Precursors of Young Women's Family Formation Pathways

We used latent class analysis to create family formation pathways for women between the ages of 18 and 23. Input variables included cohabitation, marriage, parenthood, full-time employment, and attending school. Data (n = 2,290) came from Waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The analysis revealed seven latent pathways: college-no family formation (29%), high school-no family formation (19%), cohabitation without children (15%), married mothers (14%), single mothers (10%), cohabiting mothers (8%), and inactive (6%). Three sets of variables distinguished between the groups: personal and social resources in adolescence, family socioeconomic resources and adolescent academic achievement, and conservative values and behavior in adolescence.     

Life Course Stage in Young Adulthood and Intergenerational Congruence in Family Attitudes

We investigated how intergenerational congruence in family‐related attitudes depends on life course stage in young adulthood. Recent data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study were used; the present sample included 2,041 dyads of young adults and their parents. Findings are discussed in terms of the elasticity in intergenerational attitude congruence in response to young adults' life course transitions. Our results suggest that intergenerational congruence in attitudes about partnership (e.g., marriage, cohabitation, divorce, women's and men's family roles) decreases after young adults have left the parental home and increases when young adults enter parenthood. Congruence concerning intergenerational obligations was not related to young adults' life course stage.     

The Timing of Leaving the Parental Home and Its Linkages to Other Life Course Events in Turkey

Abstract

This study employs the data of the 2003 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey to study the timing of leaving the parental home and the links between home leaving and other life course events (entry into labour force, family formation, and first birth) for three groups of home-leavers: early, on-time, and late. Results of the study suggest that the majority of the home-leavers are late home-leavers in Turkey. This pattern of parental home leaving observed in Turkey resembles the pattern which can found today in Mediterranean and Southern European countries. The median age at home leaving is found to be 24.4 years. In terms of gender differentials, the study implies that the timing of leaving the parental home for males (27.2 years) markedly differs from the timing of leaving the parental home for females (21.6 years). Results also imply the sequence of life-course events for males in Turkey: entry into labour force, marriage, the birth of first child, and home leaving. On the other hand, timing of home leaving for females was found to be in line with the timing of family formation. However, the home leaving experiencing by females does not mean a real home leaving in the context of Turkey; it is just a shifting from their own parental home to their husbands' parental home.     

Marriage Rituals as Reinforcers of Role Transitions: An Analysis of Weddings in The Netherlands

Using a nationally representative survey of married couples (N = 572) in The Netherlands, I analyze three characteristics of the contemporary western marriage ceremony: (a) whether couples give a wedding party, (b) whether couples have their marriage consecrated in church, and (c) whether couples go away on a honeymoon. Hypotheses are developed arguing that marriage ceremonies reinforce role transitions in two complementary ways: They reduce uncertainty about the new roles that people will occupy, and they provide approval for norm‐guided behavior. Multivariate analyses support the hypotheses. Elaborate marriage ceremonies are more common among couples for whom the transition to marriage is more drastic, and traditional values in the social context of the couple go hand in hand with a more elaborate marriage ceremony.     

The Charged Economic Environment: Its Role in Parental Psychological Distress and Development of Children,Adolescents, and Young Adults

The current downward economic spiral has manifested in increased joblessness, unemployment, and new faces in the landscape of American poverty. More Americans are living in poverty, and vulnerable populations are experiencing psychological distress and despair. This paper addresses the psychological impact of the ongoing economic impasse. There is a call for policymakers, and practitioners to collaborate in facilitating youth and families to develop support strategies (of support) for sustaining them through these challenging times. Case examples illustrate how the economy impacts children and families. Relational/cultural theories and the life course perspective are used to understand the impact of the economy on vulnerable populations.     

Timing it right: Suspicious students,family bonds and becoming a woman in Quito,Ecuador

To improve access to education in Ecuador, state actors encourage parents and youth to think of girls’ emotional bonds to family as potential barriers to schooling. High schoolgirls and their mothers respond by synchronising their institutional and family responsibilities with the emotional norms of age grades such as ‘student youth’ and ‘mother’. Girls dedicated to embodying national progress find themselves trying to delay strong emotional commitments to family until after they have completed their schooling. Examining their construction as emotional suspects reveals the stakes of age expectations for female citizens in Ecuador.     

Life Course Status and Exchanges of Support Between Young Adults and Parents

The authors investigated intergenerational support exchanges in relation to young adults' life course status. In a sample of 2,022 young adults (ages 18–34 years) in The Netherlands, single young adults reported receiving more advice from parents than married young adults, and those with children of their own received more practical support. Married young adults and young adults with children provided less support to parents than, respectively, single young adults and young adults without children. Congruent with the life course perspective, the authors' findings suggest that the intergenerational support network is both durable and flexible, responding to the resources and needs associated with an individual's life course status.     

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Timing of First Marriage and Smoking Cessation

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N = 4,050), we consider the relationship between the timing of family formation and positive changes in health behavior. Theories that predict both positive and negative associations are tested. The findings suggest that both mechanisms operate and that the direction of the association depends on the respondent’s race or ethnicity. Whites who marry early are less likely to quit smoking, whereas Whites who marry on time and Blacks and Hispanics who marry at all ages are more likely to quit. The analysis refines the understanding of how family formation shapes changes in health behaviors differentially across the life course, and it underscores the difference in this process for individuals from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.     

Gender,the Marital Life Course,and Cardiovascular Disease in Late Midlife

Drawing on 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the influence of the marital life course on the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular disease among 9,434 middle‐aged individuals. Results show that compared to continuously married persons, both men and women with a marital loss have significantly higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease at baseline. Men and women, however, differ in the effects of marital loss on the incidence of cardiovascular disease over the course of the study. Women with a marital loss have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in late midlife compared to continuously married women, whereas marital loss is not associated with men’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Emotional distress and socioeconomic status account for the higher risk of cardiovascular disease among divorced women.     

Challenges in Isolating the Effect of College Attainment and Debt Accumulation on Young Adult Self‐Concept

Prior studies have found college attendance to boost self‐esteem and mastery in young adults. Yet, college attendance itself is likely influenced by self‐esteem and mastery levels experienced in adolescence. And both are likely influenced by adolescent cognitive ability and academic achievement. Using data from the NLSY79‐YA, we illustrate the difficulties in isolating the positive effect of college on young adult self‐concept. First, we estimate adolescent self‐concept trajectories for respondents and analyze whether these trajectories are predictive of college attendance and degree attainment. Second, we assess whether the inclusion of adolescent self‐concept trajectories significantly reduces the beneficial effect of college on young adult self‐esteem and mastery. We also investigate the complex temporal relationship between adolescent characteristics, debt accumulation, and young adult self‐concept. Our findings show that the positive effects of college attainment and debt accumulation on young adult self‐concept are significantly reduced when measures of adolescent self‐concept and cognitive ability are included. These results imply that the benefit of going to college or acquiring debt may be overstated when adolescent characteristics are not taken into consideration.     

Love and Death in Germany: The Marital Biography and Its Effect on Mortality

In this article, we analyze how the marital biography is affecting mortality in Germany today (N = 12,484). We find support for temporal selection into marriage for both genders, but the effect is stronger for men. In addition, protection through marriage results from long‐term accumulation of survival advantages and from the attenuation of higher mortality risks that occur immediately after a transition into or out of a marriage. Moreover, women are more likely to keep survival advantages from previous marriages and to forget about survival disadvantages from divorces and widowhood.     

Education,Work and Parenthood: Comparing the Experience of Young Men and Women in Sweden

This article analyzes the determinants of young men and women’s entry into parenthood, applying hazard regressions to a combination of longitudinal micro-data from the 1992/1993 Swedish Family Survey and aggregate time-series data. We study the impact of education, labor market attachment and macro-economic change on becoming a parent for both men and women in Sweden since the mid-1960s. Our results show clear gender differences both when it comes to individual characteristics and aggregate-level factors. Even though the effects sometimes differed according to gender, education and labor market attachment were key factors determining the transition to parenthood. Over time the pattern grew increasingly similar for men and women.     

Men in Non‐Traditional Occupations: Career Entry,Career Orientation and Experience of Role Strain

This article explores the experiences of men in non‐traditional occupations. In particular it focuses on the dynamics of career entry, career orientation (namely, a preference for intrinsic or extrinsic rewards) and the possible existence, nature and consequences of role strain. Four occupational groups are examined: nurses, cabin crew, librarians and primary school teachers. The results suggest that men fall into three main categories: seekers (who actively chose the ‘female’ occupation), ‘finders’ (who did not actively seek a non‐traditional career but who found the occupation in the process of making general career decisions) and settlers (who actively chose the occupation, often as a result of dissatisfaction with a more ‘masculine’ job, and who then settled in their non‐traditional career). Settlers, in particular, are associated with a more intrinsic career orientation and express a desire to remain close to occupational and professional practice. Role strain is prevalent in men's experiences in their non‐traditional career. The potential sources of such role strain and the implications for career aspirations and career choices are explored.     

The Influence of Parental Attitudes and Behaviors on Children's Attitudes Toward Gender and Household Labor in Early Adulthood

The paper assesses parental influences on young adults' attitudes toward gendered family roles, housework allocation, and housework enjoyment. The effects of parents' housework allocation, educational attainment, and religious participation are examined, as well as mothers' gender role attitudes and labor force participation. Using data from an intergenerational panel study, the analysis finds that children's ideal allocation of housework at age 18 is predicted by maternal gender role attitudes when the children were very young and by the parental division of housework when the children were adolescents. Adult children's gender role attitudes are associated with maternal gender role attitudes measured during both early childhood and midadolescence.     

Quick,uncertain, and delayed adults: timing,sequencing and duration of youth-adult transitions in Canada

The transition from youth to adulthood in western societies has become more prolonged and complex as traditional societal norms have lost influence. Using retrospective data from a cohort of 43-year-old Canadians surveyed in 2010 (n?=?405), we mapped the timing, sequencing, and duration of ‘first stage’ youth-adult transitions (leaving home, finishing formal education, obtaining a full-time job) and ‘second stage’ youth-adult transitions (marriage, parenthood, home ownership). Latent profile analysis identified five distinct transition profiles – norm-setters, quick adults, uncertain adults, adult students, and delayed adults – with different amounts and timing of post-secondary educational investment playing an important profile-shaping role. Although youth-adult transitions have become less standardized and more individualized, especially for first stage transitions, these transitions are still quite structured and continue to be affected by gender and family socioeconomic status.     

The Role of Agency in Shaping the Educational Journeys of Care-experienced Adults: Insights from a Life Course Study of Education and Care

Research examining the low educational attainment of children in care and care leavers tends to underuse social theory (Berridge, 2007). To contribute to addressing this gap, we use life course theory to explore the role of agency in shaping the educational pathways of 18 Irish adults (aged 24–36 years) with care experience. Findings suggest that agency is a valuable conceptual tool for examining the nuance and complexity of how individual actions shape the education of care-experienced adults throughout the life course and interact with contextual and structural factors over time.     

Families in the Life Course: Interdependency of Roles,Role Configurations,and Pathways

Families are central in the unfolding life course. They have both internal and external dynamics that reflect and characterize the modern life span, and a life course perspective has particular utility for understanding the role and implications of families for individuals and society. The purpose of this paper is 3‐fold. First, we offer a family life course perspective that delineates core concepts of roles, role configurations, and pathways, specifies the links between them, and highlights the importance of linked lives and structural context. Second, we elaborate a latent class approach for modeling the multilayered dynamic interdependencies that characterize modern family life. Third, we provide an empirical example by considering the timing of childbearing, teen parenthood, and its place in the transition to adulthood using women's data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N= 2,191). We conclude by discussing further avenues of family research that are enhanced with a life course approach and complementary latent structure methodology.     

Of Mice,Rats, and Men: Exploring the Role of Rodents in Constructing Masculinity Within a Group of Young African American Males

In this article I demonstrate the process through which mice—generally characterized as meek and frightened creatures—are used symbolically by the participants in a study I conducted among boys on a high school basketball team to define masculinities that are consistent with what Connell (1995) calls hegemonic masculinity. I use ethnographic data, gathered as an assistant coach of the team, to argue that in managing their interaction with rodents, the young men and coaches, through their talk, transform their orientation to these creatures by constructing the rodents in a manner that encourages aggressive responses. Although the participants' use of mice is part of an idioculture (Fine 1987) that may be distinctive to the team, the meanings they create are consistent with a broader set of meanings and evaluations of men and masculinity.