Social institutions that have been around for thousands of years generally change slowly, when they change at all. But that's not the way things have been playing out with marriage and family since the middle of the 20th Century. Some scholars argue that in the past five decades, the basic architecture of these age-old institutions has changed as…

In this article life history data from the U.S. National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), and the Dutch survey on Older Adults' Living Arrangements and Social Networks (NESTOR-LSN) are used to shed light on the various pathways leading to and associated with childlessness, and the proportions of men and women who have followed a…

This article briefly describes a conference of Chinese and American women held to discuss womens' issues and promote mutual understanding between the two groups. The cultural exchange of information at the conference focused on discussion of the All China Womens' Federation (ACWF); the roles of women in China and the United States in the areas of…

To test the economic theory of job search and the rationality of job search behavior by unemployed married women, the importance of reservation wages (or wages requested for employment) was studied for its effect on the duration of unemployment and its relationship to the subsequent rate of pay upon reemployment. Models were established to explain…

Using data from the 1980 census and earlier censuses this booklet briefly profiles women in the American population and the changes in their educational levels, workforce participation, income levels, marital status, and roles as mothers. Graphs are used throughout to highlight these changes. Census figures indicate that women are now the majority…

This study is part of cross cultural research on the relationship between career and couple burnout in six countries (England, Finland, Israel, Portugal, Spain, and the USA.) This pilot study presents first results of Finnish data. Female elementary school teachers (N=56) and male students (N=70) in academic professional education completed the…

This book proposes a new, multidisciplinary theory for explaining and predicting current and future patterns of women's choice between employment and family work. Chapters 1 and 2 present main tenets of preference theory and explain the need for the theory. Chapters 3 through 8 elaborate four principal tenets of preference theory. Chapter 3…

This book contains 17 papers devoted to the following four aspects of the transition to adulthood: effects of alterations in the structure of opportunity; effects of prior experiences in the family; effects of prior experience in the workplace; and career development and marriage formation during a period of rising inequality. The following papers…