This study examines time with children among women who remain childless in young to middle adulthood. The authors identify biologically childless women aged 25 to 44 years in the June 2004-2008 Current Population Survey, and use their subsequent time use diaries in the 2004-2009 American Time Use Survey to measure their time with children. The…

Using a sample of 335 young adults and their parents, this study investigated the intergenerational transmission of marital attitudes from parents to their children and how parental marital quality moderates that relationship. Results suggested that the marital attitudes of both mothers and fathers are related to the marital attitudes of their…

Mattering is the extent to which people believe they make a difference in the world around them. This study hypothesizes that adolescents who believe they matter less to their families will more likely threaten or engage in intrafamily physical violence. The data come from a national sample of 2,004 adolescents. Controlling for respondents' age,…

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…

The question of how to best measure family processes so that longitudinal experiences within the family are accurately captured has become an important issue for family scholars. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,158), this article focuses on the association between trajectories of perceived supportiveness from biological…

The role of depression in nonresident fathers' involvement with their infant children is poorly understood. A three-factor model of father involvement was evaluated, and its association with parental relationship quality and depressive symptoms in both parents were tested. Data on 569 families from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study were used.…

Although mothers are widely acknowledged as the primary in-home sexual educators of children, fathers also play an important role in sexual socialization. Paternal involvement is linked to positive social and psychological outcomes; an increased father-daughter communication can delay sexual debut and decrease frequency of engagement in…

We explore women's marital naming choices using the 2004 American Community Survey (ACS). Six percent of native-born married women have nonconventional surnames. "Nonconventional" surnames include hyphenated surnames, two surnames, and women who kept their own surname at marriage. Characteristics associated with nonconventional surname use include…

With whom do parents discuss medical and behavioral child-rearing questions? In a telephone survey of 167 parents (49 fathers and 118 mothers) in the southern United States, the authors found that mothers express a clear preference for their own mother's advice as opposed to that of their mother-in-law. Fathers are less likely to consult any…

This study examines religious differences in attitudes toward divorce laws among U.S. adults. Using pooled data from the 2000-2006 NORC General Social Surveys (N = 5,683), we find that frequency of religious attendance and belief that the Bible is the Word of God are strong predictors of support for stricter laws governing divorce. Indeed, these…

The authors used data from the Add Health study to estimate the effects of parents' marital status and relationship distress on daughters' early family formation transitions. Outcomes included traditional transitions (marriage and marital births) and nontraditional transitions (cohabitation and nonmarital births). Relationship distress among…

The authors use data from the 2000 Census Public Use Microdata Sample to examine the likelihood of a birth event, defined as the household presence of a child younger than 2 years, for male and female professionals. Physicians have the highest rate of birth events, followed in order by attorneys and academics. Within each profession men have more…

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing survey (N = 4,211), this study examines neighborhood disadvantage and perceptions of instrumental support among mothers with young children. The authors find that (a) living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with less instrumental support, particularly financial…

The extent and experiences of youths' caretaking of their adolescent sisters' children have been assessed in two longitudinal studies. The first study examines the caretaking patterns of 132 Latino and African American youth during middle and late adolescence. The second study involves 110 Latino youth whose teenage sister has recently given…

Using data from the 1992-2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, this article examines the relationship between the presence and age of children in the home and parental mobility in midlife. Although a substantial literature evaluates the factors affecting the timing of children leaving (and returning) home, less attention has been paid to…