Maureen A. Pirog-Good

Gender Identity, Self-Esteem, and Physical and Sexual Abuse in Dating Relationships

This paper examines the roles of gender identity and self-esteem in both physical and sexual abuse in dating relationships. A sample of heterosexual college dating relationships is examined. Data are collected on both inflicting and sustaining physical and sexual abuse for men and for women. No support is found for the long-held theory that abuse is a result of compulsive masculinity. Instead, in accordance with identity theory, we find that physical and sexual abuse are associated with the playing out of a less masculine (more feminine) identity for both males and females. In addition, low self-esteem appears to be associated with inflicting physical abuse for men and sexual abuse for women only in a spurious fashion: both low self-esteem and inflicting abuse result from a more feminine gender identity. (Abstract Adapted from Source: Social Psychology Quarterly, 1988. Copyright

Interpersonal Control and Courtship Aggression

This research examines the relationship between aggression and the interpersonal process of control during courtship. A sample of white heterosexual college dating relationships is examined. Data are collected on men and women inflicting and sustaining minor and severe aggression during courtship. The results show that across relationships, men are no more likely than women to control. This challenges the notion that men are more likely to control interpersonally because of their control in the wider society. Furthermore, control predicts inflicting and sustaining minor but not severe aggression. This suggests that the causal factors influencing minor aggression are different from those affecting severe aggression.

Patterns of physical and sexual abuse for men and women in dating relationships: A descriptive analysis

A random sample of students at a large Midwestern University was selected in order to examine whether and how physical and sexual abuse were related to each other for men and women, whether abuse in one relationship was independent of abuse in other relationships, and how victims responded to abusive incidents. The results revealed several important patterns. When comparing the frequency of physical and sexual abuse for men and women, it was found that sexual abuse was more common than physical abuse, but only for women. Additionally, women experienced more sexual abuse than men. While men and women did not experience physical abuse in other relationships at more than chance levels, women who sustained sexual abuse in one relationship were more likely to sustain sexual abuse in other relationships. Furthermore, while sustaining physical and sexual abuse were not associated with one another for men, there was a weak association for women. Finally, victims of abuse were more likely to tell their friends they had been abused than report it to criminal justice authorities.

An Analysis of Youth Crime and Employment Patterns

This paper investigates the relationships between the employment and the crime decisions of youths. We assume that youths maximize expected utility and we allow divergence betweenex ante andex post time allocations to legal and illegal activities. This gap motivates the exclusion restrictions which allow us to explore feedbacks between criminality and employability. Moreover, by using a panel of individual-level data, we are able to investigate the impact of historical crime and labor-market activities on the current delinquency and employability of juveniles. The measures of the endogeneous variables of our model are dichotomous. Furthermore, our sample is choice-based. Maximum-likelihood procedures which deal with these complications are used in our empirical investigations.

The Family Background and Attitudes of Teen Fathers.

A greater percentage of teen fathers than of teenagers who are not fathers come from poor and unstable households whose members are less educated. Generally speaking, for Whites, being a teenage father is associated with having a low self-esteem, an external locus of control, and conservative sex-role attitudes, whereas for Blacks, it is not. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experiences—Youth Cohort.

Two generation programs for families in poverty : a new intervention strategy

Introduction, Irving E. Sigel Rationale and Policy Context for Two-Generation Interventions, Sheila Smith and Martha Zaslow The Even Start Family Literacy Program, Robert G. St. Pierre and Janet P. Swartz Advance Parent-Child Education Program, Todd B. Walker, Gloria G. Rodriguez, Dale L. Johnson, and Carmen P. Cotez New Chance: Comprehensive Services for Disadvantaged Young Families, Janet Quint and Byron Egeland The Challenge for Head Start: Realizing Its Vision as a Two-Generation Program, Faith Lamb Parker, Chaya S. Piotrkowski, Wade F. Horn, and Sarah M. Greene Bridging the Worlds of Head Start and Welfare-to-Work: Building a Two-Generation Self-Sufficiency Program from the Ground Up, Toby Herr, Robert Halpern, and Ria Majeske Two-Generation Early Intervention Programs: A Child Development Perspective, Craig T. Ramey, Sharon Landesman Ramey, K. Robin Gaines, and Clancy Blair The Potential of Two-Generation Interventions: An Employment and Training Perspective, Jean Grossman and Brian Hollis Evaluating Two-Generation Interventions: Current Efforts and Directions for Future Research, Sheila Smith Author Index Subject Index

Child support enforcement for teenage fathers: Problems and prospects

Data from the NLSY (National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experiences-Youth Cohort) indicate that about 7.3 percent of teenage males become fathers and that very few of these fathers live with their children. Father absence and the concurrent increase in female-headed households are closely associated with the impoverishment of children. Most absent teen fathers never come into contact with the child support enforcement program, and the extent to which they financially support their children informally is not well understood. While the income of absent teen fathers is low in the teen years, it increases over time, as does the potential for collecting child support. Nevertheless, men who were absent teen fathers earn less in early adulthood than men who deferred parenting until age 20 or later and teen fathers who lived with their children. Early establishment of paternity and greater standardization in the treatment of adolescent fathers by the child support enforcement program are recommended. Further, the substantial and persistent income deficit experienced by adolescent fathers who live apart from their children raises an interesting dilemma. While children may benefit financially and psychosocially from living with two parents, the lower income of men who were absent teenage fathers may make them poor marital prospects. This raises doubts about the recent recommendations of some scholars that we should bring back the shotgun wedding.

The Education and Labor Market Outcomes of Adolescent Fathers

The author examines the educational and labor market outcomes of young men in the United States, with a particular emphasis on adolescent fathers. She finds that men who were teen fathers complete fewer years of education and are less likely to finish high school compared to men who were not teen fathers. These educational deficits persist even after family and personal characteristics are taken into account. Teen fathers enter the labor market earlier and initially earn more money than do other men; by the time teen fathers reach their mid-20s, however, they earn less. After controlling for personal traits and family background, the long-term earnings deficits of teen fathers disappear, implying that teen fathers are as capable of providing for their children as are other young men from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, this will not ease the jobs of child support enforcement officials, who must regularly confront young, low-income, absent fathers and/or improve the plight of welfare-dependent and other impoverished children. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Participation—Youth Cohort.

Child Support Guidelines and the Economic Well-Being of Children in the United States.

There is enormous variation in the magnitude of child support awards obtained by using state child support guidelines. 7his variation does not result from cost-of-living differences across states. In many states, nominal and inflation-adjusted support awards declined between 1988 and 1991. Overall, noncustodialparents do notpay afair share of the costs of raising their children. The article advocates making larger awards, expressing awards as a percentage of income, and implementing a child support assurance program.

A simultaneous probit model of crime and employment for black and white teenage males

This study examines the relationships between the employability and criminality of white and black male teenagers. A disequilibrium model of employment and crime is formulated and estimated as a simultaneous probit equation system. Our results show that black teenagers who are employed engage in fewer criminal activities. Thus, it appears that blacks view employment and crime as alternative income-generating activities. On the other hand, the criminal behavior of white male teenagers is unaffected by their employment status. The evidence that we provide indicates that whites tend to use employment as a cover for crime or to moonlight in crime. The differences in the behaviors of whites and blacks can be explained, in part, by different legitimate opportunity structures for whites and blacks. One of the more important policy implications is that job opportunities targeted to high risk, black teenage populations will have the additional beneficial effect of reducing crime rates.