Longitudinal Consistency in Self-Reported Age of First Vaginal Intercourse among Young Adults

We examined consistency in self-reports of age at first vaginal sex among 9,399 male and female respondents who participated in Waves III and IV (separated by approximately seven years) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Respondents were coded as consistent if they reported an age at first vaginal intercourse at Wave IV that was within one year of the age they reported at Wave III. Sociodemographic, behavioral, and cognitive predictors of consistency were examined using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Overall, 85.43% of respondents were able to provide consistent reports. Among both males and females, consistency was associated with age, years since first vaginal intercourse, race/ethnicity, and lifetime number of other-sex partners in final multivariate models. Respondents who were older and had more recently had their first sexual experience were more likely to be consistent. For females only, those who reported a history of nonparental, physically forced sex were less likely to be consistent. Most young adults consistently report age at first vaginal intercourse, supporting the credibility of retrospective self-reports about salient sexual events such as timing of first vaginal intercourse.     

Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers

Researchers have documented the consequences of relationship instability for parenting stress but have given little attention to within‐partner relationship instability. In this study, the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,544) to estimate the association between within‐partner relationship instability (known as churning or on‐again/off‐again relationships) and parenting stress. First, they found that by the focal child's 5th birthday about 16% of biological parents experience churning. Second, compared to being stably together with or stably separated from the child's other parent, churning is associated with greater parenting stress for both mothers and fathers. Because parenting stress is the same or higher among churners compared to their counterparts who stably separate, this suggests that, more than a change in partner, relationship instability—whether within or across relationships—is tied to parenting stress.     

Parent support and education programs

Parent support and education programs are receiving renewed attention as a vehicle for strengthening parenting and addressing other support needs in low-income families. In this paper the author reviews the theoretical rationale, situational context and empirical basis for these programs.     

Ethical implications of the promotion of elder volunteerism: A critical perspective

This critical inquiry explores the question: What are the ethical implications of promoting normative ideals for healthy aging, such as volunteerism and civic engagement, that specifically emphasize productivity and contribution? In this paper, we identify the values and ethical standpoints embedded in the discourse promoting volunteerism and productive aging and then describe what this suggests about how older adults are viewed, valued and judged. More specifically, we argue that older adult volunteering has at times been framed in a manner that dually suggests: a) lifelong productivity is a necessary condition to be a good old person; and b) lifelong productivity is a necessary condition to be a good old citizen. We then demonstrate that the current promotion of older adult volunteerism and productive aging is ethically troubling because: 1) it fails to capture the full potential of the self — and in particular, the aging self; and 2) it grounds justice in a narrowly defined and unfair distributive scheme. An alternative model of aging is then presented based on equal regard for all persons insofar as this approach is inclusive of the diversity of older adults and aging processes, and policy implications are discussed.     

Medicalization as professional process: postwar trends in pediatrics

In the late 1950s American pediatricians began to place increased emphasis on psychosocial and behavioral issues in medical training and research. An intraprofessional movement for psychosocial pediatrics led to alterations in the specialty's stated jurisdiction. One explanation for the movement's origins is that demand for treating sick children was eroding; primary-care providers took up the delivery of behavioral services to avoid extinction. This paper shows that routinization of work, not market decline, preceded psychosocial pediatrics. Academicians rather than community practitioners spearheaded boundary expansion. The movement's major consequence appears to be a new division of labor between pediatricians and other health care professionals rather than increased pediatric treatment of children's psychosocial disorders.     

Initiating Sexual Experiences: How Do Young Adolescents Make Decisions Regarding Early Sexual Activity?

Understanding how young adolescents make decisions to engage in early sexual activities is vital for intervention efforts aimed at fostering positive youth development and reducing the negative outcomes of adolescent sexual behavior. In‐depth interviews with 42 suburban, mostly White, ninth‐grade adolescents (52% females, mean age=14.1, SD=.45) elicited accounts of their early sexual decisions. We adapted grounded theory methodology to build a model of sexual decision making from the adolescents' narratives. Six dominant categories emerged: contextual factors (relationship and personal characteristics), consideration of risks and benefits, boundary setting, boundary communication, the sexual experience, and evaluation. Our model of early sexual decision‐making processes, developed from the perspectives of young adolescents, highlights active consideration of health and social risks and benefits, as well as the generation of options regarding sexual activity. The model also shows that young adolescents set clear boundaries of sexual limits and evaluate sexual experiences, suggesting a dynamic process of decision making.     

How Does Premarital Cohabitation Affect Trajectories of Marital Quality?

We investigate the link between premarital cohabitation and trajectories of subsequent marital quality using random effects growth curve models and repeated measures of marital quality from married women in the NLSY‐79 (N = 3,598). We find that premarital cohabitors experience lower quality marital relationships on average, but this is driven by cohabitors with nonmarital births. Premarital cohabitors without nonmarital births report the same marital quality as women who did not cohabit before marriage. Nonmarital childbearing is more strongly associated with lower subsequent marital quality for White women than for Black or Hispanic women. Marital quality declines at similar rates for all couples regardless of cohabitation or nonmarital childbearing status. These findings are robust to numerous alternative model specifications.     

Utility Subsidies as Social Transfers: An Empirical Evaluation of Targeting Performance

Subsidies to residential utility customers are important in‐kind transfer mechanisms in developing countries. Do these subsidies reach the poor? This article finds the average targeting performance of water and electricity subsidies to be similar to that of other social‐transfer mechanisms using the same targeting method. The most common form — a quantity‐based consumption subsidy aiming to subsidise low‐volume customers — is highly regressive. Many geographically‐targeted and most means‐tested utility subsidies are progressive, but still exclude many poor households. Connection subsidies are an attractive alternative in low coverage areas, but they will only reach the poor if utilities extend network access to poor households and if households choose to connect.