John Scanzoni

Childless by Choice

This study examines a set of determinants which have been delineated in the literature as being paramount for describing those who voluntarily choose to remain childless. The Canadian Fertility Survey (T.R. Balakrishnan K. Krotki and E. Lapierre-Adamcyk 1984) is used as the data source for it contains one of the most complete fertility histories ever gathered on a national level in Canada. Two models using demographic socioeconomic and attitudinal variables were set up in order to differentiate the voluntarily childless women from the women with children. The findings from discriminant analysis indicate that attitudes toward children over and above the demographic and socioeconomic variables play a key role in discriminating between both groups. Contrary to the literature however place of birth residence religiosity birth order and number of children by mother did not serve to differentiate the membership groups in either model. This leads one to question their effectiveness as determinants of voluntary childlessness. (authors)

Sex Roles, Economic Factors, and Marital Solidarity in Black and White Marriages.

A major consequence of the Moynihan Report was to focus on black conjugal patterns a degree of attention that had simply not been there before. Besides detailed census analyses there appeared a variety of publications by independent investigators (Liebow, 1967; Billingsley, 1968; Rainwater, 1970; Willie, 1970; Scanzoni, 1971; Staples, 1971). Out of the numerous issues raised by this rapidly expanding literature, we wish to focus on only two interrelated questions. One has to do with the structures of sex roles; the other has to do with the conditions which promote or hinder marital satisfaction. Both issues will be examined in and results compared for black and white marriages.

Sex Role Change and Influences on Birth Intentions.

Samples of college students from two different points in time are drawn and compared in terms of gender role norms and relationships to an array of variables with particular focus on birth intentions. It was found that over time both men and women have become less sex role traditional that these measures of sex role norms do predict birth intentions at both time periods and that the strength of this relationship has also increased over time. (authors)

Demography of the Family

Family demography, a field increasingly investigated by sociologists, demographers, historians, economists, and family specialists, now contains a growing body of literature dealing with a range of topics that can be treated as elements of family demography. This chapter provides an overview of the field, with specific attention to significant research topics central to an understanding of the demographic analysis of families.

New Action Theory and Contemporary Families

Growing diversities among families and households throughout Western societies are documented. The prevailing conceptual approach has been to distinguish “the family” from alternative life-styles. That dichotomy, rooted in functionalist thought (“old action theory”) is rejected. Drawing on what is called “new action theory” a model for conceptualizing contemporary families is presented. The model assumes that persons construct their families within a societal context that, as Giddens argues, is both constraining and enabling. The authors conceive of families as primary groups. There are least four kinds of interdependencies —each with numerous subfacets, and existing in varied combinations—that give rise to perceptions of families: extrinsic, intrinsic, sexual, and formal. The authors identify two broad expressions of primary groups. One is based on generalized exchange and univocal reciprocity. The other rests on restricted exchange and mutual reciprocity/contingency. Because the authors argue that social theory cannot be divorced from social policy, they offer policy implications of this theoretical approach.

Religious Orientations and Women's Expected Continuity in the Labor Force.

Most observers concur that during the past 20 years there have been remarkable changes in the employment attitudes and behaviors of US women; today there is considerably greater variation among married womens work orientations and behaviors than there was 20 years ago. While certain religious orientations and perspectives may support womens adoption of the secularized work ethic other contemporary religious perspectives may view that adoption more dimly. This study examines the relationship between womens religious orientations and their expectations regarding paid employment. Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire sent to senior women students from 2 land grant universities in spring 1983. College programs selected for study were either predominantly female or predominantly male. Usable returns from both samples numbered 318. Religious devoutness was measured by a Guttman-type scale. Other measures included a self-esteem scale and items designed to solicit background information regarding mothers education and her paid employment activity; sex-role attitudes were measured with the 30-item Sex-Role Attitude Scale; a personality-style scale was used to measure assertiveness and responsiveness. A path model was constructed and the several sets of influences on womens work expectations were discovered and interpreted. Empirical conclusions tend to suggest that religion operates on expected work continuity mainly via gender role preferences. Greater devoutness tends to increase degree of gender role stereotyping and conventionality which in turn decreases expectations for a high degree of continuity in the paid labor force.

A Social System Analysis of Dissolved and Existing Marriages

The issue of order and disorder withirt the conjugal family is examined from the standpoint of the four elements of family organization and interaction suggested by Bell and Vogel. A sample of existing marriages is compared with a sample of dissolved marriages over economic-, community-, authority-, and ideological-type variables. Existing marriages were characterized by greater convergence over economicand community-type variables and lesser conflict and greater compromise than dissolved marriages. There was similarity between the two groups in terms of ideological factors. The study is exploratory in nature, and its conclusions are to be considered hypotheses for further testing.

Understanding family policy : theoretical approaches

PART ONE: LAYING THE FOUNDATION Family Policy Definitions, Domain and Concepts Developments in Family Policy Reflections of Social Change An Institutional Perspective PART TWO: FRAMEWORKS FOR UNDERSTANDING POLICY/FAMILY CONNECTIONS Policy Frameworks Families as Social Systems Other Family Frameworks PART THREE: APPLICATIONS OF FRAMEWORKS TO FAMILY POLICIES Welfare Reform Individual and Family Well-Being The Mental Retardation Family Subsidy Program Containing the Cost of Care for Elderly Disabled Family Members PART FOUR: THE POTENTIAL OF FAMILY POLICY The Case for Understanding Family Policy A Summing Up

Policy Implications Derived from a Study of Rural and Urban Marriages.

Comparing a sample of rural husbands and wives with a sample of urban husbands and wives over a range of variables that are fundamental to contemporary marriage and family, the joint issues of differences by county of residence and by sex are explored. It turns out that the most significant differences emerge over education and gender role preferences-rural women and men are less well educated and more gender role traditional than urban women and men. Thus, in planning programs to aid rural families andlor to counsel them, the family professional may wish to focus on the potential benefits to rural women (and men) of expanding their range of gender role-related options, alongside increasing access to those options.

From the Normal Family to Alternate Families to the Quest for Diversity With Interdependence

This article traces the development of changes internal to households since the late 1960s. The discussion is set in the context of two competing theories—constructionism and functionalism, old and new. The notion of varieties of families is distinguished from household diversity. Variety refers simply to what are known as family variants or alternative lifestyles. Diversity is indicated by a structural and spatial situation in which there is both parity of and linkages among households.