This dissertation is related to the areas of labor, education, and health economics. In a dramatic reversal from the recent past decades, more women than men now attend college in the U.S. and worldwide. Meanwhile, both male and female marriage rates have declined, especially for younger cohorts. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the implications of the…

Used computerized marriage assessment tool to analyze data from 8,385 couples across 9 dimensions of their marriages. Identified seven marriage types: devitalized couples, financially focused couples, conflicted couples, traditional couples, balanced couples, harmonious couples, and vitalized couples. Multidimensional profiles can be described in…

Reviews a 1983-84 study of the marital and parental behavior of lesbian wives and mothers and gay husbands and fathers. Discovered differences between the men and women in: overall demographics, marital history, marital problems and their impact, parenting issues, and dealing with homosexuality. (Author/ABB)

Personality and background questionnaires were administered to newly married couples and followed up. Findings indicate correlational similarity and mean differentiation between partners was higher in still-married group than in divorced group. Variation in marital outcome was more accurately predicted from personality than demographic variables,…

Results indicated that both husbands and wives reported relatively high levels of marital adjustment, relatively profeminist attitudes toward women, and moderate levels of career salience. Both husbands and wives ranked family as first and career as second in importance. Women reported more profeminist attitudes than men. (Author)

We model histories between two cohorts of urban Chinese couples (N=1,191) of a rarely studied living arrangement - coresidence with the wife's parents - using a dynamic life history analysis in contrast to previous cross-sectional studies of co-residence. We examine patterns of entry into and exit from co-residence with the wife's parents,…

One of the variables that could explain the considerable variety of ways that adult couples handle the transition to parenthood is whether the pregnancy was planned or not. However, very little is known about the impact of pregnancy intendedness on the conjugal life of couples during this transition. The aim of this study was to address this gap…

Studied separation, divorce, and the postponement of marriage which have nearly doubled the number of adults who keep up a home without a spouse since 1970. Assesses teenage marriages as particularly unstable. Discusses other variables including children's sex, mother's education level, custody, and remarriage. (Author/JAC)