Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Dissolution: An Examination of Recent Marriages

An ongoing question remains for family researchers: Why does a positive association between cohabitation and marital dissolution exist when one of the primary reasons to cohabit is to test relationship compatibility? Drawing on recently collected data from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth, the authors examined whether premarital cohabitation experiences were associated with marital instability among a recent contemporary (married since 1996) marriage cohort of men (N = 1,483) and women (N = 2,003). They found that a dichotomous indicator of premarital cohabitation was in fact not associated with marital instability among women and men. Furthermore, among cohabitors, marital commitment prior to cohabitation (engagement or definite plans for marriage) was tied to lower hazards of marital instability among women, but not men. This research contributes to our understanding of cohabitation, marital instability, and broader family change.     

Feminist Activists On‐line: A Study of the PAR‐L Research Network*

Dans cet article, les auteures analysent une des premières listes de discussion électronique féministes canadiennes, PAR‐L (Liste politique, action, recherche). En se fondant en grande partie sur les résultats d'un sondage en ligne effectué auprès des abonnées et abonnés de PAR‐L, elles démontrent que, même chez les féministes sensibles aux questions de diversité et d'egalité, les écarts de pouvoir liés au sexe, à l'âge, au langage et à l'affiliation professionnelle influent sur l'interaction en ligne. Alors qu'elles reconnaissent que la présence simultanée de différences dans un espace partagé crée des tensions, elles soutiennent que cette caractéristique a également le potentiel d'améliorer la communication démocratique et d'approfondir la compréhension mutuelle à l'intérieur du mouvement des femmes, menant à un plus grand sens de la connexité et du bien‐etre chez les participantes. This paper presents an analysis of one of Canada's first feminist electronic discussion lists, PAR‐L (Policy, Action, Research List). Based largely on the results of an on‐line survey of PAR‐L subscribers, we show that, even among feminists sensitive to issues of diversity and equality, power differentials related to gender, age, language and professional affiliation influence on‐line interaction. While we acknowledge that the co‐presence of differences in a shared space creates tensions, we argue that it also has the potential to enhance democratic communication and deepen mutual understanding within the women's movement, leading to a greater sense of connectedness and well‐being among participants.     

Childhood mortality and quality of care among abandoned children in nineteenth-century Italy

A great deal of scholarly attention has been devoted in recent years to the large-scale abandonment of newborn babies in the European past, with special emphasis given to the staggering rates of infant mortality among the foundlings. For the most part, scholars have agreed with the foundling home officials of the past in assigning much of the blame for this excess mortality to the women who took in the foundlings as wetnurses and subsequently as foster mothers. This article takes issue with this view, based on an examination of the children abandoned at the foundling home of Bologna, Italy in the nineteenth century. Four cohorts of foundlings are examined - those abandoned in 1809–30, 1829–30, 1849–50, and 1869–70 (N=3615) - as we trace the changing pattern of infant and early childhood mortality. Longitudinal methods are used in examining the life course of these foundlings and the determinants of their mortality.     

The Impact of "No Opinion" Response Options on Data Quality: Non-Attitude Reduction or an Invitation to Satisfice?

According to many seasoned survey researchers, offering a no-opinionoption should reduce the pressure to give substantive responsesfelt by respondents who have no true opinions. By contrast,the survey satisficing perspective suggests that no-opinionoptions may discourage some respondents from doing the cognitivework necessary to report the true opinions they do have. Weaddress these arguments using data from nine experiments carriedout in three household surveys. Attraction to no-opinion optionswas found to be greatest among respondents lowest in cognitiveskills (as measured by educational attainment), among respondentsanswering secretly instead of orally, for questions asked laterin a survey, and among respondents who devoted little effortto the reporting process. The quality of attitude reports obtained(as measured by over-time consistency and responsiveness toa question manipulation) was not compromised by the omissionof no-opinion options. These results suggest that inclusionof no-opinion options in attitude measures may not enhance dataquality and instead may preclude measurement of some meaningfulopinions.     

Parenting with Learning Difficulties: Lessons for Practitioners

Correspondence to Dr Tim Booth, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN. Summary Parents with learning difficulties form an underserved needsgroup whose numbers are steadily increasing and are likely tocontinue to do so as a result of deinstitutionalization, communitycare and the acceptance of ‘ordinary life’ principlesas a basis for service provision. This article reviews the researchliterature on parenting by people with learning difficultiesin order to draw out the lessons for practitioners and to assistthem in developing a clearer view of their aims and approachwhen working with these families. Case vignettes from an ongoingstudy of mothers and fathers with learning difficulties areused to illustrate the common themes. The authors conclude thatservice providers still have much to learn about how best theycan secure and uphold the citizenship rights of these parentsas well as protect the welfare of their children.