Sharon K. Houseknecht

Combining Marriage and Career: The Marital Adjustment of Professional Women.

By.focusing on very highly educated women, the present study serves to further test the comprehensiveness of role theory as an explanation of the complex relationship between female employment and marital adjustment. The data are from a sample of 663 women who received high-level graduate degrees from a large midwestern university between 1964 and 1974. Because females with high-level degrees expected to make use of their training and pursue their careers, it was thought that in this instance the marital adjustment qf working women would be higher than that fbr nonworking women. The findings are in the predicted direction. However, looking at the various regression equations, it appears that it is not employment status per se that is important in determining marital adjustment but rather the extent to which family experiences accommodate the wifes employment. Having a supportive husband seems to be a major factor, i.e., one who is willing to quit his job and move to advance the wifes career; one who does not insist that the wife quit her job and move to advance his career; and one who shares similar values and beliefs, especially about womens employment, as represented by educational homogamy. Freedom from childbearing responsibilities is also important.

Marital Disruption and Accidents/Injuries Among Children

A vast literature has examined the effects of marital disruption on child well-being, however medically attended childhood accidents/injuries have not been considered as an outcome. This article investigates this association as well as possible intervening pathways using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-linked mother-child file. Findings reveal that marital disruption decreases girls’ accidents/injuries. Boys are not directly affected. Parenting practices, childhood aggression, and precipitous drops in household income appear to do little to the relationship between marital disruption and childhood accidents/injuries for boys. For girls, however, the potential benefits of a marital disruption are suppressed until considering mother’s use of discipline and household income decline. Results are discussed in terms of stress theory and the effect of mother-daughter versus mother-son dynamics following marital disruption.

The impact of singlehood on the career patterns of professional women.

This study investigates the impact of singlehood on the career patterns of professional women. 2 types of singlehood--never-married and divorced/separated--are compared. Length of singlehood and timing of marriage in relation to graduate school are also considered. The study sample consists of 663 professional women who received high-level degrees from a large midwestern university between 1964 and 1974. Some findings of this research follow. 1) Type of singlehood does not seem to make a difference in educational experience and occupational attainment after age of entry into graduate school and enrollment cohort are controlled. 2) Women who are single for greater periods of time tend to be more advanced in terms of educational progress in graduate school than women who are single for shorter periods of time. Women who remain single the duration of graduate school tend to experience greater occupational attainments than those women who marry prior to the completion of graduate school. 3) Relative to never-married women those who marry after completing graduate school are less impeded in terms of educational progression but are less accomplished in terms of occupational achievement. Even those women who marry early and remain married after graduate school exhibit greater occupational achievements than these women. The authors anticipated that women who eventually divorced after longer marriages in graduate school would exhibit less career advancement than women who divorced after short-term marriages during graduate school because of longer-term family responsibilities. Although results indicate that no significant differences exist almost all of the differences are in the predicated direction.

Voluntary Childlessness Toward a Theoretical Integration

Despite the recent proliferation of research on the topic of voluntary childlessness, a substantive theory has yet to be developed. A major objective of this article is to undertake such a theoretical formulation. A focus on social structural variables, that is, female education and employment, has led demographers and others to predict a phenomenal increase in voluntary childlessness. That this macro-level theory is incomplete is evidenced by the fact that it cannot account for the decline or leveling off in the voluntary childless rate since 1975, despite continuing increases in womens educational achievements and labor force participation. A missing link in this formulation is the cultural component. An individual decision-making model is necessary to show how social structural factors mesh with cultural components in influencing fertility decisions, in this case voluntary childlessness. Unless there is an effort to understand the micro-level processes that distort the macro-level patterns, a comprehensive understanding of voluntary childlessness cannot be forthcoming.

The Impact of Marital Conflict and Disruption on Children’s Health

This article investigates the effect of inconsistency between parental marital conflict and disruption on children’s health. Inconsistent situations arise when minimal marital conflict precedes disruption or when marital conflict is high but there is no disruption. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, two alternative hypotheses, the stress vulnerable hypothesis and the stress resistant hypothesis, are tested. The latter hypothesis is based on recent evidence in the medical field. The results support the stress resistant hypothesis in that boys’ health is enhanced when there is inconsistency between marital conflict and disruption. There are no significant effects for girls. The widespread notion that marital conflict and disruption have only adverse effects for children is challenged by the findings in this study.

The Family, Politics, and Religion in the 1980s In Fear of the New Individualism

The major objective of this article is to examine the process of the politicization of the family and to provide a sociological interpretation. Major social changes have led to the definition of the family as a social problem. Because old patterns have been disrupted, a “normative reaction to normlessness” has set in providing the motivation for the profamily social movement on both the religious and the political level. New Right familism can be viewed as a reaction to what are actually worldwide changes in family patterns that force a reevaluation of the “old individualism” (centered on male prerogatives) and encourage the acceptance of the “new individualism,” which respects the developing extrafamilial prerogatives of females, the young, and the elderly. Various developments may provide further success or failure for the profamily movement, but the ultimate impact of the movement on society will depend upon the interaction of social organizational and normative dynamics. To the extent that liberal views on family matters prevail, advocates must respond to the need to develop a greater vision for America as a society along with their increased options for personal expression.

Black and White Differences in the Effect of Women's Educational Attainment on Age at First Marriage

There has been relatively little research linking age at first marriage and educational attainment. This study uses data from the June 1992 Current Population Survey to examine the effect of educational attainment on age at first marriage among Black and White women in the United States. The results both support and modify claims stemming from previous research. There is evidence for the contention that educational attainment delays age at first marriage for Black and White women. The greater impact of educational attainment on delaying marriage for White women is confirmed. An important discovery stems from using degree attained rather than years of education and our distinguishing four levels of education beyond high school. At less than a bachelors degree, Black women marry later than White women, but among those with a bachelors degree or higher, Black women who marry do so earlier than White women.

Introduction: some promising research developments in the area of nonnormative family sizes.

Introduction to a special journal issue devoted to research topics on childlessness and one child families. The objectives of the issue are to present current research findings on childlessness and one child families, 2) to address the need for methodological and theoretical development in the area of nonnormative family size, and 3) to serve as a catalyst for increasing dialog and debate on issues related to these areas. Each of the articles contributions to areas of methodological and theoretical development are cited. Questions are presented which indicate directions for future investigations.

The fate of alternative lifestyles in an era of “pro-family” politics

The pro-family movement combines religious and political motivations and organizational activities. A major goal of the conservative backlash is to restrict or control alternative lifestyles. Through single issue campaigns and political pressure, the movement attempts to influence legislative and administrative policy. The extent to which the government is an agent of pro-family interest groups is explored here. An important question is whether there is a hidden agenda in the sense that the human services orientation has been exchanged for a control orientation. Do proposals for restoring rights to the family apply only to the traditional patriarchal family?

Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness

In the first book to explore the experience of being childless throughout our countrys history, the author of Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era chronicles the astonishing shifts in public attitudes toward every aspect of childlessness, from voluntary childlessness to compulsory sterilization, infertility, and adoption. Photos.