. Using three different theoretical perspectives—biology, sociology, and selection—this paper examines the engagement, availability, participation, and warmth of residential fathers in married biological parent, unmarried biological parent, married stepparent, and cohabiting father families. The data come from 2,531 children and their parents who were interviewed during the 1997 wave of the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Biology explains less of father involvement than anticipated once differences between fathers are controlled. Marriage continues to differentiate paternal investment levels, as do age of child and financial responsibility to nonresidential children.
Relationship Dynamics, Emotion State, and Domestic Violence: A Stress and Masculinities Perspective
Authors: Umberson Debra , Anderson Kristin L. , Williams Kristi , Chen Meichu D.
Published: February 2004

We draw on the burgeoning masculinities literature to develop a framework for understanding how emotional reactions to stress may be associated with domestic violence. We conducted a daily diary study of 22 men with a history of domestic violence and a matched comparison group of 23 men with no known history of domestic violence. Each day, respondents completed a daily diary questionnaire on relationship dynamics, stress, and emotion state. This research design allowed us to examine relationship dynamics and emotion state as they unfolded over a 14‐day period. We find a difference between the two groups in the links between stress, relationship dynamics, and emotion state: Nonviolent men are more emotionally reactive to stress and relationship dynamics than are violent men. Among men with a history of domestic violence, it is as if the link between personal circumstances and emotion state has been disconnected. These findings support the idea that the demonstration of masculinity through repression of emotion and violent behavior may be linked.