這里是JCS編輯部

本周JCS“外刊吃瓜”欄目

將繼續為大家介紹

社會學國際頂刊

《婚姻與家庭期刊》

（Journal of Marriage and Family）

及其最新目錄與摘要

About JMF

《婚姻與家庭雜志》（Journal of Marriage and Family，簡稱JMF）是由美國國家家庭關系委員會（National Council on Family Relations）出版的家庭領域專業研究期刊，已有75年的歷史。自創刊以來，JMF一直是家庭研究領域被引頻率最高的刊物。

JMF的作者來自不同的學科和研究領域，包括家庭科學（Family Science）、人類學、人口學、經濟學、歷史學、心理學和社會學等。該刊每年二、四、六、八和十月出版，全球發行量超過6200份。每年收到超過700篇來稿，審稿周期平均為六到八周。

JMF發表的文章被收錄在the Family Studies Database, SocAbstracts, PsychInfo, the Social Sciences Index, Education, Exceptional Child Education Abstracts, Book Review Index, Abstracts for Social Workers, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Guide to Reviews of Books from and about Hispanic America等數據庫中。

Current Issue

《婚姻與家庭期刊》最新一期（JMF Volume 87，Issue 3，2025）的內容包括以下九個欄目：

• Mothers and Motherhood（母親與母職）
  

• Fathers and Fatherhood（父親與父職）

• Parenting Experiences（育兒經歷）

• Separation and Divorce（分居與離婚）

• Families and Policy（家庭與政策）

• Work-Family Interface（工作與家庭邊界）

• Couple Relationships（伴侶關系）

• Of General Interest（普遍關注）

• Brief Report（簡要報告）

共計23篇文章，詳情如下。

原版目錄

1

母親與母職
Mothers and Motherhood

Maternal differential treatment and adult children's well-being when mothers have cognitive impairment

《母親認知障礙下的差別對待與成年子女的福祉》

J. Jill Suitor, Megan Gilligan, Robert T. Frase, Ranran He, Destiny Ogle

Mothers and grandmothers: Rethinking motherhood in the context of intergenerational caregiving

《母親與祖母：在代際照護背景下重新思考母職》

Amy Hanser, Yijia Zhang

Beyond motherhood: Childless Black women and compulsory mothering

《超越母職：無子女的黑人女性與強制母性》

Austin Colby Guy Lee

2

父親與父職
Fathers and Fatherhood

Paternal incarceration, child care instability, and children's wellbeing

《父親入獄、兒童保育不穩定與兒童福祉》

Kristin Turney, Daniela E. Kaiser

Feeling wronged versus pressing on: Unearthing the tensions of Appalachian fatherhood

《委屈與堅持：揭開阿巴拉契亞的父職矛盾》

Aran Garnett-Deakin, Caroline Sanner

3

育兒經歷
Parenting Experiencesd

A typology of US parents' mental loads: Core and episodic cognitive labor

《美國父母心理負荷類型學：核心和偶發性認知勞動》

Ana Catalano Weeks, Leah Ruppanner

Parent–teen dyadic experiences of racism: Implications for Black familial racial socialization

《父母與青少年的種族主義二元體驗：對黑人家庭種族社會化的啟示》

Shawn C. T. Jones, Sharde McNeil Smith, Naya Sutton, Lesley Blair Winchester, Broquelynn Shepard

Minority stress and structural stigma predict well-being in European LGBTQ+ parents

《少數族裔壓力和結構性污名預測歐洲 LGBTQ + 父母的福祉》

Magdalena Siegel, David Steyrl, Abbie E. Goldberg, Andrew A. Nicholson, Martina Zemp

4

分居與離婚
Separation and Divorce

Divorce among more and less divorce-prone populations following unilateral divorce laws

《單方面離婚法律實施后離婚傾向較高和較低群體的離婚情況》

Linus Andersson, Jan Saarela, Caroline Uggla

The gendered economic consequences of forming a single-parent household after separation

《分居后組建單親家庭的性別化的經濟后果》

Luisa Fadel, Diederik Boertien, Christine Schnor

Parental separation and children's genetic influences on education

《父母分居與兒童遺傳因素對教育的影響》

Zachary Van Winkle, Tina Baier

5

家庭與政策
Families and Policy

Administrative burdens as a family affair: Navigating racialized safety-net systems post-welfare reform

《作為家庭事務的行政負擔：福利改革后種族化安全網系統的應對》

Layne Amerikaner, Clayton Buck, Robyn Moore, Jennifer Martinez, Collin Mueller

Effects of welfare reform on maternal engagement and involvement with young adolescents

《福利改革對母親參與和與青少年互動的影響》

Hope Corman, Dhaval M. Dave, Ariel Kalil, Ofira Schwartz-Soicher, Nancy E. Reichman

6

工作與家庭邊界
Work-Family Interface

Working from home and bi-directional work–family conflict: Longitudinal evidence from Australian parents

《居家辦公與雙向的工作—家庭沖突：來自澳大利亞父母的縱向證據》

Inga La?, Mark Wooden

Two sides of a coin: The relationship between work autonomy and childbearing

《事物的兩面性：工作自主權與生育之間的關系》

Beata Osiewalska, Anna Matysiak

Navigating cultural crossroads: A thematic analysis of individuals' sacrifices in intercultural romantic relationships

《穿越文化十字路口：跨文化浪漫關系中個人犧牲的主題分析》

Hanieh Naeimi, Emily A. Impett

7

伴侶關系
Couple Relationships

The stickiness of unequal housework sharing: Limited effects of couples' ideological pairings

《不平等家務分擔的粘性：夫妻意識形態配對的有限影響》

Natalie Nitsche, Daniela Grunow, Ansgar Hudde

Unpacking power dynamics and women's economic empowerment in polygynous households in Burkina Faso

《剖析布基納法索一夫多妻家庭中的權力動態與女性經濟賦權》

Sarah Eissler, Jessica Heckert, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, Armande Sanou, Rasmané Ganaba, Aulo Gelli

8

普遍關注

Of General Interest

Temporary Aid for Needy Families as family policy for first time mothers

《作為首次生育母親家庭政策的貧困家庭臨時援助》

David W. Rothwell

9

簡要報告
Brief Report

The fall and rise of parental financial investments during the COVID-19 pandemic

《新冠疫情期間父母財務投資的起伏》

Orestes P. Hastings, Mariana Amorim, Sabino Kornrich

Unmarried Americans vote more Democratic than their married counterparts: The role of race and religiosity in the marital gap (a research brief?)

《未婚美國人比已婚美國人更傾向于投票給民主黨：種族和宗教在婚姻差距中的作用（研究簡報）》

Karyn Vilbig, Paula England, Michael Hout

Attitudes toward same-sex couple parents: A decade of change

《對同性伴侶父母的態度：十年的變化》

Wendy D. Manning, Kristen E. Gustafson

Measuring family boundary ambiguity in cohabiting stepfamilies

《測量同居繼父母家庭的家庭邊界模糊性》

Gabrielle Juteau, Susan L. Brown, Wendy D. Manning, Krista K. Westrick-Payne

Mothers and Motherhood

Maternal differential treatment and adult children's well-being when mothers have cognitive impairment

J. Jill Suitor, Megan Gilligan, Robert T. Frase, Ranran He, Destiny Ogle

Objectives

Our goal was to examine the role of perceptions of mothers' cognitive impairment (CI) in shaping the impact of maternal differential treatment on adult children's psychological well-being.

Background

The detrimental impact of mothers' differential treatment on adult children's psychological well-being has been well-documented; however, little is known about whether this association is moderated by mothers' CI.

Methods

Mixed-methods data were collected from 287 adult children (mean age?=?59?years) nested within 142 families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Analytic approaches were multilevel regression and in-depth qualitative analyses.

Results

Perceiving oneself as the child to whom one's mother was most emotionally close or with whom she had the most conflict was associated with lower psychological well-being among adult children who did not report that their mothers had symptoms of CI; however, such perceptions were not associated with well-being when children perceived that mothers showed symptoms of CI. Qualitative analyses revealed that when children reported that mothers did not have CI, children attributed their greater closeness and conflict to unique characteristics of themselves or their mother–child ties. However, when children perceived that mothers showed symptoms of CI, attributions for mothers' differentiation focused on contextual factors surrounding mothers' cognitive health, and thus did not reflect on the children themselves. Thus, the negative impact of perceptions of mothers' differential treatment on well-being was muted.

Conclusion

This study sheds light on conditions under which perceptions of maternal differential treatment affect adult children's psychological well-being, and the role of cognitive health in these processes.

Mothers and grandmothers: Rethinking motherhood in the context of intergenerational caregiving

Amy Hanser, Yijia Zhang

Objective

This study examines how the intergenerational caregiving exchanges from grandmother (maternal and paternal) to mother influence early motherhood experiences and childcare practices.

Background

Motherhood scholarship often neglects the influence of grandmothers on how women mother, or when acknowledging caregivers like grandmothers often fails to consider the potentially ambivalent ways grandmother caregiving affects mothers. Research on intergenerational support, however, documents the tension between solidarity and ambivalence characterizing care exchanges within families. More attention should be paid to understanding the complex ways grandmother participation intersects with a woman's motherhood experience.

Methods

This study asks how intergenerational caregiving by grandmothers shapes a woman's experiences of early motherhood, utilizing qualitative interview data with 34 Chinese immigrant mothers about their postpartum experiences, conducted in Canada between 2018 and 2019.

Results

Data revealed that grandmother care was an important, though often ambivalent, element of Chinese immigrant mothers' experience of new motherhood. New mothers sought to assert their autonomy and competence while simultaneously sharing mothering duties with grandmothers, whose interventions and care labor could simultaneously provoke feelings of guilt, gratitude, and resentment. Women assumed motherhood roles and identities at the same time they navigated the tensions between family solidarity and a desire for mothering autonomy.

Conclusion

Highlighting the significant but ambivalent role grandmothers can play in a woman's transition to motherhood demonstrates the importance of bringing grandmothers into how contemporary motherhood is understood.

Beyond motherhood: Childless Black women and compulsory mothering

Austin Colby Guy Lee

Objective

The current study asks how race, class, and the social pressure to care for children who are not one's own impact how childless Black women experience and make meaning of their parental status.

Background

While much of the existing qualitative research on childlessness has asked how white, middle-class women experience social pressure to have children, this study shifts this focus to ask how Black women experience social pressure to care for children who are not their own.

Method

The study relied on virtual interviews with 40 class-diverse childless Black women between 40 and 55. The recruitment strategy utilized a mixed-method approach, including snowball sampling, online and physical advertising, and targeted outreach within online communities for Black women. Interviews were transcribed and iteratively analyzed to identify thematic codes and categories.

Results

The study identifies and terms “compulsory mothering” as a significant social pressure that leads childless Black women to assume caregiving roles within their kin networks, regardless of their parental status. This pressure is more pronounced among working-class women, who engage more extensively in these roles compared to their middle-class counterparts, highlighting how race and class intersect to shape their experiences of childlessness.

Conclusion

The study concludes that race and class influence women's experiences of childlessness. It also finds that childless Black women's relationships with their kin networks shape their experiences of childlessness and their reproductive preferences.

Fathers and Fatherhood

Paternal incarceration, child care instability, and children's wellbeing

Kristin Turney, Daniela E. Kaiser

Objective

This study examines the relationship between paternal incarceration, child care instability, and children's well-being.

Background

Despite the established repercussions of paternal incarceration for children and families, little is known about how paternal incarceration is associated with child care arrangements and how unstable child care arrangements moderate the deleterious consequences of paternal incarceration for children's well-being.

Methods

We use data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of urban children born around the turn of the 21st century, to examine the relationship between recent first-time paternal incarceration and child care instability (measured by long-term instability, multiplicity, and back-up care arrangements). We also examine how child care instability moderates the relationship between recent first-time paternal incarceration and children's problem behaviors.

Results

Analyses suggest three main findings. First, paternal incarceration is positively associated with long-term child care instability, net of prior instability and factors associated with selection into paternal incarceration. Paternal incarceration is not associated with multiplicity or back-up care. Second, the relationship between paternal incarceration and children's problem behaviors is larger among children with unstable care arrangements than among those with stable care arrangements. Third, children living with their father prior to his incarceration, compared to children not living with their father prior to his incarceration, experience larger consequences of paternal incarceration.

Conclusion

We document the relationship between paternal incarceration and child care instability and how this instability moderates the association between paternal incarceration and children's problem behaviors.

Feeling wronged versus pressing on: Unearthing the tensions of Appalachian fatherhood

Aran Garnett-Deakin, Caroline Sanner

Objective

This study explores the lived experiences of fathers who live and parent in Appalachia, a region and identity that is often stereotyped and marginalized.

Background

Though research on fathering and fatherhood has grown significantly over the past several decades, a persistent emphasis involves father involvement and its relationship to child outcomes. Far fewer studies have explored the intrapersonal processes of fatherhood, such as what it means to be a father in diverse contexts. Rural contexts, specifically within Appalachia, remain understudied and offer opportunities for exploring the negotiation of fathering identities.

Method

Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, we conducted in-depth interviews with 11 Appalachian fathers about their lived experiences.

Results

We identified two central tensions experienced by Appalachian fathers: (a) preserving tradition versus adapting to change, and (b) feeling wronged versus pressing on. Appalachian fathers negotiated identities against the backdrop of historical hardship and exploitation, which threatened their internal sense of agency and contributed to their feeling left behind in a changing world. However, their narratives also embodied a spirit of perseverance and illustrated the ways in which they actively negotiated their sense of self despite navigating constraining forces.

Conclusion

Appalachian fathers' positioning at the intersection of privileged and marginalized identities has implications for their lived experiences and ability to express themselves. This study aims to humanize a historically stereotyped group of fathers.

Parenting Experiences

A typology of US parents' mental loads: Core and episodic cognitive labor

Ana Catalano Weeks, Leah Ruppanner

Objective

This article examines whether domestic cognitive labor functions like other forms of domestic labor as a means to “do gender.”

Background

Domestic cognitive labor is increasingly conceptualized as the invisible thinking work associated with childcare and housework. A critical question for this growing literature is the gender distribution of cognitive labor tasks: do women do it all, or does domestic cognitive labor follow similar patterns to other forms of domestic physical labor (e.g., childcare and housework), cleaving by separate spheres of activity? In this regard, is domestic cognitive labor another way parents “do gender” at home?

Methods

Applying unique survey data from a sample of US parents (N?=?3000), we assess a 21-item battery measuring different domestic cognitive labor tasks. We first apply exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to identify whether domestic cognitive labor holds underlying constructs. Second, we estimate whether gender differences in these indices are robust in regression models net of a range of sociodemographic factors.

Results

We identify that domestic cognitive labor, like other forms of domestic labor, forms two distinct facets, with mothers holding the bulk of the core Daily tasks related to family well-being and fathers holding the Episodic tasks related to maintenance and finances. Further, we document that, consistent with previous housework literature, question wording structures parents' reported contributions by gender.

Conclusion

Ultimately, our study expands our theoretical, conceptual, and methodological understanding of domestic cognitive labor and points to the value of “doing gender” perspectives.

Parent–teen dyadic experiences of racism: Implications for Black familial racial socialization

Shawn C. T. Jones, Sharde McNeil Smith, Naya Sutton, Lesley Blair Winchester, Broquelynn Shepard

Objective

Using a linked lives perspective, the current study sought to understand how patterns of racism experiences within Black parent–teen dyads affected the frequency and competency of racial socialization transmission.

Background

Racism in America has been pervasive, impacting Black families from cradle to grave. Acts of anti-Black racism influence the ways in which parents communicate about race to their children (i.e., racial socialization); however, research has not explored whether the linkages of racism experiences between parent and child are also influential for this process.

Method

Data were collected from Black parent–child dyads (N?=?201) through Qualtrics Panel Management. Parents and youth each completed surveys about racial/ethnic identity, race-related stress, and racial socialization practices. A three-step latent profile analysis was conducted using MPlus software.

Results

Four distinguishable dyadic racism subgroups were identified: Low Parent–Teen Racism, Moderate Parent–Teen Racism, Moderate–High Parent, Low Teen Racism, and High Parent–Teen Racism. More racial socialization messages were transmitted in dyads with parents and teens reporting moderate to high levels of racism compared to dyads where teens reported low levels of racism. There were variations in parents' competency in delivering racial socialization messages across the four subgroups.

Conclusion

The consequences of racism may be underestimated by focusing on individual experiences and not accounting for the linked lives of Black parents and their adolescents.

Minority stress and structural stigma predict well-being in European LGBTQ+ parents

Magdalena Siegel, David Steyrl, Abbie E. Goldberg, Andrew A. Nicholson, Martina Zemp

Objective

This study tested whether exposure to minority stress and structural stigma across multiple levels of the family system were associated with two indicators of well-being (life satisfaction, depressive symptoms) in LGBTQ+ parents across 19 European countries.

Background

Minority stress (i.e., identity-based stress resulting from systemic oppression) and structural stigma (i.e., hostile legal environments, prejudicial social attitudes) are heterogeneous, yet well-documented risk factors of reduced well-being within LGBTQ+ populations. However, a comprehensive assessment stratifying both concepts across multiple levels of the family system (i.e., the individual, couple, and family level) is lacking for LGBTQ+ parents.

Method

Using data from the EU LGBTI Survey 2019, a sample of 3808 LGBTQ+ parents from 19 European countries was analyzed. Associations between self-reported minority stress indicators, objective structural stigma indicators, sociodemographic predictors, and well-being were tested using non-linear, machine learning-based techniques (gradient boosted decision tree models).

Results

Supporting preregistered hypotheses, exposure to individual-level minority stress and individual- and family-level structural stigma predicted life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Couple-level minority stress predicted life satisfaction, but not depressive symptoms, and family-level minority stress predicted neither. Trans parents and those facing economic burdens were particularly vulnerable to low well-being.

Conclusions

Exposure to minority stress and structural stigma, particularly within highly stigmatizing regions, are risk factors for LGBTQ+ parents' well-being. Future research should examine the role of family-level minority stress using validated measures.

Separation and Divorce

Divorce among more and less divorce-prone populations following unilateral divorce laws

Linus Andersson, Jan Saarela, Caroline Uggla

Objective

This study analyzes heterogeneity in divorce rates after the 1987 transition from mutual consent to unilateral no-fault divorce in Finland.

Background

Marriage and divorce legislation can impact divorce rates. However, some groups may be more responsive to changes in legal context than others. We propose that unilateral no-fault divorce laws either (a) increase divorce more in more or less divorce-prone groups, or (b) increase divorce equally across these groups.

Methods

We use population-wide individual-level register data from Finland to identify salient social groups with different divorce propensity, including ethno-linguistic and religious affiliations with divergent divorce propensity and couples of different parental status, marriage length, and marital history. We use piecewise constant exponential survival models to estimate the association with divorce proneness before and after the introduction of mutual consent divorce laws.

Results

Divorce rates increase in all studied subgroups by about 60% in the years following unilateral divorce. We found no support for the hypothesis that groups that were either more or less divorce-prone prior to the reform would be particularly responsive to divorce liberalization in the short-to-medium term.

Conclusions

The findings speak toward a universal rather than heterogeneous effect of divorce law liberalization.

The gendered economic consequences of forming a single-parent household after separation

Luisa Fadel, Diederik Boertien, Christine Schnor

Objective

To document gender differences in income trajectories before and after forming a single-parent household following separation in Belgium between 2005 and 2018.

Background

Previous research has shown that the economic consequences of partnership dissolution are less severe for fathers than for mothers because of the greater likelihood for women to live with children after separation than men. However, it remains unclear how economic conditions change when men live with children after partnership dissolution.

Method

Combining information from the Belgian National Register and the Tax-register over 14?years, we estimate time-distributed fixed effects (TDFE) models on a sample of 47,496 men and 151,389 women to investigate how the transition into a single-parent household after separation impacts equivalized household income, as well as other income measures, from 5?years before to 5?years after the event.

Results

Overall, there is an economic disadvantage related to becoming a single parent co-residing with children after separation for both men and women. Hence, single fathers are at risk of economic vulnerability, but, after transitioning into a single-parent household, men lose less in terms of partner income and are faster to recover in terms of couple and equivalized household income than women do.

Conclusion

Men experience important drops in income after becoming a single parent co-residing with children, but drops in income are greater for women.

Parental separation and children's genetic influences on education

Zachary Van Winkle, Tina Baier

Objective

This study focuses on the extent to which parental divorce and separation during childhood affect children's chances to realize genetic influences on educational attainment.

Background

Whether the family context matters for genetic influences on children's educational attainment remains an open question. Previous research mainly considers parents' socio-economic standing and overlooks a key dimension of social stratification: childhood family structure.

Method

This study draws on the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to estimate the association between education polygenic scores and educational attainment of adults who experienced a parental separation before age 16 compared to adults who lived continuously with both parents.

Results

Results show that genetic effects are smaller for adults whose parents separated compared to adults whose parents remained coupled. Moreover, additional analysis directed at the mechanisms provided no evidence that the negative impact of parental separation was attributable to adverse socioeconomic conditions during childhood.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that distinct inner-familial conditions linked to parental separation affect children's genetic influences on educational attainment.

Families and Policy

Administrative burdens as a family affair: Navigating racialized safety-net systems post-welfare reform

Layne Amerikaner, Clayton Buck, Robyn Moore, Jennifer Martinez, Collin Mueller

Objective

Analyzing ethnographic data collected after welfare reform in the United States, this study explores the family-level consequences of safety-net administrative burdens.

Background

Administrative burdens reproduce racial inequality and have material, psychological, and temporal costs for individuals. Less attention has been paid to how such burdens impose costs not only for the person interfacing with the state but also their families. This study uses an “intersectional family justice” lens to (1) examine the full impact of administrative burdens more broadly, as one component of family burdens and (2) highlight the role of agency in families' heterogeneous, multi-level response strategies.

Method

We conducted a team-based, secondary analysis of 35 family profiles from a longitudinal ethnography detailing the perspectives and experiences of low-income Latinx families with children from 1999 to 2002 at the San Antonio, Texas site of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study. Through multiple stages of coding, we examined how families experienced and responded to administrative burdens in safety-net systems in the post-welfare reform context.

Results

Families primarily faced two types of barriers when interfacing with safety-net systems (system-level and ideological) and engaged in two types of response strategies (individual-level and network-level). Both barriers and responses had reverberating implications for family well-being and processes.

Conclusion

Because safety-net administrative burdens, often rooted in racialized and gendered logics of “deservingness,” can create substantial disruptions for navigating everyday family life, their costs are more fully understood not only as individual-level burdens but as a family affair.

Effects of welfare reform on maternal engagement and involvement with young adolescents

Hope Corman, Dhaval M. Dave, Ariel Kalil, Ofira Schwartz-Soicher, Nancy E. Reichman

Objective

This study investigates the effects of welfare reform in the U.S. on positive parenting-related outcomes and potential pathways.

Background

The 1996 welfare reform legislation sharply restricted eligibility for benefits with a strong emphasis on employment over cash assistance. The legislation led to dramatic declines in welfare caseloads and increases in employment. Much less is known about the effects of welfare reform on dynamics within families that affect children.

Method

Using data on low-educated unmarried mothers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 linked to information on their 10- to 14-year-old children, we exploit variations in welfare reform implementation across states, over time, and between treatment and comparison groups to identify plausibly causal effects of the legislation on children's reports of activities with parents and closeness of the maternal-child relationship. The analytic sample includes 3,172–3,737 observations for boys and 3,089–3,619 for girls, depending on outcome.

Results

We find modestly negative effects of welfare reform on children's reports of activities with parents and closeness of the maternal-child relationship, with stronger effects for boys than girls. We find no evidence that the effects operated through employment. However, we found suggestive evidence that decreases in income play a role.

Conclusion

Welfare reform compromised maternal involvement and engagement with adolescents, particularly boys, which could adversely affect their development and long-run success.

Work-Family Interface

Working from home and bi-directional work–family conflict: Longitudinal evidence from Australian parents

Inga La?, Mark Wooden

Objective

This study investigates the effects of working from home (WFH) on both work-to-family conflict (WTFC) and family-to-work conflict (FTWC) among parents, and whether family demands and the COVID-19 pandemic moderate these effects.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a marked increase in the incidence of WFH in many countries, which many argue has been beneficial for families. Convincing evidence in support of this hypothesis, however, is scarce.

Method

Panel data from 19 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (covering the period 2001 to 2021) are used to estimate fixed effects regression models of both FTWC and WTFC where the explanatory variable of interest is the share of usual weekly work hours worked from home. The sample is restricted to working parents aged between 18 and 64?years (9850 persons; 54,764 observations).

Results

For both genders, the level of WTFC declines with the proportion of time worked from home. By contrast, the association between WFH and FTWC differs between mothers and fathers, with FTWC lower for mothers but higher for fathers (and especially for single fathers and those with young children) when working mostly from home. These associations remained largely unchanged during the pandemic.

Conclusion

WFH is particularly beneficial for mothers' reconciliation of work and family life but has ambivalent effects for fathers. This, in turn, may mean mothers will be more likely than fathers to have preferences for continuing WFH post pandemic.

Two sides of a coin: The relationship between work autonomy and childbearing

Beata Osiewalska, Anna Matysiak

Objective

This article investigates the under-researched role of work autonomy, encompassing the control over how, when and where to work, for both the entry into parenthood and the transition to a second child across different social strata in the United Kingdom.

Background

Over the past three decades, employees have gained increased work autonomy, a trend expected to persist with technological advancements. Work autonomy substantially affects the combination of paid work and family life. But its multifaceted impact on workers' fertility behavior, especially across different educational levels, has remained unclear.

Method

The study employs a sample of partnered women and men from UKHLS 2009–2019 data. Latent Class Analysis incorporates the three dimensions: job, schedule, and workplace controls to identify distinct patterns of work autonomy, which serve as key explanatory variables in event-history models for first and second-birth risks.

Results

We find no relationship between work autonomy and fertility behavior for men. For highly educated women, work autonomy is negatively related to the transition to motherhood, but positively associated with the risk of having a second child. For less educated women, the relationship between work autonomy and childbearing ranges from negative to non-significant, depending on the specific dimension of autonomy.

Conclusion

The study highlights the intricate link between work autonomy and fertility and emphasizes important social stratification in the impact of autonomy on individuals. Further research is needed to unravel the observed duality, that is, understanding the challenges posed by work autonomy for fertility, especially among childless women and those less educated.

Couple Relationships

Navigating cultural crossroads: A thematic analysis of individuals' sacrifices in intercultural romantic relationships

Hanieh Naeimi, Emily A. Impett

Objective

This study aims to explore the unique sacrifices intercultural couples make to reconcile their cultural differences.

Background

Partners in intercultural romantic relationships may be challenged to make sacrifices related to their cultural differences, termed cultural sacrifices. These sacrifices can act as catalysts for cultural change in families and society, yet there is a gap in our understanding of the types of cultural sacrifices partners make.

Method

We conducted reflexive thematic analysis on two online samples of individuals in intercultural relationships who wrote about their cultural sacrifices (n?=?592). We employed a bottom-up data-driven approach to our analysis.

Results

We identified 10 themes, including nine distinct themes of cultural sacrifices—cultural practices and norms, food, gender roles, language, parenting, prejudice, religion, relocation and travel, and social orientation—and one theme of not making a cultural sacrifice. Most themes were divided into subthemes to provide more context for individuals' experiences.

Conclusion

Individuals in intercultural relationships often reconcile their cultural differences by giving up aspects of their own culture or finding ways to adapt to their partner's culture. This study provides the first descriptive overview of the types of cultural sacrifices partners make in their relationships.ImplicationsThese findings provide a better understanding of intercultural relationships, contribute to a more inclusive study of relationships, and offer valuable considerations for future research.

The stickiness of unequal housework sharing: Limited effects of couples' ideological pairings

Natalie Nitsche, Daniela Grunow, Ansgar Hudde

Objective

The study aimed to investigate how couples' ideological pairings, defined as partners' joint attitudes toward gendered housework responsibilities, influence their division of housework.

Background

Drawing from gender structure theory and integrating sociological concepts of doing and undoing gender with economic resource theories, this study tested an interactional couple-level mechanism to predict changes in housework sharing. It was hypothesized that partners' ideological pairings would predict variation in housework sharing and moderate the relationship between changes in partners' relative economic resources and housework sharing.

Method

The sample of 3045 couples (followed for 11,674 couple years) was derived from the German Panel Study of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics. Growth curve models and fixed-effects panel regression were used to estimate housework-sharing trajectories based on couples' ideological pairings and to assess whether these pairings moderated the impact of changes in partners' relative earnings on housework sharing.

Results

Couples with joint egalitarian attitudes shared housework most equally, whereas those with joint traditional attitudes shared it most unequally. Couples with mismatched attitudes fell in between. Only joint egalitarian couples adjusted their housework sharing following significant changes in the partners' relative earnings, although the effect sizes were small.

Conclusions

Ideological pairings are instrumental in understanding the gendered division of housework and moderate how couples adjust to relative earnings changes. However, gender inequality in housework sharing remains relatively persistent within current gender structures.

Of General Interest

Unpacking power dynamics and women's economic empowerment in polygynous households in Burkina Faso

Sarah Eissler, Jessica Heckert, Abdoulaye Pedehombga, Armande Sanou, Rasmané Ganaba, Aulo Gelli

Objective

We aim to describe power distributions in polygynous households and consider how these matter for the production and allocation of food-generating resources in western Burkina Faso, where there is a high prevalence of polygyny.

Background

Recent studies on polygyny focus on its likely negative consequences and mechanisms for explaining these outcomes using data from large multitopic surveys. These approaches fail to consider the underlying dynamics in polygynous households.

Method

As part of a 5-year mixed-methods evaluation of a nutrition- and gender-sensitive poultry value chain intervention in western Burkina Faso, we conducted a thematic analysis of 24 gender-disaggregated focus group discussions (265 individuals) and 24 semi-structured interviews in six communities. They focused on gender and power dynamics, food production, and food allocation with a specific focus on polygyny.

Results

Relationships among co-wives are often cooperative, though not necessarily warm, and typically hierarchical. Monogamous and polygynous marriage may support women's empowerment in different domains. Polygynous co-wives may be able to divide care work, but first wives often control how labor is divided. In monogamous marriages, wives often make decisions jointly with their husbands, while in polygynous marriages, most co-wives are left out of decisions. In polygynous households, women are better able to maintain control over their earnings.

Conclusion

We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for studying polygynous households in quantitative surveys and in terms of how to better design and target interventions for this population.

Brief Report

Temporary Aid for Needy Families as family policy for first time mothers

David W. Rothwell

Objective

This brief report takes a life course approach to describe how first-time mothers with low incomes participate in Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) before and after birth.

Background

By providing cash assistance to low-income mothers with children, TANF functions as a major family policy.

Method

Population data from a cohort of all births in Oregon across 2016–2017 are linked to TANF participation and employment histories. Centering on the birth event, the study window spanned 24?months before and after the first birth. Multivariate models are used to predict TANF participation around birth. A combination of sequence and cluster analyses illuminate within-group patterns.

Results

Around one-quarter of low-income mothers relied on TANF at any time in the two-year study window with about 70% of those participating in TANF during the 6?months after birth. The most common trajectory pattern (41%) was one of TANF enrollment around birth with high likelihood of exit by 6?months following birth, suggesting TANF may function as a short-term substitute for paid work, that is, paid leave. Other trajectories were characterized by timing of enrollment (prenatal or postnatal) and duration of participation. Clusters with longer participation were comprised of mothers who were young, single, and with less labor market attachment.

Conclusions

The majority of low-income single mothers who rely on TANF around birth participate in short spells and exit the program within 1?year. As more states implement paid family leave policies, low-income mothers who previously enrolled in TANF may opt for paid leave.

The fall and rise of parental financial investments during the COVID-19 pandemic

Orestes P. Hastings, Mariana Amorim, Sabino Kornrich

Objective

This research note investigates changes in American parents' financial investments in children during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as whether and how changes in parents' spending varied based on parental education.

Background

Parents purchase goods, experiences, and services that shape children's human capital and life chances. Socioeconomic differences in parental expenditures on children represent an important pathway for perpetuating inequality across generations. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted children's lives in ways that may have changed these levels of investment.

Method

The 2015–2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) is used to describe spending on five key categories of investments in children's human capital (educational spending, extracurricular activities and lessons, computers and tablets, formal childcare, informal childcare) overall and by parental education. Mediation analysis assesses the extent school closures explain these changes.

Results

Childcare and extracurricular expenditures initially decreased significantly and then gradually recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021. Cutbacks were primarily among more educated families. However, spending on schooling increased in 2021 and computer and tablet purchases spiked in 2020, particularly among more educated families. Mediation analysis suggests that when expenditures were most affected by the pandemic (in 2020), school closures explained 50%–70% of those changes.

Conclusion

This note provides evidence that during the pandemic socioeconomic inequalities in child-related spending decreased in some categories of spending (e.g., childcare and extracurriculars) and increased in others (e.g., computers and tablets). Many changes appeared short-term, but changes in education point to possible longer-term shifts in parents' preferences about children's educational environments.

Unmarried Americans vote more Democratic than their married counterparts: The role of race and religiosity in the marital gap (a research brief?)

Karyn Vilbig, Paula England, Michael Hout

Objective

We investigate how differences in the characteristics of married and unmarried (never-married and divorced) voters contribute to a marital gap—unmarried voters are more likely to vote for Democratic presidential candidates. We also explore why the marital gap has grown over the past 40?years.

Background

Research in the 1980s discovered that unmarried Americans are more likely to choose Democratic presidential candidates. We show that these gaps have persisted, and the gap between married and never-married voters has grown.

Methods

We performed a decomposition of levels examining never-married/married and divorced/married gaps, combining data from the 1985–2022 General Social Surveys. Because the gap between married and never-married voters increased substantially between the 1984 and 2020 elections, we also performed a decomposition of change on the never-married/married gap.

Results

The largest factor contributing to gaps between married and unmarried voters is their different racial compositions. Unmarried voters are disproportionately Black, and Black voters overwhelmingly support Democrats. Among non-Black voters, differences in religiosity contribute to marital gaps because less religious voters are more likely to be unmarried and to vote Democratic. The gap between married and never-married voters has increased since the 1980s in part because never-married voters became more diverse (with a smaller percent White) at a faster rate than married voters.

Conclusion

Since the 1980s, gaps by marital status in whether voters choose Democrats have become an enduring feature of American politics. These gaps are influenced by racial and religious differences in who enters into and remains in marriage.

Attitudes toward same-sex couple parents: A decade of change

Wendy D. Manning, Kristen E. Gustafson

Objective

Our goal is to track changes in attitudes about same-sex parents in the United States across a 10-year time span between 2012 and 2022.

Background

During this period, there have been transformations in the legal rights of same-sex couples to marry and increased support for same-sex marriage; however, recent increase in hostile state-level policies regarding same-sex couples often center on issues about children.

Method

Drawing on data from the 2012 and 2022 General Social Survey (https://gss.norc.org/), we examine changes in attitudes regarding same-sex parents.

Results

We find significant increases in support for same-sex parents, and this differential persists once accounting for sex, race/ethnicity, education, family background, age, parenthood status, religiosity, political beliefs, urbanicity and region of residence. Although increases in support occurred for all groups, most of the covariates were related to attitudes about same-sex parents in a similar manner in 2012 as 2022.

Conclusion

These findings suggest growth in support for both male and female same-sex parents. New research on how changes in support for same-sex couples and families are linked to specific policies changes is warranted. Underlying value orientations (politics and religiosity) appear to still drive differentials in public opinion.

Implications

This new level of support for same-sex parents may have implications for the enactment of new policies at the local, state and national level that ensure same-sex parent families receive protections from discrimination.

Measuring family boundary ambiguity in cohabiting stepfamilies

Gabrielle Juteau, Susan L. Brown, Wendy D. Manning, Krista K. Westrick-Payne

Objective

Our study introduces a novel approach to gauging family boundary ambiguity using information obtained from just one household reporter. It also illuminates the strengths and challenges presented by parent pointers in federal surveys.

Background

The prominence of boundary ambiguity in cohabiting stepfamilies leads to significant measurement challenges, which take on greater salience as more children experience this family type.

Method

Drawing on the 2019–2022 Current Population Survey (CPS), we assessed boundary ambiguity within cohabiting stepfamilies (N?=?4133) by examining whether reporting the stepparent as the child's second parent differed by household reporter type: biological parent versus cohabiting partner. Logistic regressions showed the roles of sociodemographic, family, and child correlates of family boundary ambiguity by household reporter type.

Results

Boundary ambiguity in cohabiting stepfamilies was high, with over 80% of reporters not identifying the cohabiting partner as the child's second parent. Parents more often experienced boundary ambiguity (91%) than did partners (68%). Parents with more economic resources than their partners were more likely to experience boundary ambiguity. Joint children were negatively related to boundary ambiguity.

Conclusion

This study shows most parents and partners in cohabiting stepfamilies do not view the partner as a second parent. It also reveals the ramifications of the CPS parent pointers that restrict respondents to reporting only two “parents,” tacitly reinforcing the two-biological parent norm.

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《中國社會學學刊》（The Journal of Chinese Sociology）于2014年10月由中國社會科學院社會學研究所創辦。作為中國大陸第一本英文社會學學術期刊，JCS致力于為中國社會學者與國外同行的學術交流和合作打造國際一流的學術平臺。JCS由全球最大科技期刊出版集團施普林格·自然(Springer Nature)出版發行，由國內外頂尖社會學家組成強大編委會隊伍，采用雙向匿名評審方式和“開放獲取”(open access)出版模式。JCS已于2021年5月被ESCI收錄。2022年，JCS的CiteScore分值為2.0（Q2），在社科類別的262種期刊中排名第94位，位列同類期刊前36%。2023年，JCS在科睿唯安發布的2023年度《期刊引證報告》（JCR）中首次獲得影響因子并達到1.5（Q3）。

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