The "frontier atmosphere" explanation of high divorce rates in western areas of the United States was partially vindicated when comparisons were made between divorce rates in states having high migration rates and lower social costs with those states having low migration rates and higher social costs. (Author/CG)

Concludes that personal relations, professional experiences and occupational success form a network of relationships which integrate the occupational and nonoccupational roles of highly specialized practitioners. Part of a Study of Careers in the Mental Health Field, supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-09192 and directed by…

Higher psychological well-being among married persons may be because of social selection in marriage or of marriage effects. Findings from approximately 9,000 persons revealed that predictive power of well-being measures remained stable throughout 2- to 4-year period. Concluded that selection may play important part in producing association…

Used data from longitudinal Retirement History Study to compare widowed, divorced or separated, and never-married women and men aged 60 to 65 on 3 dimensions of friendship contacts. Results showed that contact with friends could not be distinguished solely by respondents' gender or marital status. Suggests that adequate attention must be paid to…

Investigated how taxes and public income transfers changed income, income distribution, and poverty rates. Transfers were more powerful than taxes in equalizing income distribution. Poverty reduction through non-means-tested transfer programs was more effective among elderly people, whites, and married-couple families. Poverty reduction through…

Individual-level data from National Survey of Families and Households confirm underlying assumptions of restricted marriage market models and contradict notion that African-American women are rejecting marriage or see marriage as economically nonviable. Data suggest that marriage rates are lower among African-American women because…

Examined the informal social support systems of 89 mothers of children with severe developmental disabilities. Mothers were shown to take on most of the day-to-day responsibility for the care of their children with handicaps, and analysis by marital status showed few differences in the help received. (LLL)

Purpose: The potential effects of implementing three different minimum benefits in Social Security, which have accompanied proposals to privatize the program and reform family benefits, are examined in relation to the adequacy of benefits for women reaching age 62 between 2020 and 2030. Design and Methods: The 1992 Health and Retirement Study is…

This study evaluated the impact of an information and referral intervention designed to help family caregivers of people with dementia obtain needed health and human services. Caregivers (N = 608) of community-residing people with dementia were surveyed about their need for and use of community services. Of the 608 caregivers, 203 agreed to be…

This meta-analytic review combines the results of more than 60 studies to help determine the relative effects of work, nonwork, and demographic and individual factors on work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). As expected, work factors related more strongly to WIF, and some nonwork factors were more strongly…

Nationally published reports on death rates for substance abuse (drug-alcohol related), violence (homicide), and risky sexual behaviors (HIV/AIDS) among African-American men are deeply concerning. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between historical/developmental factors (masculine identity, racial identity, racism),…

Attitudes about inclusion are extremely complex and vary from teacher to teacher and school to school. This article explores the attitudes of teachers about inclusion of children with special needs in their secondary schools in general education. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design, with 60 teachers as participants from…

The present study describes the depressive symptomatology of 393 parents of prekindergarten children and assesses ethnic differences in the depression scores of these parents and their differential consequences for children's social competence. Data are drawn from the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) classroom study, a…

Factors correlated with suicidal behavior in a predominately Alaska Native region of Alaska are described, and the correlates relating to fatal and nonfatal suicide behaviors in this indigenous population are distinguished. Suicide data from the region (1990-2001) were aggregated and compared to 2000 U.S. Census Data using chi-squared tests.…

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving children's well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with…