The role of intact family childhood on women's earnings capacity: implications for evidence-based practices.

This article examines the complexities of working with an evidence-based model to design intervention strategies benefiting individuals and families. It addresses the question, to what extent should the evidence of economic advantage for female children raised in two-parent families influence social work support for practices and policies that encourage marriage? The article reviews current research findings indicating benefits of two-parent families on children's well-being and contemporary policy prescriptions promoting marriage. It presents findings of the authors' study which considers the effects of being raised in an intact family on the economic future of young women.

Increased wealth and income as correlates of self-assessed retirement.

This study examined whether retirement implies complete withdrawal from the labor force and the role that increased wealth and income play in regard to the nature of retirement. Data came from the Health & Retirement Study, Waves 1-5. Findings indicated that most study sample pre-retirees remained in the labor force as they moved into what are considered the normal retirement years.

The effects of socioeconomic status, perceived discrimination and mastery on health status in a youth cohort.

This study examined the influence of socioeconomic status, perceived discrimination, and sense of mastery over one's life on the health status of a sub-sample of a US cohort of youth (N = 969). When controlling for a variety of social characteristics and personal attributes, only sense of mastery over one's life, measured by the Pearlin Mastery Scale, affected physical and mental health statuses. Perceived discrimination affected only mental health status, while SES over the life course affected only physical health.