Individual Wealth and Subjective Financial Well‐being in Marriage: Resource Integration or Separation?

Economic wealth is mostly assumed to be a household‐level resource that is pooled by spouses in married couples. Using comprehensive data on the individual wealth of both spouses in married couples from the German Socio‐Economic Panel Study (N = 13,623 individuals), the author tests this assumption. To this end, the associations between individuals' wealth and their spouses' wealth with individuals' subjective financial well‐being are examined. Results show that women's financial well‐being is equally associated with their own individual wealth and their spouses' wealth in older birth cohorts. In younger birth cohorts, women's financial well‐being is more strongly associated with their own individual wealth than with their spouses' wealth. For men from all birth cohorts, their own individual wealth is more strongly related to their financial well‐being than is their spouses' wealth. These findings suggest that wealth is not generally and fully pooled and that individual ownership matters within married couples in Germany.     

Doing It All? Mothers' College Enrollment,Time Use,and Affective Well‐being

The rising share of women in college with dependent children and growing emphasis on two‐generation policies for reducing socioeconomic inequality have galvanized research aimed at determining whether mothers' increased education can improve their and their children's well‐being. Yet as part of this effort, scholars have overlooked signs that mothers' college enrollment may not be unequivocally good for families. This research brief aims to bring greater attention to this side of the story. The authors analyze time diary (2003–2015) and well‐being data (2010, 2011, 2013) from the American Time Use Survey. The authors find that mothers in college experience a time squeeze that limits their time in caregiving, self‐care, and work, on one hand, and school‐related activities, on the other. This time squeeze may explain why mothers enrolled in college (compared with mothers who were not in school) also reported less happiness and more fatigue during activities with their children.     

Does Premarital Cohabitation Predict Subsequent Marital Stability and Marital Quality? A Meta‐Analysis

Cohabitation with a romantic partner has become common in recent decades. This meta‐analysis examined the link between premarital cohabitation and marital stability ( k = 16) and marital quality ( k = 12). Cohabitation had a significant negative association with both marital stability and marital quality. The negative predictive effect on marital stability, however, did not remain when only cohabitation with the eventual marital partner was analyzed, suggesting that these cohabitors may attach more long‐term meaning to living together. Moderator analyses demonstrated that effects of cohabitation have remained consistent over time, despite the fact that cohabitation has become more normative.     

Does Partner Responsiveness Predict Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well‐being? A 10‐Year Longitudinal Study

Motivated by attachment theory and recent conceptualizations of perceived partner responsiveness as a core feature of close relationships, the authors examined change in hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being over a decade in a sample of more than 2,000 married adults across the United States. Longitudinal analyses revealed that perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which individuals believe that their partner cares for, appreciates, and understands them—predicted increases in eudaimonic well‐being a decade later. These results remained after controlling for initial hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being, age, gender, extraversion, neuroticism, and perceived responsiveness of family and friends. Affective reactivity, measured via an 8‐day diary protocol in a subset of the sample, partially mediated this longitudinal association. After controlling for covariates, perceived partner responsiveness did not prospectively predict hedonic well‐being. These findings are the first to document the long‐term benefits of perceived partner responsiveness on eudaimonic well‐being.     

Marriage Delay,Time to Play? Marital Horizons and Hooking Up in College

Previous research suggests that an increasing age at first marriage has contributed to the prevalence of sexual hookups on U.S. college campuses. In this article, we use life course and marital horizons theories to analyze the influence of ideal age at first marriage on hooking up among unmarried heterosexual college students. Analyses of the Online College Social Life Survey (N = 17,981) show a positive association between ideal age at first marriage and hookups for most students, but not for students whose mothers have no post‐secondary education, Asian men, Asian women, and Latina women. Variation in ideal marriage timing does not account for gender, racial/ethnic, and class gaps in hookup participation. Results are discussed with reference to the role of sexuality in processes of stratification throughout young adulthood.     

’Til Divorce Do Us Part: Marriage Dissolution in Later Life

Late-life divorce—commonly referred to as gray divorce—is a rising trend that parallels the growth of the older adult population. We sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the experience of marriage dissolution, the divorce process, and life following divorce in a sample of older adults who divorced after more than 20 years of marriage. Qualitative data were collected from 10 divorcees (7 women and 3 men; M age = 63.5) and analyzed to understand the gray divorce experience; that is, factors that determined or delayed the decision to divorce and divorcees’ coping during and after divorce. Participants’ stories demonstrate that marriages endure despite problems because relationships are complex, and good experiences mix with bad ones. Outcomes of late-life divorce have significant health and financial implications for both individuals and society.     

‘You Can't Have Well‐being If You're Dead…or Can You?’ Children's Realistic and Logical Approach to Discussing Life,Death and Wellbeing

Well‐being is a popularised and regularly considered aspect of an individual's life. Whilst frequently theorised across disciplines interested in childhood, children's perspectives on well‐being are often missing. This article presents children's views on well‐being, focussing on the extent they consider well‐being to exist after death or near‐death experiences. Through focus‐group discussion, children's conversations reflect their ability for deep philosophical, abstract thinking and contributing to clearer understandings of well‐being across different contexts. Children's pragmatic responses about death when considering well‐being provide a valuable contribution to understanding fear of death whilst arguing for collaborative approaches between adults and children when considering complex issues.     

Supporting Children’s Social and Emotional Well‐being: Does ‘Having a Say’ Matter?

This article argues the importance of ensuring initiatives aimed at improving children’s social and emotional well‐being are based on sound participatory principles. The discussion posits links between the recognition of children, dialogic approaches to participation, changing conceptualisations of children and childhood, and children’s well‐being. It explores these links in light of one particular initiative, Seasons for Growth ( Graham, 1996, 2002 , Seasons for Growth; Loss and Grief Education Program. MacKillop Foundation), an education programme built around emerging evidence that giving children a voice assists them to adapt to family change. The paper concludes with insights into what is involved when we locate notions of ‘having a say’ as a key element in promoting children’s well‐being.© 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation 2010 National Children’s Bureau and Blackwell Publishing Limited.     

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

Family formation changed dramatically over the 20th 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. The authors used data from 10 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, the 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.     

Marriage,the Final Frontier? Same‐Sex Marriage and the Future of the Lesbian and Gay Movement

Given hostility within segments of LGBT communities toward same‐sex marriage, how do Australian activists justify their efforts toward achieving marriage equality? In this article, we expand the social movement literature by examining how activists construct identity, meaning, and goals in contradistinction to others within the same movement. We draw on interviews with Australian lesbian and gay activists to examine what enables them to pursue the contested goal of same‐sex marriage in light of internal movement critiques that marriage equality will undermine the significance of lesbian and gay identity and impair activism on other issues as a result of the view that equality has been achieved. We expand debates over the post‐gay trajectory of lesbian and gay activism and identity by illustrating how activists attach different, what we term, mobilizing meanings, to the same movement goal which enables them to withstand internal movement critiques. We provide a typology of mobilizing meanings that can be applied more generally.     

From Bad to Worse? Pornography Consumption,Spousal Religiosity,Gender, and Marital Quality

Pornography consumption is consistently associated with lower marital quality. Scholars have theorized that embeddedness within a religious community may exacerbate the negative association between pornography use and marital quality because of greater social or psychic costs to porn viewing. As a test and extension of this theory, I examine how being married to a religiously devout spouse potentially moderates the link between respondents' reported pornography consumption and their marital satisfaction. Data are taken from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study. In the main effects, porn consumption is negatively related to marital satisfaction, while spousal religiosity is positively related to marital satisfaction. Interaction effects reveal, however, that spousal religiosity intensifies the negative effect of porn viewing on marital satisfaction. These effects are robust whether marital satisfaction is operationalized as a scale or with individual measures and whether spousal religiosity is measured with respondents' evaluations their spouses' religiosity or spouses' self‐reported religiosity measures. The effects are also similar for both husbands and wives. I argue that for married Americans, having a religiously committed spouse increases the social and psychic costs of porn consumption such that marital satisfaction decreases more drastically as a result.     

Marriage Advantage in Subjective Well-Being: Causal Effect or Unmeasured Heterogeneity?

I investigate whether the marriage advantage in subjective well-being is a true protective effect vs. being attributable to self-selection into (or out of) marriage based on pre-existing mental health. I utilize 1,240 respondents from the GSS panel, a three-wave longitudinal survey collected from 2010–2014. I use a pseudo-treatment approach to informally test for the presence of self-selection. This is followed by a fixed-effect regression analysis to eliminate its influence when estimating the marriage effect. Results support the existence of self-selection: the currently married who in later waves will be exiting marriage are already more distressed than other married respondents in wave 1. And the currently not married who in later waves will be entering marriage are not more distressed in wave 1 than those remaining continuously married. A protective effect is also supported: at any given time, net of self-selection, the currently married are less distressed than the unmarried.     

Child Well‐Being: What Does It Mean?

The notion of child well‐being appears in a large number of publications nowadays. Our review of the literature underlines both the oddly pathogenic approach to child well‐being and the scarcity of papers discussing a still poorly defined notion. Through this review, we identified the recourse to a binary language; from there, we derived five theoretical axes that heed the multidimensional and multilevel nature of well‐being, although for each one, a pole is here predominantly developed. We argue in favour of an override of a one‐dimensional, single‐level, unipolar approach to child well‐being and an exploration of its otherwise underdeveloped positive, hedonic, subjective, spiritual and collective dimensions.     

African American Stepfather–Stepchild Relationships,Marital Quality,and Mental Health

ABSTRACT

This study examined associations between stepfather–stepchild relationship quality, stepfathers’ depressive symptoms, and two aspects of marriage: marital quality and positive marital interactions. Marital quality was assessed in terms of commitment, trust, passionate and friendship-based love, and happiness. Marital interactions were assessed in terms of intimacy, shared activities, and verbal communication. Using data collected from 149 recently married African American stepfathers, structural equation modeling revealed that when stepfathers reported more positive relationships with their stepchildren, they also reported more positive marital quality and a higher frequency of positive marital interactions (relationship-solidifying activities), and that, in turn, was associated with stepfathers experiencing fewer depressive symptoms.     

Is Parental Attachment Security Contextual? Exploring Context‐Specific Child–Parent Attachment Patterns and Psychological Well‐Being in Taiwanese Youths

Scant research to date has explored the possibility of context‐specific variation in attachment security within a given relationship. In this paper, two cross‐sectional studies were designed (1) to develop and validate context‐specific attachment scales in Traditional‐Chinese and (2) to explore variations in attachment security within a given parental relationship but between the contexts of sport and academics, relating them to global attachment patterns and indicators of psychological well‐being. Results indicated that Taiwanese youth can and do perceive contextual variation within a given parental relationship. However, the relationship between such contextual variation and psychological outcomes was complex. Contextual variation may be a meaningful and useful way to explore and think about within‐parent attachment fluctuation.     

Working Life on the Move,Domestic Life at Standstill? Work‐related Travel and Responsibility for Home and Family

Using survey data from Sweden, this article examines the implications of work‐related travel for the gendered division of household responsibility. The question is raised whether absence from home due to frequent business trips or long commuting hours might affect work travellers' relative share of managing and organizing everyday life in the domestic sphere. In the sample, a correlation was observed between an increased overnight work travel and a reduced share of responsibility at home when the work traveller was a man, whereas no such association could be detected for female work travellers. The implications of work travel for the division of domestic responsibility thus cannot be considered simply a function of available time. Instead, the outcome is affected by gender, supporting the notion that a woman's dedication to interests and obligations outside home seem to be conditioned by her ability to simultaneously live up to traditional norms of proper womanhood. Moreover, since work‐related travel is associated with higher positions and better pay, one's ability and willingness to travel may condition one's chances for professional and financial advancement, contributing to a gender‐segregated labour market with women more reluctant to embrace jobs requiring frequent travel.     

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

Previous research on the association between parenthood and life satisfaction has shown that parents of minor children are not more satisfied with their lives than childless people. This study addressed the question of why children do not enhance their parents' life satisfaction. A major objective of this study was to determine whether and to what extent the costs of raising children act as suppressors of life satisfaction. The empirical analysis applied fixed‐effects models and used data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel (1994–2010, N = 16,021). The 3 primary findings of this study were that (a) parenthood by itself has substantial and enduring positive effects on life satisfaction; (b) these positive effects are offset by financial and time costs of parenthood; and (c) the impact of these costs varies considerably with family factors, such as the age and number of children, marital status, and the parents' employment arrangements.     

Does Engagement Matter? Marital Intentions and Relationship Quality Among Cohabiting African Americans

Despite growing cohabitation rates, few studies have examined the relationship between engagement status and relationship quality among cohabiting couples, especially among Black Americans. This study used data from 30 cohabiting Black couples (n = 60) to examine whether perceptions of love, commitment, relationship satisfaction, and intimacy problems differ by whether cohabitors are engaged to be married. Results indicated that engaged Black cohabitors reported higher love scores than non-engaged Black cohabitors. They also had slightly more intimacy problems, but only in bivariate models. There were no significant differences in commitment or satisfaction between engaged and non-engaged Black cohabitors. Additional analyses revealed no variation in effect of engagement on relationship quality by gender. Results suggest that practitioners and policymakers should be careful not to make assumptions about relationship quality according to engagement status or gender in cohabiting Black relationships. The meaning and implications of engagement among cohabiting Black Americans may be changing.     

Variation in the Relationship Between Education and Marriage: Marriage Market Mismatch?

Educational expansion has led to greater diversity in the social backgrounds of college students. We ask how schooling interacts with this diversity to influence marriage formation among men and women. Relying on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3208), we use a propensity score approach to group men and women into social strata and multilevel event history models to test differences in the effects of college attendance across strata. We find a statistically significant, positive trend in the effects of college attendance across strata, with the largest effects of college on first marriage among the more advantaged and the smallest-indeed, negative-effects among the least advantaged men and women. These findings appear consistent with a mismatch in the marriage market between individuals' education and their social backgrounds.