This investigation examined the implications of shift work for parent-adolescent relationship quality--intimacy, conflict, parental knowledge, and involvement--in a sample of 376 dual-earner families. The findings suggested that mothers' relationships with their adolescents were not negatively impacted by their working nonstandard schedules but…

Little research has examined parents' experiences of their children's transition to adolescence. The authors studied a sample of 170 mothers' and 159 fathers' open-ended descriptions of their experiences and investigated the role of prior relationship quality in predicting the nature of parents' experiences. Changes in the personal qualities of…

This study examined the implications of men's long work hours and role overload for the quality of relationships with wives and the firstborn (M=15 years) and secondborn adolescent offspring (M=12.3 years). Long hours were related to less time spent with wives. The combination of long hours and high overload was associated with less positive…

The central premise of this volume is that children bring personal qualities to their relationships with other family members that help shape family interaction, relationships, and even processes that family researchers have called "parenting." The chapters address how children's personal qualities make their mark on families in ways that may in…

Reports on a longitudinal study of 144 young adolescents which hypothesized that boys and girls would experience increased gender-differential socialization across a 1-year period in which parents maintained a traditional division of labor, and there was a younger sibling of the opposite gender. Provides longitudinal analyses of three aspects of…

This study examined the implications of family time for first-born and second-born adolescent offspring, mothers, and fathers in 192 dual-earner families, defining family time as time shared by the foursome in activities across 7 days. Data were gathered in daily telephone interviews. For first-borns, higher levels of family time at Time 1…

Interviews of families during winter and the following summer and winter revealed that (1) mothers who did not work during summer were more involved than fathers in parenting during the summer; and (2) in families in which the mother worked during summer, an egalitarian division of parenting was maintained during the summer. (BC)

Compared mothers' and fathers' direct involvement in adolescent girls' versus boys' peer relationships, and examined the links between parents' involvement and the qualities of adolescents' friendship and peer experiences. Findings revealed mothers were more knowledgeable about adolescents' peer relationships than fathers, and both mothers and…

We investigated the patterns and correlates of parents differential treatment of adolescent siblings in 246 two-parent Mexican American families. In home interviews, siblings rated 7 domains of differential treatment (e.g., privileges, chores, warmth) as well as their adjustment and perceptions of parental acceptance and fairness, and both parents…

In a sample of families with 6- to 18-year-olds, this study found that sons' and daughters' testosterone levels showed little direct connection to risk behavior or depressive symptoms. As parent-child relationship quality increased, testosterone-related adjustment problems were less evident. When relationship quality decreased, testosterone-linked…

Parents' midlife concerns and the resolution of those concerns were examined for 135 families as a function of their children's adolescence and involvement in employment through analyses acknowledging the interdependence of mothers and fathers. Findings highlight the importance of taking a family perspective on the relationship between midlife and…

Explores mothers' and fathers' differential treatment (PDT) of their adolescent offspring and examines how siblings' personal qualities were associated with PDT. Sex was associated with parents' differential temporal involvement. Sex-typed personal qualities were related to parents' differential discipline. Both sex and sex-typed personal…

Changes in sibling intimacy and conflict were charted from middle childhood through adolescence, and family structure and relationship correlates of change were examined. Participants were mothers, fathers, and firstborn (M=11.82 years at Time 1) and secondborn (M=9.22 years) siblings from 200 White, working/middle class, 2-parent families.…

Examined correlates of parents' knowledge about their children's daily experiences. Found between- and within-family differences as a function of mothers' work involvement, sibling composition, and children's and adults' personal qualities. Fathers knew more when mothers worked longer hours. Parents knew more about younger than older offspring.…

Findings on 77 dual- and 75 single-earner families in which the eldest child was 9 to 12 years old indicated that less well-monitored boys received lower grades than did other children. Less well-monitored boys in dual-earner families perceived their conduct more negatively than did other children. (RH)