Social security reforms and poverty among older dual-earner couples

Existing retirement studies have, in the main, focused only on labor supply decisions of couples in which the husband has been the sole earner. This paper extends the focus of analysis to examine retirement among dual-earner couples. It further develops a framework for assessing how several past and prospective Social Security reforms might be expected to affect older working couples' retirement ages and retirement incomes. Two questions are addressed in some detail: (1) What are the likely effects of various changes in Social Security rules on the retirement decisions of older working women and their husbands? and (2) How might these changes alter the incidence of poverty among retired dual-earner couples? Empirical evidence from the United States suggests that many benefit reforms currently being discussed in policy circles will enhance Social Security system revenues, but will also worsen the economic status of an important segment of dual-earner couples.     

Relational factors in understanding satisfaction in the lasting relationships of same sex and heterosexual couples

Satisfying relationships are important to the well-being of individuals and families. Because of increased longevity, many couples are staying together for extended periods of time. Thus, it is valuable to understand the factors that contribute to a sense of satisfaction among partners in lasting relationships. Relatively little attention has been paid in the research literature to relationships among older couples who have remained together for many years. Even less attention has been paid to the lasting relationships of couples of color and to gay male and lesbian couples. This paper focuses on understanding the factors that contribute to satisfaction of partners in the long-term relationships of a purposive sample of heterosexual and same-sex couples. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 216 partners in 108 relationships that had lasted an average of 30 years. Using logistic regression analysis, two factors were identified as predictive of satisfaction during the recent years of these relationships: containment of relational conflict and psychologically intimate communication between partners. Based on these findings, a theoretical model for understanding satisfaction in lasting relationships is discussed.     

Prevalence of extradyadic sex in male couples of mixed HIV status and its relationship to psychological distress and relationship quality

This study assessed the prevalence of extradyadic sex and the relationship between such activity and psychological distress and relationship quality in male couples of mixed HIV serostatus. Sixty-three couples were interviewed and had sufficient data for inclusion in all analyses. With regard to sexual activity during the year prior to being interviewed, 19 (30%) couples were monogamous, 18 (29%) described themselves as "open," 13 (21%) kept extradyadic sex a secret from their partners, and in 13 couples there was only partial knowledge of extradyadic sex. Though not statistically significant, monogamous and open couples consistently scored lower numerically on measures of psychological distress and higher on measures of relationship quality, compared to "partial knowledge" and "secretive" couples. When pooled, monogamous and open couples scored significantly higher on measures of dyadic consensus, affectional expression, dyadic satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction compared to the combined subgroup of partial knowledge and secretive couples.     

County-Level Patterns of Undeclared Work: An Empirical Analysis of a Highly Diversified Region in the European Union

Social Indicators Research - The scale and impact of undeclared work on the economy and on society are more apparent in emerging countries compared to developed economies. The same issue concerns...     

Sexual orientation and gender identity in North America: legal trends, legal contrasts

The article provides a comparative analysis of recent legal developments with regard to LGBT rights in Canada and the United States of America. Both countries have made great progress towards better protection and full recognition of LGBT rights. Despite this progress, Canada appears to be ahead of the United States, as illustrated by two most recent court decisions (e.g. Halpern, legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario, and Lawrence v. Texas, decriminalizing consensual sodomy in the United States).     

Federal job training programs and employment outcomes: Effects by sex and race of participants

This article examines the extent to which the program activity assignments of participants in federal job training programs affect their future employment prospects. We analyze the effects of three types of programs—classroom training, on-the-job training, and work experience—on the post-program employment outcomes of black and white women and men. The data are from the Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey of fiscal 1976 participants in the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Logistic regression and event history analysis are used to assess the likelihood of immediate employment upon leaving CETA and the rates at which participants enter and leave their first post-program spells of employment and nonemployment.     

Patterns underlying fertility schedules: A decomposition by both age and marriage duration

Summary Model fertility schedules based on the proportions married and the age pattern of marital fertility are unsatisfactory to the extent that marital fertility does not depend on age alone but also on other factors. Most notably, models based just on age fail to allow for differences between populations in their composition by marriage duration. Examination of the major series of fertility rates specific by both age and duration of marriage (Sweden 1911-70, England and Wales, 1941-70) reveals striking underlying regularities. The marital fertility rates observed at any given point in time can be factored into three independent components - an overall level, a vector of age effects common to all marriage durations and a vector of duration effects common to all age groups. A simple product of these three components is shown to approximate the data very closely over the entire series, despite major changes in the aggregate levels of fertility and nuptiality during the periods concerned. Not only are the data tightly structured, conforming very closely to this simple multiplicative model, but the vectors of age and duration effects themselves are shown to exhibit clear and meaningful regularities.     

Male sex workers in three Australian cities: socio-demographic and sex work characteristics

This article describes the socio-demographic and sex work characteristics of sex workers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. A total of 185 male sex workers completed the questionnaire component of the study. The results of this study serve to debunk many of the myths surrounding the popular view of the male sex worker (MSW). The respondents in this study were on average 27 years old, and the majority had completed secondary education, with 30% having gained some form of tertiary qualification. Interestingly, those MSWs who had not completed secondary education were mostly street workers and were generally aged under 25 years. The majority of sex workers lived in rented accommodation, with only 6% reporting to be homeless. Half of all respondents identified as being "gay," 31% as "bisexual" and 5.5% as "straight." More than half of the respondents were in a permanent relationship. Only 7.3% of this group reported using heroin daily, although the majority consumed alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and ecstasy. The majority of sex workers had been in the profession for less than six months, although some had been working in the industry for more than ten years. Most of the sex workers reported having taken an HIV test and a preference to offer safer sex. The article highlights ways in which the work context of MSW can be better understood and supported by education and public policy programs.     

The gender longevity gap: explaining the difference between singles and couples

This paper studies the respective gender longevity gap in favour of women among singles, utilitarian and altruistic couples. The following hypotheses are derived: (1) the gender longevity gap is smaller within couples than among singles; (2) marriage increases longevity of men but decreases longevity of women; and (3) the gender longevity gap decreases with an increase in wealth. The hypotheses are tested using a complete data set of the Swiss deceased at the age 65+ in 2001 and 2002, with information on the individuals’ age at death and their average earnings over the life cycle.     

Paid Work and Unpaid Work: Diary Information Versus Questionnaire Information

Time-use information is preferably obtained from diaries, as this method is considered more reliable than information from questionnaires. Data from the Danish Time Use Survey 2001 thus indicate differences in the level of unpaid work, whereas only minor differences appear for paid work. That is: people reporting many hours of paid work tend to over-report the actual number of hours worked, while those reporting a small number of hours tend to underreport their contribution. For unpaid work, the same pattern appears. Moreover, men are found to be more unreliable than women in evaluating their amount of work on the labour market, while the opposite is the case for the unpaid/household work, with women underreporting their contribution more than men. The implication is that labour supplystudies based on questionnaire-information, i.e. Labour Force Surveys, are less accurate than studies based on diary-information.     

Coping Patterns of Aging Women:

No abstract available for this article.     

A qualitative study of how caseload midwifery is experienced by couples in Denmark

Background

Caseload midwifery is expanding in Denmark. There is a need for elaborating in-depth, how caseload midwifery influences the partner and the woman during childbirth and how this model of care influences the early phases of labour.

Gay male couples: the importance of coming out and being out to parents

This exploratory study applied grounded theory methodology to examine what coupled gay men thought were the relationship impacts of being out to parents and in-laws. Data were collected from an accidental sample of 40 men in 20 homosexual couples using a standardized, open-ended interview. Virtually all of the respondents who had come out to their parents experienced initial and ongoing parental and in-law disapproval for their lifestyles and relationships. However, most men believed that it benefitted their unions to be out to their parents and partner's parents. Not having to hide the relationship was seen as a primary relationship advantage. Inclusion of one's partner in family events also emerged as a significant benefit. In contrast to the existing literature, a large proportion of respondents believed that parental/in-law antagonism had no adverse impacts on their dyads. They shielded their relationships by maintaining a strong sense of independence and in turn solid intergenerational boundaries. This study provides evidence to suggest that disclosure of sexual orientation to parents may be a distinctive, important developmental task for gay men which is critical to their relationships with their partners. Based on the findings of this research, mental health practitioners would be advised to assist gay men in the establishment and maintenance of strong intergenerational boundaries to protect their unions from parental/in-law disapproval.     

Love and Work After 60:

An exploration of growth and change involving external crisis and internal shifts of awareness during a therapist's transition from midlife to old age. Focus is on the continuing need to balance and renegotiate work and family within a framework of creativity, professional opportunities, aging, spouse's illness, and changing social climate.     

Income taxation of couples and the tax unit choice

We study the optimal income taxation of couples. We determine the resulting intra-family labor supply allocation and its implication for the choice of the tax unit (individual versus joint taxation). We provide a general condition for full joint taxation to arise. We also study how the spouses’ respective labor supply decisions are distorted when the condition does not hold. In particular, we show that, depending on the pattern of mating, the celebrated result according to which the spouse with the more elastic labor supply faces the lower marginal tax rates may or may not hold in our setting.     

Unmet need for couples: An analytical framework and evaluation with DHS data

While estimates of unmet need continue to be an important measure of the extent of demand for contraception and family planning programs success in developing countries, there are various reservations about the validity of these estimates. For instance, the traditional formulation of the measurement has relied solely on information from women while inferences from the findings are often drawn for couples. As more survey data have become available for both men and women in a number of countries, there is increasing evidence suggesting that husbands' preferences are indeed important determinants of the reproductive behavior of couples. This paper developsan analytical framework for measuring unmet need for couples. The approach: (1) takes a fresh look at the classification of pregnant and amenorrheic women, and (2) incorporates the contraceptive use and fertility preferences of husband and wife in estimating the level of unmet need in six sub-Saharan African countries. Our findings shows that taking these factors into account results in a 50 to 66 percent reduction in the level of unmet need in these countries. The importance of husbands' variables in determining the level of unmet need is clearly evident when examined among fecund couples in which the wife is neither pregnant nor amenorrheic. The implications of these findings for family planning programs and research are discussed.     

The enjoyment of activities: Do couples affect each others' well-being?

In this paper I investigate the use of a measure of well-being derived from time-use data on the enjoyment of activities, and explore the association between the well-being of partners. The measure of well-being used is directly derived from the subjective assessment of the enjoyment of activities as recorded in time-use diaries. It is shown that this measure yeilds plausible results which share many of the characteristics of other measures of well-being. In addition, since the diaries used in the analysis were collected from couples it has also been possible to investigate the association between the well-being of partners. It is shown that in multivariate analyses including both time-use and socio-demographic variables the effect of a partner's well-being has by far the most significant impact on individual well-being. It is argued that this combination of information offers a useful means of analysing the relationship between time-use, well-being and the couple relationship. In this sense the analysis cross-cuts some of the conventional disciplinary boundaries which have served to separate the study of emotional relationships and psychological states from that of the daily activities of households.