Research Findings: This study analyzed the school readiness beliefs of parents of 452 children from public pre-kindergarten and the relations of these beliefs to socioeconomic status and children's readiness skills. Parents conceived readiness largely in terms of the ability to name objects, letters, or numbers, but few included inferential…

Using daily telephone interviews, 82 midlife parents (mean age = 57.4) of children with disabilities (mean age = 29.9) were compared with a closely matched sample of unaffected parents (N = 82) to elucidate the daily experience of non-normative parenting. In addition, salivary cortisol samples were obtained to examine whether parents of children…

The rigors of university life can be demanding, especially with non-traditional students juggling multiple responsibilities such as being a student, parent, and/or spouse, and working full-time. Such responsibilities can affect couple relationships and marriages. This article reviews the research literature on divorce among postsecondary students.…

This article examines the relationship between a woman's childbearing history and her later health and mortality, with primary focus on whether the association between them is due to early and later socioeconomic status. Data are drawn from the Health and Retirement Study birth cohort of 1931-1941. Results indicate that, conditional on reaching…

Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of mothers, we specify the conditions under which the neighborhood context shapes the experience of mastery. In so doing, we extend the work of others who have shown that neighborhood perceptions influence one's sense of personal control over and above the effects of sociodemographic…

This study examined the prevalence of selected clinical preventive health services, health status indicators, health risk behaviors, and health-promoting behaviors among adults aged 18 to 24 years in the general U.S. population. The study analyzed data from the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Nearly 30% of young adults lacked…

We draw on three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N = 2,249) to examine family stability among a recent birth cohort of children. We find that children born to cohabiting versus married parents have over five times the risk of experiencing their parents' separation. This difference in union stability is greatest for White children, as compared…

Via a simultaneous analysis of different life course pathways (marital, occupational, and childbearing histories) and different outcomes, this article addresses the question When does childlessness matter in late life and how? Survey data from Amsterdam (N = 661) and Berlin, Germany (N = 516) are used. Lifelong childlessness results in smaller…

A typology of crises is developed to be used with critical aspects of the social system to predict both crisis and postcrisis period role changes. The crisis framework is then applied to macro-changes in family structure in response to an archetypal crisis, World War II. Census data generally support the hypotheses. (Author)

Article investigated the widely held assumption that female teachers are less professional than male teachers, and that family considerations make the married female teacher face more barriers to professionalism than single female teachers. (Author/RK)

This paper analyzes singlehood as a positive choice made by adults. In-depth interviews with single men and women (N=20) reveal a complex set of experiences surrounding the decision to remain single. The growth of interpersonal support structures for singles and an emergent ideology of singlehood are identified. (Author)

This exploratory study focused on acculturation in the food habits of first generation Asian Indian immigrants in the United States. It was hypothesized that: 1) food habits of Asian Indians are changing toward the American pattern; and 2) these changes are directly related to the subject's sex, caste, age, marital status, and duration of exposure…

The rising health and social services needs of the elderly can be met in part by using the potential productivity of older people. This study examined the extent to which older people serve as a resource and the potentiality for further expanding their productive contributions. The Minnesota Senior Study involved a telephone survey with a…

The opinion that divorce is more painful and difficult for men than for women is widespread among both professionals and the public. This issue was examined in a study involving 50 divorced men and 44 divorced women in Trondheim, Norway. Interviews were conducted with respondents and the difficulty and pain of divorce were measured in part by each…

The National Survey of Family Growth is a periodic survey administered to women between the ages of 15 and 44 years and designed to produce national estimates of statistics on fertility, family planning, and aspects of maternal and child health that are closely related to childbearing. This report describes findings from the 1982 National Survey…