Rosemary Santana Cooney

Intergenerational Change in Ethnic Identity in the Puerto Rican Family.

This research focuses upon intergenerational changes in ethnic identity within the family. The analysis is guided by the theoretical postulate that ethnic identity is influenced by receptivity to external influences stemming from the host society and by length of exposure to the new host environment. Findings indicate that both education and age at arrival have significant independent effects upon the ethnic identity of mothers, fathers and children and that the childs education and age at arrival are significantly and independently related to changes in ethnic identity in the family.

Household registration type and compliance with the “one child” policy in China, 1979–1988

This research analyzes how type of household registration, which reflects the degree of government control, affects compliance with China’s “one child” policy for women at risk during the first decade of implementation. Although socioeconomic and cultural factors have significant effects on four fertility events after first live birth, household registration type is the most important. Furthermore, household registration type interacts with urbanization in such a way that the modernization influence associated with urbanization is more evident for women under less government control. The notable success of China’s family planning program is linked to its unique system of government control.

Son preference and the one child policy in China: 1979–1988

Using data from the Two-Per-Thousand National Fertility Survey, this research analyzes how son preference, a deep-rooted cultural norm for more than two thousand years, affects compliance with Chinas one child population policy for women at risk during the period of 1979 to 1988. Four events after the first live birth are used to evaluate compliance with the policy: (1) certificate acceptance (an indicator of future fertility intention); (2) the use of contraceptives (an indicator of intention to prevent a subsequent pregnancy); (3) the occurrence of a pregnancy subsequent to the first live birth (a potential violation of the one child policy), and (4) among those pregnant, the likelihood of an abortion (an indicator of compliance by preventing a second live birth). It is found that son preference is still prevalent in China. Although the effect of son preference is not the most important, urbanization, education, and occupation have not fundamentally changed its influence on womens compliance. In addition, the effect of son preference on the compliance is not altered by government control. Preference for sons continues to be a factor discouraging the compliance with the one child policy.

Decision Making in Intergenerational Puerto Rican Families.

This study examines the utility of Rodmans theory of resources in cultural context for understanding decision-making patterns among spouses in intergenerationally linked Puerto Rican families in the US. The data comes from a larger project focusing on continuity and change in Puerto Rican families. 2 criteria for selection were: Puerto Rican birth or Puerto Rican parentage of both husband and wife and the linkage of each husband-wife couple as parent or child to another husband-wife couple in the study group. An important consideration in selecting families for the larger project was to maximize differences in socioeconomic status. The measures of decision making used in the study are based on 6 items which reflect a mixture of decisions relevant to both the parent and child generation. These items include 2 masculine decisions: husbands job and insurance; 2 feminine decisions: wifes employment and home improvements; and 2 highly shared decisions: vacation plans and residence. 2 measures of decision making are derived from these items: husbands power and shared decisions. The decision making measures are based on the wifes reports. 3 major sets of independent variables were used: socioeconomic variables family lifecycle characteristics and assimilation variables. Descriptive statistics reveal similar levels for husbands power and shared decisions. In the husband-wife couples of both the parent and child generations 1/2 of the decisions included in the inventory are shared. A substantial majority of husbands and wives shared decisions regarding their place of residence insurance vacation plans and home improvements. About 1/3 also shared decisions regarding the husbands or wifes job. The relationship of wifes education with decision making does not vary by generation. In both the parent and child generations the greater the wifes education the less the husbands power in decision making. The significant differences in assimilation between the parent and child generations established by the study support the hypothesis that the sociocultural norms of the parent generation born and raised in the US reflect those of a transitional egalitarian society. The studys data support the expectation: husbands in the parent generation with higher socioeconomic achievements reflecting socialization to modern values had less power in decision making while husbands in the child generation with higher socioeconomic achievements representing power resources had greater power in decision making.

Household extension of the elderly in China

Using data from a 1987 elderly survey, this study examines demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as expressed preferences for the patrilineal extended family as factors affecting coresidence among Chinese elderly. Consistent with expectations, three quarters of the elderly live with their children and the overwhelming majority of extended households are with a married son and grandchildren. This study contributes to the literature on Asian developing nations by illustrating the role of a government supported pension system in explaining prior perplexing results for urbanization, by documenting the role of preferences for the patrilineal extended family and by exploring earlier suggestions that factors vary by marital status. The greater vulnerability of widowed elderly is shown not only by higher rates of coresidence, but also by interactive effects with economic resources, age and number of sons.

Demographic components of growth in white black and Puerto Rican female-headed families: comparison of the Cutright and Ross/Sawhill methodologies.

Abstract This study examines the methodological differences between Cutrights (1974, Journal of Marriage and the Family36, 714–721) and Ross and Sawhills (1975, Time of Transition: The Growth of Families Headed by Women. The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.) analyses of demographic components of growth in the number of female-headed families and replicates their procedures within a comparable time/age framework in order to resolve their contradictory findings. The analysis suggests that while changes in living arrangements and population are the two major factors accounting for changes in the number of White female-headed families between 1940 and 1970, marital instability is the major factor responsible for the increase in the number of White female-headed families between 1960 and 1970. Cutrights analysis of long-term changes for nonwhites is debatable. The relative importance of demographic factors in explaining the absolute increase in female-headed families between 1960 and 1970 clearly varies by ethnic/racial group.

The one child certificate in Hebei province China: acceptance and consequence 1979-1988.

As part of its One Child Policy, China developed the one child certificate which offered numerous benefits to couples who had one child and promised to have no more. Using data from the Two-per-Thousand National Fertility Survey, this study describes the level of certificate acceptance in Hebei province from 1979 to 1988 and analyzes socioeconomic, cultural and early family formation factors affecting certificate acceptance as well as the role of certificate acceptance on transition to second parity. During the past decade, the level of initial certificate acceptance was 22.6 percent. This estimate is much lower than earlier published rates because it utilizes the concept of women at risk. Public resistance to the One Child Policy is evident in declining acceptance from 26.0 percent during the first five years of the policy to 11.3 percent during the 1984–1988 period. Womens response to the certificate has been influenced by the womans status as reflected in education and occupation as well as cultural traditions, particularly son preference. The one child certificate, however, independently depresses subsequent fertility. This research indicates that efforts to understand fertility decline in China must simultaneously acknowledge the role of government family planning programs as well as socioeconomic and cultural factors.

Female Professional Work Opportunities: A Cross-National Study

While economic development has been associated with increased participation of females in the labor force, it remains problematic whether sexual equality within the labor force has also increased. This study examines the differentiation of structural variables, specifically economic and demographic variables, on female participation and sexual equality within a specific sector of the labor force: the professions. The units of analysis are primarily European countries with the inclusion of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The findings indicate that those economic development factors (female higher education enrollment rate and professional demand) significantly related to the female professional participation rate are distinct from those structural factors (economic growth rate, working age male deficiency) affecting sexual equality within the professional sector.

Contraceptive use and sterilization among Puerto Rican women.

A comparison of contraceptive use in the early to mid-1980s among married Puerto Rican women aged 15-49 in the New York City area reveals that island-born Puerto Rican women living in New York rely on female sterilization to nearly the same extent as do women living in Puerto Rico (45% and 41%, respectively) and that mainland-born Puerto Rican women use sterilization as much as do all women in the United States (19% for both groups). Puerto Rican women in New York use reversible methods to a greater extent than do women in Puerto Rico (22% v. 16%), but to a lesser extent than do all women in the United States (37%). Although mainland-born Puerto Rican women in New York use reversible methods more than do island-born women in New York (42% v. 23%), they tend not to adopt these methods to the same extent as do all U.S. women during the early reproductive years, when education and employment are critical to socioeconomic attainment.