Research indicates that marriage has a large effect on reducing the risk of poverty and is associated with a higher probability of attaining affluence over the life course when compared with nonmarriage. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration (N = 2,364), this study compares savings performances of married and unmarried low-income…

This study compared 55 men and 78 women who had same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, 101 men and 120 women who had domestic partnerships in California, and 35 men and 86 women who had civil unions in Vermont, all in 2004. Couples were surveyed on demographic and relationship information, conflict, contact with family of origin, social support,…

Federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) programs provide marriage education as well as other services to low-income diverse individuals and couples at many points along the marital continuum with improving children's well-being as the overarching purpose. These programs need appropriate measures of healthy marriage for couples with…

This study examined the effects of marital status and family income on the self-esteem of 292 African American mothers. Counter to previous studies with European American mothers, family income moderated the effects of marital status. Those mothers with higher family income had higher self-esteem, regardless of their marital status. For those with…

This qualitative research study examined the "lived experiences" of learning identity during work transitions among three women (ages 35 to 55) who were not previously married. The research question was how do particular mid-life women who engage in a work transition re-construct the meaning of (or make sense of) their identity? Primary research…

The present study investigated the association of mothers' marriage and changes in young adolescents' cognitive and socioemotional development and changes in family processes. Analyses employed longitudinal data from the "Three-City Study" to track maternal partnerships for 860 low-income adolescents (10-14 years-old in Wave 1) across a…

We explore women's psychological well-being in late midlife in relation to childlessness and timing of entry into motherhood. Using two U.S. surveys, Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (1992) and National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) (Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988), we assess the well-being of childless women in their 50s compared to…

Study findings are consistent with those of Knox (1967) which state that the longer an individual attends college, the more realistic his conception of love becomes, and that married males tend to be more romantic in conception of love than married females. (Author)

Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, examined characteristics of cohabiting couples, including role of the least educated in leading this trend and presence of children with 40 percent of the couples. Concludes that cohabitation is very much a family status but one in which levels of certainty about the relationship are…

Inconsistent findings exist on the effects of young adult-parent relationships on developmental status transitions into adulthood. Such transitions in turn predicted less conflicted and closer young adult-parent relationships. But systematic investigations of reciprocal effects between developmental transitions and young adult-parent relationships…

Over past decades, the demographics of the United States have changed markedly. The proportions of married and single people are changing; so too are the nature and functions of marriage and the family. However, people who are single, and perspectives not based on conventional marriage, remain underrepresented or misrepresented in scholarship and…

The authors investigate the direction of the relationship between marital happiness and wives' full-time employment using the 1987 to 1988 and 1992 to 1994 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households. First, the authors predict change in wives' employment between the two waves using marital happiness and other Time 1 characteristics.…

This study draws on the life histories of heterosexual childless individuals who have never married, to explore the more subtle ways that age norms affect the subjective experience of singlehood. Specifically, it examines whether or not it is appropriate to speak of transitions in the experience of singlehood. The data clearly reveal the…

This report presents data on the timing of first sexual intercourse in relation to first marriage, and the timing of marital dissolution and remarriage among ever-married women in the United States. The findings in this report are based on preliminary data from the National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle III, a survey conducted periodically on…

Concludes that personal relations, professional experiences and occupational success form a network of relationships which integrate the occupational and nonoccupational roles of highly specialized practitioners. Part of a Study of Careers in the Mental Health Field, supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-09192 and directed by…