Acculturation and Self-rated Health Among Asian Immigrants: The Role of Gender and Age

Using the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we examine the relationship between acculturation and poor-to-fair self-rated health (SRH) among Asian immigrants (N?=?1639). Using latent class analysis, we construct a multidimensional measure of acculturation that considers dimensions of involvement in U.S. culture as well as attachment to Asian ethnic cultures and identify three classes of Asian immigrants: the assimilated, who most strongly adhere to U.S. culture; the integrated, who align with both U.S. and Asian ethnic cultures; and the separated, who are almost exclusively attached to Asian ethnic cultures. Logistic regression results revealed that among the pooled sample of Asian immigrant adults, the separated are significantly more likely to report poor-to-fair SRH than the assimilated. We then tested for gender and age differences in the acculturation–SRH relationship, and found that stratifying by gender yields noticeably different patterns. Among Asian immigrant women, the probability of reporting poor-to-fair SRH increases with age for the separated and the integrated, while it declines with age for the assimilated. Conversely, among Asian immigrant men, the probability of reporting poor-to-fair SRH increases most steeply with age for the assimilated, while it is shallower for the separated and the integrated. Future research should continue to develop a dynamic understanding of acculturation and examine its association with other health outcomes, including how these relationships differ across subsets of immigrant groups.

     

More Daughters in Child Care? Child Gender and the Use of Nonrelative Child Care Arrangements*

Objectives. This article examines whether families with white mothers make different child care decisions for sons than for daughters before the children start school. Methods. We estimate logistic regressions of the use of nonrelative child care for the youngest child in the family six years old or younger with data from the 1990 National Child Care Survey. Results. We find that girls are significantly more likely than boys to be in regular, nonrelative care when they are between three and six years old. Conclusions. Recent evidence from the United States indicates that child gender influences various aspects of family dynamics. These differences tend to put boys at an advantage. Our findings add to this literature by showing that child care decisions are also related to child gender. Gender differences in the use of child care may reflect appropriate responses to children's developmental needs. However, they may contribute to gender differences in children's well‐being.     

Families Under the Microscope: Repeated Sampling of Perceptions,Experiences, Biology,and Behavior

Families are not frozen dioramas; they are alive, active, and changing. Models of real‐life marital and family processes require many moving pieces. An intensive repeated measures approach reaches beyond static representations of the family toward more dynamic models that depict “life as it is lived.” The appearance of studies that use diaries and biological sampling in everyday life has burgeoned in the family research literature. These methods are part of a larger class of naturalistic methods that assess families in action and that includes direct video and audio recordings of families in their everyday environments. This article summarizes research that uses diaries, observations, and biological data collected over time in natural settings to study families. It provides an overview of the major research questions, designs, methods of data collection, and statistical models used in those literatures. Theoretical contributions and next steps in naturalistic research on families are discussed.     

The demand for nonrelative child care among families with infants and toddlers: A double-hurdle approach

Despite the increasing prevalence of nonparental child care, many parents in the United States care exclusively for their young children, even when both parents work. We examine reasons for non-consumption of child care by estimating double-hurdle, tobit and dominance models of the demand for nonrelative child care. Our results indicate that parents' decision whether to use any nonrelative child care is guided by different considerations than the decision of how much care to use. Furthermore, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some parents are not interested in nonrelative care, regardless of its price or nonmaternal income. Received: 27 January 2000/Accepted: 20 June 2001     

Continuities Between Peircean Realism and Critical Realism: On Causation,Ontology, and Truth

In recent years, critical realists have increasingly engaged with the thought of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of the American pragmatist tradition. But the engagement has been mostly narrow in focus and at times misinformed. This paper examines points of continuity between Peircean thought and critical realism with respect to causation, ontology, and truth. Its purpose is to lay the groundwork for further and more fruitful engagement between the traditions by bringing attention to some things critical realists may not have known, and to correct some inaccurate things they thought they knew, about Peirce's philosophy.