Family transitions in Young Adulthood

Using the first (1995) and third (2001-2002) waves of the Add Health survey, we examine women 's family transitions up to age 24. Only a third of all women marry, and a fifth of those marriages dissolve before age 24. Three out of eight women have afirst birth, with a substantial majority of those births outside of marriage: 66% for whites, 96% for blacks, and 72% for Mexican Americans. Cohabitation is the predominant union form; 59% of women cohabit at least once by age 24. Most cohabitations are short lived, with approximately one in five resulting in a marriage. We summarize the family and relationship experience of women up to age 24 in terms offour categories, each accounting for roughly a quarter of all women. Category 1 has the women who remain single nonparents. Category 2 has the early marriers, women whose marriage is not preceded by a first birth. Category 3 has those who become single parents. Category 4 has the women who cohabit at least once, but who do not marry or have a birth by age 24. The strictly ordered transitions of the 1950s are long gone and have been replaced by a variety of paths to adulthood.     

What do teenagers want? What do teenagers need?

It is widely accepted that adolescence is a developmental phase fraught with challenges, yet in the 1990s, teenagers face unique demands and difficulties. Dilemmas such as increased violence, drug and alcohol use, sexual involvement and AIDS pose problems not only for the teens themselves, but also for their families, teachers, health care providers and other caregivers.This article reports on the qualitative findings extracted from a study of over 3,700 teenagers from urban, suburban, and small city settings, describing the array of difficulties teenagers face today. The themes which emerged from the students' comments offer a compelling portrait of life as a teenager in the 1990s and help shape an agenda for understanding and responding to these myriad needsThis research was supported by grants from the Ohio Department of Mental Health (#93,1058A), Treu-Mart Fund, Nord Family Foundation, and the University at Albany Faculty Research Awards Program.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reivewed in this article:
The New Conservatism: Cultural Criticism and the Historians' Debate , by Jurgen Habermas. Ed. and trans. by Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1990, 200 pages, $19.95, hardback.
Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order , by Cynthia B. Fuchs Epstein. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988, 300 pages, $25.00, hardback.
Medical Work in America: Essays on Health Care , by Eliot Freidson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989, 274 pages, $30.00, cloth, $15.95, paper.
Philosophy of Science and Its Discontents , by Steve Fuller. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, 188 pages, $32.95, hardcover.
Friendship: Developing a Sociological Perspective , by Graham Allan. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989, 174 pages, $16.95, hardback.
The Urban Web: Politics, Policy, and Theory , by Lawrence J.R. Herson and John M. Bolland. Chicago, IL: Nelson Hall Publishers, 1990, 512 pages, $22.95, paper, $29.95, hardback.
The Real Disaster is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict , by J. Stephen Kroll-Smith and Stephen Robert Couch. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1990, 200 pages, $24.00, hardback.
The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America , by G. William Domhoff. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990, 315 pages, $47.95, hardback, $19.95, paper.
Locality and Inequality: Farm and Industry Structure and Socioeconomic Conditions , by Linda M. Lobao. Albany, NY: The State University of New York Press, 1990, 291 pages, $49.50, hardback, $14.95, paper.     

Do Americans Trust Other Nations? A Panel Study*

Objectives. This study examines Americans' generalized beliefs about how much the United States can trust other nations, as well as changes over time in such beliefs. Methods. We analyze original panel survey data collected in 2001 and 2002. Results. Although only a minority of panel respondents expressed generalized trust in other nations immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, even fewer expressed such trust when reinterviewed almost a year later. Social trust, political trust, and party loyalties predicted individual‐level change in this form of trust from 2001 to 2002. Conclusions. Declining trust in other nations may have important implications for public opinion and, ultimately, public policy regarding world affairs.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines , by H. M. Collins. Cambrige, MA and London, England: MIT Press, 1990, 266 + XIII pages, $19.95, hardback.
Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems , edited by Joel Best. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1989, 258 pages, $34.95, hardback, $16.95, paper.
An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution , by Ira L. Reiss with Harriet M. Reiss. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1990, 287 pages, $21.95, hardback.
Structures of Power and Constraint: Papers in Honor of Peter M. Blau , edited by Craig Calhoun, Marshall W. Meyer, and W. Richard Scott. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 495 pages, $65.00, hardback.
Social Entropy Theory , by Kenneth D. Bailey. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990, 310 pages, $54.50, cloth, $17.95, paper.
Sociological Theories in Progress: New Formulations , by Joseph Berger, Morris Zelditch and Bo Anderson (eds.). Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1989, 416 pages, $42.00.     

Impact of the Adoption of Tobacco-Free Campus Policies on Student Enrollment at Colleges and Universities,North Carolina, 2001–2010

Abstract

Objective: College and university administrators have expressed concern that adoption of tobacco-free policies may reduce applications and enrollment. This study examines adoption and implementation of 100% tobacco-free campus policies by institutions of higher education on applications and enrollment. Participants: North Carolina private colleges and universities and public community colleges. Analysis was conducted in 2011. Methods: Student enrollment and application data were analyzed by campus type to determine (a) if there was a difference in student applications and enrollment before and after policy implementation, and (b) if there was a difference in student applications and enrollment for campuses with versus without a policy. Results: No significant differences were found in student enrollment or applications when comparing years prior to and following policy implementation or when comparing with institutions without 100% tobacco-free campus policies. Conclusions: The authors found no evidence that 100% tobacco-free policy adoption had an impact on student enrollment or applications.     

Episodic Cessation of Gambling: A Numerically Aided Phenomenological Assessment of Why Gamblers Stop Playing in a Given Session

The topic of permanent cessation of gambling behavior has received increased attention as the rates gaming (and pathology) increase with accessibility and legalization. Despite this increased attention there is a paucity of research on why people stop gambling in a given session, i.e. episodic cessation. We propose that the study of first-person experiential accounts of why gamblers stopped engaging in play within a given session will shed light on the progression and maintenance of wagering behavior. Using numerically aided phenomenology, we systematically examined accounts of episodic cessation. In doing so, we were able to identifying recurrent themes and then clustering these accounts according to similarities in theme profiles. People reported that episodic cessation occurred because they had lost all their money or because they were forced to (Cluster I), a sufficient amount of money had been won or lost (Cluster II), and a priori limits on wins or losses had been reached (Cluster III). As predicted, gamblers with maladaptive reasons for episodic cessation (Cluster I and II) reported more illusory perceptions of control and negative attitudes toward treatment seeking than those who engage in responsible gambling behavior (Cluster III). Moreover, illusions of control mediated the effect of cluster membership on attitudes toward treatment seeking. The findings of the present research help to integrate recent studies of gambling progression and maintenance.     

Is relationship and marriage education relevant and appropriate to child welfare?

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) have historically been ignored as a potential delivery system of relationship and marriage education (RME). Based on a sample of 1015 CWPs from two states, the current study shows that CWPs believe promoting healthy couple and marital relationships is relevant to the families they serve and their work, and that they are open to receiving RME training. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that CWPs' beliefs about the relevancy and appropriateness of RME may be influenced by their current RME ability and comfort level, their beliefs about the state of marriage and the prevalence of couples in their current caseload of families they serve. Implications related to promoting RME within child welfare and engaging CWPs in RME training are discussed.