Interrelationships between fertility and marital dissolution: Results of a simultaneous logit model

Previous studies have failed to examine (a) the simultaneity of decisions to bear children and to dissolve a marriage and (b) the effects of the childbearing in the period just before dissolution on the likelihood of disruption. We attempted to resolve both problems by developing a simultaneous logit model of the interrelationship between the probability of separation and of having a birth during this period (when dissolution presumably is being considered). The model was estimated at successive durations of first marriage, using data for white women in the 1970 National Fertility Survey. The results indicate that childbearing patterns— number of children and age of youngest child at the beginning of the marital interval being studied and fertility during the interval—did not influence the likelihood of separation in simple or consistent ways over the marital life course, nor did marital strife (as indicated by separation) seem to affect childbearing throughout marriage.     

Estimating the movement among staging areas of the barnacle goose ( Branta leucopsis )

Barnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis ) make annual migrations between breeding colonies in northern Europe and Eurasia to wintering grounds in Holland. During the migration, they sojourn for several weeks in five areas on the northern coast of Germany. Observers traverse these areas during the course of studying the flocks. Previous belief was that there was little exchange of birds among the five areas; however, some banded birds were observed in more than one area indicating that some movement takes place. In this presentation, we estimate the movement rates among the areas using open- and closed-population models.     

Shifting sex roles: The silence of the family therapy literature

This article suggests that it is important for family therapists to be attuned to the struggles families are experiencing in relation to their changing sex role mores. Traditional ideas about what is feminine and masculine still exist while new realities with new values are emerging. Although one would expect the family therapy literature to be discussing and clarifying the implications of sex role shifts for individuals within the family and for the family as a whole, it has been surprisingly silent. This article reviews the concept of sex roles and discusses it from the perspective of the dichotomization of gender. Object relations theory is suggested as a framework by which sex role differentiation and particularly its more polarized aspect can be understood.This article was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the certificate in Family Therapy, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, 1979.