Gayle Kaufman

Do Gender Role Attitudes Matter? Family Formation and Dissolution Among Traditional and Egalitarian Men and Women

The effect of gender role attitudes on family formation and dissolution is analyzed using data from the 1987/1988 and 1992/1994 waves of the National Survey of Families and House-holds. Results indicate that egalitarian women are less likely to intend to have a child and actually to have a child than traditional women. Unlike women, egalitarian men are more likely to intend to have a child and less likely to divorce than traditional men. Single men with egalitarian attitudes are more likely to cohabit than their traditional counterparts. The gap between traditional women and traditional men in divorce, fertility intentions, and fertility outcomes is significant.

Grandparenting and age identity

Abstract This study examines multiple dimensions of age identity, including how old people feel, how old people want to be, how old people hope to live to, and how old is old. We pay particular attention to the influence of the grandparent role and the timing of the transition to grandparenthood. We use data from a Midwestern sample of 666 elderly Americans included in the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP). The analysis suggests that older people who enjoy being grandparents feel younger, believe that people become old at older ages, and hope to live longer than those who do not enjoy grandparenting. In addition, those who became grandparents at younger ages feel older than those who enter this role “on time.” While becoming a grandparent at a young age may in a sense accelerate aging, positive interaction with grandchildren can lead to a younger age identity.

Gender and Marital Happiness in Later Life

In this study, the authors examine the effect of gender ideology on marital happiness in later life. Studies of marital satisfaction in later life have tended to neglect such attitudes, although they have received increasing attention in the literature on younger marriages. The authors use data from married individuals who range in age from 51 to 92 years old and are members of the 1994 Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that those who hold egalitarian attitudes report significantly higher levels of marital happiness than do those with more traditional attitudes. However, this effect is only significant for men.

The Portrayal of Men's Family Roles in Television Commercials

This study examines the portrayal of men infamily roles, as fathers and husbands, on televisioncommercials. A content analysis of commercials airedduring football, daytime, and prime time is carried out. The sample size of characters is 944, mostof whom are middle-class, non-Hispanic whites. Men withchildren but no spouse are more likely to be shownduring football than are women with children but no spouse. Advertisements for computers andelectronics are more likely to include men with childrenbut no spouse than women with children but no spouse.Men appearing alone with children are more likely to be shown outside than women alone withchildren. Men are less likely to be portrayed cooking,cleaning, washing dishes, and shopping than women. Menwithout spouses are more likely to be shown with boys and less likely to be shown with infants thanwomen without spouses. Men are infrequently shown takingcare of a child and are never shown caring for girls.However, men are often shown teaching, reading, talking, eating, and playing with children. Tothe extent that men are shown as more involved in familylife, they still tend to depend largely on knowledge andactivities that are stereotypically male.

‘We both need to work’ maternal employment, childcare and health care in Britain and the USA

Both Britain and the USA are described as market-oriented or ‘liberal’ welfare regimes. However, there are important variations within these two countries: although both have high rates of maternal employment, part-time work is much more common in the UK than in the USA, where dual-earner (full-time) couples are the norm. Part-time employment can help to ease work-family conflict for women, while simultaneously contributing to the household income. However, part-time work is limited in its economic benefits, is also career limiting, and, in the USA, it generally comes without health insurance. While most of the current research regarding maternal employment decisions focuses on women, this research involves interviews with 83 British and American fathers, to better understand the complexity of such decision-making. Men’s attitudes and experiences are examined in detail, focusing on the need for two incomes, the importance of paid health care and childcare costs and the potential role of part-time work.

Navigating the “New” Marriage Market How Attitudes Toward Partner Characteristics Shape Union Formation

Trends in divorce and nonmarital childbearing suggest that the marriage market is increasingly filled with people who have been married and/or have children. This study examines the effect of personal attitudes on entrance into a union with a partner who has been previously married or has children. Using data from two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, the authors find that men who hold more positive attitudes about marrying someone who already has children are more likely to enter a union with a single mother. Willingness to marry someone with children also has a positive impact on womens entry into a union with a man who has children, though only if he has not been married before. Men who express greater acceptance about marriage to someone who has been married are more likely to enter a union with a previously married woman, though only if she is childless. There is no parallel effect for women.

Willingness to Stepparent Attitudes About Partners Who Already Have Children

Marriage markets have become increasingly filled with those who already have children, which may discourage marriage. Research has generally failed to assess the role of prospective stepchildren in new union formation, particularly from the point of view of the men who might become their stepfathers. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), the authors examine willingness to marry someone who already has children as well as partners who have been previously married, are of a different religion or race, or are unlikely to hold a steady job. The most consistent determinants of attitudes toward stepparenthood are related to exposure to and/or approval of other nontraditional families, particularly the experience of own parenthood. This suggests that these unions could become more common in the future.

Do Men “Need” A Spouse More Than Women?: Perceptions of The Importance of Marriage for Men and Women

This study examines how important men and women feel marriage is for men and for women. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we find that both men and women feel that men need to be married more than women do. Women are more likely than men to think that both men and women can have satisfying lives without marriage, but they are also more likely to think that only women can have satisfying lives without marriage. Younger, more educated people are less likely to emphasize marriage. On the other hand, religious people and those who are married with children are particularly likely to think that neither men nor women can have satisfying lives without marriage.

Using the census to profile same-sex cohabitation: A research note

Most studies on cohabitation have focused on opposite-sex partners. This study seeks to explore the use of census data in examining same-sex cohabitation and to examine same-sex cohabitation in comparative terms. We use the 1990 US census 5% sample from the New York metropolitan area to focus on unmarried partners. The descriptive socio-economic profile suggests that same-sex cohabiting householders have high income and educational levels as well as a high percentage of home ownership and a more equitable share of the household income relative to other householders. However, there are drawbacks to using the census. First, the census data only allow the examination of cohabitors related to the householder. Second, the interpretation of whom unmarried partners are may vary among persons. Third, same-sex cohabitors are not synonymous with gay and lesbian couples.

Enduring Egalitarianism? Family Transitions and Attitudes Toward Gender Equality in Sweden

Previous research in industrialized countries finds that attitudes toward gender equality are affected by family-related transitions as young adults with egalitarian attitudes based on growing equality between the sexes in the public sphere of education and work encounter a much less equal situation in the private sphere of the family. Sweden, however, is a society known for its emphasis on gender equality in the family. This study examines the effect of family transitions on attitudes toward gender equality, asking whether egalitarian attitudes can withstand changing family transitions in Sweden. Using longitudinal data from the Young Adult Panel Study, we examine six different family transitions and three measures of attitudes toward gender equality for men and women, with only three significant findings across 18 coefficients. We conclude that most Swedish young adults possess “enduring attitudes,” likely because there is strong state support for families and gender sharing in the private sphere.