Sex in Midlife: Women's Sexual Experiences in Lesbian and Straight Marriages.

Objective: This study examines how married straight and lesbian women understand sexual changes in midlife.

Background: Sexual satisfaction is key to marital quality, yet marital sex typically diminishes in midlife. Little is known, however, about how married straight and lesbian women make sense of midlife sexuality.

The Relationship Between Duration of U.S. Residence, Educational Attainment, and Adult Health Among Asian Immigrants.

There is substantial educational heterogeneity among Asian immigrants to the United States, suggesting that the association between duration of U.S. residence with their health outcomes and behaviors may vary considerably by educational attainment.

Parental same-sex relationships, family instability, and subsequent life outcomes for adult children: Answering critics of the new family structures study with additional analyses.

The July 2012 publication of my study on the outcomes of young adults who report parental same-sex relationship behavior raised a variety of questions about the New Family Structures Study and my analyses and interpretations of it. This follow-up article seeks to address a variety of the more common criticisms that have been raised, to offer new commentary and analyses, and to pose questions for future analysts of the NFSS and other datasets that are poised to consider how household dynamics are associated with youth and young-adult outcomes. The new analyses I present here still reveal numerous differences between adult children who report maternal same-sex behavior (and residence with her partner) and those with still-married (heterosexual) biological parents.

How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study.

The New Family Structures Study (NFSS) is a social-science data-collection project that fielded a survey to a large, random sample of American young adults (ages 18-39) who were raised in different types of family arrangements. In this debut article of the NFSS, I compare how the young-adult children of a parent who has had a same-sex romantic relationship fare on 40 different social, emotional, and relational outcome variables when compared with six other family-of-origin types. The results reveal numerous, consistent differences, especially between the children of women who have had a lesbian relationship and those with still-married (heterosexual) biological parents.

Children's early child care and their mothers' later involvement with schools.

Theory and policy highlight the role of child care in preparing children for the transition into school. Approaching this issue in a different way, this study investigated whether children's care experiences before this transition promoted their mothers' school involvement after it, with the hypothesized mechanism for this link being the cultivation of children's social and academic skills. Analyses of 1,352 children (1 month-6 years) and parents in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that mothers were more involved at their children's schools when children had prior histories of high-quality nonparental care.

Parenthood and trajectories of change in body weight over the life course.

Scholars call for greater attention to social contexts that promote and deter risk factors for health. Parenthood transforms social contexts in a myriad of ways that may influence long-term patterns of weight gain. Life course features of parenthood such as age at first birth, parity, and living with a minor child may further influence weight gain.

Cultural mechanisms and the persistence of neighborhood violence.

Sociologists have given considerable attention to identifying the neighborhood-level social-interactional mechanisms that influence outcomes such as crime, educational attainment, and health. Yet, cultural mechanisms are often overlooked in quantitative studies of neighborhood effects. This paper adds a cultural dimension to neighborhood effects research by exploring the consequences of legal cynicism.

Later first marriage and marital success.

The research reported here used measures of marital success based on both marital survival and marital quality to assess how well first marriages entered at relatively late ages fare in comparison with those entered younger. Analysis of data from five American data sets indicated that the later marriages fare very well in survival but rather poorly in quality. The greatest indicated likelihood of being in an intact marriage of the highest quality is among those who married at ages 22-25, net of the estimated effects of time since first marriage and several variables that might commonly affect age at marriage and marital outcomes.

Educational Progress and Parenting Among Mexican Immigrant Mothers of Young Children.

This study examined the potential for educational investments in Mexican immigrant mothers to enhance their management of their children's pathways through an educational system in the U.S. that often disadvantages them.

Family socioeconomic status and consistent environmental stimulation in early childhood.

The transition into school occurs at the intersection of multiple environmental settings. This study applied growth curve modeling to a sample of 1,364 American children, followed from birth through age 6, who had been categorized by their exposure to cognitive stimulation at home and in preschool child care and 1st-grade classrooms. Of special interest was the unique and combined contribution to early learning of these 3 settings.

Parenthood, Childlessness, and Well-Being: A Life Course Perspective.

This article reviews recent research (1999 - 2009) on the effects of parenthood on wellbeing. We use a life course framework to consider how parenting and childlessness influence well-being throughout the adult life course. We place particular emphasis on social contexts and how the impact of parenthood on well-being depends on marital status, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Going most of the way: "technical virginity" among American adolescents.

Reports from academic and media sources assert that many young people substitute non-vaginal sexual activities for vaginal intercourse in order to maintain what could be called "technical virginity." Explanations for technical virginity, however, are based on weak empirical evidence and considerable speculation. Using a sample of 15-19-year-olds from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth, we examine technical virginity and its motivations.

Early Marriage in the United States.

Despite drastic changes in the American family, a significant minority of Americans marry early. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 14,165), this study evaluates the prevalence and antecedents of early marriage in the United States. The results indicate 25% of women and 16% of men marry before age 23, and early marriage varies widely across a number of characteristics.

Education and psychological distress among older Chinese.

Objective: The goal of this research is to see if more highly educated older Chinese have lower levels of distress than do their poorly educated counterparts and whether engaging in cognitively stimulating activities such as reading and playing mahjong explains the association.

Method: Using the Chinese Healthy Longevity Survey, the authors find a significant negative association between education and psychological distress. Much of the association is mediated by activities, but not all in the ways expected.

Peer group contexts of girls' and boys' academic experiences.

Girls have caught up with boys in math course taking in high school but reasons for taking math still differ by gender. This study, therefore, investigated gender differences in the linkage between peer relations and math course taking by applying multilevel modeling to a nationally representative data set that includes peer networks and school transcripts (N= 6,457 American 9th to 11th graders, aged 13-19). For all adolescents, math course taking was associated with the achievement of their close friends and, to a lesser extent, their coursemates.

Religious attendance and the health behaviors of Texas adults.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to test whether religious involvement is associated with a broad range of health behaviors.

Method: We employ data from the 2004 Survey of Texas Adults, a statewide probability sample of 1504 Texas adults. Using these data, we estimate a series of logistic regression models to assess the net effects of religious attendance on 12 health behaviors.

Religious attendance and cognitive functioning among older Mexican Americans.

Research shows that social engagement reduces the probability of cognitive decline in late life. The purpose of this study was to test whether religious attendance, a major source of social engagement for many older individuals, is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline among older Mexican Americans. Using four waves of data collected from a sample of 3,050 older Mexican-origin individuals, we estimated a series of linear growth curve models to assess the effects of religious attendance on cognitive functioning trajectories.

Stress in Childhood and Adulthood: Effects on Marital Quality Over Time.

We work from a stress and life course perspective to consider how stress affects trajectories of change in marital quality over time. Specifically, we ask whether stress is more likely to undermine the quality of marital experiences at different points in the life course. In addition, we ask whether the effects of adult stress on marital quality depend on childhood family stress experiences.

Neighborhood disorder, psychological distress, and heavy drinking.

Studies show that residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods drink more heavily than residents of more affluent neighborhoods. However, explanations for this association are not well developed. Using data collected from a sample of low-income women with children from Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, we explore the possibility that perceptions of neighborhood disorder encourage heavy drinking.

Religious attendance and mortality: an 8-year follow-up of older Mexican Americans.

Objective: Studies in the area of religion and mortality are based primarily on data derived from samples of predominantly non-Hispanic Whites. Given the importance of religion in the lives of Hispanics living in the United States, particularly older Hispanics, we examine the effects of religious attendance on mortality risk among Mexican Americans aged 65 and older.

Methods: We employ data from the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly to predict the risk of all-cause mortality over an 8-year follow-up period.

Family relationships, social support and subjective life expectancy.

Do supportive personal relationships increase subjective life expectancy? The objective existence of family relationships and the subjective sense of having someone to call on in need may increase the length of life a person expects by creating assurance about the future, by reinforcing healthy habits, and by improving current health. Using the 1995 Aging, Status, and Sense of Control representative sample of 2,037 Americans ages 18-95, we find that having adult children and surviving parents increases the length of life one expects, but young children in the home does not, and marriage only contributes years of life expected for older men. People expect to live longer when they report high levels of emotional support, and the association is mediated entirely by the perception that one has someone to call on when one is sick.