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Age gap between spouses has important implications for a range of outcomes—from fertility and longevity, to gender relationships, marital quality, and stability. This paper examines the age gap between spouses in 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia. The average age difference (husband's minus wife's age) is positive in all countries and ranges from 2.7 in Myanmar to 8.4 in Bangladesh. Age homogamous marriages accounted for 5% of all marriages in Bangladesh to close to half of all marriages in Thailand. The proportion of age hypogamous marriages was uniformly low in all the countries except for Myanmar where it reaches close to 10%. Men's marriage age has a stronger effect in determining the age gap. In general, the age gap for women with lower education was larger than for those with higher education. However, much of this effect was explained by the difference in marriage timing across educational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has witnessed a dramatic expansion of higher education, and women have emerged as noteworthy winners in the process. This paper focuses on the role of female college education on four dimensions of marriage: age at marriage, autonomy in the choice of spouse, work and financial empowerment, and quality of marital relationship. The study uses a sample of 35,561 currently married women from the 2011-2012 wave of the nationally representative India Human Development Survey (IHDS). It demonstrates that higher education, particularly college education, enables women to lead lives substantively different from their less-educated peers. College-educated women marry at later ages, enjoy greater autonomy in choosing their husbands, and have a more egalitarian relationship with their spouses. Furthermore, the study finds that educational homogamy and hypogamy afford greater autonomy to women. Even without a concomitant increase in labor force participation, college education among women appears to have a transformative effect on marriage in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States occupies a unique position among OECD countries because the US provides little policy support for working parents. Despite the resulting extreme time scarcity, US fathers perform similar amounts of child care as European fathers under more family-friendly policy conditions. Using recent national time use survey data, this paper examines whether time scarcity among American working parents, coupled with limited access to affordable child care and traditional masculine identity ideas, is associated with American fathers' involvement in the daily care of their young children. Results show that fathers do one third of all care activities, contribute one third of the care time, and perform over one half of the 10 activities analyzed here daily. Multivariate analysis indicates that time scarcity, lack of alternative child care options, and traditional masculine identity affect the degree of fathers' involvement in daily care activities with their under five year olds. Implications for the development of caring masculinities are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, transition to adulthood behaviors changed across gender and social class. Yet it is unclear whether these changes reflect a corresponding shift in beliefs. In particular, widening inequality and changes to higher education may differentially alter the opportunities available to young adults across gender and socioeconomic status, potentially changing attitudes about entering adulthood. Using the General Social Survey's 2002 and 2012 waves, this paper explores beliefs about the importance and timing of six adult milestones, completing education, becoming financially independent, working full-time, living independently, getting married, and having children, across age, gender, and social class. We find that similarities in beliefs across gender and age groups persisted. In contrast, even though Americans from different social class backgrounds report similar beliefs about milestone importance, we continue to find social class differences in timing beliefs. Our findings highlight the continued need for institutional supports for disadvantaged youth moving towards adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thailand's marriage system has been undergoing a significant transformation. Past research has often focused on the declining marriage rates, delays in marital timing, and the rise in marital dissolution. Much less attention is paid to remarriage trends and consequences. Addressing this pertinent gap, we analyze multiple nationally representative surveys to examine recent trends, correlates, and potential implications of remarriage among Thai reproductive-age women. Our results indicate that remarriage is commonplace in Thailand, and that birth cohort, educational attainment, residence location, age at first marriage, and children from a previous marriage are significantly associated with the likelihood to remarry. We find that Thai women tend to have additional children after remarriage. While research elsewhere suggests the positive effect of remarriage on health and life satisfaction, this is not evident in Thailand. Women whose remarriage has ended reported significantly lower life satisfaction than those who did not remarry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family values operate in both immediate (i.e., familial) and broader social contexts. This study used a mixed methods approach to examine both forms of family values in the Australian context. A convenience sample of 856 people completed a measure of family values about both their own values and their perceived values of one of their parents, and a measure of familism. Using a story completion approach, a majority of the sample also responded to three story stems focused on the perceived values held by fictional families. Quantitative findings identified relationships between participant and perceived parent values in terms of gender. Participants reported high levels of familism, predicted by religiosity, age, and being a parent. Qualitative findings suggested that some participants were mindful of discrimination faced by the fictional families, but many participants also provided deficit accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the underexplored relationship between union type and mental health for married, cohabiting, and living apart together ("LAT") individuals. Further, we assess whether gender and age moderate (separately and jointly) this relationship. Using data from Wave 1 of the Generations and Gender Survey (N = 34,833), results suggest that cohabitors and LATs have worse mental health than married individuals. The negative effects of cohabiting or living apart on mental health are stronger for women than men. Young and middle-aged female LATs (to an equal magnitude) have worse mental health than married women of the same ages, while there are no such differences among older women. Middle-aged and older male LATs have worse mental health than married men of the same ages (with the larger effect found for middle-aged men), but there are no such differences among younger men. Thus, we highlight previously undocumented gender and life course dynamics of union type and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of children are growing up in reconstituted households, formed by a couple and a non-common child. Reconstituted households tend to be poorer, which is associated with worse behavioural and developmental outcomes. Additionally, there is evidence that non-common children receive less economic support from their parents upon leaving the parental home. Using age-specific deprivation data collected in the 2014 European Survey on Income and Living Conditions this article compares the allocation of resources in reconstituted and intact couple households. It shows that indeed, children in reconstituted households are more likely to be deprived compared to those in intact households. However, it finds no evidence that reconstituted households are less likely to prioritise children. The findings hold across welfare regimes. Women are more likely to go without compared with men, although differences are small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental knowledge was tested as a possible deterrent to future delinquency in 3914 (51% male) early to mid-adolescent school children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Using three waves of data, parent-rated mother and father knowledge were tested as correlates of future delinquency, controlling for age, perceived parental knowledge, and the willingness of children to share their thoughts and feelings with parents. Variables from Wave 5 (age 12/13) were used to predict delinquency at Wave 6 (age 14/15), and variables from Wave 6 were used to predict delinquency at Wave 7 (age 16/17). Results showed that mother- but not father-reported knowledge effectively deterred future child delinquency. A significant sex x mother knowledge interaction was found in both analyses, indicating that boys experienced a stronger deterrent effect than girls. It was further demonstrated that the deterrent effect of parental knowledge on child delinquency was stronger in early adolescence than in middle adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of antiretroviral therapies (ART) prolongs life and heightens ability to engage in productive activities among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This study implemented a 6-week long Social Care Intervention (SCI) Program in Ghana and identified protective factors associated with Quality of Life (QoL) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). We discovered that SCI model in the form of social support associated positively with differences in the QoL among PLWHA. Logistic regression revealed that social support, especially affectionate support, was positively associated with a higher level of QoL. People who were older and healthier tended to have higher levels of QoL compared with their counterparts who were younger and sicker. These findings suggest that building social support system can serve as an empowerment approach to promote quality of life among PLWHA in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where resources are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using three waves of data from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS 1995–2014, N =1,123), this study investigates the linkage between caregiving and women's positive and negative work–family spillovers over the life course. Results show that women's work–family experiences are not only shaped by caregiving itself but also depend on the timing when they take these roles: the effect of raising school-aged children on negative family-to-work spillover (FWS) is the highest in the 40s, and the effect of raising adolescent children on positive work-to-family spillover (WFS) is the lowest in the 50s. Providing financial support to parents increases both negative FWS and negative WFS, and the effects are highest in their 20s and 65+, respectively. Providing emotional care and unpaid assistance to parents can enhance women's positive FWS in their 40s. This study's findings suggest that timing and linked-lives both play strong roles in shaping women's work–family experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data from the American Community Survey to examine the relationship between race, family configurations, and inequalities in private school enrollment among adoptees. We find that private school enrollment is higher in transracial than in same-race families. This disparity is driven by the outcomes of adoptees in transracial families with zero rather than one same-race parent. Among adoptees themselves, there are diverging patterns of racial stratification in same-race and transracial families. White adoptees in same-race families are more likely to be enrolled in private school than Black, Asian, or Hispanic adoptees in such families. However, among adoptees in transracial families, the highest odds of private school enrollment are found among Asians. Finally, we argue that our findings have important implications for understanding how kinship cues, compensation, and social disadvantage shape parental investment in adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fertility influence of spousal intimate relationships is unknown. Drawing on the Giddens's theory of transformation of intimacy, this study proposed a hypothesis that couples supporting egalitarian intimate relationships, with a greater risk profile attached to the relationship, and having less attachments to the external normative pressures shaping marital relations, are more likely to have low-fertility intentions and preferences. Using data from a self-administered pilot survey (n = 375 prospective grooms and brides) designed by the authors, and employing multivariate regression models, we found that the lower attachment to external social forces in mate selection was associated with the lower ideal number of children, and those with a greater spousal relational egalitarianism and a higher risk profile attached to their relationships preferred lower number of children and were less likely to intend to have children after marriage. The study sheds new light on the determinants of low fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation concentrates on value similarity between parents and their children during adulthood. The interplay between gender, age, relationship quality, and frequency of contact on value similarity was analyzed. A total of 600 adult German children (53.8% women) and their parents took part in a questionnaire study. Value orientation was measured with a short version of Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire, and relationship quality with the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman & Buhrmeister, 1992).Value similarity was higher in mother–daughter dyads compared to mother–son dyads, but in the other dyads, no significant differences were found. Regarding relationship quality, verbal intimacy was not related to value similarity. Parental satisfaction was associated with value similarity in the father–child dyads. Satisfaction, as perceived by adult children, was linked to value similarity in mother–child and father–son dyads. Furthermore, the frequency of contact related to value similarity between mothers and sons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to understand how the intersection of migration, gender, and age shapes the marital prospects of Ethiopian female domestic workers returning from the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East. The study found that gendered attitudes in Ethiopian society rooted in patriarchy interact with age and the migration experiences of returnees to create stigma and marginalization, excluding the returnees from the highly desired social institution of marriage. It was also found that returnees tended to dissociate themselves from other returnees or kept their experiences secret to cope with stigma and marginalization and increase their marital prospects. The study shows how the stigma and marginalization experienced by Ethiopian female returnees from the Arabian Gulf and Middle East countries affects their social reintegration in the home country and can trigger remigration intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonmarital pregnancy increases the likelihood of entering a marital or cohabiting union. The timing of a pregnancy within the life course of an individual or relationship duration may also affect the likelihood of forming coresidential unions and their stability. This study examines the association between nonmarital pregnancy and first union formation and how this varies across age. It also considers whether the influence of pregnancy on the stability of cohabitations shifts across their duration. Using data on young adults in the United States (Add Health), competing-risk event-history models examine the time-varying influence of pregnancy on union formation and stability. Findings suggest that pregnancy is more strongly associated with union formation during adolescence, becoming less influential as women age. Within cohabitations, pregnancy had a bigger impact on increasing the likelihood of marriage early within unions, but the longer a couple cohabited the less likely they were to transition to marriage when pregnant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on gender differences in academic performance in wealthy countries highlights the importance of family structure: Boys’ education suffers more than girls’ education does when biological fathers are absent. We explored whether high rates of father absence in Latin America and the Caribbean might help explain why girls in the region have been more likely than boys to complete secondary school for decades. Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys instead demonstrated that the effect of father absence did not differ between boys and girls. The reverse gender gap in Latin American education cannot be explained by father absence compromising boys’ on-time progression at ages 9 to 14 more than girls’. In the United States and other high-income countries, boys are particularly disadvantaged by father absence in poorer households, but in Latin America and the Caribbean poorer households may have higher levels of promale bias that offset any similar pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the prevalence of partnership formation at different life stages and analyses whether the determinants of partnership formation change over the life course. Data were obtained from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 1992 to 2014. Event history analyses were used to examine 13,871 periods of being single, of which 8,551 ended with the beginning of an intimate relationship. The results show that the formation of intimate relationships becomes increasingly unlikely after the fourth decade of life onward, particularly for women. At the same time, several predictors of partnership formation vary substantially with age. Economic resources accelerate partnership formation particularly in midlife, whereas good health accelerates partnership formation only in later years. These results remain similar when the transition into cohabitation is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has investigated factors that may moderate the intergenerational transmission of emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors. The present study examined the role of two moderators, emotion dysregulation and maternal age at childbirth, on the relation between maternal childhood history of emotional maltreatment and current observations of emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in 64 mother–child dyads. Results indicated that mothers who were younger at childbirth seemed more likely to engage in emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in the context of high levels of sustained childhood emotional maltreatment, regardless of their level of emotion dysregulation. Mothers who were older at childbirth were at high risk for emotionally unsupportive parenting behaviors in the context of high levels of sustained emotional maltreatment histories and high emotion dysregulation, yet were not at such risk if emotion dysregulation was low. Implications for the buffering effects of emotion regulation on the risk for emotionally unsupportive behaviors were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of family context and community context on children’s social reasoning about parental negotiation of the gendered roles of breadwinner and caretaker. Participants included 272 seven- and ten-year-old children from traditional and nontraditional parental employment situations, who lived in either a U.S. east coast metropolitan area or in a military-minded community. Children provided judgments and justifications about a parent’s desire to switch roles, the other parent’s opposition, and the use of stereotypes to defend their opposition. Children’s judgments were affected by the gender of parent wanting a new role, age of child, and both personal contexts. The current study provides evidence that children, not just adults, are aware of, and can reason about, parental roles and that it is important to investigate community norms in addition to direct family contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to first-time parenthood at advanced maternal age has become a rising challenge for families in the 21st century. The present study aimed to examine the perceptions of influencing factors and the satisfaction with child-timing among older first-time mothers and their partners (older parents) compared with younger first-time mothers and their partners (younger parents) and to explore the relationships between these variables, depending on age group. A total of 105 older parents and 93 younger parents were recruited in a Portuguese urban referral maternity and completed self-report scales during pregnancy. Both age groups perceived that a shared desire to have children and a suitable partnership were the most influential factors. However, older parents were less satisfied with the timing of first childbirth than younger parents. Aside from some perceptions of influencing factors, advanced maternal age was the most consistent predictor of lower satisfaction with child-timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the rest of South Asia, female age at marriage in Sri Lanka reached a high level of 25.5 years by 1993 and declined thereafter to 23.6 years as reported by the 2006-2007 Demographic and Health Survey. This article examines this trend and potential contributors to the trend by using data from Population Censuses and Demographic and Health Surveys. The relaxation of the marriage squeeze with the more balanced sex ratio at the turn of the present century and decline in male unemployment from mass labor migration are some factors contributing to decline in female marriage age. Increased female employment opportunities allow more young girls to accumulate money for dowry and other marriage expenses at younger ages than their older cohorts could and further contributions come from remittances from labor migrants. Changing attitudes to late marriage and government curbs on abortion services too may have contributed to the decline in female marriage age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1997, a multinational company in northern Mexico replaced a work policy that required women to quit on marriage or pregnancy. Analysis of extensive data from a qualitative case study shows how the women perceive the policy change as shaping work–family choices. The women interpret the change as significant because it recognizes women’s “right to work” and grants them access to family-friendly workplace policies. But their interpretations of how it plays out in practice vary over the gendered life course. Furthermore, evidence of obstacles to women’s advancement indicates that workplace practices remain gendered and vary by occupational status and age. This analysis demonstrates the importance of situating women’s workplace experiences within a particular context with its distinct cultural and sociopolitical framings of work and family. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors examine social-class differences in parents’ child-rearing values for autonomy, self-direction, and conformity and the extent to which their values are influenced by their perceptions of their developing children’s characteristics. Parents from 25 middle-class or working-class families in a Brazilian city participated in interviews, observations, and completed Kohn’s Q-Sort measure when their children were 3, 36, and 72 months of age. Parents’ child-rearing values differed significantly by social class: middle-class parents were more likely to value autonomy and self-direction in their children, whereas working-class parents were more likely to value conformity. In addition, the strength and direction of parental values changed significantly as their children developed. Parents were less likely to value autonomy and self-direction when their children were 36 months than when they were either 3 or 72 months. Middle-class parents were more likely to value conformity when their children were 36 than when they were younger or older. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The “New Economy” features 24/7 employment, varied work schedules, job insecurity, and lower benefits and wages, which lead to disparities in experiences of security and sufficiency. This study investigates sufficiency concerns in the New Economy; who is having trouble making ends meet? Sufficiency concerns are subjective perceptions that work is insufficient to meet basic needs and that family and work cannot be coordinated in a stable way. This study uses the 2006 National Survey of Religion and Family Life (N = 1,621) to analyze Americans’ experiences in the New Economy and how these experiences are related to work–family conflict. Sufficiency concerns were experienced by a quarter to a third of our respondents and were shaped by gender and structural inequality, especially race and education. Moreover, sufficiency concerns strongly predict work–family conflict, even when other controls are included. This research furthers our understanding of work–family conflict and the winners and losers in the New Economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The researchers examined childhood family structure, age, and race/ethnicity as correlates of paternal relationships using the Father Presence Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 788 adult women aged 18 to 88 years from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The most consistent finding was the effect of family structure on participants’ evaluations of their paternal relationships. Father absence because of divorce or separation produced less favorable evaluations on every scale and within every racial/ethnic category; however, when father’s absence was attributable to death before 18 years, a consistent pattern of extremely positive evaluations resulted. The influence of race/ethnicity on women’s evaluations of paternal relationships interacted with family structure. Among those living with both biological parents, non-Hispanic Whites gave the most positive ratings of their paternal relationships; among those not living with their biological father, African Americans had more favorable ratings than other ethnic categories. Increasing age tended to produce less favorable evaluations of father. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Guided by an ecological perspective, the authors examined event, individual, structural/cultural, and family/community factors that shaped the psychological well-being of older adults displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The authors first established the negative effects of displacement on psychological well-being by comparing displaced older adults with permanent Baton Rouge residents. Displaced older persons’ psychological well-being was positively related to their age and physical health. Older displaced women coped with displacement better than men. Avoidant coping was negatively related to the older adults’ well-being, whereas spiritual coping showed no effect. The functioning of older persons’ family was positively related to their psychological well-being, whereas dependence on people outside immediate family showed a negative relationship. Income, education, and race were largely unrelated to psychological well-being. Findings provide implications for future studies regarding the relationship between disaster and psychological well-being and provide practitioners with suggestions for work with older adults displaced by disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on 424 qualitative interviews with a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse population of young people ranging in age from 21 to 38, the authors ponder the paradox of the evolving role for contemporary marriage within the developmental perspective of the transition to adulthood. The authors identify two groups: marriage naturalists and marriage planners. Naturalists comprise one fifth of the sample, are largely from rural America, and follow the fast-track into marriage that defined the mid-twentieth century. Planners comprise the remainder of the sample, are based in metropolitan areas, and follow an elongated transition to adulthood. The authors examine the views of each group on commitment and the nature of relationships, and apply their findings to the debates about whether marriage is resilient, in decline, or becoming deinstitutionalized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]