Showing papers in "Journal of Marriage and Family in 2014"

Gender Differences in Marital Satisfaction: A Meta-analysis

Abstract: The purpose of the present meta-analysis was to empirically test the widely held assumption that women experience lower marital satisfaction than men. A total of 226 independent samples with a combined sum of 101,110 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Overall results indicated statistically significant yet very small gender differences in marital satisfaction between wives and husbands, with wives slightly less satisfied than husbands; moderator analyses, however, indicated that this difference was due to the inclusion of clinical samples, with wives in marital therapy 51% less likely to be satisfied with their marital relationship than their husbands. The effect size for nonclinical community-based samples indicated no significant gender differences among couples in the general population. Additional moderator analyses indicated that there were also no gender differences when the levels of marital satisfaction of husbands and wives in the same relationship (i.e., dyadic data) were compared.

Happy Marriage, Happy Life? Marital Quality and Subjective Well-Being in Later Life.

Abstract: The authors examined associations between marital quality and both general life satisfaction and experienced (momentary) well-being among older husbands and wives, the relative importance of own versus spouse's marital appraisals for well-being, and the extent to which the association between own marital appraisals and well-being is moderated by spouse's appraisals Data are from the 2009 Disability and Use of Time daily diary supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 722) One's own marital satisfaction is a sizable and significant correlate of life satisfaction and momentary happiness; associations do not differ significantly by gender The authors did not find a significant association between spouse's marital appraisals and own well-being However, the association between husband's marital quality and life satisfaction is buoyed when his wife also reports a happy marriage, yet flattened when his wife reports low marital quality Implications for understanding marital dynamics and well-being in later life are discussed

Estimating the Effects of Parental Divorce and Death With Fixed Effects Models

Abstract: The authors used child fixed effects models to estimate the effects of parental divorce and death on a variety of outcomes using 2 large national data sets: (a) the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (kindergarten through the 5th grade) and (b) the National Educational Longitudinal Study (8th grade to the senior year of high school). In both data sets, divorce and death were associated with multiple negative outcomes among children. Although evidence for a causal effect of divorce on children was reasonably strong, effect sizes were small in magnitude. A second analysis revealed a substantial degree of variability in children's outcomes following parental divorce, with some children declining, others improving, and most not changing at all. The estimated effects of divorce appeared to be strongest among children with the highest propensity to experience parental divorce.

Parenthood and Life Satisfaction: Why Don't Children Make People Happy?

Abstract: One of the most frequently cited reasons for having children is the expectation of diverse emotional rewards of parenthood (Schoen, Kim, Nathanson, Fields, & Astone, 1997) Almost all empirical studies on the association between parenthood and subjective well-being, however, have ascertained that parents of minor children are no happier or are even less happy than childless people McLanahan and Adams (1987) concluded in their widely cited review that "no [scholar] has found that parents are better off than nonparents on any of the conventional measures of well-being" (p 243) Severalstudies on the association between parenthood and life satisfaction published in the 1990s and 2000s confirmed McLanahan and Adams's conclusion (eg, Evenson & Simon, 2005; Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2003) In a recent survey of the literature on this issue, Hansen (2012) noted that "most cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence suggests thatpeople are better off without having children" (p29)Many scholars in the field of family research, such as Bird (1997), Evenson and Simon (2005), Nomaguchi and Milkie (2003), McLanahan and Adams (1987), Twenge, Campbell, and Foster (2003),andVanassche,Swicegood,andMatthijs (2013), have claimed that parenthood is both rewarding and burdensome and that the posi- tive and negative effects of children offset each other This hypothesis has been described as the cost-of-children hypothesis (Hansen, 2012) or the demand-reward perspective (Nomaguchi, 2012) Empirical studies, however, have largely focused on the burdensome aspect of parent- hood Previous research has shown that par- enthood is associated with increased marital conflict (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2003), depres- sion (Evenson & Simon, 2005), decreased mar- ital satisfaction (Keizer, Dykstra, & Poortman, 2010; Twenge et al, 2003), and decreased sat- isfaction with one's financial situation (Stanca, 2012)Incontrast,asNomaguchi(2012)recently pointed out, explicit empirical research that focuses on the rewards of parenthood has been limited To understand the psychological conse- quences of parenthood, however, it is important to recognize not only the burdensome aspects but also the beneficial aspects thereof and to grasp the ways in which they offset each otherThis study contributes to the literature on parental well-being by investigating how financial and time costs of children act as suppressors of parents' life satisfaction Although the cost-of-children hypothesis has been proposed in the research on parenthood as the primary reason why parenthood does not enhance life satisfaction, I am aware of no study to date that has examined how and to what extent the costs and benefits of parenthood offset each other Drawing on the basic arguments of the value-of-children approach, I hypothesized that (a) parenthood on its own has a positive effect on life satisfaction, (b) these life satisfaction- enhancing effects are offset by child costs, and (c) the impact of children on life satisfaction varies according to the family context Some family circumstances, such as single parenthood or parenthood in dual-earner households, have been shown to be particularly burdensome and stressful (Simon, 2008), whereas others, such as having newborns or toddlers in the household, may be exceptionally rewarding In the present studyItookdiversityamongparentsintoaccount by considering the number and age of children, the marital status of parents, and the employment arrangements of parents Because the main objective of this study was to scrutinize the counteracting forces of child costs and child benefits, my analysis focused on parents with children under the age of 18 years living at homeIt should be noted that in the empirical analysis I used data from Germany and that the benefits and costs of children may vary between different normative and institutional settings In contrast to the United States, where most adults believe that parenthood is pivotal for developing and maintaining emotional well-being and that childlessness leads to feelings of loneliness and emptiness (Simon, 2008), adults in Germany hold more ambivalent views of parenthood and are less likely to consider children as central to their personal fulfillment (Sobotka & Testa, 2008) …

Two Decades of Stability and Change in Age at First Union Formation

Abstract: The landscape of union formation has been shifting; Americans are now marrying at the highest ages on record and the majority of young adults have cohabited. Yet little attention has been paid to the timing of cohabitation relative to marriage. Using the National Survey of Families and Households and 4 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth, the authors examined the timing of marriage, cohabitation, and unions over 20 years. As the median age at first marriage has climbed, the age at cohabitation has remained stable for men and women. The changes in the timing of union formation have been similar according to race/ethnicity. The marked delay in marriage among women and men with low educational attainment has resulted in a near-convergence in the age at first marriage according to education. The authors conclude that the rise in cohabitation has offset changes in the levels and timing of marriage.

Does grandparenting pay off? The effect of child care on grandparents' cognitive functioning

Abstract: The authors examined whether the provision of child care helps older adults maintain better cognitive functioning. Descriptive evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (n = 5,610 women and n = 4,760 men, ages 50–80) shows that intensively engaged grandparents have lower cognitive scores than the others. The authors show that this result is attributable to background characteristics and not to child care per se. Using an instrumental variable approach, they found that providing child care has a positive effect on 1 of the 4 cognitive tests considered: verbal fluency. For the other cognitive tests, no statistically significant effect was found. Given the same level of engagement, they found very similar results for grandmothers and grandfathers. These findings point to the inclusion of grandparenting among other cognitively stimulating social activities and the need to consider such benefits when discussing the implications of this important type of nonmonetary intergenerational transfer.

The Motherhood Penalty at Midlife: Long-Term Effects of Children on Women's Careers

Abstract: The authors build on prior research on the motherhood wage penalty to examine whether the career penalties faced by mothers change over the life course. They broaden the focus beyond wages to also consider labor force participation and occupational status and use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women to model the changing impact of motherhood as women age from their 20s to their 50s (n = 4,730). They found that motherhood is “costly” to women’s careers, but the effects on all 3 labor force outcomes attenuate at older ages. Children reduce women’s labor force participation, but this effect is strongest when women are younger, and is eliminated by the 40s and 50s. Mothers also seem able to regain ground in terms of occupational status. The wage penalty for having children varies by parity, persisting across the life course only for women who have 3 or more children.

Parents' Relationship Quality and Children's Behavior in Stable Married and Cohabiting Families

Abstract: Although an extensive literature has shown that family structure is linked with child well-being, less well understood is how the dynamics within families affect children, in particular the extent to which positive mother–father relationship quality is linked with children’s outcomes. In this study the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 773) to examine how couple supportiveness in stable coresident families is related to children’s externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems over ages 3 through 9. Using latent growth curve and fixed effects models, they found that parents’ greater supportiveness has a slight association with lower levels of children’s behavioral problems. Using cross-lagged structural equation models to examine the direction of the association, they also found some evidence that parents’ relationship quality and children’s behavioral problems are reciprocally related. Overall, this study suggests that more positive couple interactions are beneficial for children residing with both of their biological parents.

The Long‐Term Effects of Building Strong Families: A Program for Unmarried Parents

Abstract: In 2010, over 40% of U.S. births were to unmarried parents (Martin et al., 2012). Most of the parents were in romantic relationships when their children were born; about half were living together (Carlson, McLanahan, England, & Devaney, 2005; Sigle-Rushton & McLana- han, 2002). Unmarried parents are typically optimistic about their future together, including the likelihood that they will eventually marry (Carlson et al., 2005). But these hopes are often unrealized. Most are no longer in a romantic relationship 5 years after their child's birth (Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, 2007).The disruption of unmarried parents' relation- ships is significant because children growing up in households that do not include both their biological parents are at greater risk of poor outcomes (Amato, 2005; Carlson & Corcoran, 2001; Kim, 2011; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). For this reason, there is con- siderable interest among policymakers in sup- porting unmarried parents' efforts to maintain their relationships. The 1996 Personal Respon- sibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act made increasing the number of children raised in two-parent families an explicit pol- icy objective. In 2001, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched the Healthy Marriage Initiative. In 2005, Congress approved $100 million in annual funding for programs designed to encourage and strengthen marriage. This funding was continued in 2010 when Congress voted to provide $75 million annually for marriage education.Building Strong Families (BSF) was one of the first major projects under ACF's Healthy Marriage Initiative. The project developed, implemented, and tested voluntary programs designed to help unmarried, economically disadvantaged parents who were expecting or had just had a baby strengthen their couple relationship, with the ultimate goal of helping them create a stable and healthy home environment for their children. The main component of the BSF model was relationship skills education offered to couples in group sessions. The model was implemented in eight sites and tested using a random-assignment research design involving over 5,000 couples. To track couples' outcomes, telephone surveys were conducted with both mothers and fathers 15 and 36 months after they applied for BSF.Results based on the 15-month follow-up were released in 2010 (Wood, McConnell, Moore, Clarkwest, & Hsueh, 2010). That anal- ysis, which focused on interim outcomes- primarily the couples' relationship status and quality-found that BSF had no effect on these relationships when results from the eight evaluation sites were combined. However, the results varied across the eight sites, with one program having a consistent pattern of positive effects and another having a number of negative effects. The other six programs generally had little or no effect on relationships.In this article, we present final BSF impact results based on the 3-year follow-up. The analysis examines how the somewhat mixed picture that emerged at 15 months has evolved over the longer term. It is important to examine long-term impacts because changes in relationship status can take time to unfold. Moreover, in this article we extend the analysis to additional domains associated with child well-being that were not examined in the 15- month analysis. The ultimate aim of BSF was to improve child well-being by improving parents' relationship stability and quality. To examine BSF's success in this area, we estimated impacts on the well-being of the children who made these couples eligible for BSF services: those born around the time couples applied for the program and who were about 3 years old at the final follow-up.In addition, we examined BSF's effects on the couples who actually received the program's core service of relationship skills education. Getting couples to attend sessions proved challenging, and 45% of couples who were offered program services never attended these sessions. …

The Transition to Parent Care: Costs, Commitments, and Caregiver Selection Among Children

Abstract: Current estimates indicate that around 20 mil- lion Americans provide care to their frail parents (Connidis, 2010; National Alliance for Caregiv- ing & AARP, 2009). Some of these caregivers share the responsibility equitably with their sib- lings (Matthews, 1987; Matthews & Rosner, 1988). In the majority of families, however, a child who acts as primary provider to an aging parent has siblings who are largely exempted from caregiving responsibilities (Checkovich & Stern, 2002). In life course terms, some siblings experience the transition to parent care whereas others do not.How does this occur? In the extensive literature on family caregiving, this question has been almost entirely ignored. Of course, the literature is replete with findings on the characteristics of caregivers as well as the consequences of caregiving. There are two gaps in existing knowledge, however, that preclude a comprehensiveunderstandingofadultchildren's transition into the role of a primary caregiver.First, although entering this role is commonly recognized as a key transition in later life, most studies provide only cross-sectional, post hoc assessments of parent care (e.g., Henretta, Soldo, & Van Voorhis, 2011; Hogan, Eggebeen, & Clogg, 1993). In a similar vein, existing longitudinal research has mainly focused on "caregiving careers" (Brody, 1985), opening the window of observation only after parent care has already been initiated (Dwyer, Henretta, Coward, & Barton, 1992; Szinovacz & Davey, 2007, 2013). Obviously, these designs do not allow tracing the process of caregiver selection.Second, although caregiving is commonly recognized as a phenomenon most frequently situated within a larger family context, the majority of studies have looked only at selected caregiving relationships in isolation from this context. Regarding transitions to parent care, this analytical approach permits only between- family comparisons of parent-child dyads selected from different families, thus ignoring the group of siblings as complementary or alternative providers. In this regard, a number of within-family studies of parent care have provided important insight into differences between siblings. Regarding transitions to parent care, however, conclusions remain preliminary, becausetheprocessofcaregiverselectionamong siblings has been explored only in cross section, either prospectively (Pillemer & Suitor, 2006) or retrospectively (Henretta, Hill, Li, Soldo, & Wolf, 1997).In the present study, we addressed both gaps of research by investigating the transition to parent care (a) longitudinally and (b) from a within-family perspective. On the basis of this design, we aimed to contribute to the literature in three main ways. First, at a general level, we offer a quantitative assessment of the process of caregiver selection among siblings. Our approach allowed us not only to trace the transition to parent care over time but also to examine the selection of a caregiver as an outcome determined by the relative constellation of caregiving costs and commitments within families. Second, more specifically, we studied the importance of numerous characteristics that varied among siblings and appeared likely to constitute key factors bearing on the process of caregiver selection. It is important to note that our data allowed us to reach beyond simple rational choice frameworks, considering not only siblings' relative costs in terms of availability and constraints but also indicators for their normative and affective commitments to parent care. Third, we were able to assess the importance of these characteristics before actual transitions to parent care. Compared to previous within-family studies of parent care, this panel approach yielded critical benefits in dealing with endogeneity of crucial predictor variables such as employment status, geographical distance, and contact frequency.For the empirical analyses, we used data from six waves (1998-2008) of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; http://hrsonline. …

Trends in Cohabitation Outcomes: Compositional Changes and Engagement Among Never‐Married Young Adults

Abstract: Cohabitation is now the modal first union for young adults, and most marriages are preceded by cohabitation even as fewer cohabitations transition to marriage. These contrasting trends may be due to compositional shifts among cohabiting unions, which are increasingly heterogeneous in terms of cohabitation order, engagement, and the presence of children, as well as across socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. The author constructs 5-year cohabitation cohorts for 18- to 34-year-olds from the 2002 and 2006–2010 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth (n = 17,890 premarital cohabitations) to examine the outcomes of cohabitations over time. Compared to earlier cohabitations, those formed after 1995 were more likely to dissolve, and those formed after 2000 were less likely to transition to marriage even after accounting for the compositional shifts among individuals in cohabiting unions. Higher instability and decreased chances of marriage occurred among both engaged and non-engaged individuals, suggesting society-wide changes in cohabitation over time.

Family Policy and Fertility Intentions in 21 European Countries

Abstract: The debate over whether policies influence childbearing decision making continues, and, in contexts of very low fertility, questions of how policies may support higher fertility are central to understanding future fertility patterns. Some comparative macro-level analyses support the idea that family policies can influence fertility (Blanchet & Ekert-Jaffe, 1994; Castles, 2003; Ferrarini, 2006; Gauthier & Hatzius, 1997; Rovny, 2011; Winegarden & Bracy, 1995), and research on single policies within one or a few countries also suggests that generous family policies may increase fertility rates (see Gauthier, 2007, for an overview). Few studies, however, have comprehensively evaluated broader sets of family policies and how they relate to fertility decision making at the indi- vidual level, making use of contextual variation across a wide range of countries. Earlier studies have also not sufficiently considered the conse- quences of different family policies. Therefore, a policy perspective that is multidimensional and considers different policy orientations is needed in the discussion (Korpi, 2000; Korpi, Ferrarini, & Englund, 2013; Sainsbury, 1996).In this study, we evaluated whether and in what ways family policies are related to women's and men's intentions to have a child. In the process of fertility decision making and behavior, intentions follow childbearing desires and precede actual behavior; "intended or expected births reflect the combined effect of fertility demand and situational constraints on achieving desired fertility" (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Thomson & Brandreth, 1995, p. 82). Because fertility intentions reflect internal and external influences, they are an important stage in the fertility decision-making and behavior process to observe in relation to macro-level conditions (Philipov, Thevenon, Klobas, Bernardi, & Liefbroer, 2009). To date, how intentions are influenced by family policy has yet to be explored, even though finding a link between policies and intentions is essential for validating the more complex relationship between policies and behavior.Using multidimensional family policy indices, we quantitatively represented the complexity of a comprehensive set of legislated family policies. The two dimensions of family policy we argue to be the most relevant to fertility intentions-(a) traditional family support, which sustains a gendered division of labor, and (b) support to earner-carer families (in which both members of a couple are earners and carers)-reflect another increasingly important debate within fertility research: the role of gender equality or gender equity (see Mason & Oppenheim, 1998; McDonald, 2000; Mills, 2010; Neyer, 2006; Neyer, Lappega rd, & Vignoli, 2011). The implications of family policies for fertility cannot be discussed without addressing the role of gender (in)equality, because different policy orientations influence how men and women divide care and paid work.In contrast to the vast majority of research, we analyzed fertility intentions of both men and women. Including men is important because of their influence in a couple's fertility decision- making process (Thomson, 1997; Thomson & Hoem, 1998). How gender equality influences men's fertility intentions has recently been subject to debate, in which conflicting evidence has emerged suggesting that gender equality can both positively (Mills, 2010; Neyer et al., 2011; Puur, Olah, Tazi-Preve, & Dorbritz, 2008) and negatively influence men's fertility intentions (Westoff & Higgins, 2009), depending on how gender equality is supported (Goldscheider, Olah, & Puur, 2010).In this study, we used comparable data for 21 countries,whichcoverhighandlowfertilitycon- texts in Europe. Over the 2000s, the period total fertility rate in 10 of these countries fluctuated mostly between 1.6 and 2 children per women (Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, and the United Kingdom), and the total fertility rate in the other 11 fluctuated between 1. …

Relationship Satisfaction Trajectories Across the Transition to Parenthood Among Low-Risk Parents

Abstract: One thing is a certainty during the transition to parenthood: adjustment. Adjustment, however, does not inevitably mean change for the worse, and not all parents necessarily experience the transition in the same way (Belsky & Hsieh, 1998; Belsky & Rovine, 1990). Indeed, the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation (VSA) model, as proposed by Karney and Bradbury (1995), suggests that adjustment to any stressful life event (like the transition to parenthood) will vary depending on the individual's or couple's enduring vulnerabilities, stressors, and adaptive processes. Despite the diversity with which new parents may adjust to the transition to parent-hood, differences in patterns of adjustment have been largely overlooked in past research. One specific outcome that has received particular attention in prior research is relationship sat-isfaction, with a plethora of studies indicating relationship satisfaction declines, on average, across the transition to parenthood (see Mitnick, Heyman, & Smith-Slep, 2009, for a review). Yet, because these studies tend to examine the average experience of new parents, the current literaturerevealslittleaboutdifferenttrajectories of change. Furthermore, no studies have exam-ined the vulnerability, stress, and adaptation risk factors that may distinguish membership in different trajectories of relationship satisfaction change. The current study fills the gap in the lit-eraturebyutilizingalow-risksampleof206new parents to identify distinct subgroups of change trajectories in relationship satisfaction. On the basis of the VSA model and interdependence theory (Rusbult & Arriaga, 1997), we examined prenatal actor and partner predictors of subgroup membership in relationship satisfaction change as well as whether individuals tend to experience similar patterns of change as their partner.RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION ACROSS THE TRANSITION TO PARENTHOODA large body of research has established that new parents, on average, experience small to moderate declines in relationship satisfaction (e.g., Lawrence, Rothman, Cobb, Rothman, & Bradbury, 2008; Mitnick et al., 2009). Yet, as Mitnick and colleagues (2009) pointed out, there is considerable heterogeneity across different studies; although most studies have found that relationship satisfaction significantly declines across the transition to parenthood (e.g., Lawrence et al., 2008), others have not found such a decline (e.g., Wallace & Gotlib, 1990). Thus, the question remains: Why do only some studies find declines in relationship satisfaction across the transition to parenthood? We propose that different studies produce different results because of group differences in how parents experience the birth of their first child.Even though recent studies (e.g., Doss, Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2009; Lawrence et al., 2008) have tended to find that relationship satisfaction declines, on average, across the transition to parenthood, an average trajectory may not adequately summarize relationship satisfaction change for all new parents. The VSA model suggests that relationship adjustment in response to any major stressful event will vary depending on the individual's or couple's enduring vulnerabilities, the stress of the event, and the individual's or couple's response to the event in order to adapt. Although existing studies have modeled individual variability around an average-change trajectory (Doss et al., 2009; Lawrence et al., 2008), fitting an average-change trajectory to an entire group of new parents may mask subgroups within the data, which could be distinct in nature (Nagin, 1999, 2005). For example, if a majority of new parents experience little change in relationship satisfaction while a smaller subgroup of parents experience large declines, the declining subgroup could drag the overall sample mean down. We call this the subgroup hypothesis, and it suggests two things: (a) that patterns of change for new parents are heterogeneous and (b) that a subgroup of parents who experience substantial declines will affect the mean change trajectory of the entire group. …

Couple Longevity in the Era of Same-Sex Marriage in the United States

Abstract: Among heterosexual couples, marriage has long been associated with couple stability. Because same-sex couples have only recently won gov- ernment recognition for their marriages in the United States and elsewhere, less is known about marital stability among same-sex couples. Fam- ily science has much to learn about marital pat- terns among same-sex couples, and the marital patterns of same-sex couples may offer insights into the changing nature of marriage and cou- ple stability in general. I used data from the How Couples Meet and Stay Together (HCMST) surveys (Rosenfeld, Thomas, & Falcon, 2011, 2014) to compare couple dissolution rates for heterosexual and same-sex couples for the first time with nationally representative longitudinal data from the United States.Previous Research on Same-Sex Couple Relationship LongevityResearch on same-sex couple longevity using data that predated the era of same-sex marriage generally showed that same-sex couples were less stable than heterosexual couples. Blum- stein and Schwartz's (1983) pioneering work American Couples: Money, Work, Sex suggested that heterosexual married couples were the least likely type of couple to have broken up after 18 months, followed by heterosexual cohabiting couples and gay male couples, and lesbian cou- ples had the highest break-up rate of all couple types. Kurdek (1998, 2004) found that gay male cohabiting couples and lesbian cohabiting cou- ples had similar rates of breakup, both higher than the break-up rate of heterosexual married couples. Balsam, Beauchaine, Rothblum, and Solomon (2008) followed a cohort of same-sex couples who obtained civil unions in Vermont, matched to comparison groups. Over 3 years, the same-sex couples without civil unions had the highest rate of breakup (9.3%), followed by same-sex couples with civil unions (3.8%) and heterosexual married couples (2.7%). Bal- sam et al.'s study is one important demonstration of the association between relationship formal- ization and couple stability for same-sex cou- ples. Despite the importance of their work on same-sex couple longevity in the United States, neither Kurdek (1998, 2004) nor Balsam et al. nor Blumstein and Schwartz had the beneficial advantages of nationally representative data.At least four studies have used population- based samples to analyze same-sex couple longevity in Europe. Andersson, Noack, Seier- stad, and Weedon-Fekjaer (2006) found that gay male couples with registered partnerships in the 1990s in Sweden had a risk of breakup simi- lar to heterosexual married couples, whereas lesbian couples with registered partnerships had rates of breakup two to three times higher than the break-up rate of heterosexual married couples. Kalmijn, Loeve, and Manting (2007) found that same-sex cohabiting couples had odds of breakup three times higher than hetero- sexual cohabiting couples and 11 times higher than heterosexual married couples. Lau (2012) used retrospective cohabiting relationship ros- ters from two British birth cohort surveys (birth cohorts 1958 and 1970) and showed that same-sex couples had substantially higher odds of breakup than heterosexual couples. After Britain established civil partnerships for same-sex couples in 2005, the British Office of National Statistics studied civil partnerships and heterosexual marriages for 2005-2010. Ross, Cask, and Berrington (2011) found that the break-up rate of same-sex civil partnerships in Britain was lower than the break-up rate of heterosexual marriages formed during the same period. In the United States, there has been an absence of nationally representative longitudinal data on same-sex relationships. In this article I deploy the first nationally represen- tative longitudinal study of same-sex couples, and I show that, controlling for marriage-like commitments, same-sex couples and hetero- sexual couples have similar levels of couple stability.Marriage And Marriage-like Unions DefinedThe definition of marriage for heterosexual couples in the United States is straightforward. …

Marital Conflict in Older Couples: Positivity, Personality, and Health

Abstract: The authors examine the implications of health and personality characteristics for late-life marital conflict using data from the 2010–2011 wave of the National Social Life Health and Aging Project, a nationally representative study with data on both partners in 955 marital and cohabitational dyads. Using these data, they relate characteristics of husbands to characteristics of their wives and vice versa. Wives with husbands in fair or poor physical health were more likely to report high levels of marital conflict, but the reverse was not true. Similarly, wives reported more conflict when their husbands were high on Neuroticism, high on Extraversion, and low on a new measure the authors call Positivity. The findings suggest noteworthy gender differences between men and women in the associations between individual characteristics and levels of marital conflict. The authors point to differences between husbands' and wives' marital roles as a contributor to these differences.

Paternal Incarceration and the Housing Security of Urban Mothers

Abstract: High rates of imprisonment among American fathers have motivated an ongoing examination of incarceration's role in family life. A growing literature suggests that incarceration creates material and socioemotional challenges not only for prisoners and former prisoners but also for their families and communities. The authors examined the relationship between fathers' incarceration and one such challenge: the housing insecurity of the mothers of their children. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,125) and a series of longitudinal regression models, they found that mothers' housing security was compromised following their partners' incarceration, an association likely driven in part, but not entirely, by financial challenges following his time in prison or jail. Given the importance of stable housing for the continuity of adult employment, children's schooling, and other inputs to healthy child development, the findings suggest a grave threat to the well-being of children with incarcerated fathers.

Paths to Intimate Relationship Quality From Parent–Adolescent Relations and Mental Health

Abstract: Using a developmental systems perspective and public-use longitudinal data from participants currently in a romantic relationship at Wave 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 2,970), the current study explored direct and indirect paths from parent–adolescent relationship quality to young adult intimate relationship quality. Structural equation modeling tested whether mental health (depressive symptoms and self-esteem) in the transition to adulthood mediated the association between parent–adolescent relations and young adult intimate relations. The results indicated that higher quality parent–adolescent relations predicted higher self-esteem and lower depressive symptoms during the transition to adulthood as well as higher young adult intimate relationship quality, controlling for adolescent mental health and parent–young adult relationship quality. Higher self-esteem during the transition to adulthood was associated with greater intimate relationship quality, whereas greater depressive symptomatology predicted reduced intimate relationship quality. One significant indirect path emerged: parent–adolescent relationship quality → self-esteem → intimate relationship quality.

A Population-Based Study of Alcohol Use in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Unions

Abstract: The present study advances research on union status and health by providing a first look at alcohol use differentials among different-sex and same-sex married and cohabiting individuals using nationally representative population-based data (National Health Interview Surveys 1997–2011, N = 181,581). The results showed that both same-sex and different-sex married groups reported lower alcohol use than both same-sex and different-sex cohabiting groups. The results further revealed that same-sex and different-sex married individuals reported similar levels of alcohol use, whereas same-sex and different-sex cohabiting individuals reported similar levels of alcohol use. Drawing on marital advantage and minority stress approaches, the findings suggest that it is cohabitation status—not same-sex status—that is associated with elevated alcohol rates.

Age at Coresidence, Premarital Cohabitation, and Marriage Dissolution: 1985–2009

Abstract: Does the age at which premarital cohabitors moved in together explain why they have been found to have an increased risk of marital dissolution? Explanations for the increased risk of marriage dissolution among those who marry young center on marital role preparation; for premarital cohabitors, many, if not most, of these roles began at the onset of cohabitation, not marriage. Analyses of the 1995, 2002, and 2006–2010 waves of the National Survey of Family Growth (N?=?7,037) revealed that age at coresidence explained a substantial portion of the higher marital dissolution risk of premarital cohabitors. In comparisons standardized by age at coresidence, the difference in risk of marital dissolution between premarital cohabitors and those who married without prior cohabitation (“direct marriers”) was much smaller than in comparisons standardized by age at marriage, and in some models this difference was not significant. Selection into direct marriage and premarital cohabitation was also examined.

Cohabitation, Relationship Quality, and Desistance From Crime

Abstract: Although the empirical links between marriage and desistance are well established, very little is known about the degree to which cohabitation is associated with changes in criminal behavior. This is a significant oversight given that, among some segments of the population, cohabitation has become more common than marriage. In this article, the author investigated the links between cohabitation and desistance from crime. In doing so, particular attention was paid to the possibility that similarities between the apparent effects of marriage and cohabitation are obscured by variations in relationship quality and the increasing tendency for cohabitation to precede marriage. Analyses based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (N = 3,232) indicate that cohabitation is associated with reductions in the rate of property and drug offending, but not the termination of violent, property, or drug offending. By contrast, marriage is consistently associated with large reductions in the rate of offending across the 3 crime categories as well as the abandonment of those crimes. These results provide greater insight into the links between adult family relationships, such as cohabitation and marriage, and desistance from crime.

Proceed With Caution? Parents' Union Dissolution and Children's Educational Achievement

Abstract: Using high-quality Norwegian register data on 49,879 children from 23,655 families, the authors estimated sibling fixed-effects models to explore whether children who are younger at the time of a parental union dissolution perform less well academically, as measured by their grades at age 16, than their older siblings who have spent more time living with both biological parents. Results from a baseline model suggest a positive age gradient that is consistent with findings in some of the extant family structure literature. Once birth order is taken into account, the gradient reverses. When analyses also control for grade inflation by adding year of birth to the model, only those children who experience a dissolution just prior to receiving their grades appear relatively disadvantaged. The results illustrate the need to specify and interpret sibling fixed-effects model with great care.

Have authoritarian parenting practices and roles changed in the last 50 years

Abstract: This study examined changes in authoritarian parenting practices and family roles in Sweden over the last 50 years. Data came from 3 cohorts (1958, 1981, and 2011) of young to middle-age adults liv ...

Grasping the Diversity of Cohabitation: Fertility Intentions Among Cohabiters Across Europe

Abstract: The authors examined the association between different meanings of cohabitation and fertility intentions. Using data from the Generations and Gender Surveys on 5,565 cohabiters from 9 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, and Russia), they proposed a cohabitation typology based on attitudes toward marriage, intentions to marry, and perceived economic deprivation. Despite substantial variation in the prevalence and types of cohabiting relationships across Europe, cohabitation has become a living arrangement within which childbearing intentions are commonly formed and at times carried out. The authors found that the meaning that cohabiters attached to their union influenced significantly their short-term fertility intentions, net of other covariates. Cohabiters who viewed their unions as a prelude to marriage were the most likely to plan to have a child in the near future, both in Western and Eastern European societies. The association between fertility intentions and marriage intentions was particularly strong among cohabiters who do not as yet have children in common, but it was also present in a more muted form among cohabitating parents. The findings suggest that, although marriage and childbearing are becoming less closely linked life events, they are not disconnected decisions for a large majority of cohabiters across Europe. Keywords: cohabitation; cohabitation typology; Europe; fertility intentions; Generations and Gender Surveys

Parental Migration and Education of Left-Behind Children: A Comparison of Two Settings.

Abstract: The out-migration of parents has become a common childhood experience worldwide. It can confer both economic benefits and social costs on children. Despite a growing literature, the circumstances under which children benefit or suffer from parental out-migration are not well understood. The present study examined how the relationship between parental out-migration and children’s education varies across migration streams (internal vs. international) and across 2 societies. Data are from the Mexican Family Life Survey (N = 5,719) and the Indonesian Family Life Survey (N = 2,938). The results showed that children left behind by international migrant parents are worse off in educational attainment than those living with both parents. Internal migration of parents plays a negative role in some cases, though often to a lesser degree than international migration. In addition, how the overall relationship between parental migration and education balances out varies by context: It is negative in Mexico but generally small in Indonesia.

“Where Have All the Good Men Gone?” Gendered Interactions in Online Dating

Abstract: This article explores gendered patterns of online dating and their implications for heterosexual union formation. The authors hypothesized that traditional gender norms combine with preferences for more socially desirable partners to benefit men and disadvantage women in the earliest stages of dating. They tested this with 6 months of online dating data from a mid-sized southwestern city (N = 8,259 men and 6,274 women). They found that both men and women tend to send messages to the most socially desirable alters in the dating market, regardless of their own social desirability. They also found that women who initiate contacts connect with more desirable partners than those who wait to be contacted, but women are 4 times less likely to send messages than men. They concluded that socioeconomic similarities in longer term unions result, in part, from relationship termination (i.e., nonreciprocity) rather than initial preferences for similar partners.

Parenting in Relation to School Dropout Through Student Engagement: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract: Given the negative personal and societal costs of leaving school early, an adolescent's decision regarding whether to graduate or drop out of school can be described as one of the most crucial developmental tasks of this age period. Findings from various countries indicate similar negative economic and psychosocial conse- quences for students who leave school before graduating. They face poorer prospects in the labor market compared to those who finish school, along with lower lifetime earnings and higher rates of unemployment (e.g., DG EAC, 2005; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001; Rumberger & Lamb, 2003). In addition, they seem to be at greater risk of becoming dependent on welfare, having health problems, and engaging in antisocial behavior (see Belfield & Levin, 2007; Lamb & Markussen, 2011). Many nations are concerned with reducing the possibility that a student will drop out or leave school before receiving an appropriate diploma or certification. At the same time, preventing dropout is a challenging task.The family has been recognized as one of the primary contributors to children's educa- tion (e.g., Baumrind, 1971; Rumberger, 1995; Steinberg, 2001). Thus, the main purpose of this study was to explore multidimensional aspects of parenting practices (Baumrind, 1971; Lam- born, Mounts, Steinberg, & Dornbusch, 1991) in relation to the educational status of young people (age 22), with a focus on their school dropout/graduation and how this relationship might be explained. More precisely, we exam- ined longitudinally how authoritative parents may contribute to their child's completing upper secondary school through the effect they have on that child's school engagement during the crit- ical period of adolescence when students tend to become less motivated (e.g., Simons-Morton & Chen, 2009; Wang & Eccles, 2012). This approach should contribute to better understand- ing of the roles parents play in their children's educational aspirations and success in school.Parenting and School DropoutResearchers in the field have focused strongly on structural factors such as family background in relation to students' academic achievement and school dropout. Although studies have con- sistently found that students of higher socio- economic status (SES) are more successful at school and less likely to drop out than students from lower SES families (e.g., McNeal, 1999), such findings do not provide insights into what it is in family life that promotes school suc- cess (Davis-Kean, 2005). Studies in the field have also been criticized for using overly spe- cific definitions of parental support (see Jeynes, 2007) such as contacts between parents and school, parental involvement in school activ- ities, and parent-child communication about school, all of which are said to reflect involve- ment in the child's education (Fan & Chen, 2001). In general, the findings from studies with this focus on parenting practices in relation to children's educational outcomes have been inconsistent and weaker than expected (see the review by Fan & Chen, 2001). Thus, to better understand the influence that parents have on their child's education it is important to look at a broader conceptualization of child upbring- ing that characterizes the parents' actions in their communications with their child (Stein- berg, 2001). Research has shown that parenting style (Baumrind, 1971), a broader conceptual- ization, predicts school dropout more strongly than parental involvement in the child's educa- tion (Blondal & Adalbjarnardottir, 2009).The authoritative parenting prototype is most consistently associated with Baumrind's (1971, 1991) pioneering work on the multidimensional characteristics of parenting. This approach sug- gests that most effective parenting practices are characterized by a responsive and demanding style as well as the granting of psychological autonomy (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Steinberg, 2001). …

Ambivalence in Older Parent–Adult Child Relationships: Mixed Feelings, Mixed Measures

Abstract: This research compared direct and indirect measures of ambivalence, 2 commonly used strategies for measuring intergenerational ambivalence between older parents and their adult children. Directly and indirectly measured ambivalence, corresponding to felt and potential manifestations of the construct, were contrasted with each other and across generations. Data were derived from 253 older parent–adult child dyads participating in the Longitudinal Study of Generations in 2005. Direct and indirect measures of ambivalence were moderately correlated with each other within each generation. Children expressed greater indirect ambivalence than their parents but were no different than their mothers or fathers in their levels of direct ambivalence. Multivariate regression analyses examining the relationship between each type of ambivalence with individual and relationship characteristics found differences in associations across equations. The results suggest that direct and indirect measures are related but represent 2 distinct conceptions of ambivalence. This research highlights the challenges in understanding the full complexity of intergenerational relations and suggests that both generational perspectives be considered in future research.

How to Deal With Moral Tales: Constructions and Strategies of Single‐Parent Families

Abstract: The rise in single-parent families by way of increases in divorce and nonmarital childbearing has been one of the most strongly pronounced trends in family behavior over the past decades. Correspondingly, surveys indicate a certain extent of liberalization in attitudes toward these phenomena (KalmijnU Thornton& Young-DeMarco, 2001). Nevertheless, negative and stigmatizing connotations with regard to single-parent families are still present, and the nuclear family ideology remains the yardstick against which single parents are perceived and measure their own families (Nelson, 2006; Usdansky, 2009). Yet knowledge is less profound in terms of the connections between such accounts and single-parent family members' ways of dealing with them.The present study contributes to the field in two respects. First, although recent work has elaborated on normative attitudes regarding single-parent families, this study additionally sheds light on the strategies that single parents and their children adopt in an attempt to deal with moral understandings. Second, research on this topic has so far relied basically on adult respondents' perspectives. Although an increasing number of investigations ask children about their family lives (Maes, De Mol, & Buysse, 2012; Moxnes, 2003; Rigg & Pryor, 2007), few of them concentrate on children's perspectives toward single-parent families or combine children's and their parents' perspectives. These aspects were covered in this study, which provides a detailed portrait of constructions of single-parent families and a systematic analysis of their strategies in dealing with normative accounts. Theoretically guided by social constructionist and configurational approaches, the study expands work on divorced and single-parent families (Coltrane & Adams, 2003; Hertz, 2002; Nelson, 2006; Nixon, Greene, & Hogan, 2013) and contributes to the debate over changing family forms and norms.BACKGROUNDFor decades of sociological debates about the family, Parsons and Bales (1956) set the terms with their structuralist conception of the nuclear family as a legally married, heterosexual couple, residing with at least one (biological) child, with the male adult acting as the primary income earner and the female adult being responsible for caring for husband, household, and children. Families that did not fit the nuclear family concept were regarded as a risk for the functioning of society. In recent decades, however, divorce rates have increased, and single-parent families and stepfamilies have become more prevalent (Amato & James, 2010; Teachman & Tedrow, 2008). These developments have led to a greater tolerance of family-related behavior that had formerly been categorized as nontraditional (Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2001).Dorothy Smith (1993) was one of the first investigators to point at the still-prevalent and powerful ideology of the Standard North American Family. Other scholars emphasized the enormous influence of the nuclear family ideology on family life and family-related behavior (Farrell, VandeVusse, & Ocobock, 2012; Hansen, 2005; Smart, 2007), children's lives within their families (Ribbens McCarthy, Edwards, & Gillies, 2000; Rigg & Pryor, 2007), and perceptions of divorce (Coltrane & Adams, 2003; Miles & Servaty-Seib, 2010; Moon, 2011). Within this body of work, the normative two-parent ideal was shown to be extraordinarily strong. Being brought up by married and resident biological parents is still widely regarded as the best option for children, and other family forms are seen as disadvantaged. This view does not correspond to empirical evidence indicating that the outcomes of divorce and single parenting depend on a variety of factors, such as economic and social resources, the coparental relationship, and the relationship between children and nonresident parents (Amato, 2000; Amato, Kane, & James, 2011).Attitudes toward single-parent families have been characterized as ambivalent or negative (Moxnes, 2003; Usdansky, 2009). …

The Decoupling of Marriage and Parenthood? Trends in the Timing of Marital First Births, 1945-2002.

Abstract: Family formation changed dramatically over the twentieth century in the United States. The impact of these changes on childbearing has primarily been studied in terms of nonmarital fertility. However, changes in family formation behavior also have implications for fertility within marriage. We use data from ten fertility surveys to describe changes in the timing of marital childbearing from the 1940s through the 21st century for non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black women. Based on harmonized data from the Integrated Fertility Survey Series, our results suggest increasing divergence in fertility timing for white women. A growing proportion of marriages begin with a premarital conception; at the same time, an increasing proportion of white women are postponing fertility within marriage. For black women, marital fertility is increasingly postponed beyond the early years of marriage. Evaluating the sequencing of marriage and parenthood over time is critical to understanding the changing meaning of marriage.

Reinstitutionalizing Families: Life Course Policy and Marriage in the Military

Abstract: The transition to adulthood has become an increasingly telescoped process for Americans, with marital formation occurring increasingly later in the life course. It is therefore striking to find a context like the U.S. military, in which marriage rates bear an anachronistic resemblance to those of the 1950s era. Using narrative data from life history interviews with military affiliates, the authors show that the military has reinstitutionalized military families at the same time that civilian families are becoming deinstitutionalized. Structural conditions of modern military service, such as war deployment and frequent geographical relocation, have created policies that rely on families to make these conditions more bearable for military personnel. These policies are part of an overarching institutional culture that directly and indirectly promotes marriage. The authors bring together life course literatures on turning points, the welfare state, and linked lives to show how the military has reinstitutionalized families in these ways.