Gender,nonstandard schedules,and partnership quality in the UK: Exploring heterogeneous effects through a quasi-experiment

This study adopts a potential outcomes framework to explore how nonstandard schedules (i.e., employment during nights, evenings, and weekends) affect partnership quality (PQ). Competing theories of positive and negative selection are proposed based on the contention that there will be heterogeneous returns to partnerships from nonstandard schedules (in terms of penalties and benefits) that will depend on how and why partners have selected into these arrangements. Mahalanobis Distance Matching techniques are then employed to mimic blocked randomization, simulate potential outcomes and identify patterns of heterogeneous effects using a sample of 21,766 workers in co-resident partnerships included in the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010–2017). Results indicate that after correcting for baseline selection, weekend work only negatively affects PQ for mothers, whilst nonstandard hours take their most negative effect on PQ when worked by women without children. Maternal nonstandard hour work, on the other hand, is shown to positively affect PQ. However, results suggest this positive effect may often be obscured by patterns of negative selection. That is, the mothers most commonly observed in nonstandard hours are in partnerships that stand to benefit the least. In contrast, consistent patterns of positive selection into both nonstandard days and hours are observed for men without children, demonstrating the centrality of bargaining power and household constraints for selection. Such findings highlight the need to consider complex and gendered processes of household and socioeconomic selection when studying the relationship between nonstandard schedules and outcomes relating to family cohesion.     

Child support and mixed-status families an analysis using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

A large body of literature documents the importance of child support for children’s wellbeing, though little is known about the child support behaviors of mixed-status families, a large and rapidly growing population in the United States. In this paper, we use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to investigate the impact of citizenship status on formal and informal child support transfers among a nationally representative sample of parents who have citizen children. Probit regression models and propensity score matching (PSM) estimators show that mixed-status families are significantly less likely to have child support orders and child support receipt compared to their citizen counterparts. We found that mothers’ knowledge of the child support system increases the probability of establishing paternity. However, cultural differences in knowledge of and perception about the U.S. child support system between mixed-status families and citizen families do not have an impact on the probability of getting a child support order, child support receipt, or in-kind child support. Rather, institutional factors such as collaborations between welfare agencies and child support enforcement agencies as well as state child support enforcement efforts have a significant impact on formal child support outcomes. The results are robust against different model specifications, measure constructions, and use of datasets. These findings have important policy implications for policy makers and researchers interested in reducing child poverty in complex family structures and underscore the need to revisit child support policies for mixed-status families.     

Parental family income and the socioeconomic attainment of children

Like others before us using different data, we find significant effects of parental family income on the completed schooling and wage rates of adult children using intergenerational data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We explore various hypotheses regarding these effects, finding substantial support for the economic hypothesis that income, regardless of its source, is invested by parents in their children; mixed support for the hypothesis that fathers serve as role models for their sons; and no support for the welfare dependency hypothesis. Rather than serving as positive role models, working mothers appear to have significantly less successful sons.     

Inequality in the family: The institutional aspects of women’s earning contribution

This paper examines the effect of employment-supportive policies and arrangements on women’s economic contribution to their family. Using samples of working-age couples in 21 countries we employ multilevel modeling to separate the effects of household and country-level variables on earnings. We distinguish two types of relevant contextual factors: those that support women’s employment while preserving their domestic roles and those that potentially reduce intra-family economic inequalities by allowing women to allocate more of their time to paid employment. The findings suggest that all employment-supportive policies and arrangements increase women’s relative contribution to the household income through their effect on female labor force participation. Among dual-earner families, however, higher rates of childcare facilities increase women’s contribution, while long maternity leave and part-time employment decrease it. These tendencies are more pronounced among mothers.     

Are motherhood penalties and fatherhood bonuses warranted? Comparing pro-work behaviors and conditions of mothers, fathers, and non-parents

Research has confirmed a motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus at work. Employers, it appears, regard mothers and fathers differently from one another and differently from non-parents. We have yet to systematically explore whether mothers exhibit fewer pro-work behaviors than fathers and non-parents or whether fathers engage in more of them than mothers and non-parents. This article draws on nationally representative data from full-time employed adults to investigate mother, father, and non-parent differences in work effort, work intensity, job engagement, and four measures of work enhancement from home. Mothers and fathers are similar on five out of seven outcomes tapping pro-work dimensions. When they differ, mothers report greater job engagement and work intensity than fathers. Mothers are no different from non-parents on all outcomes. All findings hold net of individual, job, and family controls. I conclude that reducing workplace gender inequality will require organizational changes that pay explicit attention to workers’ care-giving responsibilities.     

新手妈妈社会支持网络的多元化：一个文献综述

社会支持的获得对于新手妈妈的身心健康、角色适应以及家庭关系有着重要的作用.通过文献梳理发现：新手妈妈主要从丈夫、女性亲属等强关系中获得情感支持和育儿帮助.育儿虚拟社区成员之间的弱关系可以弥补传统社会支持体系中信息支持的缺乏,并提供情感性和友伴性等其他类型的社会支持.新手妈妈的社会支持网络呈现出多元化的趋势,但是网络交往的匿名性和局部性使得网络社会支持不可能取代传统社会支持体系而只是对其进行补充.     

Social support,stress, and maternal postpartum depression: A comparison of supportive relationships

A large body of literature documents the link between social support, stress, and women’s mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period; however, uncertainty remains as to whether a direct effect or stress mediating pathway best describes the relationship between these factors. Moreover, specific dimensions of social support that may be influential (family type, sources of support) have largely been neglected. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 4150), we examine the pathway between social support, stress exposure, and postpartum depression in greater detail. Findings reveal that social support is a significant, protective factor for postpartum depression, and the variety of support providers in a woman’s social network is important, especially in the context of family type. Findings also reveal the importance of considering social support and stress exposure as part of a larger causal pathway to postpartum mental health.     

The state of domestic affairs: Housework,gender and state-level institutional logics

Multi-level cross-national research consistently shows individual housework arrangements are structured by broader contexts of equality. Across this body of research, the United States is treated as a single entity. Yet, individual-level housework time may vary by state-to-state differences in institutional market, family and legislative logics. To test these relationships, we pair individual-level data from the American Time Use Survey (2003–2012; aged 18 to 64 n = 106,190) with three state-level indices – female labor force empowerment, family traditionalism and state government liberalism. For market institutional logics, we find wives and husbands spend more but mothers less time in housework in states where women have more labor market power. For family logics, we find mothers spend more and husbands less time in housework in more traditional states. For legislative logics, we find women and husbands spend more time in housework in more liberal states. Our results highlight the importance of state-to-state institutional logics on individuals' housework time.     

政府借助投资基金推动家庭农场发展刍议

近年来,我国各地政府纷纷把扶持家庭农场发展作为推动本地农业现代化的重要工作,出台了多项扶持其发展的金融政策,农业产业投资基金作为其中一种,与其他措施相比,具有独特优势,能够将引导与扶持结合起来推动家庭农场的发展,因此,应成为发展家庭农场的一大助力,但是,许多地方对农业产业投资基金的作用认识不足,没有能充分发挥其作用。     

“Making it work: Migration,motherhood and employment in Australia”

The transition into motherhood is often associated with a reduction in women's labor force participation, reinforcing gender employment hierarchies. Our study compares women's employment status and paid work time prior to and following birth among immigrants and native-borns in Australia. We also consider how these outcomes differ by generation status and racial and ethnic background. Australia provides a valuable context to understand these outcomes given its skilled migration policy, racial and ethnic diversity, limited childcare and family leave policies, and high rates of part-time work among mothers. We examine longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) for women from 2001 to 2016. We find that migrant women show lower employment levels and commensurate work hours than native-borns prior to childbirth. After childbirth, migrant mothers maintain lower employment levels, but higher work hours than native-born mothers. Overall, we find that relative to native-borns, migrant women typically experience a smaller reduction in employment and work hours following childbirth, but some of this is likely due to their lower starting position prior to childbirth. Our findings have implications for skilled immigration policies and highlights the unique work-family pressures facing immigrant and native-born women.     

社会支持视角下家庭养老困境与对策——以河北省W县为例

家庭养老是我国大多数人首选养老模式,家庭在其中发挥独特的优势和价值,然而随着人口老龄化的发展,家庭养老问题尤为凸显。研究以河北省W县为例,对该地区家庭养老现状进行了调查,从政府支持,社会组织及社区支持方面梳理家庭养老社会支持政策现状,剖析存在困境,并在多层面提出完善家庭养老社会支持系统的对策与建议,为家庭养老社会支持政策体系的构建提供理论依据。     

Measuring the level of social support using latent class analysis

Different instruments have been used to measure social support in epidemiological studies of which the most widely used is the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale (SSS-MOS). However, these studies lack measures of the level of social support on health risks. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to distinguish subgroups with different levels of perceived social support and tested the consistency of these subgroups by their associations with the prevalence of Common Mental Disorders (CMD). This is a cross-sectional study of 1013 mothers living in the city of Salvador, Brazil in which psychosocial data were collected through home visits using the SSS-MOS and the Self Reporting Questionnaire-20. For each dimension of social support analysed here, we selected models with two classes using LCA. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between participants’ perceived social support and the prevalence of CMD to verify the consistency of the groups defined by LCA. There was a clear difference in the reporting of perceived social support between those classified as high or low using LCA. The probability of perceiving several types of social support was lower in the subgroup classified as low level of social support (13.7–59.8%), and it was much higher in the group classified as high level of social support (84.3–98%). A greater prevalence of CMD was found among mothers with lower levels of social support. LCA seems to be a useful tool to improve measurement of perceived social support by separation into two levels in which the lower level is associated with an increased prevalence of CMD.     

Unequal views of inequality: Cross-national support for redistribution 1985–2011

This research examines public views on government responsibility to reduce income inequality, support for redistribution. While individual-level correlates of support for redistribution are relatively well understood, many questions remain at the country-level. Therefore, I examine how country-level characteristics affect aggregate support for redistribution. I test explanations of aggregate support using a unique dataset combining 18 waves of the International Social Survey Programme and European Social Survey. Results from mixed-effects logistic regression and fixed-effects linear regression models show two primary and contrasting effects. States that reduce inequality through bundles of tax and transfer policies are rewarded with more supportive publics. In contrast, economic development has a seemingly equivalent and dampening effect on public support. Importantly, the effect of economic development grows at higher levels of development, potentially overwhelming the amplifying effect of state redistribution. My results therefore suggest a fundamental challenge to proponents of egalitarian politics.     

Early education and care quality: Does it matter for maternal working hours?

This study investigates whether mothers whose children enter early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers of higher quality are more likely to work longer hours. The empirical analysis links the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) Study with the K²iD-SOEP extension study, which collected ECEC quality information from childcare centers across Germany. Based on a sample of 556 mothers of 628 children with a mean age of 2.6 years at center entry, the authors applied change score models with entropy balancing to account for differences in a rich set of observable characteristics. The findings show that higher levels of quality with respect to child-teacher-ratio and partly also activities promoting child learning and offered services for parents are associated with greater increases in working hours for mothers since the year before using the ECEC center. No significant relationships emerged for group size and equipment.     

Widening the social context of disablement among married older adults: Considering the role of nonmarital relationships for loneliness

Utilizing the stress process and life course perspectives, we investigated the influence of non-spousal social support on the associations between marital quality, physical disability, and loneliness among married older adults. Using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we found that the association between physical disability and loneliness was partially accounted for by the fact that physical disability was associated with less supportive nonmarital relationships. While physically-disabled older adults in higher-quality marriages were buffered from loneliness, supportive non-martial relationships did not offset elevated loneliness among those in low-quality marriages. These associations were largely similar for men and women. Thus, although both marital and nonmarital relationships are important for loneliness, when confronted with a stressor such as disablement it is the marital relationship alone that matters.     

Workplace bullying,perceived job stressors,and psychological distress: Gender and race differences in the stress process

A large body of empirical research documents the adverse mental health consequences of workplace bullying. However, less is known about gender and race differences in the processes that link workplace bullying and poor mental health. In the current study, we use structural equation modeling of survey data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study (N = 2292) and draw on stress process theory to examine coworker support as a buffering mechanism against workplace bullying, and gender and race differences in the relationships between bullying and psychological distress. The results of the analysis indicate that coworker support serves as a protective buffer against workplace bullying, although the buffering effect is relatively small. We also find that the effects of workplace bullying more heavily impact women and persons of color. Specifically, women and African American individuals in our sample were less protected from the buffering mechanism of co-worker social support.     

Religion, politics, and support for same-sex marriage in the United States, 1988-2008

We examine how religious and political factors structure support for same-sex marriage in the United States over the last two decades. Using data from the General Social Surveys, we show that respondents who identify more strongly with the Republican Party, sectarian denominations, and those who subscribe to biblical fundamentalism and political conservatism are substantially more opposed to same-sex marriage than are other Americans. Heterogeneous ordinal logistic regression models show that these religious and political factors have become more important over the last two decades. Cohorts born after 1945 became substantially more supportive of marriage rights between 1988 and 2008, but shifts in support for marriage rights were less sizeable for persons affiliated with sectarian denominations, religious fundamentalists, Republicans, and political conservatives. Estimates from structural equation models show that religious factors influence political conservatism and Republican identification, yet both religious and political factors have significant and substantial independent direct effects on support for same-sex marriage.     

Family structure and obesity in early childhood

This study informs family and child health research by using longitudinal Fragile Families data to assess how family structure and transitions are associated with changes in children’s BMI and weight status between ages three and five. Concerns in family structure literature about biases due to selectivity are reduced through the use of change score models and by controlling for parental BMI. The findings indicate unhealthy BMI gain and an increased risk of becoming overweight/obese among children living with a mother who recently dissolved a union or had been living without a partner for at least 2 years compared with those in stable married parent families. Children with single mothers who entered a new union had significantly healthier BMI trajectories than those whose mothers remained single or recently became single. These results suggest the importance of two-parent family contexts for children’s healthy physical development, and that single mothers may need additional support to better manage their children’s BMI.     

党政领导干部心理工作环境与主观幸福感关系初步研究

选取沿海某省563名党政领导干部作为研究对象,对其心理工作环境特征以及与主观幸福感的关系进行初步研究。结果表明:48.5%的被调查者处于职业紧张状态,11.4%被调查者处于付出回报失衡状态;同事支持,工作自主性,工作回报,内在投入与主观幸福感有显著相关;同事支持,工作自主性和工作回报对个体成长发展体验和身心健康体验具有正向预测作用,内在投入对个体成长发展体验和身心健康体验具有负向预测作用。     

Growth curve analyses of the relationship between early maternal age and children’s mathematics and reading performance

Regarding the methods used to examine the early maternal age-child academic outcomes relationship, the extant literature has tended to examine change using statistical analyses that fail to appreciate that individuals vary in their rates of growth. Of the one study I have been able to find that employs a true growth model to estimate this relationship, the authors only controlled for characteristics of the maternal household after family formation; confounding background factors of mothers that might select them into early childbearing, a possible source of bias, were ignored. The authors’ findings nonetheless suggested an inverse relationship between early maternal age, i.e., a first birth between the ages of 13 and 17, and Canadian adolescents’ mean math performance at age 10. Early maternal age was not related to the linear slope of age. To elucidate whether the early maternal age-child academic outcomes association, treated in a growth context, is consistent with this finding, the present study built on it using US data and explored children’s mathematics and reading trajectories from age 5 on. Its unique contribution is that it further explicitly controlled for maternal background factors and employed a three-level growth model with repeated measures of children nested within their mothers. Though the strength of the relationship varied between mean initial academic performance and mean academic growth, results confirmed that early maternal age was negatively related to children’s mathematics and reading achievement, net of post-teen first birth child-specific and maternal household factors. Once maternal background factors were included, there was no statistically significant relationship between early maternal age and either children’s mean initial mathematics and reading scores or their mean mathematics and reading growth.