Followed 21 premarital couples over five-year period, using microanalyses of Time 1 interaction to predict relationship stability and adjustment. Found dyadic instability to be predicted by negativity reciprocity, positive reciprocity, and level of female's interruptions. Dyadic adjustment was predicted by female's interruptions. Findings support…

Examined the support systems of public school principals, comparing male and female and married and unmarried principals. Specific characteristics of spouses who provide support were explored. Data from surveys of 170 principals reveal males and married principals have a more concentrated support base, unmarried and female principals less so. It…

In a group of 154 U.S.-born and 127 Mexico-born Hispanic teens delivering at a county hospital in Houston, only 50 returned for their scheduled postpartum visit. Returning teens across groups were more likely to have no prenatal care, have a preterm or expired infant, report no educational plan, and have a support system. (KS)

Presents general model of understanding family and health. Summarizes and synthesizes ideas and findings about marriage and parenthood, the wife's or mother's employment status, and the family's socioeconomic status. Sees need for further research on impact of family on one's sense of control, which could be important link to health. (Author/NB)

Examined impact of diagnosis of affective disorder, anxiety disorder, and substance abuse before and after age 20 on multiple measures of education, socioeconomic and employment status, childbearing, marital status, and instability in 3,000 respondents from Piedmont Health Survey. Found all categories associated with social outcomes regardless of…

Analysis of employment continuity of three cohorts of women in their twenties (1968-73, 1971-77, 1975-80) supported behavior change (impact of social changes on labor force participation) as more influential in increasing continuity than changes in individual characteristics (such as marital status, childbearing). (SK)

With data from the Survey of Income Program Participation, a structural model analyzed decision to use child care of married and single mothers. Simulations indicated that a refundable child care tax credit would distribute child care benefits more equally and would also increase labor force participation of mothers. (SK)

Examined family support networks and operation of demographic and family network characteristics as determinants of assistance types (financial, emotional, child care) among single and married African-American mothers (n=620). Region, age, household structure, proximity to family, and kin affinity were significant predictors of assistance. Found…

Findings from 209 recently divorced women suggest two routes to poor adjustment among single parents. First consists of ramifications of inadequate resources, whereas second involves consequences of antisocial orientation. Single mothers with little education had low access to social network support and those under severe economic pressure…

Examined possibility that high rates of psychological distress, alcohol abuse, and mortality among divorced men reflects strains associated with being divorced fathers. Findings from 155 divorced fathers and 812 married fathers revealed that divorced fathers reported higher levels of parental role strain than did married fathers. (Author/NB)

Examines the impact of gender, marital status, and parent status on emotional closeness, confiding, and contact among siblings in middle and later life. Using data from a multistage quote sample that includes 528 respondents ages 55 and older who have 1 or more siblings, characteristics of respondents and siblings are studied. (Author)

Examines the effect of family indicators, including marriage, on migration from, and return to, Puerto Rico in the 1980s using data from surveys of 3,175 and 2,032 women. Single women apparently use migration to gain independence, but married women often follow men in the migration stream. (SLD)

Examines the life-course sequencing hypothesis that marriage before military service has a greater disruptive effect on marital stability than marriage during or after military service. Used event-history data from a 13-year panel study of 2,857 white males from Washington State high schools in 1966. Compares Vietnam combat veterans (n=610),…

Presents evidence that policy changes in Delaware with regard to welfare reform did influence marriage and childbearing outcomes using survey data from the state's A Better Chance (ABC) program (n=1,547). After 18 months, the program had positive effects on marital cohabitation, but only a small impact on actual fertility, although it reduced the…

Some peculiarly low male-to-female suicide ratios have been reported in the Far Eastern populations. This article attempts to investigate whether there are gender differences in suicide risk by socio-demographic factors in Hong Kong, and hereby to explain the low male-to-female suicide ratios. The effects of marital status, duration-of-residence,…