A Social Network Comparison of Low‐Income Black and White Newlywed Couples

Relative to White families, Black families have been described as relying on extended social networks to compensate for other social and economic disadvantages. The presence or absence of supportive social networks should be especially relevant to young couples entering marriage, but to date there has been little effort to describe the social networks of comparable Black and White newlyweds. The current study addressed this gap by drawing on interviews with 57 first‐married newlyweds from low‐income communities to compare the composition and structure of Black and White couples' duocentric social networks. The results indicated that low‐income Black couples entered marriage at a social disadvantage relative to White couples, with more family relationships but fewer positive relationships and fewer sources of emotional support (for wives), fewer connections to married individuals, and fewer shared relationships between spouses. Black couples' relative social disadvantages persisted even when various economic and demographic variables were controlled.     

The Decoupling of Marriage and Parenthood? Trends in the Timing of Marital First Births, 1945–2002

Family formation changed dramatically over the 20th century in the United States. The impact of these changes on childbearing has primarily been studied in terms of nonmarital fertility. However, changes in family formation behavior also have implications for fertility within marriage. The authors used data from 10 fertility surveys to describe changes in the timing of marital childbearing from the 1940s through the 21st century for non‐Hispanic White and non‐Hispanic Black women. Based on harmonized data from the Integrated Fertility Survey Series, the results suggest increasing divergence in fertility timing for White women. A growing proportion of marriages begin with a premarital conception; at the same time, an increasing proportion of White women are postponing fertility within marriage. For Black women, marital fertility is increasingly postponed beyond the early years of marriage. Evaluating the sequencing of marriage and parenthood over time is critical to understanding the changing meaning of marriage.     

Reconfigured Reciprocity: How Aging Taiwanese Immigrants Transform Cultural Logics of Elder Care

Drawing on 55 interviews with older Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States at an earlier life stage, the author argues that changing contextual features involved in the processes of international migration encourage and even demand aging immigrants to reconstruct cultural logics of aging and geriatric care. He develops the concept of reconfigured reciprocity to demonstrate how aging migrant populations transform cultural logics of intergenerational responsibility, obligation, and entitlement to reconcile the tension between ethnic tradition and modernity. First, he reveals how many of the respondents' lack of caregiving for their own parents undermines their sense of entitlement to receive care from younger generations. Furthermore, he highlights how the structural squeeze among work, family, and caregiving with which the younger generation struggles further discourages the respondents from relying on their children. Finally, the author underscores how aging immigrants evoke the concept of Americanization to reconstruct expectations of how they should be taken care of in their twilight years.     

Families,Resources, and Suicide: Combined Effects on Mortality

Important resources from family support systems, employment, and educational attainment inhibit the risk of death. Independently, these factors are particularly salient for suicide, but how they combine to affect mortality is less clear. Analyses of National Health Interview Survey data from 1986 to 2004 (N = 935,802), prospectively linked to mortality through 2006 (including 1,238 suicides), reveals a process of compensation in the way work status and family combine to affect adult suicide: Individuals who are not working experience more suicide defense from more protective family support systems than do working adults. But a process of reinforcement occurs in the combination of education and family: More education associates with more protection from the family than does less education. The findings demonstrate how families and resources combine to affect mortality in unique ways.     

“Behind Every Great Man…”: The Male Marriage Wage Premium Examined Qualitatively

Studies across diverse national contexts reliably show that married men earn more than unmarried men, but the mechanisms responsible for this are still disputed. This article explores the male marriage wage premium from a new perspective, using longitudinal qualitative data from Russia (N = 94). Qualitative research is particularly suited to identifying underlying processes and, by analyzing men's accounts of the influence of their marital trajectories on their work, the authors were able to reexamine existing hypotheses and develop new ones. They propose 4 mechanisms that they hypothesize can influence men's work motivation and performance: premarital planning, 2 distinct “breadwinner” effects using expectancy and self determination theory, and monitoring by wives. They integrate these mechanisms within gender theory, arguing that the treatment aspect of the male marriage wage premium is an outcome of the “coproduction” of masculinity within marriage. Their recontextualization of existing theory also enables them to reveal weaknesses in the specialization hypothesis.     

Sport and the Cornish: difference and identity on the English periphery in the twentieth century

Cornwall differs from other English counties, not least because a significant percentage of those who live there self-identify as ‘Cornish’ rather than ‘English’ or British'. Sport has helped to underpin ‘the persistence of difference’. Distinctive versions of hurling and wrestling were key signifiers in this respect. In addition, Cornwall developed a particular affinity for rugby, similar to that found in Wales. In the late twentieth century, with indigenous Cornish culture threatened by deindustrialisation and in-migration, the county's rugby team enjoyed considerable success. Sport, in these conditions, became a signifier not merely of difference, but of a self-conscious Cornish identity.     

农村留守儿童家庭教养方式的社会学分析

通过对农村"留守儿童"家庭教养方式的现状进行描述和归纳,分析产生不同类型的家庭教养方式的原因,以期引起社会各界对留守儿童群体的关注,更好地指导农村"留守儿童"的家庭教养方式,提高家庭教育质量,促进儿童的健康成长。     

浅论当代中国家庭伦理的构建——基于中西方个人与家庭伦理观的对比

中西方有着迥异不同的家族历史与家庭伦理,这极大地影响了中西方现代人的思维方式与生活方式,尤其对人的个体观念、团体观念产生了一种决定性的作用。文章简略对比中西方家族制的历史、家族伦理的显著差异,以及家族文化对当代中国家庭伦理构建的深刻影响,对我们扬弃中西方的个人、家庭伦理观,处理好个人的自由与对家庭的责任关系有一定的启示意义。     

社会转型与少数民族价值观变迁:以西南地区为例

从西南少数民族历史发展进程来看,其生活环境相对封闭,从而对少数民族成员的自我与他者认同构成了影响,形成特定的制度体系、交往体系和价值体系。但随着改革开放和社会转型的推进,少数民族的价值观体系也发生了变化,具体表现在价值主体、价值运行以及身份认知三个层次上,它们共同促进了少数民族的认同序列重构。     

当代青年的婚姻家庭与价值取向

随着改革开放的深入、网络时代的来临、社会的转型和多元文化的交融,当代青年无论是婚恋观还是生育观都呈现出多元化的倾向。选取＂80后＂和＂90后＂的在校大学生为样本,从大学生的恋爱观、婚姻观、生育观三个方面对当代大学生的婚恋观现状进行调查与分析后认为,引导青年人树立正确的婚恋观,必须充分发挥家庭、高校和社会的作用。帮助其树立正确的婚恋观不仅有利于他们未来的发展,也有利于整个社会的和谐与进步。