bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
No ordinary press owners: press barons as a Weberian ideal type
Authors: Chalaby Jean K.
Published: March 2007

This article differentiates press barons from `classic' press owners and defines press baronage as a specific type of newspaper ownership. It constructs an ideal-typical figure of the press baron along two axes. From an economic point of view, they were prepared to invest capital in the press, they made profits out of journalism and they built press conglomerates. From a journalistic perspective, they were journalists of great experience and skill and, in some cases, the inventors and developers of discursive strategies and journalistic practices still in use today. The article then goes on, through a comparative historical analysis of the press in the United States, Great Britain and France between 1830 and 1930, to show that the press baron was primarily an Anglo-American phenomenon and it adduces a range of economic, political and cultural factors to explain this.
The local television broadcasting system in Italy: too few resources for too many companies?
Authors: Barca Flavia
Published: March 2007

This article examines the development of local television broadcasting in Italy within a climate of `deregulation', raising issues about the way in which stations variously provide an economic return to investors. It shows that direct profitability is not the only way in which local broadcasting may be economically advantageous, particularly when ownership of a station is part of a larger commercial strategy in which a company with diverse interests gains promotion and a strong identity in local commercial and political contexts.
Race, Aging, and Care
Authors: Peek M. Kristen , Coward Raymond T. , Peek Chuck W.
Published: March 2007

There are substantial uncertainties about key dimensions of the caregiving process as it is experienced by older adults from different racial groups. This investigation explores the care received from family members among a stratified random sample of community-dwelling older (65+) African Americans and Whites who reported difficulties performing daily living tasks. Findings support past research indicating that older African Americans are more likely to receive help from family members than are Whites when in need of assistance. However, this advantage does not extend across all types of family members but, rather, is only statistically significant in the final models with regard to the care received from grandchildren. Evidence is presented that indicates that the observed race differences in the receipt of care from children can be attributed to variations between racial groups in family and household structure. The findings suggest that coresidence may be a form of family caregiving among older African Americans.
Assessing the Reliability of Four Standard Health Measures in a Sample of Older, Urban Adults
Authors: Ford Marvella E. , Havstad Suzanne L. , Hill Deanna D. , Kart Cary S.
Published: March 2007

Increasing attention is being paid to racial and ethnic differences in the structure and measurement of physical health and mental health constructs. The objective of this study was to examine the reliability of four measures of physical health and mental health in a sample of 400 older (50+ years) African Americans and Caucasians. These measures are the instrumental activities of daily living and activities of daily living scales of the National Chronic Care Consortium Health Risk Appraisal Survey, the SF-12, the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, and the John Henryism Active Coping Scale. The measures were tested by racial group. The results of factor analyses reveal that the overall reliability of each scale, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was near or above .70. However, the item-to-scale correlations of many of these scales were low. This finding indicates that the measurement of the constructs may be different for older African Americans and Caucasians.
Health Promotion and Black Elders
Authors: Dancy Joseph , Ralston Penny A.
Published: March 2007

This article profiles three subgroups of African American elders that are at risk in terms of health. Major barriers to optimum health for older rural Blacks are a lack of confidence in the formal health care system, greater rates of poverty than urban elders, geographic isolation, and lack of access to health care and to social supports; for older Black women, barriers include attitudes that reflect an overestimation of health, health pessimism, a lack of confidence in the health care system, lower economic resources, and major family responsibilities that affect the availability of money for, and time to seek, health care; and for older-aged Blacks, barriers are lack of confidence in the formal health care system, dependence on informal supports for health care and an underutilization of formal supports, and lower socioeconomic levels due to this cohort’s education and occupational status. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.
Old Age Support in Contemporary Urban China from Both Parents’ and Children’s Perspectives
Authors: Sun Rongjun
Published: March 2007

This article explores the links between old age support and the characteristics of both parents and children drawing on survey data collected in Baoding, China, in 1994. Three specific forms of support are examined: monetary transfers, in-kind gifts, and help with daily activities. Hierarchical modeling is applied to the analysis from children’s perspective to control for the unobserved family heterogeneity. Results indicate that intergenerational support within families is currently the major source of old age security in Chinese society. Analyses from both parents’ and children’s perspectives support the corporate group/mutual aid model, which largely sees the provision of help as dependent on elderly parents’needs and children’s capacities. Although living away from children does not affect whether elderly parents receive economic help, it does constrain their receiving help on daily activities. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Family Life and Community Participation in Old Age
Authors: Trela James E. , Jackson David J.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the relationship between the availability of family roles and several dimensions of participation in community life in order to determine the interrelatedness and substitutability of these two spheres of role-playing opportunities. The data for this analysis derive from a panel study of 320 aged individuals. The data suggest that, in some cases, community roles may be conceived as functional substitutes for family roles, with the role of spouse being the pivotal link to understanding the relative value of these roles.
Health and Migration of the Elderly
Authors: Patrick Clifford H.
Published: March 2007

The degree to which migration decisions of the elderly are influenced by health status is largely unknown. Two seemingly contradictory influences of health on migration are possible within the older cohort. First, those elderly in good health would appear more likely to make discretionary moves, such as to retirement homes in the Sunbelt, than elderly who are in poor health. Alternatively, those elderly in declining health, such as stroke victims, seem more likely to be involved in a move to a long-term care facility. While both types of migration related to health occur, the size of the first relative to the second and the distance of the moves of each type need to be determined. Both types of health-related migration have policy implications which are briefly addressed in this article.
Friend Interaction, Competence, and Morale in Old Age
Authors: Mancini Jay A.
Published: March 2007

Though social gerontologists have long contended that friend relations are important for successful aging, relatively few studies have examined the qualitative dimensions of such interpersonal relationships. This inquiry is based on interviews with 104 randomly selected adults 65 years of age and older. The criterion variable, morale, is examined within the context of friend role competence and both face-to-face and phone contact with friends. These primary relationships are also examined when controlling on role value, health, income, sex, and marital status. Morale is positively associated with friend role competence under all test-factor conditions. The relationship of the two interaction patterns to morale is inconsistent. It is concluded that friend relations are, in fact, important for successful aging, but in terms of one's definition of effective participation in the role rather than interaction per se.
Older Adults' Use of Health Maintenance Organizations
Authors: Eve Susan Brown
Published: March 2007

The effects of Health Maintenance Organization membership on the use of physicians and hospitals. by older adults was examined using data from the 1975 National Health Interview Survey. Comparison of the HMO and non-H MO groups revealed that the HMO members differed on several demographic variables. While the HMO members tended to have more frequent physicians' visits than the nonmembers, the two groups did not differ in their number of hospitalized days or hospital episodes. In both populations, use of physician's services was most strongly influenced by poor health, although the effects were stronger in the HMO than the non-HMO group, indicating the physicians' services were more accessible by older adults in HMOs than in fee-for-service systems. Hospital utilization was affected equally strongly by poor health in both groups.
Cross- Cultural Research
Authors: Palmore Erdman B.
Published: March 2007

Cross-cultural research is essential to separate universal processes of aging from culture-specific processes and to understand how culture influences aging. However, there has been little cross-cultural research in social gerontology. The few existing studies support the following theories: (1) Status of the aged tends to decline with modernization. (2) Social activity tends to decline with aging. (3) There is little or no association between life satisfaction and aging. (4) Maintaining social activity tends to maintain life satisfaction. Cross-cultural research could be improved by more comparable measures, more representative samples, more theoretical relevance, and more multivariate analysis. Secondary analysis of existing data and the addition of a few questions to planned surveys are two low-cost ways of increasing cross-cultural research.
Entry into Retirement Communities
Authors: Streib Gordon F. , Folts W. Edward , LaGreca Anthony J.
Published: March 2007

Reports on the process and the problems related to entry into communities, organizations, and groups are both few and sparse in the gerontological literature. The central focus of the article is upon the experiences of the research team in obtaining entry to study 36 retirement communities in Arizona, California, Florida, and New Jersey. Each of the communities was site visited. Among the topics discussed are: sponsorship and the point of entry; access for what purpose; entry as a social process; obtaining additional "approvals"; and the problem of multiple sites. A typology of communities based upon our experiences is offered: the cooperative community; the cautious community; the suspicious community; and the uncooperative community.
In-Home Services for the Dependent Elderly
Authors: Soldo Beth J.
Published: March 2007

Nationally representative data are used to examine the factors affecting the service utilization patterns of disabled elderly in the community. The probability of formal service use was found to respond directly to the severity of care needs and indirectly to the availability of informal care providers. The analysis suggests that, at extreme levels of need, frail elderly and their families overcome the price and supply barriers that characterize today's home care market to secure at least some outside assistance.
Social Interaction, Loneliness, and Emotional Well-Being among the Elderly
Authors: Lee Gary R. , Ishii-Kuntz Masako
Published: March 2007

This study examines the effects of interaction with different types of role partners on the emotional well-being (morale) of older persons, and the extent to which these effects are mediated by subjective feelings of social integration (loneliness). Hypotheses regarding the differential effects of friendship and kinship on these emotional states are developed and tested on a sample of 2872 respondents aged 55 and over. Consistent with the hypotheses, loneliness has a major negative effect on morale, and transmits large proportions of the effects of social integration measures. Feelings of loneliness are reduced, and morale increased, by interaction with friends and, to a lesser extent, neighbors. Interaction with children and grandchildren has no such effects.
Age Cohorts and Personal Health Behavior in Adulthood
Authors: Rakowski William
Published: March 2007

Secular trends in morbidity, mortality, and risk factor prevalence highlight the importance of adopting a life-span approach to the study of health-related behaviors. To help address this question, the predictors of nine personal health practices were examined within four adult age cohorts (ages 20-64), using data from Wave 1 of the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences (N= 3,025). Analyses showed that education and gender were the most consistently important predictors of the nine practices within each cohort. Across all four cohorts, however, no predictor was statistically significant for a majority of the practices. Functional health status, income, subjective health, perceived locus of control, a regular source of health care, and group participations were of relative importance in specific cohorts. Tracking of health practices and their predictors should continue as current cohorts progress through adulthood and into older age. However, it is still an open question whether predictors of health behavior are robust longitudinally in cohorts moving through adulthood.
Physical Distance and Social Contact between Elders and their Adult Children
Authors: Dewit David J. , Wister Andrew V. , Burch Thomas K.
Published: March 2007

Several demographic trends threaten supportive ties between adult children and elderly parents, including fertility reduction, rising divorce rates, and increasing geographical mobility among young adults. This article focuses on the extent to which proximity of adult children influences several types of social contact between elders and their offspring. Initial analysis uncovered nonlinear patterns in the data. The results of the polynomial regression analyses indicate that physical distance is a potent determinant of several types of social contact. The importance of distance is not affected when statistically controlling for adult children's income, sex, and marital status and elderly respondents' age, sex, education, and ethnicity. The analysis also suggests that substitution occurs between contact types at certain points on the distance continuum.
The Future of Work and Retirement
Authors: Clark Robert L.
Published: March 2007

The trend toward earlier retirement of men began in the twentieth century and has continued during the 1980s. In contrast, no such trend has emerged for women. The determinants of retirement are examined in this article along with expected changes in these factors. These data are then used to assess the prospects for reversing the trend toward early retirement among men as well as examining future retirement decisions of women.
Gender and Race Differentials in Elderly Migration
Authors: Watkins John F.
Published: March 2007

A number of studies have provided evidence that elderly migration in the United States is strongly selective in terms of the characteristics of the migrants. Such characteristics as age, gender, and race are commonly used in examinations of migrant selectivity, but the differences in spatial behavior of these subpopulations are still poorly understood. This article uses state-to-state migration data, categorized by age, gender, and race, to explore the comparative patterns of origins, destinations, and migration propensities, with a focus on the southeastern states of the country.
Never-Married Elderly
Authors: Stull Donald E. , Scarisbrick-Hauser Annemarie
Published: March 2007

Researchers are beginning to look more closely at the lives of never-married elderly. As yet, there is no clear consensus regarding the lives and social support networks of the never-married elderly. In particular, are never-married elderly at greater risk for institutionalization than other marital groups? Findings from past research are mixed. Part of the difficulty lies in grouping never-married elderly with other unmarried elderly, or focusing on the presence or absence of a spouse. This article reexamines the life situation of never-married elderly in terms of health, social interaction, and household and family structure. The never married are compared with married, widowed, and divorced/separated elderly persons on these three dimensions. The findings suggest that never-married elderly are socially active, are not socially isolated, and may not be at high risk for institutionalization compared to other marital groups.
Interaction and Living Arrangements of Older Parents and their Children
Authors: Crimmins Eileen M. , Ingegneri Dominique G.
Published: March 2007

This article addresses several specific questions which have arisen from speculation about the impact of recent social, economic, and demographic trends on the older family. The availability of and interaction with children among elderly Americans over the past two decades is examined. Causal models are used to explore the effects of social, economic, and demographic change on family interaction and living with a child. Finally, the implications of these findings for the future are reviewed. Analyses are based on the 1984 National Health Interview Survey Study on Aging and the 1962 and 1975 Survey of the Aged studies.
Seasonal Migration as a Substitute for, or Precursor to, Permanent Migration
Authors: McHugh Kevin E.
Published: March 2007

Seasonal migration to national amenity areas is a major form of cyclical migration in the United States. This article examines conditions under which seasonal movement serves as a substitute for, or precursor to, permanent migration among winter visitors to recreational vehicle (RV) parks in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Ties to the home community, ties to the seasonal residence, demographic characteristics, and commitment to a mobile lifestyle are specified as determinants of expectations of moving to Phoenix on a permanent basis. The model is tested using survey data for a sample of 1,001 winter visitors in Phoenix RV parks. Results of a discriminant analysis indicate that place ties and position in the life cycle condition expectations of permanently migrating to a seasonal residence.
Longitudinal Change and Prediction of Everyday Task Competence in the Elderly
Authors: Willis Sherry L. , Jay Gina M. , Diehl Manfred , Marsiske Michael
Published: March 2007

The present study examined longitudinal change in everyday task competence in a sample of 102 community-dwelling older adults from central Pennsylvania. Subjects were assessed on cognitive abilities, intellectual control beliefs, and everyday task competence in 1979 and 1986. The results indicated significant mean level decline on everyday task competence. However, wide individual differences were apparent in the timing and rate of decline; 62% of the sample remained stable or improved in competence over this seven-year period. Structural equation analyses were conducted to examine lagged relationships among the ability, intellectual control, and everyday task competence constructs. Fluid reasoning ability was a significant longitudinal predictor of subsequent everyday task competence. Everyday task competence was a significant longitudinal predictor of subsequent self-efficacy beliefs regarding intellectual aging. The results suggest that mean level decline in everyday task competence may not represent the intraindividual developmental trajectory of many subjects. Prior level of fluid ability influences subsequent everyday task competence, and prior level of everyday task competence influences levels of self-efficacy beliefs.
Age and Gender Differences in the Value of Productive Activities
Authors: Herzog A. Regula , Morgan James N.
Published: March 2007

The definition of personal productivity based on paid work is expanded to include many forms of unpaid work. The productivity of these forms of unpaid work is estimated empirically, using several economic approaches (an opportunity cost approach, a market price approach, and a value-added approach) and one noneconomic approach. Additionally, two methods of dealing with selection bias when estimating opportunity costs for nonemployed persons are compared. These different approaches all document the extent to which many of the activities (such as housework, formal volunteer work, or informal help to relatives and friends) that are often performed without pay by older Americans or women are actually productive because they produce goods and services to which a market value can be imputed. Using this expanded definition to describe the productive contribution of men and women at different ages provides a much needed correction to existing social statistics: Women contribute in major ways to U.S. productivity, as do older adults, although to a lesser degree. These findings challenge the stereotypic view of older Americans as unproductive and mere burdens on society. Data were from a 1986 cross-sectional survey of 3,617 adults representative of those 25 years old and older living in the coterminous United States.
The Changing Caregiving Networks of Older Adults
Authors: Peek Chuck W. , Zsembik Barbara A. , Coward Raymond T.
Published: March 2007

One of the dominant features of caregiving networks, their propensity to change over time, continues to be incompletely described and inadequately understood. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the complex patterns of change that shape the evolving caregiving networks of older adults. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA), a transition matrix approach is used to describe the changes older adults experience in their caregiving arrangements over time. These caregiving networks are characterized by both stability and change. At any given time, most elders are able to live independently without the help of a caregiver. The caregiving network, once activated, appears to be characterized by a great deal of change in care configurations. Finally, beyond a certain threshold off frailty, extensive care is required in either a community or an institutional setting. Variation in transitions by age, gender, race, and place of residence are examined.
Education and Grandparenting Roles
Authors: King Valarie , Elder Glen H.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the association between educational attainment and grandparenting attitudes and behaviors. The sample of 884 grandparents comes from tworelated studies of rural families, the Iowa Youth and Families Project and the IowaSingle Parent Project. Rather than simply indicating greater or lesser involvement,education differentiates the types of roles that grandparents play. Some facets ofgrandparenting are more common among the less educated (e.g., contact, playing therole of friend), while others are more common among grandparents with highereducation (e.g., discussing the grandchild's future with him or her). The implicationsof these findings are discussed in light of the seemingly contradictory findings ofprevious research.
Labor Markets and Opportunity Structures
Authors: Elman Cheryl
Published: March 2007

This article uses linked county-level and individual-level economic, demographic, and social indicators drawn from three historical U.S. censuses to examine a construct that has been labeled labor market or opportunity structure in historical and demographic multilevel research. Findings are that turn-of-the-twentieth-century localities were diverse opportunity structures that systematically and differentially shaped older men’s unemployment rates and their likelihood of work and retirement. This article also highlights issues that researchers might face as they work with linked census data—specifically, multidimensionality of contextual influences with resultant collinearity and variable selection problems.
Symptom Ambiguity among Late-Middle-Aged and Older Adults with HIV
Authors: Siegel Karolynn , Dean Laura , Schrimshaw Eric W.
Published: March 2007

The perception and evaluation of physical symptoms are central components of the illness and health appraisal process and affect subsequent health behaviors. This topic is explored within a study of the psychosocial adaptation of late-middle-aged and older HIV-infected men and women, age 50 to 68. Transcripts of in-depth interviews were read by an interdisciplinary team of investigators to detect prevalent themes. Thematic analysis revealed that older people with HIV often expressed confusion in trying to understand the cause of their symptoms. This symptom ambiguity was because they could attribute symptoms to a variety of other plausible causes such as normal aging, preexisting conditions, or drug side effects in addition to HIV disease. Symptom ambiguity appears to lead to both confusion and psychological distress and may influence subsequent treatment behavior.
Political Change without Institutional Transformation: What Can We Learn from the Italian Crisis of the 1990s?
Authors: Fabbrini Sergio
Published: March 2007

Since 1991 Italy has witnessed the crisis of its post-war consensual model of democracy. While in other democratic countries consensualism has been justified by ethnic or linguistic or religious cleavages, in Italy it is ideological cleavage that has justified the politics of accommodation among the leaders of the main parties. Consequently, as in the other consensual democracies, postwar Italy was unable to experience the alternation in government between opposed political options. The formation of a power-sharing political system at the governmental level was supported by the institutionalization, at the level of policy-making structures, of a sort of oligarchic pluralism, through which a network of organized minorities (in the public administration and in the interest groups) ended up by controlling the huge resources of the Italian state. These institutional and policy-making structures conflicted with the requirements imposed by the process of European integration. Different social actors were activated to challenge the legitimacy of that power-sharing system. A political change followed, indicated by the collapse of the postwar party system. But given the timing and the nature of the crisis, and the ambiguity of the new electoral law introduced by the old parties before their final collapse, the new parties proved able to resist the pressure for institutional transformation, although they had to agree with important policy changes in order for Italy to meet the Maastricht criteria for adopting the new European common currency. But these policy changes continue to be jeopardized by the institutional inertia of the old governmental system.
More Feminists or More Women?
Authors: Tremblay Manon , Pelletier Réjean
Published: March 2007

The debate about the underrepresentation of women in politics rests on two conceptions of political representation, namely the descriptive and the substantive. The descriptive perspective is that political institutions should reflect the composition of civil society, while the substantive (or feminist) conception argues that, since women offer unique perspectives, their exclusion from political power means that their needs, demands, and interests would currently not be echoed in the political arena. However, a causal link is sometimes too easily established between the number of women elected and its consequences for the female population in general. This article defines, within the context of Canadian parliamentarianism, the scope and limits of this equation between descriptive and substantive representation of women. The conclusion reached is that feminist consciousness has a more significant influence than gender on opinions regarding liberal and gender-related issues. It appears the best feminist strategy to descriptively and substantively represent women is to promote women within political parties, and to elect women who are feminists.

The names of the Canadian political parties appear in abbreviated form: Bloc Québécois (BQ), Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), and Reform Party (RP).
Filling the Urban Policy Breach: Women’s Empowerment, Grass-Roots Organizations, and Urban Governance
Authors: Hainard François , Verschuur Christine
Published: March 2007

The authors demonstrate that grass-roots women’s movements can produce innovative solutions to urban environment-related problems arising from a lack of adequate public services. They analyze the difficulties involved in women’s empowerment processes and the evolution of gender relations in the home, in grass-roots organizations, and in the city. Their article is based on the findings of a multidisciplinary research project investigating the interlinkages between cities, the environment and gender relations. It is a synthesis of five years’ work by seven research teams from Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Bulgaria and Romania, coordinated by a team based in Switzerland.
Paradigm Shift: From Rational Choice to Perspective
Authors: Monroe Kristen Renwick
Published: March 2007

Rational choice theory can be replaced as the leading paradigm in political science by the theory of perspective, which argues that how we see ourselves in relation to others sets and delineates the range of options actors find available, not just morally but empirically. The author begins by discussing the basic assumptions underlying the theory of rational choice or rational action, discusses the main criticisms of the theory, and argues that these criticisms, when taken in conjunction with rational choice theorists’ response to them, provide us with a classic Kuhnian example of a paradigm in stress. The author then argues that the debate over rational choice has become unnecessarily acrimonious because of the lack of a viable alternative theoretical structure. Political psychology can provide such an alternative in a theory of perspective on self in relation to others, and she suggests several ways in which this theory will need to be developed as it grows and expands in the manner described by Kuhn. She concludes that rational choice works well for certain kinds of political phenomena, but does not work in all circumstances. The discipline’s attention should now focus on trying to understand and to specify the conditions under which rational choice theory will apply, and on distinguishing them from situations and conditions under which perspective may provide a more valuable theoretical framework.
Measuring Electoral Court Failure in Democratizing Mexico
Authors: Eisenstadt Todd A.
Published: March 2007

After identifying a lack of attention to electoral courts and post-electoral contestation of elections, this article seeks to compensate for the lack of comparative cross-national data on election dispute resolution by constructing ideal types of electoral court success and failure within one country, Mexico, where primary research has produced needed data. It exposes authoritarian incumbent/opposition bargaining over rules of Mexico's democratic transition in the resolution of post-electoral conflicts in Mexico's municipalities. In identifying legal versus extra-legal paths of post-electoral contestation, it conceives of a “rule of law” ratio—the ratio of extra-legal post-electoral conflicts to legal electoral court case filings—to indicate gradual increases in opposition party compliance with electoral institutions. Upon establishing the lag between the construction of electoral institutions and compliance with them, the article concludes that this gap is attributable to conditions beyond their mere institutional configurations, such as social and political factors, and demonstrates that such compliance with institutions may not be assumed.
Regional Cooperation and the Enlargement of the European Union: Lessons Learned?
Authors: Uvalic Milica
Published: March 2007

The article evaluates and attempts to draw some lessons from the recent initiatives aimed at stimulating regional cooperation among transition economies in Northern, Central, and South-Eastern Europe. Although these initiatives varied significantly in their scope, objectives, and domain of activity, the author highlights the common elements and discusses both their major achievements and greatest weaknesses. The author then relates these initiatives to the recent theoretical debate on regionalism, the main conclusions in the empirical literature, and the most important policy issues concerning current integration processes and eu enlargement. The role of subregional economic cooperation among transition economies is examined within the context of the problems posed by the variable speed integration policies of the European Union. The general conclusion is that the overall experience of regional cooperation among European transition economies has, on balance, been positive, though clear limitations and many unresolved questions remain. (For acronyms see page 323.)
Identity Theory as a Guide to Understanding Fathers' Involvement With Their Children
Authors: RANE THOMAS R. , McBRIDE BRENT A.
Published: March 2007

Identity theory was used to explore fathers' involvement with their children. Eighty-nine married couples with preschool children completed questionnaires and interviews providing information on how involved they were in child-rearing activities. Participants rated the centrality of their parent versus worker status and of the nurturing role. Results indicated that fathers did not differ on any involvement measures regardless of whether they rated the parent or worker status most central. However, fathers who considered the nurturing role highly central to their sense of self engaged in significantly more interaction and responsibility behaviors with their children and were significantly more involved overall than fathers low on nurturing role centrality. Specific behaviors and attitudes of mothers were significantly related to fathers' assessments of nurturing role centrality. Results hold important implications for the refinement of identity theory and for the development of parenting programs and public policy initiatives designed to increase father involvement.
Terms of Visibility
Authors: HAZAN HAIM
Published: March 2007

Viewed within a sociohistorical context, eldercare in Israel is examined as a cultural construct evolving from invisibility of the old to growing visibility. Visibility is a function of the presence of eldercare in the public discourse that changes in correspondence with societal transformations such as globalization, fundamentalistic orientations, and post-Zionist trends. Three ethnographic case studies are analyzed to demonstrate the effects of these processes on alternative conceptions of eldercare. It is suggested that the symbolic languages of eldercare in Israeli culture are embedded in a unitary mode of exchange, namely, generalized reciprocity. The properties of these communal vocabularies are ascertained in an attempt to advance an argument interlinking care, identity, memory, and symbolic immortality.
Parental Status, Social Support, and Marital Adjustment
Authors: GRAHAM CAROLYN W. , FISCHER JUDITH L. , CRAWFORD DUANE , FITZPATRICK JACKI , BINA KRISTAN
Published: March 2007

This study examined the relation between parental status and marital adjustment of employed individuals. The sample consisted of 91 individuals—47 employed wives and 44 employed husbands. This study found that men with children reported higher levels of marital adjustment compared to men without children and women with and without children. Overall, women with children reported lower levels of marital adjustment compared to women without children and men with and without children. The study also investigated the potential moderating effects of social support on the relation between parental status and marital adjustment. As expected, women with children who reported lower social support were more vulnerable to lower marital adjustment than were other groups of women. Level of social support was not a moderator for men. It also was found that affective support had moderating effects, but no such effects were evident for instrumental support.
Effects of Mothers' Parental Efficacy Beliefs and Promotive Parenting Strategies on Inner-City Youth
Authors: ARDELT MONIKA , ECCLES JACQUELYNNE S.
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the effects of parental efficacy on promotive parenting strategies, children's self-efficacy, and children's academic success in adverse environments. Data were obtained from a 1991 survey of 376 mothers, both White and Black, and their young adolescents in inner-city Philadelphia. Analyses show that beliefs in parental efficacy predict the promotive strategies of Black mothers but not those of White mothers, a difference that reflects the higher risk environments of Black families. They tend to live in more socially isolated and dangerous neighborhoods than White families. Overall, mothers' parental efficacy is a stronger predictor of children's self-efficacy and academic success in disadvantaged family and environmental contexts, such as Black single-parent households and Black families with a weak marriage, than in White families or Black families with a strong marriage. Surprisingly, mothers' efficacy beliefs but not their promotive strategies are associated with the self-efficacy and academic success of their children.
Husband or Wife?
Authors: CLARK MARGARET PRUITT , SWICEGOOD GRAY
Published: March 2007

The increasing popularity of sterilization as a contraceptive choice among married couples underscores the need for knowledge about differences between couples choosing male and female procedures. Data from national surveys suggest some sociodemographic differences, but these variables account for only a small amount of the variance. This research looks at other sets of variables—specifically, information sources, influence sources, and reasons husbands and wives give for wanting sterilization—in a multivariate analysis of the choice of a male versus a female operation. Particularly for husbands obtaining a vasectomy, the importance of social support is demonstrated.
Marital Dissolution Laws
Authors: BAHR STEPHEN J.
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the consequences of recent changes in the laws of marital dissolution. Two of the major trends are the removal of misconduct as a ground for divorce and the removal of gender as a criterion for settlements. The major consequence of these changes has been the deterioration of the economic well-being of divorced females, particularly those from long-term marriages. To help reduce these inequalities it is recommended that legislatures and courts place explicit economic value on the nonmonetary contributions spouses make to their marriages.
The Work-Family Interface and Marital Change Across the Transition to Parenthood
Authors: BELSKY JAY , PERRY-JENKINS MAUREEN , CROUTER ANN C.
Published: March 2007

This article examines the effects of work-family interference and support on couples experiencing the transition to parenthood. Correlational relationships between measures of work-family interference and support and assessments of marital change (based on measures taken prenatally and at three- and nine-months postpartum) were examined. The findings suggest that husbands and wives experiencing high levels of work-family interference report an increase in marital conflict across the first two measurement occasions. In addition, husbands also report increased marital satisfaction when work-family support is high. Difference scores reflecting marital change from three to nine months indicate a decrease in wives' satisfaction with communication and positive feelings in the relationship as a result of high work-family stress. These findings suggest that the work-family relationship, as one determinant affecting the transition to parenthood, deserves further study.
Children's Awareness of Television's Prosocial Fare
Authors: ABELMAN ROBERT
Published: March 2007

This study examines the parental disciplinary practices under which children's awareness of prosocial TV portrayals are likely to be maximized and minimized. Two types of enduring parental styles of discipline—induction and sensitization—were extracted from the literature on children's moral development and applied to social learning from television. Data were gathered from a field survey that employed mother-child pairs. Results indicate that children of parents who are primarily inductive had a greater awareness of television's prosocial fare and demonstrated a greater propensity for prosocial solutions to conflict than did children whose parents were primarily sensitizing. These findings are significant in regard to the increasing body of research on the social intervention of the relationship between children and television.
Leaving as a Wife, Leaving as a Mother
Authors: ROSENBLUM KAREN E.
Published: March 2007

This discussion begins with the conviction that we need to examine the meaning of the decision to relinquish child custody rather than its causes. Based on in-depth, semistructured interviews with 20 noncustodial mothers, it is shown that mothers relinquish custody either “as wives” or “as mothers,” and by that is meant the status that is made salient in their leaving. “Leaving as a wife” reflects a decision primarily responsive to husband's acts or wishes; “leaving as a mother” reflects a reaction to a particular child or to the role of child rearer. Whereas these two ways of leaving home are different in their meaning and consequence, social reaction appears to treat them as a unitary social category. This collapsing of the categories points to the preeminence of motherhood for women.
Birth Timing and the Division of Labor in Dual-Earner Families
Authors: COLTRANE SCOTT
Published: March 2007

This article reports on the results of an exploratory study of domestic role-sharing in a purposive sample of dual-earner couples with school-aged children. Divisions of household labor are analyzed with reference to the couples' accounts of how and why they attempt to share child care and housework. Postponing the transition to parenthood facilitated task-sharing by encouraging men to become attached to the father role and promoting women's efforts to relinquish full responsibility for household management. Past findings linking educational attainment to husbands' housework are reevaluated with reference to the potential impacts of birth timing, and suggestions are offered for future research on divisions of household labor.
The Relationship of the Husband's Emotional Involvement to Participation in Research on Marital Relationships
Authors: KROKOFF LOWELL J.
Published: March 2007

Recent studies have established an empirical relationship between the husband's level of emotional involvement and various indices of intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning within the family context. Despite the risks attendant to families of emotionally withdrawn husbands, these husbands may be less likely to participate in research. The present study explored this hypothesis. A three-step recruitment procedure based on random sampling techniques, which focused on first securing the interest of wives, was used to recruit couples for a multimethod study on marriage. If a husband did not join his wife in the study, the wife was asked to complete a set of questionnaires. The same set of questionnaires was completed by wives whose husbands agreed to participate with them. In comparison to participant husbands, nonparticipant husbands were rated by their wives as being less emotionally involved in their marriages (as measured by the husband's expressiveness/responsiveness). This effect did not generalize to the husband's instrumental involvement in the marriage (i.e., housework participation) or to other areas of distress, nor did it reflect differences in the wife's own expectations for emotional involvement. The possible underrepresentation of emotionally withdrawn husbands in research may limit our ability to study, as well as help, this at-risk population.
Work and Family Life
Authors: ISHII-KUNTZ MASAKO
Published: March 2007

Studies focusing on interface between work and family life have increased over the past decade. Many of these studies advanced our understanding on the intricate work/family relationships that exist in the United States. This year, 1994, is the United Nation's International Year of the Family. In observance of this special year, this article discusses dominant perspectives on work and family in the United States and suggests the ways to refine our views by reviewing comparative research and studies conducted in other countries on work and family life. I offer recommendations for further international and comparative research and encourage family scholars to expand their views on work and family by considering more global perspectives.
A Within-Industry Comparison of Employed Mothers' Experiences in Small and Large Workplaces
Authors: MacDERMID SHELLEY M. , WILLIAMS MARGARET L.
Published: March 2007

This research focuses on links between mothers' perceptions of their parenting practices, their parenting values, and their children's behavior and the work conditions they experience in small and large workplaces. We explored both direct and indirect (via work-family tension) relationships. We found significant relationships between work conditions and parenting, and significant differences between small and large workplaces, even when background characteristics were controlled. In larger workplaces, work conditions reflecting structural and hierarchical aspects of work were more likely to be related to parenting: schedule demands, supervision, and benefits. In smaller workplaces, work conditions reflecting the process of completing work tasks were more likely to be associated with parenting; these were substantive complexity of work and relationships with coworkers.
Leaving Home and Family Relations in France
Authors: GALLAND OLIVIER
Published: March 2007

Youngsters in France tend to leave the parental home increasingly later. Unemployment is one main reason for this new behavior. Unemployment, taken alone, does not have a uniform effect on the intensity of generational relations. The impact of unemployment varies according to the young person's sex and residential situation. Although the influence of unemployment on rates of discussion with parents is uniformly weak among young men, rates of discussion vary among young women according to whether they live in the parental home: Young unemployed women living in the family household have a more intense relationship with their parents than young women on average. The intensification of family relations is found on the mother's side rather than on the father's.