Renata Forste

The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students

Little is known about the influence of electronic media use on the academic and social lives of university students. Using time-diary and survey data, we explore the use of various types of electronic media among first-year students. Time-diary results suggest that the majority of students use electronic media to multitask. Robust regression results indicate a negative relationship between the use of various types of electronic media and first-semester grades. In addition, we find a positive association between social-networking-site use, cellular-phone communication, and face-to-face social interaction.

Sexual Exclusivity among Dating, Cohabiting, and Married Women.

Data drawn from the 1991 US National Survey of Women revealed significant differences between married women and cohabiting or dating women in their level of commitment to a partner. Sexual exclusivity was selected as the proxy for commitment and compared in 1235 dating cohabiting and married women 20-37 years old. 4% of married women 18% of dating women and 20% of cohabiting women reported a secondary sex partner. In the latter group each month of cohabitation increased the odds of a secondary sexual relationship by 2%. Characteristics of married women that significantly increased the odds of a secondary relationship included no religious affiliation 4 or more previous sexual partners husband more than 2 years older and higher educational level on the part of the female versus the male partner. Among dating and cohabiting women the significantly predictive factors of a secondary sexual relationship included college education no religious affiliation religious heterogamy with partner higher educational attainment on the part of the woman versus her partner minority race or ethnicity and having had previous sex partners. Both before and after marriage the risk of having a secondary sex partner was increased (1.7 and 3.3 times respectively) among married women who had cohabited prior to marriage compared to those who had not. These findings support previous research suggesting that cohabitation is selective of women less committed to a relationship. Finally the research revealed that cohabiting women are more likely when they marry than women with no history of cohabitation to select partners similar to themselves in terms of educational level--another indication that women in this category value independence and equality in a relationship.

Socioeconomic status, infant feeding practices and early childhood obesity.

Children from low socioeconomic households are at greater risk of obesity. Children predominantly breastfed have a reduced risk of early childhood obesity. Yet, it is not known how feeding patterns mediate the relationship between social class and obesity.

Patterns of entry into cohabitation and marriage among mainland Puerto Rican women.

This paper adds to our limited knowledge of racial and ethnic variation in union formation by describing and analyzing the first unions of mainland Puerto Rican women. Retrospective history data show that Puerto Ricans have shared in the post-l970 shift toward cohabitation. Puerto Rican women, however, are much more likely to enter informal first unions than the general population, and have a low propensity to transform informal unions into legal marriages. The paper examines the influence of family background and current activities on union timing and type. The relationship between partner attributes and the choice between formal and informal coupling is also considered.

Initiation of Sexual Activity among Female Adolescents

According to the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, 46% women aged 15-19 had experienced premarital intercourse. Projections based on this study show that by their 20th birthdays, 70% of all women in the US will have experienced premarital intercourse. This article examines the effects of various factors on the likelihood that teenagers will become sexually active. Data for this study were taken from the National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle III. Fieldwork was done in 1982 and included interviews of 7969 women aged 15-44. Data include background characteristics, measures of fertility and contraception, measures of fecundity and birth expectations, use of family planning services, and the respondents marital history. The study concludes that family stability (intact families), Hispanic ethnicity, high parental education, religious affiliation, regular church attendance, and reproductive education decrease the occurrence of 1st intercourse. Other factors characterize an environment that is unstable and unstructured and has a liberalizing influence upon 1st intercourse. Teens from broken homes, blacks, and the lower social classes are more likely to initiate intercourse. Geographic factors have a very small influence upon the initiation of sexual activity among teens. Similar patterns of influence appear regarding contraceptive use. The same factors that encourage stability, such as high fathers education, Catholic or Jewish religious affiliation, religious attendance, and reproductive instruction shift the odds in favor of contracepted rather than noncontracepted sex. Family instability and low social class increase the risk that 1st intercourse will not be contracepted. Providing too much sex education, such as instruction on birth control, may actually contribute to the leniency of the environment, although the authors find no evidence that school-based birth control instruction increases the chances that contraceptives will be used. Environments that are too restrictive increase the chance that 1st intercourse will be noncontracepted. In sum, adolescents need an environment balanced between the liberal and conservative extremes to reduce the rate of 1st intercourse and to increase the use of contraception at intercourse.

Fighting Families: Family Characteristics Associated with Domestic Violence in Five Latin American Countries

This study uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) to examine the relationship between familial characteristics and the likelihood of experiencing domestic violence in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. Logistic regression techniques are used to measure relationships between marital status, family size, partner alcohol use, socioeconomic status (SES), decision-making power, and education homogamy and the likelihood of experiencing partner violence. Cohabitation, female-dominant decision making, and partner alcohol are positively associated with domestic violence across datasets. Family size, SES, and education homogamy emerged as statistically significant in some, but not all of the datasets. This study helps clarify the profile of the abused Latina and also tests the applicability of current abuse research to a non-Western setting.

Where are All the Men? A Conceptual Analysis of the Role of Men in Family Formation

Past fertility studies have focused almost exclusively on surveys of women and adolescents; thus, little is known about the role of adult men in family formation. Because men are underrepresented in national surveys, the literature on young adult men, especially disadvantaged, nonmarital fathers, is particularly lacking. On the basis of a review of past research, this study illustrates mens importance in forming sexual unions and making contraceptive decisions and considers related issues of family formation. In addition, the importance of these processes to fathering children as well as to later paternal involvement is highlighted. Drawing from a life course and structural perspective, a conceptual model is proposed, and a potential research agenda is outlined to address the dearth of research about young adult mens family formation behaviors and early participation in parenting.

Are US Mothers Meeting the Healthy People 2010 Breastfeeding Targets for Initiation, Duration, and Exclusivity? The 2003 and 2004 National Immunization Surveys

Using data from the National Immunization Surveys (2003 and 2004), the authors model the influence of child, maternal, and state- or metropolitan-level factors on the initiation, duration, and exclusivity of breastfeeding to determine the characteristics of groups meeting the Healthy People 2010 targets. Analyses indicate that only children of college graduates meet the targets for breastfeeding at initiation, 6 months, and 12 months; no groups meet the target for exclusive breastfeeding. Results indicate a low prevalence of breastfeeding among children of single mothers, less educated mothers, participants in the Women, Children, and Infants program, and those living in nonwestern states and in areas of high newborn risk. Hispanic children, children of college graduates, and children living in the West consistently have higher odds of breastfeeding. Only the prevalence of breastfeeding early postpartum is near the Healthy People 2010 target of 75%, the percentages for 6 or 12 months and exclusive breastfeeding are well below. J Hum Lact. 24(3):278-288. A través de la utilización de datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Inmunización (2003 & 2004), se formularon los factores que influenciaron al niño, madres y estados o areas metropolitanas en la iniciación, duración y exclusividad de la lactancia materna para determinar las características de grupos de acuerdo a las metas de Healthy People 2010. El análisis indica que solo los hijos de personas con grados universitarios cumplen con las metas de iniciación de lactancia, 6 meses, y 12 meses y ningún grupo cumplió con la meta de lactancia materna exclusiva. Los resultados indican una baja prevalencia de lactancia materna en los hijos de madres solteras; menos educadas; participantes del programa WIC; que viven en estados que nos son del Oeste; y que viven en áreas de alto riesgo para el recién nacido. Los niños hispanos, niños de graduados universitarios, y niños que viven en el Oeste tienen consistentemente índices más altos de lactancia materna. Solo la prevalencia de lactancia materna en el postparto temprano esta cerca de la meta de 75% del Healthy People 2010, los porcentajes de 6 o 12 meses y de lactancia materna exclusiva están bastante bajos.

Whats behind racial and ethnic fertility differentials

This book chapters authors assert that a single theory of US fertility differences by race and ethnic group is unproductive. All race and ethnic groups experience early childbearing nonmarital fertility and large families but the factors that influence these behaviors may differ between groups and change over time. Patterns of Hispanic and Black fertility are used to illustrate the dynamic process that affects fertility. It is urged that research also focus on the analysis and better data collection of qualitative and quantitative information on Native American and other ethnic group fertility. The hierarchical structure of early childbearing is schematically presented as beginning with family background community involvement media exposure and biological factors. With the exception of biological factors the other aforementioned factors affect role models and adult supervision which in turn affect perceptions and goals. Individual perceptions result in different interpersonal relations and education or work patterns of which both patterns affect contraception. Self-perception thus affects interpersonal relations education and work patterns contraception marriage patterns sexual behavior and finally fertility. In this hierarchical structure there are many avenues for pursuing further research. For instance research might focus on how sexual norms in racial and ethnic communities are affected by mass media. It is suggested that the recent increase in nonmarital fertility particularly among Blacks is a normative change in the value of marriage as an institution. Recent evidence indicates that employed fathers are twice as likely to marry the mother of their first child as unemployed fathers are. It is also argued by a few that slavery and the destruction of mens role as breadwinner produced systematic differences by race and ethnic group. Trends in minority fertility are identified.

The Effects of Breastfeeding and Birth Spacing on Infant and Child Mortality in Bolivia

Data from the Demographic and Health Survey of Bolivia, 1989, are used to examine the influence of breastfeeding and birth spacing on infant and child mortality during the first two years of life. Event-history techniques show that illness which leads to the cessation of lactation, rather than the cessation of lactation for other reasons, is the dominant factor contributing to mortality. Where lactation is separated from the effect of illness, it had no effect on infant and child survival, except during the very early months of life. Short birth intervals also increased the risk of dying during the first two years of life, as did receiving ante-natal care from a midwife.