bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can anal manometry predict anal incontinence after fistulectomy in males?
Authors: Pescatori M. , Ayabaca S. , Caputo D.
Published: March 2004

Background  Disordered continence is frequently reported after operations for anal fistulae and pre‐operative anorectal physiology may be carried out prior to surgery to improve functional outcome. Elderly patients and multiparous females are at higher risk for incontinence, whereas males under 60 have stronger sphincters. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive role of anal manometry and the causes of postoperative soiling and its effect on the quality of life in males with intact sphincters undergoing excision of either trans or supra sphincteric fistulae.

Methods  Thirty‐eight patients (median age 47 years) were analysed retrospectively. None had previous anal surgery and all were fully continent. Five had Crohn's disease. Anal pressures and rectal sensation were evaluated prior to fistulectomy by means of anal manometry in all cases and after surgery in those who had postoperative incontinence. A cutting seton was used in 17 patients, a rectal advancement flap in 15 and a double rectal‐cutaneous flap in six. None had a lay–open. The intersphincteric plane was explored and drained in all cases. A previously described incontinence grading and score was used to assess postoperative soiling. The median follow‐up was 22 (range 5–89) months. The patients with postoperative anal incontinence were evaluated with the Gastrointestinal quality of Life Index Questionnaire (0:poor, 4:good) at a median follow‐up of 49 months.

Results  Twenty‐nine (76%) patients were continent after surgery, whereas 9 (24%) complained of some degree of anal incontinence (minor in 4, severe in 1, the 1–6 incontinence score being 3.7 ± 1.3 (mean ± s.d.m.). Their Quality of life score was 3.8 ± 0.5 (mean ± sdm). None of them had Crohn's disease, five had frequent diarrhoea, four had a reintervention for either anal fissure or recurrent fistula (two), three had a postseton anal deformity. No difference was found between continent and incontinent patients as far as pre‐operative anal pressures were concerned, but the maximum rectal volume threshold was significantly higher in incontinent patients, 165 ± 67 vs. 123 ± 49 ml of air (P = 0.04).

Conclusions  Sphincter division, diarrhoea and anal deformity may cause soiling after fistulectomy in males and it does not severely affect quality of life. Surgery rather than manometry may predict it and rectal sensation may play a role which needs further investigation.
The use of Ligasure™ haemorrhoidectomy in patients taking oral anticoagulation therapy
Authors: Lawes D. A. , Palazzo F. F. , Clifton M. A.
Published: March 2004

Objectives  To assess the safety of Ligasure™ haemorrhoidectomy in treating patients on long‐term anticoagulation therapy.

Method  Three patients taking warfarin underwent Ligasure™ haemorrhoidectomy for prolapsing haemorrhoids.

Results  Each had a successful procedure without complications.

Conclusion  Ligasure™ haemorrhoidectomy can be safely performed in anticoagulated patients and reduces in‐patient hospital stay.
Is routine pouchogram prior to ileostomy closure in colonic J‐pouch really necessary?
Authors: Da Silva G. M. , Wexner S. D. , Gurland B. , Gervaz P. , Moon Seong Do , Efron J. , Nogueras J. J. , Weiss E. G. , Vernava A. M. , Zmora O.
Published: March 2004

Introduction  Colonic J‐pouch with coloanal anastomosis has gained popularity in the surgical treatment of middle and lower rectal pathologies. If a diverting ileostomy is performed, a pouchogram is frequently performed prior to ileostomy closure. The aim of this study was to assess the routine use of pouchogram prior to ileostomy closure in patients with colonic J pouch‐anal anastomosis.

Methods  All patients who underwent a colonic J pouch‐anal anastomosis between 1990 and 2000 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with temporary loop ileostomy who had pouchogram prior to ileostomy closure were included. Pouchogram results were compared to the patient's post ileostomy closure clinical outcome. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of pouchogram were assessed.

Results  Eighty‐four patients had a pouchogram prior to ileostomy closure. Radiological abnormalities were evident in 6 patients, including 4 strictures, 1 pouch‐vaginal fistula and 1 leak. Of these findings, 4 were false positives (3 strictures and 1 leak) and two were true positives (1 stricture and 1 pouch‐vaginal fistula). The actual rate of pouch complications was 9.5% (8 complications) including 3 anastomotic leaks, all with normal pouchogram, 3 strictures requiring dilatation under anaesthesia, only one detected by pouchogram, and 2 pouch‐vaginal fistulas, only one diagnosed by pouchogram. The sensitivity and specificity of pouchogram, respectively, was 0 and 98% for anastomotic leak, 33 and 96% for stricture, and 50 and 100% for pouch‐vaginal fistula. Overall, pouchogram changed the management in only 1 of 84 patients.

Conclusion  Pouchogram has a low sensitivity in predicting complications following ileostomy closure in patients after colonic J‐pouch anal anastomosis and rarely changes the management of these patients. The use of pouchogram prior to ileostomy closure may be unnecessary and should be reserved in cases of clinical suspicion of complications.
The two week referral for colorectal cancer: a retrospective analysis
Authors: Barwick T. W. , Scott S. B. , Ambrose N. S.
Published: March 2004

Objective  The two‐week referral (TWR) system was introduced in July 2000 to address the delays in referral, diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) and lessen the associated psychological morbidity of prolonged waiting. General practitioners complete a proforma outlining ‘high‐risk’ criteria for CRC to ensure an urgent referral within 14 days. The aim of the study was to analyse the TWR process and the proforma criteria.

Patients and methods  One hundred and forty‐nine two‐week referral proforma were retrospectively reviewed between January and August 2001. The waiting times and proforma data, together with investigations performed and diagnoses made were gathered for 144 patients. Three did not attend clinic and two sets of notes were missing.

Results  Ninety‐six percent of patients (n = 144) were two week compliant and 14 CRC (10%) were diagnosed. The most common referral symptom was a recent change in bowel habit (36.6%) but specificity for all criteria was low. The highest diagnostic yield was a palpable abdominal or rectal mass where 16.7% had CRC and iron deficiency anaemia had high sensitivity (90%) for surgical pathology. Per rectum examination and haemoglobin analysis by general practitioners was infrequently performed.

Discussion  Our study has shown that CRC is difficult to diagnose by history and examination alone with a 10% detection rate. CRC incidence in TWR may be improved by primary care through routine rectal examinations, increased detection of iron deficiency anaemia and public education to reduce presentation via other referral routes. Further studies are needed to address these issues.
A Conscious and Inclusive Family Studies
Authors: Allen Katherine R.
Published: March 2004

I argue that family scholars must take bolder steps to engage the tensions between our heritage of positivist science and its postmodern challenges. I also argue that constructing theories, utilizing research methods, and examining substantive issues should be relevant to the diversity of the families we study and to ourselves as members of families. I offer examples of developing an informed reflexive consciousness to broaden the rationalist foundation that dominates family scholarship. For a more inclusive, balanced, and invigorated family studies, our subjective experiences and commitments as researchers should be acknowledged, confronted, and integrated. A family studies that is responsible to our readers, students, selves, and the people whose lives we study requires that we engage the critical intersections of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and age as they define family diversity.
Theorizing in Family Studies: Discovering Process
Authors: Sprey Jetse
Published: March 2004

This paper makes the case that theorizing in family studies might be different if scholars asked the types of questions that now are asked in the physical sciences. Initial efforts to move toward a more abstract explanatory level in family studies led to inventorying and verification. This paper argues that the recognition of a realm of discovery, allowing for the creative and disciplinary use of imagination and metaphor, would extend the scope and quality of questioning. To ground the argument, the paper focuses on the problematics associated with the conceptualization of process in marriages and families.
Timing of Parental Separation and Attachment to Parents in Adolescence: Results of a Prospective Study from Birth to Age 16
Authors: Woodward Lianne , Fergusson David M. , Belsky Jay
Published: March 2004

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), this paper examines the effects of parental separation on the quality of adolescents' attachment to parents and their perceptions of parental care and overprotection during childhood. Exposure to parental separation was significantly associated with lower attachment to parents in adolescence and more negative perceptions of maternal and paternal care and protection during childhood. When examined in relation to the developmental timing of first separation, a linear relationship between the age at first separation and later parental attachment and perceived parent–child relations was found. The younger the age of the child at the time of separation, the lower their subsequent parental attachment and the more likely they were to perceive both their mother and father as less caring and more overprotective. No gender differences were found in children's responses to parental separation. These findings persisted after control for the confounding effects of family social background, marital conflict, parenting, child behavior, and remarriage. Results supported the importance of the early childhood years for the development of a secure and enduring attachment relationship between children and their parents.
Rural Black Women and Depression: A Contextual Analysis
Authors: Brown Anita C. , Brody Gene H. , Stoneman Zolinda
Published: March 2004

We use ecological systems theory to guide our investigation of depression among a sample of 102 married Black mothers residing in the rural South. Using self‐report data collected via computerized interviews during home visits, we conduct multivariate regression analyses, exploring the associations between depression and (a) spousal support and conflict, (b) cocaregiver support and conflict, (c) child conduct difficulties, and (d) socioeconomic risk. We hypothesize that each of these variables are associated with mothers' depression scores and that the extent to which these familial variables and depression are associated will vary across socioeconomic contexts. Socioeconomic risk, child conduct difficulties, and conflict with a cocaregiver were associated with women's depression in the full model. The moderational hypotheses were upheld for the variables of spousal support and child conduct difficulty. Spousal support and depression have a strong negative association under conditions of high socioeconomic risk and a nonsignificant relationship when socioeconomic risk is low. The association between child conduct difficulty and depression was exacerbated under high socioeconomic risk.
The Economic Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse for Adult Lesbian Women
Authors: Hyman Batya
Published: March 2004

This study is designed to extend the investigation of the long‐term consequences of child sexual abuse (CSA) into the workplace and to consider the effects on the economic welfare of 1,925 lesbian women from the National Lesbian Health Care Survey. It seeks to develop a two‐stage, least‐squares model that considers simultaneously the effects of child sexual abuse on four spheres of a woman's life—her physical health, mental health, educational attainment, and economic welfare; and to investigate the differential impacts of diverse forms of child sexual abuse on the adult woman's functioning. The CSA survivors experienced adverse health and mental health consequences. The type of CSA experienced was also a significant predictor of a woman's educational attainment and annual earnings.
“The Normal American Family” as an Interpretive Structure of Family Life Among Grown Children of Korean and Vietnamese Immigrants
Authors: Pyke Karen
Published: March 2004

This article examines the ways that children of Korean and Vietnamese immigrants describe growing up in their families and their plans for filial care. Based on an analysis of 73 in‐depth interviews, this study finds that respondents repeatedly invoked a monolithic image of the “Normal American Family” as an interpretive framework in giving meaning to their own family life. The Family served as a contrast structure in respondents' accounts of parents—and Asian parents in general—as overly strict, emotionally distant, and deficient. However, when discussing plans for filial care, respondents relied on favorable images of the close family ties associated with Asian immigrants, such as those depicted in “model minority” stereotypes. In so doing they generated positive descriptions of their families, particularly in contrast to mainstream American families. The findings suggest that narrow and ethnocentric images of the Family promulgated throughout mainstream culture compose an ideological template that can shape the desires, disappointments, and subjective realities of children of immigrant minorities.
The Changing Culture of Fatherhood in Comic‐Strip Families: A Six‐Decade Analysis
Authors: LaRossa Ralph , Jaret Charles , Gadgil Malati , Wynn G. Robert
Published: March 2004

A content analysis of 490 Father's Day and Mother's Day comic strips published from 1940 to 1999 indicates that the culture of fatherhood has fluctuated since World War II. “Incompetent” fathers appeared frequently in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and late 1960s but were rarer in the late 1950s, early and late 1970s, early 1980s, and early 1990s. Fathers who were mocked were especially common in the early and late 1960s and early 1980s but were less common in the late 1940s, early and late 1950s, and early and late 1970s. Fathers who were nurturant and supportive toward children were most evident in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and early and late 1990s, with the longitudinal pattern resembling a U‐shaped curve. Differences between fathers and mothers also oscillated from one decade to the next.
Perceived Fairness and Compliance With Child Support Obligations
Authors: Lin I‐Fen
Published: March 2004

This paper examines whether perceptions of fairness motivate fathers to pay child support and whether perceptions of fairness interact with routine income withholding in collecting payments. Using a study of 392 nonresident fathers who filed for divorce between 1986 and 1988 in the state of Wisconsin, I found that both perceived fairness and income withholding increase fathers' compliance with child support obligations. The effects of these two strategies on compliance are not additive, however. If fathers think their child support orders are fair, the use of routine income withholding does not add to compliance.
Expensive Children in Poor Families: Out‐of‐Pocket Expenditures for the Care of Disabled and Chronically Ill Children in Welfare Families
Authors: Lukemeyer Anna , Meyers Marcia K. , Smeeding Timothy
Published: March 2004

A significant minority of poor families care for children with disabilities and chronic illnesses. This study is among the first to explore private costs resulting from children's disabilities among low‐income families. We find that almost half of the sample of California AFDC families with special‐needs children incurred some direct, out‐of‐pocket expenses in the preceding month, and about 20% incurred total costs exceeding $100. We also estimate lost employment income among low‐income mothers caring for children with disabilities. We conclude that both out‐of‐pocket expenses and foregone earnings represent a substantial burden for many low‐income families with special‐needs children, and we discuss the policy implications of these findings.
Adolescents' Plans for Family Formation: Is Parental Socialization Important?
Authors: Starrels Marjorie E. , Holm Kristen E.
Published: March 2004

This study examines adolescents' plans for family formation (marriage and parenthood) and the congruence between their plans and their mothers' expectations and behaviors within these spheres. Using log‐linear and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to analyze data from the National Survey of Children (N= 724), this study addresses mechanisms of family socialization (e.g., modeling and defining influence) informed by social learning and symbolic interactionist theories. It also reveals whether and how these mechanisms vary according to gender. Results reveal that family factors best predict children's plans, although peer groups also may be important. In addition, defining influence is stronger than modeling influence.
Change in Gender‐Ideology, 1977–1996:The Contributions of Intracohort Change and Population Turnover
Authors: Brewster Karin L. , Padavic Irene
Published: March 2004

This paper addresses the processes underlying the dramatic shift in beliefs about women's work and family roles in the United States over the past two decades. Following Mason and Lu (1988), we posited this shift to be a function of actual change in individual opinions, as well as changes in population membership that result from births and deaths. Using pooled cross‐sections from the General Social Surveys (1977 to 1996), we found that although demographic processes and microlevel attitude change are both important in understanding attitude trends, the contribution of cohort succession is substantially greater now than in the period that Mason and Lu examined. Multivariate analyses show that (a) the sex difference in attitudes is greater among recent cohorts, and (b) the strong association between education and attitudes that characterized earlier cohorts is significantly weaker among cohorts born after 1945.
How Do Children Matter? A Comparison of Gender Earnings Inequality for Young Adults in the Former East Germany and the Former West Germany
Authors: Trappe Heike , Rosenfeld Rachel A.
Published: March 2004

The former Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) differed sharply in their family policies. We follow 1950s and early 1960s birth cohorts from their first jobs to 1989 to see in what ways having children affected earnings for women and men. For the FRG, we find that being a parent had stronger earnings effects (positive for men and negative for women) than in the GDR, with much of this impact mediated by employment hours for women. This does not mean that having children was unimportant for women's and men's earnings in the GDR, but it indicates that the less variable life course led to more society‐wide than individual‐level impact. Further, in the East, some young women balanced family and employment by taking jobs below their qualifications, and this reduced their earnings.
The Family Unpredictability Scale: Reliability and Validity
Authors: Ross Lisa Thomson , Hill Elizabeth M.
Published: March 2004

We developed the Family Unpredictability Scale (FUS) to better understand the factors that underlie the presence and consequences of family dysfunction. Familial unpredictability is defined as a lack of consistency in family behaviors and regulatory systems. Family researchers and therapists generated and evaluated items, which were self‐administered by married parents who had children aged 2 to 18 (N= 314). Principal‐components analysis yielded four subscales (discipline, nurturance, meals, and money; 22 items total) that were internally consistent; confirmatory factor analysis based on a separate subsample yielded an adequate preliminary representation of this factor structure. The FUS related significantly to known measures of family and individual functioning but not to social desirability. The present study provides preliminary reliability, construct validity, and concurrent validity for this new multidimensional, self‐report assessment of family unpredictability. Research and clinical implications are discussed.
Teasing Out the Lessons of the 1960s: Family Diversity and Family Privilege
Authors: Marks Stephen R.
Published: March 2004

The tumult of the 1960s brought new strains of cultural relativism. I survey the continuing impact of some of these strains on family studies, focusing especially on the study of family diversity as an offshoot of the relativistic project. A dominant discourse still drives much of our work, however, and I illustrate it with some recent examples. The diversity agenda is hampered too often by unintended erasures of large categories of people in nondominant family arrangements. As a corrective to this tendency, I propose an agenda to study family privilege and entitlement, that is, to treat it as a “social problem” much as we treat poverty or juvenile delinquency. I illustrate with my own narrative of how I learned privilege and entitlement growing up male in a White, Jewish, upper‐middle‐class family. I end with some recommendations about how we might bring this agenda into our research and writing.
Perspectives on American Kinship in the Later 1990s
Authors: Johnson Colleen L.
Published: March 2004

This paper reviews the current status of kinship research in the United States and identifies factors that might account for the declining interest in the subject among family researchers. The analysis uses both structural and cultural factors to illustrate how they can determine the diversity in kinship functioning that ranges from those family systems where kinship relationships flourish and those where they play a small part in family life. The structural and demographic variables determine the numbers and availability of kin, whereas the cultural variables determine the norms that establish the motivation to sustain kinship bonds. To illustrate how these factors operate among subgroups in the United States, I analyze three types of kinship systems: the lineal emphasis in White families of the very old; the collateral emphasis in the families of their Black counterparts; and the egocentric emphasis of White suburban families that are undergoing marital change.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Spouse Abuse: A Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Stith Sandra M. , Rosen Karen H. , Middleton Kimberly A. , Busch Amy L. , Lundeberg Kirsten , Carlton Russell P.
Published: March 2004

This study uses meta‐analytic procedures to examine the relationship between growing up in a violent home and subsequently becoming part of a violent marital relationship. Our meta‐analysis examines published and unpublished research studies that investigate the relationship between witnessing or experiencing family violence in childhood and receiving or perpetrating violence in an adult heterosexual cohabiting or marital relationship. The findings of this meta‐analysis suggest there is a weak‐to‐moderate relationship between growing up in an abusive family and becoming involved in a violent marital relationship. Differential effects of gender and sample type are also discussed.
The Timing of Divorce: Predicting When a Couple Will Divorce Over a 14‐Year Period
Authors: Gottman John Mordechai , Levenson Robert Wayne
Published: March 2004

This paper investigates the predictability of divorce in a long‐term, prospective longitudinal study. Past research has indicated that 2 periods can be considered the most critical for the survival of marriages: (a) the first 7 years of marriage, during which half of all divorces are known to occur, and (b) the period during which the first child reaches 14 years of age, which has been suggested as a low point for marital satisfaction in the life course. In the present study, interaction variables at Time 1 (both during conflict and in an events‐of‐the‐day discussion following separation of the spouses for at least 8 hours) and noninteractive variables were used to predict divorcing both early and later in the marriage. A different set of variables predicted early divorcing than predicted later divorcing. Negative affect during conflict predicted early divorcing, but it did not predict later divorcing. By contrast, the lack of positive affect in events‐of‐the‐day and conflict discussions predicted later divorcing, but it did not predict early divorcing. Prediction was possible over the 14‐year period of the study with a model that included marital satisfaction, thoughts of marital dissolution, and affective interaction in both conversations. The model predicted divorce with 93% accuracy.
Step In or Stay Out? Parents' Roles in Adolescent Siblings' Relationships
Authors: McHale Susan M. , Updegraff Kimberly A. , Tucker Corinna J. , Crouter Ann C.
Published: March 2004

We studied parents' direct involvement in adolescent sibling relationships, including parents' reactions to sibling conflict and their time spent in the company of the sibling dyad. Participants were 185 White, working‐ and middle‐class families; firstborns averaged 15 and secondborns averaged 13.5 years of age. In separate home interviews mothers, fathers and both adolescents described their personal and family relationship qualities and experiences. In a series of 7 evening phone calls, family members reported on each day's activities including the time they spent and their companions in 63 daily activities (e.g., do dishes, play sports, talk on phone). Analyses revealed 3 general conflict reactions by parents: (a) noninvolvement (e.g., tell siblings to work out problem themselves); (b) intervene (e.g., step in and solve problem); and (c) coach (e.g., give advice about how to solve problem). We found mother‐father differences in conflict reactions and time spent with siblings; differences in parents' direct involvement as a function of the gender constellation of the sibling dyad also were evident. Direct involvement was linked to sibling relationship qualities and explained variance beyond that accounted for by an index of indirect involvement, that is, parental warmth. Further, parents' orientations toward autonomy were linked to the indices of involvement such that parents with stronger autonomy orientations were less involved, and parents' orientations explained variance in their involvement beyond that explained by adolescent characteristics.
Parents' Affect, Adolescent Cognitive Representations, and Adolescent Social Development
Authors: Paley Blair , Conger Rand D. , Harold Gordon T.
Published: March 2004

Prior research regarding the role of parent‐child relationships in children's social development generally has been limited to concurrent or short‐term longitudinal data and has focused primarily on mothers' influence in the early or middle childhood years. Using a multimethod, multiinformant design, the present study extends previous findings by examining whether maternal and paternal affect predicted adolescent social behavior and peer acceptance 2 years later. Both maternal and paternal affect had significant direct and indirect effects (via adolescent cognitive representations of parents) on adolescent negative social behavior as reported by siblings, which in turn predicted decreased peer acceptance as rated by teachers. Findings suggest that both mothers and fathers shape adolescent social development and attest to the importance of exploring multiple pathways that may account for continuity in parent‐child and peer relationships.
Social Contingencies in Mental Health: A Seven‐Year Follow‐Up Study of Teenage Mothers
Authors: Turner R. Jay , Sorenson Ann M. , Turner J. Blake
Published: March 2004

This paper reports analyses from a 7‐year follow‐up investigation of women pregnant as teenagers who had been studied during their pregnancy and shortly following their child's birth. The objective of these analyses was to identify potentially modifiable factors that might influence or condition psychological adaptation within this high‐risk population. Consistent with prior research, differences in social support and in personal resources or attributes effectively predicted depressive symptomatology, suggesting that such differences constitute crucial mental health contingencies and thereby represent promising intervention targets. Contrary to prior research, differences in stress exposure were found to be of substantial explanatory significance, with lifetime accumulation of major, potentially traumatic events representing the most significant element. These findings suggest the need to develop a greater understanding of socially or programatically modifiable determinants of stress exposure and to take seriously the prospect of developing interventions that reduce such exposure.
Welfare and Work: Complementary Strategies forLow‐Income Women?
Authors: Smith Judith R. , Brooks‐Gunn Jeanne , Klebanov Pamela K. , Lee Kyunghee
Published: March 2004

We examine the effects of mothers' strategies of combining employment and welfare receipt during the first 3 years of their child's life on the child's cognitive development, behavior problems, and home learning environment at ages 5 to 6. We compare the child outcomes of those mothers who were continuously employed and received no welfare with (a) those who worked some or all of the 3 years and also received public assistance and (b) those who were totally dependent on public assistance. We studied children in single‐parent families (N= 1271) living below 200% of the poverty threshold using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—Child Supplement. No negative association was found on most child outcomes with a mother's employment whether or not it was combined with public assistance. However, mothers' not working at all and receiving financial support solely from AFDC was associated with negative child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the possible effects of the new welfare laws on families and young children.
The Sociology of Adolescence and Youth in the 1990s: A Critical Commentary
Authors: Furstenberg Frank F.
Published: March 2004

The 1990s saw considerable advances in the state of research on adolescence and youth. This article provides a critical commentary on a subset of this research, focusing on the causes and consequences of the lengthened period in which the transition to adulthood occurs. It provides a brief history of adolescence research, identifying a select set of topics, themes, and research problems that will guide research on adolescence and youth over the next decade. These research foci, which include peer group relations, biological influences on adolescence, employment experiences, increased autonomy, and racial and gender differences, are described as representing either continuities or advances in adolescence research. The strengths and shortcomings of this research are detailed. The paper concludes by suggesting promising areas for future research and by providing guidelines for undertaking such research.
Families in the Middle and Later Years: A Review and Critique of Research in the 1990s
Authors: Allen Katherine R. , Blieszner Rosemary , Roberto Karen A.
Published: March 2004

Research on families in the middle and later years came into its own during the 1990s, documenting the complexity, malleability, and variety of older family connections. We examined 908 articles on family gerontology topics, observing 4 trends: Conceptually, an appreciation for pluralism and resilience as individuals and families age is apparent. Theoretically, life course, feminist, socioemotional selectivity, and family solidarity theories are increasingly applied to intergenerational family relations. Methodologically, new interest in qualitative methods for studying diverse groups has improved the depth with which aging studies can account for variability in old age; new quantitative methodologies have allowed greater sophistication in dealing with longitudinal data. Substantively, there is greater understanding of family caregiving, social support, parent‐child relationships, marital transitions, and grandparenting relationships. The field is poised to take even greater risks in fulfilling the promise of studying linked lives over time.
Decade Review: Observing Marital Interaction
Authors: Gottman John M. , Notarius Clifford I.
Published: March 2004

This article reviews the advances made in the decade of the 1990s in observing marital interaction. Many technological advances in data collection, including synchronization of physiology, behavior, and cognition, and advances in data analysis such as sequential analysis, have yielded new understanding and advances in prediction of marital outcomes. The advances have also included the study of developmental processes, including the transition to parenthood and the study of midlife and older marriages. Central advances have been made in the study of affect and the study of power and in their integration. This advance has included the mathematical modeling of interaction using nonlinear difference equations and the development of typologies. There has been an added focus on health outcomes and the bidirectional effects of marriages on children. There has been an expansion of the study of marital interaction to common comorbid psychopathologies. Most important has been emergent theorizing based on the interaction of behavior, perception, and physiology, as well as their predictive power.
Research on the Nature and Determinants of Marital Satisfaction: A Decade in Review
Authors: Bradbury Thomas N. , Fincham Frank D. , Beach Steven R. H.
Published: March 2004

Scientific study of marital satisfaction attracted widespread attention in the 1990s from scholars representing diverse orientations and goals. This article highlights key conceptual and empirical advances that have emerged in the past decade, with particular emphasis on (a) interpersonal processes that operate within marriage, including cognition, affect, physiology, behavioral patterning, social support, and violence; (b) the milieus within which marriages operate, including microcontexts (e.g., the presence of children, life stressors and transitions) and macrocontexts (e.g., economic factors, perceived mate availability); and (c) the conceptualization and measurement of marital satisfaction, including 2‐dimensional, trajectory‐based, and social‐cognitive approaches. Notwithstanding the continued need for theoretical progress in understanding the nature and determinants of marital satisfaction, we conclude by calling for more large‐scale longitudinal research that links marital processes with sociocultural contexts, for more disconfirmatory than confirmatory research, and for research that directly guides preventive, clinical, and policy‐level interventions.
Families in Poverty in the 1990s: Trends, Causes, Consequences, and Lessons Learned
Authors: Seccombe Karen
Published: March 2004

During the 1990s, poverty rates in the United States remained relatively stable despite a robust economy in which unemployment and inflation were at their lowest points in many years. Approximately 13% of individuals, 11% of families, and 19% of children lived below the poverty line in 1998, a decline of only 1% or less for each of these categories since 1990. These high rates of poverty result in many severe consequences. This essay reviews the research and theoretical and conceptual developments during the past decade, including: (a) a background on how the poverty line was developed; (b) general research themes in the 1990s; (c) the causes of the virtually unchanged poverty rate; (d) the consequences of poverty, particularly for children; and (e) the lessons we have learned from research over the past decade, with some directions for the future.
Gender and Families: Feminist Perspectives and Family Research
Authors: Fox Greer Litton , Murry Velma McBride
Published: March 2004

This review provides a selective overview of scholarship on gender and families over the past decade. First, we discuss four characteristics of feminist perspectives to theoretical and methodological issues in social science. Then we describe briefly how feminist sensibility has been reflected in family scholarship over the past decade. We conclude with brief observations on the disjuncture between academic work on gender and the feminist backlash apparent in the contemporary culture.
The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children
Authors: Amato Paul R.
Published: March 2004

I use a divorce‐stress‐adjustment perspective to summarize and organize the empirical literature on the consequences of divorce for adults and children. My review draws on research in the 1990s to answer five questions: How do individuals from married and divorced families differ in well‐being? Are these differences due to divorce or to selection? Do these differences reflect a temporary crisis to which most people gradually adapt or stable life strains that persist more or less indefinitely? What factors mediate the effects of divorce on individual adjustment? And finally, what are the moderators (protective factors) that account for individual variability in adjustment to divorce? In general, the accumulated research suggests that marital dissolution has the potential to create considerable turmoil in people's lives. But people vary greatly in their reactions. Divorce benefits some individuals, leads others to experience temporary decrements in well‐being, and forces others on a downward trajectory from which they might never recover fully. Understanding the contingencies under which divorce leads to these diverse outcomes is a priority for future research.
Beyond the Nuclear Family: The Increasing Importance of Multigenerational Bonds
Authors: Bengtson Vern L.
Published: March 2004

Family relationships across several generations are becoming increasingly important in American society. They are also increasingly diverse in structure and in functions. In reply to the widely debated “family decline” hypothesis, which assumes a nuclear family model of 2 biological parents and children, I suggest that family multigenerational relations will be more important in the 21st century for 3 reasons: (a) the demographic changes of population aging, resulting in “longer years of shared lives” between generations; (b) the increasing importance of grandparents and other kin in fulfilling family functions; (c) the strength and resilience of intergenerational solidarity over time. I also indicate that family multigenerational relations are increasingly diverse because of (a) changes in family structure, involving divorce and stepfamily relationships; (b) the increased longevity of kin; (c) the diversity of intergenerational relationship “types.” Drawing on the family research legacy of Ernest W. Burgess, I frame my arguments in terms of historical family transitions and hypotheses. Research from the Longitudinal Study of Generations is presented to demonstrate the strengths of multigenerational ties over time and why it is necessary to look beyond the nuclear family when asking whether families are still functional.
Parent‐Child Communication About Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use: What Do Parents Say and Does It Affect Youth Behavior?
Authors: Ennett Susan T. , Bauman Karl E. , Foshee Vangie A. , Pemberton Michael , Hicks Katherine A.
Published: March 2004

Parent‐child communication about tobacco and alcohol use is assumed to be critical to child use of these substances, but it rarely has been systematically described and related to adolescent use. This study included a national sample of 537 adolescent‐parent pairs interviewed by telephone at baseline and again 1 year later. Factor analysis of parent reports of communication identified 3 domains: rules and discipline, consequences and circumstances, and media influences. Communication in these domains varied by family characteristics, including parents' substance use and mother's education level. Contrary to assumptions, parent‐child communication was not related to initiation of smoking or drinking. Additional analyses suggested, however, that parent‐child communication about rules and discipline predicted escalation of use.
Quality of Parenting as Mediator of the Effect of Childhood Defiance on Adolescent Friendship Choices and Delinquency: A Growth Curve Analysis
Authors: Simons Ronald L. , Chao Wei , Conger Rand D. , Elder Glen H.
Published: March 2004

Social scientists agree that childhood antisocial behavior portends adolescent delinquency, but there is little agreement regarding the theoretical processes that account for this behavioral continuity. Latent growth curve modeling was used to test latent trait and social influence explanations for this association. The analyses used data collected annually over a 4‐year period from a sample of 149 boys, 157 girls, and their parents. Contrary to latent trait theories, we found no direct association between oppositional/defiant behavior during childhood and a trajectory of increasing involvement with deviant peers and delinquency during adolescence. Rather, early oppositional/defiant behavior undermined effective parenting practices. The latter, in turn, predicted an increasing affiliation with deviant peers and delinquency during adolescence. Improvements in parenting during adolescence decreased delinquency indirectly by reducing affiliation with deviant peers. Overall, the results support a life course development model in which difficult behavior during childhood increases the probability of adolescent deviant behavior because of its disruptive effect on quality of parenting.
Entry Into Parenthood and the Outcome of Cohabiting Partnerships in Britain
Authors: Berrington Ann
Published: March 2004

Data from a national cohort study of men and women born in Britain in 1958 are used to examine factors influencing the outcome of cohabiting first partnerships. Conception is found to be a key factor promoting marriage for both men and women. Observed gender differences in the estimated impact of children on partnership stability are likely due to the incomplete reporting of past fertility among men. Social class and educational differentials in the likelihood of female cohabitors experiencing a conception, and their likelihood of subsequent marriage, suggest that the role of cohabitation varies according to socioeconomic background.
Children's Time With Fathers in Intact Families
Authors: Yeung W. Jean , Sandberg John F. , Davis‐Kean Pamela E. , Hofferth Sandra L.
Published: March 2004

This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine children's involvement with their fathers in intact families as measured through time spent together. Our findings suggest that although mothers still shoulder the lion's share of the parenting, fathers' involvement relative to that of mothers appears to be on the increase. A “new father” role is emerging on weekends in intact families. Different determinants of fathers' involvement were found on weekdays and on weekends. Fathers' wages and work hours have a negative relationship with the time they spend with a child on weekdays, but not on weekends. Mothers' work hours have no effect on children's time with fathers. On weekends, Black fathers were found to be less involved and Latino fathers more involved with their children than are White fathers. The weekday‐weekend differential suggests that a simple gender inequality theory is not sufficient in explaining the dynamics of household division of labor in today's American families.
When She Earns More Than He Does: A Longitudinal Study of Dual‐Earner Couples
Authors: Brennan Robert T. , Barnett Rosalind Chait , Gareis Karen C.
Published: March 2004

In a random sample of 286 full‐time‐employed dual‐earner couples, we tested 3 competing hypotheses: when wives earn more than their husbands, (a) each partner's marital‐role quality (MRQ) decreases; (b) his MRQ increases, whereas effects on her MRQ are mixed; and (c) relationships vary with gender‐role beliefs (i.e., gender‐role ideology and subjective rewards of salary). We conceptualized salary as a couple‐level predictor with 4 components, 2 time varying and 2 time invariant, and estimated the relationship between 2 time‐varying components and MRQ. Women's MRQ was not significantly related to change in relative earnings. However, among men, the relationship varied by salary rewards.
An Exploration of the Influence of Household Poverty Spells on Mortality Risk
Authors: Oh Hyun Joo
Published: March 2004

Household poverty is dynamic and characterized in terms of spells. Exposure to poverty accumulates through the recurrence and persistence of spells, leading to divergent family adaptive strategies that contribute to mortality risk. The data set used in this study is longitudinal and contains socioeconomic and demographic data of a nationally representative sample. The findings are (a) poverty significantly increases mortality risk, controlling for age, gender, and race; (b) the first spell is especially potent, and mortality risk declines rapidly during subsequent spells; and (c) both direction and strength of these estimates are robust to marital status, but power diminishes significantly net of education and employment.
The Influence of Intimate Violence on Transitions out of Cohabitation
Authors: DeMaris Alfred
Published: March 2004

Does the experience of violence in a cohabiting union lead participants away from marriage and toward separation, or does violence have only minimal impact once other characteristics of unions and their participants are controlled? This issue is examined using a sample of 411 cohabiting couples followed in both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. Marriage and separation are treated as competing risks. Results show that violence does have an effect, although dissimilar effects emerge for transitions to separation, as opposed to marriage. Net of other factors, intense male violence—male violence that is more severe than the female partner's—raises the hazard of separation. In contrast, female violence, but not male violence, lowers the rate of marriage. The findings appear robust to a variety of operationalizations of partner violence.
Deconstructing Family Time: From Ideology to Lived Experience
Authors: Daly Kerry J.
Published: March 2004

“Family time” is often uncritically accepted as a uniform, coherent concept and a universally desirable goal. In order to fully understand the meaning of family time in experience, interviews were conducted with parents in 17 dual‐earner and 11 single‐parent families, and 8 observation episodes were done with 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children in childcare. What emerged was a dramatic discordance between the expectations and experiences of family time. Although families have held on to an expectation of a positive experience of togetherness, they are typically left with a feeling that there is never enough, that it is in the service of children, and that they are duty‐bound by it. There is a structural contradiction between the ideals and experience of family time that is typically expressed through disillusionment and guilt.