Used self-report diaries (N=38) and descriptive family care scenarios (N=30) to highlight behavioral, cognitive, and emotional components of family care and generate researchable questions surrounding the interplay of gender and expression of care. Results indicated, although family members held idealized notions of family care, their behaviors…

The content of the situation is more important in the choice of courses of action than the pressures of either parents or peers, and parent peer orientations have a systematic, but minimal influence, on choice. (Author)

Argues that the way people organize their roles and identities is an empirical issue, not an established fact. Found that people who maintain more balance across their entire systems of roles and activities will score lower on measures of role strain and depression and higher on measures of well-being. (RJM)