Consequences of Male Partner Violence for Low‐Income Minority Women

The current study used a random sample of 563 low‐income women to test Johnson's (1995) theory that there are two major forms of male‐partner violence, situational couple violence and intimate terrorism, which are distinguished in terms of their embeddedness in a general pattern of control. The study examined the associations between type of violence experienced and respondents’ physical health, psychological distress, and economic well‐being. Analyses revealed three distinct patterns of partner violence: intimate terrorism, control/no threat, and situational couple violence. Compared to victims of control/no threat and situational couple violence, victims of intimate terrorism reported more injuries from physical violence and more work/activity time lost because of injuries. Compared to women who experienced no violence in the previous year, victims of intimate terrorism reported a greater likelihood of visiting a doctor, poorer health, more psychological distress, and a greater likelihood of receiving government assistance.     

Divergent female part-time employment in Britain and Denmark and the implications for gender equity

This paper examines women's employment in Britain and Denmark, societies characterised similarly by high proportions of female employees working part‐time but by rather different gender arrangements. Part‐time working is associated with female‐carer workers; women who have reduced their hours in the labour market to bring up children and are able to do this because of the presence of an alternative source of income—usually a male breadwinner. Yet Denmark has been conceptualised as having more of ‘dual‐breadwinner’ gender arrangement than Britain. It would seem then, that part‐time working is distinctly different in these two societies. Examining this question, the paper concludes that extensive part‐time working for women, and not men, does indeed tend to reinforce a traditional male‐breadwinner model. However, the strength of this reinforcement varies, depending on the relative conditions of the part‐time labour market. These conditions vary substantially cross‐nationally and can also change rapidly within one society over time. As a result, the typical ‘role’ a part‐time job plays for women can also vary cross‐nationally and can change over time.     

UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ON FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS: THE ROLE OF BACKGROUND RISK SHARING

We investigate how changes in marital status affect financial investments and how these effects vary with background risk. We use detailed register‐based panel data and difference‐in‐differences estimators to benchmark common unobserved influences on financial investments. Women increase the fraction of wealth invested in stocks after marriage and decrease it after divorce, whereas men show the opposite behavior. Households whose joint labor income risk is reduced more by marriage have a higher increase in their exposure to risky assets in marriage. Thus income risk sharing in the household is important for financial risk taking and investment responses to marital transitions. (JEL G11, J12, J16, D14)     

Economic Penalties and Rewards of Family Formation,Gender and Education in the Low‐income Sector in Germany1

This article examines the differential effects of changes in family formations on men's and women's economic vulnerability. The motivating question is whether investments in education provide sufficient resources to escape the risk of poverty in the low‐income sector or if changes in household characteristics are more important determinants of one's living standard. Changes in household characteristics are defined in terms of partners' entry into and exit from households and partners' different labour market profiles. The analysis focuses on households in the low‐income sector in Germany, a population that is at high risk of poverty in a social welfare state that is expected to mitigate the effects of changes in family formation independent of gender. Findings from panel regression analysis demonstrate that women, in contrast to men, benefit economically as much as or more from investing in traditional family formations than in their own labour market position. This is especially the case for women with lower levels of education.     

The impact of early life-course transitions on equality at work and home

This paper investigates two aspects of the paid employment relationship between female and male partners aged 23. It is argued that in order to understand women's position in the home and the labour market it is necessary to consider employment relationships in the context of the household. The impact of children on women's labour force participation is already well known and in this paper we show that marriage also has an independent effect on hours worked. The second aspect of the paper concerns the relative financial contribution of each partner to the family income from their labour market earnings. It is recognised that power and equality within the home are to some extent derived from the relative contribution of partners to the family income. It is shown that women are economically dependent on men even in the early stages of their partnership before children and that this dependence is greater among women with children.     

Money in marriage: how patterns of allocation both reflect and conceal power

This paper examines perceptions of money within marriage, focusing upon the concepts of control and ownership. It considers the criteria involved in Pahl's (1983; 1989) typology for the allocation of income, and their ability to capture the dynamic perceptual elements associated with change. These issues were explored by means of data from semi-structured interviews, using mainly middle-class couples (thirteen women and nine of their partners) in the 30–50 year age-range. Most of the women were in the process of returning to the labour market following an absence of at least eight years. The findings demonstrate, on the one hand, that Pahl's revised typology (1989), which includes an emphasis on the person possessing overall control, can be used to trace major shifts in the balance of economic power as a function of the life-cycle and associated changes in the source of income. On the other hand, the findings also show that a couple's report of their financial arrangements, concerning the Spooling’ of income, can yield the erroneous impression that resources are equally shared. In particular, the ‘rights’ of ownership associated with having earned the income may remain hidden, and lead to patterns of overall control with potential consequences for a non-earning, dependent partner.     

Financial capability and psychological health

Financial capability is receiving increasing interest among policy makers, who wish to reduce problem debt and welfare dependency and increase savings and general skills. We examine whether financial capability has impacts on psychological health independent of income and financial resources more generally using a nationally representative survey. Data from the British Household Panel Survey 1991-2006 are used to construct a measure of financial capability, which we relate to respondents’ psychological health using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Estimates from within-group panel data models indicate that financial capability has significant and substantial effects on psychological health over and above those associated with income and material wellbeing more generally. For men, having low financial capability has an effect larger than that associated with being unemployed, while for women it is similar to that of being divorced. Furthermore having low financial capability exacerbates the psychological costs associated with unemployment and divorce, while high financial capability reduces these costs.     

Family Financial Management and Individual Deprivation

A core assumption in conventional poverty measurement is that household members share equally in total household income. This paper focuses on heterosexual couple households and asks to what extent male and female partners may derive different benefits from total couple resources. Drawing on the 2010 Irish Survey on Income and Living Conditions module, we examined the couple financial regime, by which we mean which partners received income, whether the income was from work, the extent to which income was contributed for the benefit of other household members and responsibility for decision-making. We explored whether the couple’s financial regime was associated with different living standard outcomes for the partners. Among the findings was the beneficial impact of having income from work and of shared responsibility for decision-making. The paper concludes by pointing to some implications for our understanding of power and bargaining in couples.     

‘All my worldly goods I share with you’? Managing money at the transition to heterosexual marriage

Studies in the 1980s and 1990s revealed that financial arrangements in marriage tended to disadvantage women, especially those with young children. However, much of that research focused upon relatively well‐established married (or remarried) couples, and we have little insight into the choices that today's newly‐weds are making, or what influences their choices. To address this gap in our understanding, in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with forty‐two heterosexual couples on the brink of their first marriage. We explored their monetary practices and the way that they thought about money in the relationship. The results of a grounded theory analysis showed that six couples were pooling all or most of their money, fifteen were using a partial‐pooling system, twenty were using an independent management system (with separate accounts), and one couple had an arrangement where all the money was controlled and managed by one partner. A key factor was perceived ownership of money, and this influenced the extent to which finances were being merged and treated as a collective resource. Other factors included the couple's current living arrangements and beliefs about the importance of sharing and independence within the relationship.     

Family history and pensions: The relationships between marriage,divorce, children,and private pension coverage

This article examines how family history affects the odds of private pension receipt and how these effects vary by sex. Analyses indicated that family history had opposite effects for men and women. Compared to continuously married men, men who were single or divorced had lower odds of pension receipt; having children was associated with higher odds. For women, being single or divorced was associated with higher odds of pension receipt, and having children decreased their odds. After reanalyzing the effects of family history in the context of couples' joint pension receipt, the negative association between pension receipt and children becomes insignificant for women, and being single, divorced, or widowed has negative effects for both men and women. These results suggest that if individuals stay together as a couple, they increase their chances of access to a pension and financial well-being during retirement.     

CHILD CARE USE BY LOW‐INCOME FAMILIES IN RURAL AREAS

Using data from interviews with 323 low‐income women living in rural counties in 11 states, child care arrangements for 672 children under 13 are described in relation to women's employment status, partner availability, and child age. As found in previous studies of rural areas, informal care is frequently used, regardless of full‐ or part‐time work or partner availability. Single mothers rely more on regulated care arrangements than mothers with partners and are more likely to pay for informal care than other mothers. Work in part‐time and service jobs suggests the need for flexible arrangements. Public data on child care availability and access in rural areas, the cost of care, and state subsidy programs suggest reasons for rural women's child care decisions. Policy implications of the study findings are shared.     

Doubling Up or Moving Out? The Effect of International Labor Migration on Household Size

We use household panel data from Tajikistan to explore the change in living arrangements as a response to income shifts related to international labour migration. In addition, we analyse the interaction between the effect of idiosyncratic income increase resulting from a completed migration episode, and the effect of an aggregate shock – the global financial crisis – and show how different households adjust their household size during times of financial hardship. The empirical evidence indicates that while current migration is associated with an increase in household size, a completed migration episode two years before the interview was followed by family members moving out. At the same time, our empirical analysis demonstrates that migrant families doubled up in response to a financial crisis to the same extent as non-migrant families, which suggests that labour migration in Tajikistan does not insure against economic shocks in the long run.     

The Construction of Gender Among Working-Class Cohabiting Couples

Utilizing three typologies that emerged from the data, we examine how 30 working-class cohabiting couples construct gender through paid and domestic labor. Contesting couples contain at least one partner, usually the woman, who attempts to construct more egalitarian arrangements. In Conventional and Counter-Conventional couples, neither partner is actively contesting their gendered arrangements. Among Conventional couples each partner adheres to a traditional division of labor. Normative gender arrangements are upended in Contesting and Counter-Conventional couples when the female partner resists financial dependence on her male partner or if or the male partner does not earn enough income to provide even for himself. Nevertheless, institutionalized gender roles appear deeply entrenched among the working-class cohabitors in this study.     

The Relationship Between Life Satisfaction Among Wives and Financial Preparedness of Households in Japan

The wealth gap between the rich and poor is widening and contributing to Japan’s shrinking middle class. This study examined concerns about the future and life satisfaction and their association with household financial preparedness (e.g., savings, investments, life insurance) among married women in Japan. Double-hurdle models assessed the probability of having savings and the amount of these savings, using the sample from the 2006 Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers (n = 1,206). Supporting earlier works from several other countries, concerns about the future were positively associated with the probability of having supplemental life insurance. Moreover, life satisfaction levels were positively associated with the probabilities of having savings, investments, and supplemental life insurance and with the amount of the investments. The findings suggest economic inequalities among women could widen in the future, as those who have and are expecting to have more financial resources are more likely to be prepared for future financial needs than those who do not.     

The impact of remittances from Canada's seasonal workers programme on Mexican farms

Based on a survey of participants in Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, the authors’ three‐stage least squares estimation of a simultaneous equation model finds that migrants’ remittances enhance on‐farm investments in Mexico, which, in turn, increase farm income. Remittances are also found to have a positive influence on non‐farm income in Mexico, by giving respondents the possibility of starting a new business and diversifying their investments. These results support the hypothesis underlying the “new economics of labour migration” that remittances contribute to economic development by relaxing the credit constraint on the investment function of family farms.     

Trapped in migrants’ sectors? Polish women in the Icelandic labour market

The employment‐driven migrations from Poland to Iceland have largely been pioneered by Polish women. They outnumbered men among Polish residents in this country until the economic boom since 2005 triggered large‐scale male immigration. This trend slowed down with the outbreak of the financial crisis, as the recession severely affected the male‐dominated construction industry. The analysis of Polish female migrants’ working experiences shows that recent inflows are mainly shaped by the nature of labour demand as well as the social policies and care services in Iceland. Although economically integrated, compared with native women Polish women tend to occupy rather disadvantaged positions. They seem concentrated in a few low‐skilled occupations that bring little prestige and low income. On the other hand, they were less affected by the financial crisis, in the sense that many of them maintained work, though some experienced lowering of salaries or reduction of working hours.     

The Age of Independence,Revisited: Parents and Interracial Union Formation Across the Life Course

Romantic relationships that cross racial lines have grown since anti‐miscegenation laws were deemed unconstitutional. In The Age of Independence, Rosenfeld argued that parental influence over children's mate selection processes had waned. Rosenfeld, however, was not able to test this supposition directly because of his reliance on cross‐sectional census data. Using Waves I and III of Add Health for a cohort of individuals from 1994 to 2002, we examine whether parents matter in shaping their offspring's romantic attachments, by exploring whether adolescent reports of maternal closeness and parental control are associated with youth's likelihood of being in an interracial relationship in emerging adulthood. We find that parental factors do influence emerging adults’ romantic relationships; these associations vary by race, ethnicity, and gender. Among white men, maternal closeness in adolescence reduces the likelihood of being in an interracial relationship in emerging adulthood. Parental control elevates the odds of being in an interracial relationship among black and Hispanic women. We also find that parental decisions on where families live shape offspring's choices, as relative exogamous group size in adolescence is associated with interracial union formation in later life. Our findings suggest that parental influence remains salient in the partner choices made by emerging adults.     

Relationship Help‐Seeking in a Danish Population Sample

Empirically supported couple interventions often transfer from the US to several other parts of the world yet we have little data on their final reach. This study investigated relationship help‐seeking in a random population sample of 1,371 individuals living with a partner in Denmark, a European high income – high divorce country. Only a small fraction of respondents had ever sought couple education (3%) or counseling/therapy (7%) with their partner. Among respondents experiencing a severe relationship crisis, individual types of help‐seeking were the most prevalent. Both women (38.9%) and men (27.8%) with a recent relationship crisis sought information online, and mostly women (19.4%) also sought individual therapy. Findings can inform strategies for increasing the reach of couples in new cultural contexts.     

Changes in Wives' Income: Effects on Marital Happiness,Psychological Well‐Being,and the Risk of Divorce

We investigate the effects of increases in married women's actual income and in their proportion of total family income on marital happiness, psychological well‐being, and the likelihood of divorce. We use data from a sample of 1,047 married individuals (not couples) in medium‐duration marriages, drawn from a five‐wave panel survey begun in 1980 and continuing to 1997. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the impact of increases in married women's absolute and relative income from 1980 to 1988 on the marital happiness and well‐being of married men and women in 1988. Event history analysis is used to determine how these changes affect the risk of divorce between 1988 and 1997. We find that increases in married women's absolute and relative income significantly increase their marital happiness and well‐being. Increases in married women's absolute income generally have nonsignificant effects for married men. However, married men's well‐being is significantly lower when married women's proportional contributions to the total family income are increased. The likelihood of divorce is not significantly affected by increases in married women's income. Nevertheless, increases in married women's income may indirectly lower the risk of divorce by increasing women's marital happiness.     

Becoming Custodial Dads: Exploring Parenting Among Low‐Income and Working‐Class African American Fathers

The authors use an ecological framework and grounded theoretical analysis to explore the circumstances in which working‐class and low‐income custodial African American fathers gain custody of their children, their transition from part‐time to full‐time parents, and the role of support networks in enhancing or inhibiting these men's parenting. Twenty‐four men from an impoverished Midwestern urban area participated in the study. The findings suggest that these men, and perhaps others sharing their demographic profiles, generally become parents by default and are often reluctant to take on a full‐time, single parenting role. Adaptation to the role seems to be enhanced by these men's use of extended kin support networks and shared living arrangements. However, low wages, a lack of sufficient assistance from public assistance programs, and informal custody arrangements often inhibit their fathering.