Scott M. Myers

RELIGION AND INTERGENERATIONAL ASSISTANCE: Distinct Differences by Adult Children's Gender and Parent's Marital Status

Using data from a national and intergenerational survey in 1997, this study examines the link between religion and intergenerational assistance between parents and adult children. Two possibilities are tested. First, religion and assistance are positively associated because religion promotes general prosocial and helping beliefs and behaviors. Second, assistance is greater between parents and adult children who are religiously congruent because strong intergenerational relations are based on parent–child consensus on values and beliefs. The hypotheses are tested separately for continuously married and divorced parents, and interaction models are estimated to determine if the effect of religion varies between adult daughters and sons. Findings support the second argument—religious congruence is more important than individual religiosity in influencing intergenerational assistance. The link between religion and assistance is positive among continuously married parents and adult children, but religion has a mostly negative effect among divorced parents and adult children. Assistance is especially low when either the divorced parent or adult child or both are evangelical Protestants. The disparity in the findings may highlight the different religious and family philosophies of conservative versus mainline religions.

Are Discussions about College between Parents and Their High School Children a College-Planning Activity? Making the Case and Testing the Predictors

Our research goals are to make the case that parent-student discussions about college planning should be seen as a distinct college-planning activity and to identify and test the relevant predictors of these discussions. Findings from over 4,000 parents and their high school children show that parent-student discussions are enhanced when both the parents and students engage individually in college preparation, have higher college aspirations, and are more involved in the school and community. These activities of parents and students interact significantly to further enhance intergenerational discussions. The findings can inform current models and approaches to college choice as well as policies and programs that strongly emphasize parental involvement.

Connecting the Demographic Dots: Geographic Mobility and Birth Intentions:

Having a child is a major determinant of geographic mobility. Little is known, however, about the opposite process—whether geographic mobility is a determinant of fertility. Drawing on social and human capital theories and research on fertility and migration to develop competing hypotheses, the author examines the effects of mobility on changes in birth intentions among married couples. The data are from a U.S. national sample of married couples interviewed five times between 1980 and 1997, with a final sample size of 3,953 person records. Results from multinomial logistic regression equations that control for clustering show conclusively that both short- and long-distance moves increase the odds that couples change their birth intentions, although in both positive and negative directions (i.e., bidirectional). These effects of mobility vary across different levels of human and social capital, with a trend indicating that couples desire children at higher levels of both forms of capital.

Childhood and Adolescent Mobility and Adult Relations With Parents

This study addresses three questions: Does earlier family mobility have long-term effects on later parent-adult offspring relations? Do differences in parenting behaviors and family social capital account for these effects? Does the family structure in which a move occurs matter? The author investigates these issues using 17-year longitudinal data from two generations. The results suggest that frequency of family mobility has no effects on parent-adult child relations. Instead, it appears that age at mobility matters most. Adult sons who moved during adolescence and during both childhood and adolescence have poorer relationships with their mothers and fathers. Earlier mobility, though, generally has no associations with an adult daughter’s relationship with her parents. For sons and daughters, moves that occur in divorced households are the most difficult on later parent-adult child relations. Some, but not all, of the long-term effects of family mobility are because of differences in parenting between movers and nonmovers.

The use of learner-centered assessment practices in the United States: the influence of individual and institutional contexts

Research examining the contexts that influence the use of learner-centered assessment (LCA) practices in undergraduate courses has not kept pace with those focusing on teaching practices. Such research is needed given that conceptualizations of effective pedagogy generally include both teaching and assessment. The authors examined a range of individual and institutional variables and their relationships to the use of LCA among faculty in the United States. These variables measured the structural and cultural contexts in which faculty make pedagogical decisions. Data from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty revealed that faculty who were highly involved in advising, service, and research and reported teaching-friendly cultures were the most likely to use LCA practices. But, it was also found that higher teaching loads and class sizes hindered LCA practices. Almost all of the differences in LCA use occurred within institutions, and the institutional-level variables had little net influence on LCA practices in undergraduate classrooms.

The confluence of family and academic lives: Implications for assessment practices of college student learning in higher education institutions in the United States

Abstract Studies on family–work conflict among higher education faculty focus exclusively on research or promotion-related work outcomes and find significant challenges in balancing these two spheres. To extend this line of research, this study shifts the focus to classroom practices known as learnercentered assessment (LCA) and estimates the statistical association between marriage and parenthood and the use of these LCA practices in undergraduate classrooms. The hypotheses are framed around role theory and tested using data on a representative sample of U.S. faculty from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty and hierarchical linear regression techniques. The results return quite disparate gendered patterns. For males, marriage and parenthood are associated with reduced used of LCA practices in undergraduate courses. For females, parenthood but not marriage is associated with greater use of LCA practices. All regression results remain robust after adjusting for a wide range of individual and institutional characteristics. These results align with previous research showing that the work and family lives of faculty are indeed entwined. However, this entanglement may have quite different and significant implications for male and female faculty within the institution of higher education, as this study suggests.