Patterns of intergenerational exchange and mental health.

Past research on intergenerational exchanges suggests that parents and adult children remain vitally involved in supportive exchanges in later life. What has not been examined is the long-term importance of patterns of intergenerational exchange for individual mental health and well-being. Using data drawn from the two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households on adults aged 50 and older (N = 2237, MAge = 62.3), we tested hypotheses derived from three theoretical explanations of the relationship between exchange patterns and psychological well-being. We found strong evidence for the importance of contingent exchanges between parents and adult children in promoting older adults' psychological well-being. Whereas receiving contingent exchange has positive consequences, noncontingent giving can have negative consequences around specific transitions in the lives of parents and children.

Children in single-father families in demographic perspective.

The purpose of this article is to examine single-parent families headed by fathers. "We use specially constructed child files from the 1960-1990 Public Use Microdata Samples data from the Census of Population to address two general questions: (a) To what extent has both the likelihood and the demographic characteristics of these families changed over time? (b) What are the consequences for children of living in different kinds of father-only families? We find that single-father families are comparatively rare, but increasing rapidly, especially since 1980. Increasingly, these families are formed by fathers who are young, never married, with low incomes, and fewer children. Analysis of the 1990 data reveals wide diversity in living arrangements among children in single-father families. Furthermore, the social capital of children's fathers, the availability of adults, and children's economic well-being vary markedly across these types of families."

Living arrangements of minority elders.

We used 1990 census data to examine differences in the current living arrangements of minority elderly. We found that differences among the minority populations in age, sex, and marital status account for only a small part of the observed differences in living arrangements. However, while minority groups as a whole differ substantially from the White population, national ethnic patterns within groups appear to be relatively small. Hispanic ethnic groups vary little once differences in marriage patterns are taken into account, although differences are greater within the Asian population.

Health and well-being among rural Americans: variations across the life course.

This study uses data from the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households conducted by the University of Wisconsin to examine spatial variations in physical, mental, and social well-being among young, middle aged, and elderly American adults. Rural residents of all ages were found to consistently rate their physical health more poorly than nonrural residents. Both young and old rural adults also rated themselves less happy than nonrural residents. However, middle-aged and elderly rural residents appear better off on the majority of six other indicators of well-being, and this group reports the highest proportion of adults with no health impairments. Finally, rural residents of all ages possess distinct advantages in terms of several measures of social ties.

Changes in sibling configurations for American preschool children.

This paper uses data drawn from the 1940 through 1980 Public Use Microdata Samples of the U.S. Census of Population to document sibling configurations from the child's perspective. Changes in four aspects of siblings are examined for five cohorts of white and black preschool-aged children: number, birth order distributions, spacing intervals, and sex composition. Changes in fertility behavior of adults in the post-war era had a profound effect on the structure of sibling systems experienced by children. Successive cohorts of preschool children show a rise in number of siblings through the early post-war years before showing sharp declines in number of siblings through the 1960's and 1970's. These shifts in size of sibling sets are reflected in changes in the proportion of each cohorts who are first born and only children, both of which have increased substantially by the 1980 cohort. The 1940 and 1980 cohorts have similar proportions of children with short intervals. However, the middle cohorts show the effects of the quickened pace of fertility with substantial proportions of children with comparatively short birth intervals. Finally, substantial shifts across cohorts in several measures of sex composition of children are observed. Most significantly, there is a marked decline in the proportion of children experiencing an opposite-sex older sibling.

PIP: This paper uses data drawn from the Public Use Microdata Samples of the US Census of Population, 1940-80, to document sibling configurations from the child's perspective. Changes in 4 aspects of siblings are examined for 5 cohorts of white and black preschool-aged children -- number, birth order distributions, spacing intervals, and sex composition. Changes in fertility behavior of adults in the postwar era had a profound effect on the structure of sibling systems experienced by the children. Successive cohorts of preschool children showed a rise in the number of siblings through the early postwar years before showing sharp declines in those numbers through the 1960s-70s. These shifts in size of sibling sets are reflected in changes in the proportion of each of the cohorts who are first born and only children, both of which have increased substantially by the 1980 cohort. The 1940 and 1980 cohorts have similar proportions of children with short intervals. However, the middle cohorts showed the effects of the quickened pace of fertility with substantial proportions of children with comparatively short birth intervals. Finally, substantial shifts across cohorts in several measures of sex composition of children were observed. Most significantly, there was a marked decline in the proportion of children who experienced an opposite-sex older sibling .

Patterns of adult male coresidence among young children of adolescent mothers.

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the coresidence patterns of children and adult males during the first three years of a child's life, with special attention to the children of adolescent mothers. Overall, the most common experience was for the children to have an adult male present over the full period. However, there were differences by race and the mother's age when she gave birth. For example, 83 percent of white children and 47 percent of black children born to mothers aged 20 or older lived with an adult male during their entire early childhood, while three quarters of white children and fewer than one-third of black children born to mothers younger than 18 had a male present in their household over their first three years. Among both races, children of older mothers were significantly more likely than others to be born into a household where an adult male was present. The stability of male coresidence varied significantly by the mother's age among white children, but not among blacks. Overall, black children experienced more changes in male coresidence than whites. Finally, the likelihood that the adult male would be married to the mother was positively associated with white race and the age of the mother when she gave birth.

Giving between generations in American families.

This paper documents the types and amounts of aid exchanged between adults and their non-coresidential parents. Data for the study are drawn from a representative national sample survey of Americans age 19 and older conducted in 1987-1988. Exchanges of monetary and material resources, childcare, household assistance, and companionship and advice are considered.Patterns of intergenerational exchange are found to differ by gender, family structure, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic situation. Differences in exchange between males and females and between whites and Mexican-Americans are related to other life-course characteristics, and to the availability and proximity of kin. Blacks and persons living in poverty are shown to be less involved than other groups in intergenerational exchanges. Finally, patterns of prior assistance and the available needs and resources of the respondents and their parents are found to influence current patterns of exchange.

Changes in the age distribution of parents, 1940-1980.

PIP: There have been substantial changes in the fertility patterns of women in the past half century. Using data drawn from the 1940 through 1980 Public Use Samples of the U.S. Census Population, the authors examine how these changes have affected the age distribution of parents for successive cohorts of children. They find that the average age of mothers and fathers has declined across cohorts of children. Part of the reason for this decline in mean ages is the precipitous decline in the proportion of black and white children who have mothers and fathers more than 35 years older than themselves. The proportion of white children born to teenage mothers changed very little during this time period. However, the likelihood of black children being born to very young mothers increased rapidly after 1960.^ieng

American children in multiracial households.

This study provides a demographic portrait of multiracial households, using children as the units of analysis. The authors conceptualize 3 dimensions for understanding multiracial qualities: 1) the racial composition of a household overall, 2) where in the household a racial difference exists relative to the household head, and 3) where in the household a racial difference exists relative to each child. Using microdata from the 1980 US census, the authors explore the 1st 2 of these dimensions and test 2 propositions about the links between racial diversity and other nonracial attributes of children's household environments. The finding is made, among other things, that the largest proportion of children live in Asian-white households, and that about 60% live in households headed by mixed-race couples. Support for the notion that attributes of multiracial households fall between those of their same-race counterparts was mixed. Nonetheless, there appears to be a link between location of diversity and some nonracial characteristics of household.