Gender Inequality in the Home: The Role of Relative Income,Support for Traditional Gender Roles,and Perceived Entitlement

Drawing on relative resources and gender construction theories, we examined economic and psychological factors that affect married parents’ domestic labor. Married parents from the United States (N = 801) reported whether they earned less, equal, or more income than their spouses, as well as the proportion of housework and childcare they performed. In line with a relative resources perspective, participants reported doing less domestic labor as their relative income increased. Yet, in line with gender construction theories, women reported doing more domestic labor than their spouses, regardless of their relative income. Moreover, support for traditional gender roles mediated the effect of income on domestic labor for women, but not men. In contrast, perceived domestic entitlement (feeling justified doing less domestic labor than one’s spouse) mediated the effect of income on domestic labor for men, but not women. The implications for the future of gender equality are discussed.     

The Optimal Income Taxation of Couples

This paper analyzes the general nonlinear optimal income tax for couples, a multidimensional screening problem. Each couple consists of a primary earner who always participates in the labor market, but makes an hours‐of‐work choice, and a secondary earner who chooses whether or not to work. If second‐earner participation is a signal of the couple being better (worse) off, we prove that optimal tax schemes display a positive tax (subsidy) on secondary earnings and that the tax (subsidy) on secondary earnings decreases with primary earnings and converges to zero asymptotically. We present calibrated microsimulations for the United Kingdom showing that decreasing tax rates on secondary earnings is quantitatively significant and consistent with actual income tax and transfer programs.     

Modelling potential impact of improved survival of Indigenous Australians on work-life labour income gap between Indigenous and average Australians

This study compares the work-life labour income of Indigenous and average Australians and assesses the potential effect of bridging the mortality gaps on their work-life earnings using a life-table model which took account of the survival, employment and income trajectories from 25 to 64 years. Age-specific employment and average annual income data were derived from the 2006 Census for three educational groups: incomplete secondary, completed secondary, and higher levels of education. Results show that depending on educational qualifications, the work-life labour income of Indigenous people is likely to be around two-fifths to two-thirds of the work-life labour income of average Australians. If Indigenous Australians were to have the same level of survival as average Australians, the work-life labour income gap would narrow by about 4–7 % points. Bridging the adult mortality gap alone has only a small effect on bridging economic gaps persisting between Indigenous and other Australians.     

The Impact of Managed Care on Field Instruction

Managed care is changing the provision of services to clients and the availability of field placements for students. This exploratory study, reporting on an October 1996 survey of social work field directors nationwide, confirms that placements have been lost because of managed care. Yet, it also notes that schools and agencies are reassessing their relationship and can collaborate to create different learning opportunities in the new environment. The findings have implications for deans, program directors, field directors, and regional and national organizations (such as the Council on Social Work Education) in the areas of revising the curriculum, confronting student expectations, and establishing new relationships with agencies.     

Relational Factors Associated With Depressive Symptoms Among Stroke Survivor-Spouse Dyads

Depression following stroke is a major problem for survivors and spouses, but few studies have focused on the experiences of couples. This study investigates associations between perceived relationship quality, communication and coping patterns, interpersonal misunderstandings and expectations, and survivors’ and spouses’ depressive symptoms after controlling for sociodemographic and proximal factors. It also compares the relative strength of these associations between partners to identify shared versus unique correlates of depressive symptoms. This study adds to a thus far underdeveloped literature about the range of factors that affect partners’ psychosocial adjustment to stroke. Implications for practice, research, and theory are discussed.     

The Importance of Early,Targeted Intervention: The Effect of Family,Maternal, and Child Characteristics on the Use of Physical Discipline

Secondary analysis of Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study longitudinal data explored family, parent, and child factors that contribute to the use of physical discipline with infants and toddlers. The sample included mothers (N = 1,580) who self reported the use of spanking at 14, 24, and 36 months. Eighteen percent of the mothers (n = 287) indicated that their children experienced consistent physical discipline. Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Participation in parenting classes resulted in a 30% reduction in the use of physical discipline. For every year older the mother was at the birth of the child, there was a 7% decrease in physical discipline. Increased knowledge of child development reduced spanking by 35%. Implications for social work practice with families of young children are discussed.