Felix M. Berardo

Women in Age-Discrepant Marriages

This research seeks to identify salient sociodemographic correlates of womens likelihood of marrying outside the normative age patterns. The data were drawn from the Public Use Sample of the 1980 Census. Logistic regression analyses show that Black women are significantly more likely than White women to be in age-heterogamous marriages. Marital history appears to be the strongest predictor of age-discrepant marriages - remarried subjects exhibit the highest probability of entering such unions. The analysis also suggests that wives who are heterogamous on other dimensions vis-à-vis their husbands are also more likely to be in age-heterogamous marriages.

A history of marriage systems

Preface Relationships Among Marriage Rules, Kinship Rules, and Socioeconomic Conditions: A Hypothesis of the Spiral-like Development of Marriage Systems Practical Realities: The Functions of Incest Taboos, Social Replacement Considerations, and Ages at Marriage and Death, in the Development of Marriage Systems From Consortship to Marriage: Some Hypotheses Concerning Early Marriage Patterns, Based on Hunter-Gatherer and Primate Life Marriage in the Transition to Agriculture and Pastoral Herding: General Considerations and Early Developments Marriage in Agricultural Societies: From Early Mesopotamia to Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific Marriage in Pastoral-Herding Societies Marriage in Commercializing and Urbanizing Societies: Background and General Considerations Marriage in Commercializing and Urbanizing Societies: The Europe-Middle East-Asia Realm Marriage in Industrial-Commercial Societies: Background and General Considerations Marriage in Industrial-Commercial Societies: Europe Marriage in Societies Moving Toward Industrialization and Commercialization: The Middle East, Asia, and Africa Marriage in Industrial-Commercial Societies: The Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Conclusion Bibliography Index

Age dissimilar marriages: Review and assessment

Abstract The empirical literature on age dissimilar marriages (ADMs) over the past six decades was analyzed in terms data sources, theoretical perspectives, findings, and controversial issues. There has been a significant increase in research on ADMs. Greater use of large data sets, especially census data is evident. Few studies utilize original samples of age-discrepant couples. Most studies are atheoretical and descriptive, and lack explicit hypotheses, although recent research has begun to overcome these deficits. The most consistent findings include: ADMs increase with age and with remarriages; older man-younger woman marriages continue as the most prevalent form of ADMs; nonwhites show higher probabilities of age heterogamous marriages; ADMs are most prevalent among lower socioeconomic groups; age disparities differentially affect the sexes with respect to mortality; ADMs appear to be more alike than dissimilar from coeval marriages. Findings regarding ADMs and marital stability remain contradictory. Definitions of ADMs are arbitrary, show wide variation, and pose an impediment to definitive conclusions.

Families, Prisons, and Men with Death Sentences The Human Impact of Structured Uncertainty

This article examines the impact on family members of the uncertainty surrounding the institutionalization of a loved one. Detailed observations and interviews were conducted with several men sentenced to death in Florida and with their families. The stresses of death row confinement for both the family and inmate are outlined. It is found that the stresses of death row have major consequences for family and friends, with some withdrawing and others reacting with renewed support. These reactions can in turn produce additional tension for the inmate. Conditions that inhibit a familys ability to cope with the situation are also discussed, such as restrictions on families talking with one another in the visiting room and the lack of opportunity to phone their incarcerated member.

Family Privacy Issues and Concepts

Privacy is examined within the context of marriage and the family. The relative invisibility of significant intrafamilial transaction is used to explain part of our pluralistic ignorance concerning the psychosocial dimensions of this basic unit of society. Based on a framework of concepts derived from the social sciences, both the functional and dysfunctional aspects of familial autonomy are elaborated, with particular emphasis given to marital interaction. The general erosion of privacy in the United States is analyzed in terms of its potential for disrupting the traditional right of the family to control the amount and type of information it is willing to reveal to outsiders and when, as well as under what conditions and to whom it is disposed to make such disclosures. A systematic effort to specify the changing dimensions of family privacy is called for.

On gold diggers: Status gain or loss in age heterogamous marriages

Deviations from the age norms governing mate selection often provoke negative stereotypes regarding the participants. This article focuses on age heterogamous unions or so-called May-December marriages, involving an older person with a young spouse. The public often attributes pecuniary (gold digger) motives to the latter. Our research tests the widespread notion that the younger woman exchanges youth for status or money. Using data from the Panel on Income Dynamics, age homogamous and age heterogamous couples are compared in terms of each of the spouses achieved and inherited status and the contribution these make to explained variance in family income. Analysis using hierarchical multiple regression revealed that, contrary to popular belief, the status of the older spouse does not make a more important contribution toward explained income. Indeed, in this study, the reverse was the case in that the wifes status contributed more toward explained income. The notion that age heterogamy in marriage represents a channel of upward mobility for young women married to older men needs systematic reexamination.

Individual lifestyles and survivorship: The role of habits, attitudes, and nutrition

Abstract Individual lifestyles bear directly on the length and quality of life. The habits and attitudes which reflect personal lifestyle are examined in terms of their life-threatening potential. Several important attitudes and behaviors are discussed in relation to survival, including: cultural expectations and “machismo,” a holistic perspective, physical exercise, motivation, paying attention, and cynicism. Nutrition behavior is used to illustrate how cultural and personal attitudes affect life chances. A distinction between realistic risk-taking activities and reckless danger is called for to prevent accidental death. A program of self-watching is encouraged in order to modify deleterious habits.

Family Scholarship A Reflection of the Changing Family

This article outlines and presents support for the thesis that family scholarship is largely shaped by sociodemographic changes in the family. It presents several additional alternative explanations for trends in the substantive foci of family scholarship. These include: serendipity; personal interest; proliferation and the changing composition of the body of researchers; social movements; key scholars; interaction between researchers and practitioners; shifts in public tolerance as subjects; increases in public sophistication as consumers of knowledge; and value changes. The article concludes that family scholarship is shaped by multiple factors for which salience varies across time and researchers.

Age irrelevancy in society: The test of mate selection

Abstract This research focuses on age differences in marriage. The purpose is to develop a partial test of whether over the past five decades age has become less relevant and age norms less constraining. A reduction in the strength of age norms should result in a decrease in coeval marriages. If age norms become less binding, then one should expect people to cast a wider age net when selecting their mate, leading to an increase in the number of marriages with unconventional age differences. Microdata samples of 111000 from 1940 through the 1980 Census of the United States Population were used to derive trends in the proportion of ageheterogamous and age-homogamous couples. The results show that between 1940 and 1980 there was no abatement of age homogamy. In fact a strong trend towards increasing homogamy was discovered. This movement toward increased homogamy, and the converse decrease in the age heterogamy, indicates that age has become more, not less, relevant in mate selection.

The Groomal Shower: A Variation of the American Bridal Shower

This article describes and analyzes an innovative variation of the traditional bridal shower, called the groomal shower. While retaining many ceremonial elements of the bridal shower, the groomal differs in several ways, most notably in that the honoree is a man. The implications of these differences through this new form of ritual are explored. The elements of initiation, ordeal, and reciprocity are examined to provide an understanding of the meaning of this activity for the participants. The groomal shower is a reflection of our changing attitudes toward marriage and another indication of the move toward greater equalitarianism. Viewed as a form of anti-ritualism, the groomal may be seen as representing a move toward greater ethical sensitivity in human relations.