The Changing Institution of Marriage: Adolescents’ Expectations to Cohabit and to Marry

Cohabitation has become part of the pathway toward marriage. Prior work focuses on expectations to marry and has ignored cohabitation. Although most young adults are not replacing marriage with cohabitation, but instead cohabit and then marry, it is important to study adolescents’ joint expectations to cohabit as well as marry. Our analyses draw on recently collected data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (N = 1,293). We find that adolescents are less certain about their cohabitation than marriage expectations. Dating and sexual experience, traditional values, prosocial activities, and parents influence adolescents’ union formation expectations. The findings from this work suggest that adolescents are including cohabitation as part of their future life trajectories but rarely envision cohabitation as substituting for marriage.     

殊途与同归：两代农民工社会融入的比较 *——基于生命历程的视角

内容提要：本文以30名农民工的务工经商生活史的深度访谈资料为基础,从生命历程视角观照了新老两代农民工自外出务工、城城(乡)流动到选择归宿的生命轨迹。在社会结构及机会结构下,农民工社会融入是依循着年龄层级在一系列生命事件中依社会角色变化而进行反思性自我定位的行动过程。研究表明,两代农民工具有相似的生命轨迹,家庭角色的转变型塑了他们最终的生活期望和社会归属。由于新老两代农民工禀赋差异和代际特征,新生代农民工虽具有更多城市性和现代性,其融入意愿也发生了代际转变,但因其面对的机会结构限制和自身能力不足,其社会融入仍具有代际传承性。     

Intergenerational Life Courses of Teenage Pregnancy in Ogbomosho South‐Western Nigeria

Concern that the teenage pregnancy rate in an urban community in Southwest Nigeria has doubled within the last decade prompted an intergenerational survey of a sample of 277 respondents (163 pregnant teenagers, 91 teen parents and 23 adult parents who were once teen parents) selected through snowballing and then interviewed in four group discussions in Ogbomosho, Nigeria. Findings revealed that 43.5 per cent of the female and 48.5 per cent of the male teenagers informed their parents first when they became pregnant or made someone pregnant respectively. They also showed that lack of knowledge about puberty (21.3%) was a major factor that influenced teenage pregnancy. The majority (53.4%) of the respondents believed that their parents perceived teenage pregnancy as God's blessing, while it was perceived as sign of poverty by their school teachers (36.5%). Blame for unwanted pregnancy was put on the girls by 49.5 per cent of the respondents. Focused educational enlightenment for teenagers on sexual reproductive health is needed for reshaping teenagers' risky behaviours. This is in line with 25.6 per cent of the respondents who felt that community youth forum on sex education could reduce teenage pregnancy.     

Intergenerational Exchanges of Middle‐Aged Adults With Their Parents and Parents‐In‐Law in Korea

The authors investigated patterns of support exchanges between Korean adult children and their parents and parents‐in‐law, gender differences in these patterns, and implications of children's marital quality for exchange patterns. Data were from a nationally representative sample of married adults (N = 920, age 30–59 years) with at least 1 living parent and 1 living parent‐in‐law. Latent class analysis was applied to 12 indicators of exchanges (financial, instrumental, emotional support given to and received from parents and parents‐in‐law). Five classes of exchanges were identified, 3 showing balanced patterns of exchanges with parents and parents‐in‐law across three types of support and 2 classes with unbalanced patterns (e.g., giving instrumental and financial but not emotional support). The findings revealed variability in intergenerational exchange patterns, with a mix of patrilineal traditional and balanced patterns. Significant associations of exchange patterns with adult children's marital quality suggest the importance of balanced exchanges with parents for marriage.     

试论环境资源法之法律目的产生的伦理思想基础

每个国家在特定的历史阶段都有其特有的法律理念,法律理念的实现有赖于构成该国法律体系的各个法律部门的分工和协作,因此,必须将法律理念具体细化成作为各个法律部门统率的部门法之法律目的。环境资源法的法律目的有其产生的环境伦理思想基础,通过比较中国古代的环境资源保护思想、源于西方的可持续发展思想和非人类中心主义伦理思想,我们应当将已被发展了的以"代内公平"、"代际公平"和"权利公平"为主要内容的可持续发展思想,作为我国环境资源法之法律目的形成的主要伦理思想基础。     

Perspectives on Intergenerational Aspects of Aging and Diversity

Abstract

This paper considers a number of interrelated dimensions that are crucial to the developing intergenerational field: research, policy, practice and theory. The paper argues first, that research (and indeed evaluation) underlies, and is fundamental to, facilitating and understanding the linkages between practice, policy and theory. It further argues that breaking down the barriers between research, policy, practice and theoryparticularly in terms of the language we use- is key if we are to fully realize the potential of this developing field. An early intergenerational study undertaken by the author is used as a tool to illustrate some of the ways in which the field has progressed over the last twenty years. The paper concludes with thoughts and suggestions about the dilemmas and challenges remaining for those in the field.     

Introducing Standards and Guidelines

Abstract

This article traces the history of efforts to professionalize the Intergenerational field through the development of competencies and standards for practice in different program settings and roles. The authors propose a new set of Guidelines & Standards that identify a common knowledge base to begin unifying this specialized field and to ensure effective professional practices. The new Guidelines & Standards were widely disseminated for feedback, revised several times, and are now being piloted in a graduate program at The University of Findlay.     

The Legacy of a Grandparent's Divorce: Consequences for Ties Between Grandparents and Grandchildren

This study assesses the implications of divorce in the grandparent generation for grandparent‐grandchild relationships. The sample of 538 grandparents comes from the Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that many aspects of grandparenting are negatively associated with ever experiencing a divorce. Some of the negative effects of divorce are explained by ever‐divorced grandparents' greater geographic distance from, and weaker bonds to, their adult children. Negative effects of divorce are stronger for grandfathers and paternal grandparents. Furthermore, a good grandparent‐parent relationship can compensate for the negative effects of a grandparent's divorce on relations with grandchildren. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the increasing percentage of individuals moving into the later years who have experienced a divorce.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEBATE ON INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY AND FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY IN AUSTRALIA

The authorities in a number of advanced countries have produced intergenerational reports that seek to determine the fiscal sustainability of current policy parameters. The Australian government will publish its Intergenerational Report in May 2002. This paper attempts to place these reports in analytical perspective. We examine the notion of intergenerational equity, the conceptual basis for generational accounting, Australian efforts at constructing generational accounts, and then review the intergenerational reports of several other countries. The paper concludes with a brief synoptic discussion of various policies that can help Australian governments achieve intergenerational balance in future.     

Religious Identity and Family Ideologies in the Transition to Adulthood

This article examines how religion shapes family ideologies in young adulthood. Using the 31‐year Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children (N= 909), we find relationships between mother’s religious characteristics when her child was born and the child’s own family ideologies in young adulthood. Further, multiple dimensions of young adults’ religious identities are independently related to their family ideologies, suggesting unique influences of both religious service attendance and the importance of religion. Our results vary across time and family ideologies in interesting patterns, but relationships between religion and attitudes are remarkably consistent. From early in life, mothers’ and children’s religious characteristics shape family ideologies in ways likely to help explain relationships found between religion and family behaviors.