Marital Investments and Community Involvement: A Test of Coser’s Greedy Marriage Thesis

It is customary to test Coser’s greedy marriage thesis by comparing marital status groups. We propose a new approach that uses the marital dyad as the unit of analysis and examine whether investments in the marital relationship discourage community involvement through formal volunteering. Data from a U.S. national sample of 1,368 married couples revealed mixed support for the proposed relationship. Consistent with the greedy marriage thesis, wives’ soulmate view of marriage was negatively associated with their own and their husbands’ reports of volunteering. Although these associations were attenuated by religious service attendance, wives’ soulmate view had a more dampening effect than husbands’ soulmate view on their own and their husbands’ volunteering. However, the time couples spend alone together was positively associated with husbands’ reports of volunteering, which counters the greedy marriage thesis. These findings suggest that the greedy nature of marriage is, in part, determined by its participants—how they define and manage their marriage

Love Lives at a Distance: Distance Relationships over the Lifecourse

Distance relationships may be increasingly undertaken by dual-career couples at some point in their life course. Although this can make it difficult to quantitatively measure, the extent of distance relating, qualitative analysis of distance relationships promise to give considerable insight into the changing nature of intimate lives across the life course. This paper indicates the kind of insights offered via analysis of exploratory research into distance relating in Britain. What begins to emerge is a picture of distance relating as offering certain possibilities in relation to the gendered organisation of emotional labour and of care in conjunction with the pursuit, especially of professional, careers. These possibilities might be more realistic, however, at certain points in the life course. Nevertheless, this new form of periods of separation between partners, tell us a considerable amount about how people approach the challenges of maintaining a satisfying and egalitarian intimate life, involving caring relationships with others, within contemporary social conditions.Distance Relationships, Commuter Marriage, Intimacy, Lifecourse, LAT

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Gender Differentiation in Paid and Unpaid Work during the Transition to Parenthood

The transition to parenthood may be especially difficult because relationships need to be largely reorganized to meet demanding new challenges. For scholars interested in gender inequality, the transition to parenthood is a critical time in which gender differentiation is generated by both economic and cultural forces. Although newly married childless couples tend to share both paid and unpaid labor rather equally, when men and women become parents, their patterns become increasingly differentiated by gender. Cultural beliefs that emphasize mothers as the primary parent and fathers as secondary reinforce unequal patterns in housework and childcare. Time availability models, bargaining perspectives, and gender theories all have been used to explain these patterns. Some changes that could help ease the transition to parenthood include expanding US parental leave policies, improving available childcare, adding flexible work policies, and offering more couples‐focused intervention programs. Although much is known about the topic, more research is needed for the literature to reflect the new generation of global and diverse parents

Job Leaves and the Limits of the Family and Medical Leave Act

This article examines the need for and use of leaves designated by the Family and Medical Leave Act. Using national data, we show that women, parents, those with little income, and African Americans are particularly likely to perceive a need for job leaves. However, it is married—not single—women and Whites who are particularly likely to take such leaves. The authors suggest that this disjunction between need and use is a consequence of the construction of leave policy—that it provides for only short, unpaid leaves for a narrow slice of workers and those politically constructed as “family”—and the unresponsiveness of workplaces. These limits likely reinforce inequality based on gender, race, and family status.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69106/2/10.1177_0730888499026004006.pd

FAMILY DIMENSIONS OF UNEQUAL COLLEGE EXPERIENCES: STUDENTS’ TALK OF SELF AND COLLEGE IN RELATION TO FAMILY RESOURCES AND RELATIONSHIPS

The “college experience” is normatively presented as enacting independence, often while financially relying on parents. This view normalizes white, middle-class models of college and family. The three interrelated papers comprising this dissertation investigate race, class, and gender differences and inequalities at college through the lens of students’ talk of family. These inductive, qualitative studies draw on semi-structured intensive interviews with undergraduates to explore divergent ways they make sense of college, family, and their self-development. Analyses highlight the multifaceted, and sometimes contradictory meanings participants attach to themes commonly presented as simple and objective (i.e. “paying for college,” “independence,” and “adulthood”). Findings indicate that surface-level understandings of these concepts cannot capture the diversity of students’ lives and perspectives. Two papers analyze student talk of paying for college across 112 interviews. In “The Stuff They Have to Pay For,” I demonstrate how students’ beliefs about what family can provide shape their understanding of both “paying for college” and the consequences of economic inequalities. In “Who’s Chipping In?” I investigate which family members students cite in relation to both receiving and giving financial support. I find that race and class jointly construct their talk of family financial responsibility and care. In the final paper, “I’m an Adult Now, and I Want You to Treat Me Like One!” I examine how 52 white college students talk about their parents and their self-identification as adults. I find that student talk of parental validation and invalidation is associated with divergent assessments of their parental relationship overall and also different views of the self. I investigate differences associated with both participant gender and parent gender, showing that families continue to reproduce gender during college, favoring sons’ adult identify formation over daughters.’ Together, these complementary studies demonstrate ways that family continues to matter during college. I draw disparate literatures which shed light on commonly overlooked processes underpinning inequalities during college. By challenging dominant assumptions about college and family life, this dissertation demonstrates ways in which diverse and unequal manifestations of “the college experience” are rooted in family life

Paid sick time helps workers balance work and family

In New Hampshire, workers fare better than workers nationally, yet one-quarter of Granite State workers do not have paid sick days. The lack of paid sick days places workers in a bind. They are forced to choose between caring for a sick family member or themselves and losing pay. This brief suggests that the long-term benefits of workers having paid sick days out way the cost for employers because it promotes less contagion among coworkers, increased productivity, and reduced turnover