Complexity of Father Involvement in Low‐Income Mexican American Families*

We identify multiple predictors of five types of father involvement in 167 low‐ to moderate‐income two‐parent Mexican American families with fifth‐grade children. Analyses show that fathers’ egalitarian gender attitudes and mothers’ education are associated with higher levels of father involvement. Fathers are more involved in monitoring and interacting with children when families place more emphasis on family rituals, they are more involved in supervising children when mothers are employed more hours, and they perform more housework when mothers earn more and the family is under economic stress. Counter to “macho” stereotypes, Mexican‐identified men are more likely than more acculturated men to supervise children and engage them in conventionally feminine activities. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

New‐Concept Part‐Time Employment as a Work‐Family Adaptive Strategy for Women Professionals with Small Children*

This study investigates how the option for new‐concept part‐time (NPT) employment influences the ability of mothers of preschool children working in professional occupations to successfully integrate work and family responsibilities. Female NPT professionals (n = 279) and female full‐time (FT) professionals (n = 250) were compared. The NPT group reported 20 fewer weekly work hours and about $18,000 less estimated annual household income than the FT group. They allocated this additional time primarily to caring for and nurturing their dependent children. They also reported less job‐related travel, unnecessary work, and work‐to‐family conflict, as well as greater work‐family success, childcare satisfaction, and family success. However, NPT mothers reported a more traditional division of labor in household responsibilities and less career opportunity and work success. Implications are presented and discussed.     

Professional Identity and Coping Behaviors in Dual‐Career couples

Abstract: This qualitative study of 15 dual‐career couples examines the connection between partners’ professional identity and coping behaviors implemented in response to work and family stressors. The analysis provided evidence that dual‐career couples enact professional and family identities that rely on being competent and responsible in both work and family roles. Coping patterns fell into similar patterns across work and family domains, but strategy use was unique by domain and reflective of couples’ belief in the value of interdependent interactions.     

Marital Satisfaction among Dual‐Earner Couples: Gender Ideologies and Family‐to‐Work Conflict

This study examines whether the gender ideologies of both spouses moderate how family‐to‐work conflict relates to marital satisfaction among dual‐earner couples. The authors address the research questions using data from a random sample of dual‐earner couples from the northern part of a western state (N = 156 couples). Findings indicate that husbands' gender ideologies moderate how husbands' and wives' family‐to‐work conflict relate to husbands' marital satisfaction. Additionally, husbands' gender ideologies moderate how husbands' family‐to‐work conflict relates to wives' marital satisfaction. In contrast, wives' gender ideologies do not appear to moderate how either spouse's family‐to‐work conflict relate to marital satisfaction. The implications of the study for practitioners, including explicitly talking about gender beliefs with clients and the potential promise of feminist‐informed therapy, are discussed.     

Welfare Reform,Work‐Family Tradeoffs,and Child Well‐Being*

Welfare reform and related policy changes have altered the context in which welfare‐reliant women make choices about employment and family care. Using data from longitudinal qualitative interviews, we examined women's experiences of work‐family tradeoffs and how they think their employment affected their children. Women identified multiple co‐occurring costs and benefits of work for themselves and their children. Benefits included: increased income; increased self‐esteem, feelings of independence, and social integration; and the ability to model work and self‐sufficiency values for children. Costs included: working without increased income; overload, exhaustion, and stress; and less time and energy to be with, supervise, and support children. The relevance of these findings for family policy specialists and practitioners who work with low‐income families is discussed.     

Contemporary Work and Family Issues Affecting Marriage and Cohabitation Among Low‐Income Single Mothers

In this paper, we advance and test an integrative model of the effects of employment status, nonstandard work schedules, male employment, and women's perceptions of economic instability on union formation among low‐income single mothers. On the basis of the longitudinal data from 1,299 low‐income mothers from the Three‐City Welfare Study, results indicate that employment status alone is not significantly associated with whether women marry or cohabit. Rather, we find that nonemployed mothers and mothers working nonstandard schedules were less likely to marry compared to those working standard schedules. Mothers' perceptions of economic well‐being were associated with marriage at Wave 2. In contrast, cohabitation outcomes were not explained by economic factors, but were related to the perception of child care support. The policy implications of these results are discussed, in particular, as they relate to welfare reform's work and family goals.     

Romantic Partner and Biological Father Support: Associations with Maternal Distress in Low‐Income Mexican‐Origin Families

Paternal support is often linked to lower levels of maternal psychological distress; however, research has seldom considered the increasing numbers of Mexican‐origin families with a romantic partner social (RPS) father (i.e., mothers' partners who are not formally identified as stepfathers). This study applied a bioecological systems framework to test linkages between support from RPS fathers and maternal depressive symptoms and parenting stress and to consider whether nonresident biological father support and instrumental social support moderate these associations. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the authors analyzed a subsample of Mexican‐origin mothers (N = 76) with 3‐year‐old children. Findings indicated that maternal perceptions of support from RPS fathers were inversely related to depressive symptomatology only when mothers also perceived high levels of support from biological fathers, and the relationship with the RPS father began recently. Neither RPS nor biological father support was associated with maternal parenting stress.     

Health in All local Policies: Lessons learned on intersectoral collaboration in a community‐based health promotion network in Denmark

Health promotion increasingly involves collaboration with civil society organisations and the private sector rather than being implemented exclusively by public sector stakeholders. Health in All Policies (HiAP) is an approach that promotes health in policy‐making across public sectors. This study explored intersectoral integration and collaboration for health promotion at a local community level through a qualitative single case study of a local community network in Denmark: the Husum Health Network. The paper describes and discusses strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of HiAP‐inspired local efforts to build alliances and supportive environments for health within an inter‐organisational community‐based network. The data were generated from participant observations made at 11 meetings and events organised by the network partners and nine qualitative, semi‐structured interviews with Husum Health Network partners conducted from August 2014 to February 2015. The data were analysed using a theoretical framework introduced by Axelsson and Axelsson (2006) to characterise aspects of integration and differentiation between organisations. With high levels of structural and functional differentiation between the partners, the network provided an opportunity to exercise inter‐organisational integration at the local level. Integration was fostered by knowledge sharing, face‐to‐face interaction, and communal events. However, the loose structure of the network was a challenge to its sustainability and achievement. We argue that Health in All local Policies is a meaningful concept in the context of local community development only when referring to the polices and strategies of all stakeholder organisations involved in decision‐making and agenda setting, and not just local government institutions.     

Boss and Parent,Employee and Child: Work‐Family Roles and Deviant Behavior in the Family Firm

The work‐family literature examines the degree to which work and family roles can be segmented or integrated by an individual. In the family firm, the requirement that work and family roles be integrated creates tension for family employees, particularly those who prefer higher degrees of segmentation between the roles. Integrating family firm with family relations research, this article explores potential difficulties experienced by family employees in making transitions from their family role to work role and the potential for family employees to engage in deviant behavior due to unresolved conflict and ambiguity from work‐family role integration. These difficulties, we argue, are in part due to problems in separating role expectations when they come from indistinct sources; that is, when the boss and father, for example, are the same person. We explain how the tensions between work and family can create a cycle of deviance in the family and family firm domains.     

‘They’re doing surgery on two people’: a meta‐ethnography of the influences on couples’ treatment decision making for prostate cancer

Background Current orthodoxy suggests that patients need to be provided with full information about their care and that treatment options should be discussed with patients and family members. This imperative is especially challenging when there is a lack of consensus about treatment effectiveness and equivocacy over different types of interventions. In the case of prostate cancer, evidence is contested as to the efficacy of different treatments. Thus, involving patients and their family members in treatment choices is complex and little is known about how patients and their partners process these decisions when there is uncertainty about different outcomes. This paper has reviewed the literature on the way couples approach such decision making in relation to treatment for prostate cancer. Objective A meta‐ethnographic synthesis of published qualitative papers that focused on the influences on patients’, and their partners’ treatment decision making for prostate cancer, was conducted in order to identify and understand barriers and facilitators which impact on this process. Results Our synthesis indicates that the couples’ relationship ‘dynamic’ provides a contextual background against which treatment decisions are negotiated and made. Discussion and conclusions We propose that the findings from this synthesis can enhance the potential for shared decision making for patients, and their partners, when facing a treatment decision for prostate cancer. By understanding the couples’ relationship dynamic pre‐diagnosis, clinicians may be able to tailor the communication and information provision to both patients and their partners, providing a personalized approach to treatment decision making.     

Low‐Income Mothers' Nighttime and Weekend Work: Daily Associations With Child Behavior,Mother‐Child Interactions,and Mood

This study investigated low‐income mothers' daily nighttime and weekend work and family outcomes. Sixty‐one mothers of preschool‐aged children reported daily on work hours, mood, mother‐child interaction, and child behavior for two weeks (N = 724 person‐days). Although nighttime and weekend work are both nonstandard schedules, results showed adverse associations of working nighttime hours on family outcomes—more negative mood and mother‐child interactions; less positive child behavior—but no relationship between weekend work and family outcomes.     

Production of physician services under fee‐for‐service and blended fee‐for‐service: Evidence from Ontario,Canada

We examine family physicians' responses to financial incentives for medical services in Ontario, Canada. We use administrative data covering 2003–2008, a period during which family physicians could choose between the traditional fee for service (FFS) and blended FFS known as the Family Health Group (FHG) model. Under FHG, FFS physicians are incentivized to provide comprehensive care and after‐hours services. A two‐stage estimation strategy teases out the impact of switching from FFS to FHG on service production. We account for the selection into FHG using a propensity score matching model, and then we use panel‐data regression models to account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Our results reveal that switching from FFS to FHG increases comprehensive care, after‐hours, and nonincentivized services by 3%, 15%, and 4% per annum. We also find that blended FFS physicians provide more services by working additional total days as well as the number of days during holidays and weekends. Our results are robust to a variety of specifications and alternative matching methods. We conclude that switching from FFS to blended FFS improves patients' access to after‐hours care, but the incentive to nudge service production at the intensive margin is somewhat limited.     

A Little Thing Called Love: Condom Use in High‐Risk Primary Heterosexual Relationships

CONTEXT: Condoms are less likely to be used in primary relationships than in other relationship types. An understanding of what women and men expect when entering into these relationships, as well as how they make decisions about condom use and other prevention behaviors, is essential to eff orts to curb the spread of HIV. METHODS: Qualitative in‐depth interviews were conducted with 25 high‐risk heterosexual couples, including HIV‐serodiscordant couples, participating in a trial of the female condom in Hartford in 2004–2007. Data were codedand analyzed in an iterative inductive and deductive process. RESULTS: Participants described nonuse of condoms as a strategy to fi nd and maintain a primary relationship, establish trust and increase intimacy. Many had unprotected intercourse while recognizing their risk of HIV and other STDs, placing their love for their partner and other emotional needs over concerns about their health. Several couples reduced their STD risk by practicing negotiated safety (i.e., using condoms until their serostatus had been determined) or similar strategies, including sharing sexual or drug use history, disclosing HIV test results and using condoms until they decided that their relationship would be monogamous. CONCLUSIONS: HIV prevention approaches must recognize the importance of love and the needs that primary relationships satisfy if they are to be considered relevant by those at greatest risk. Negotiated safety and similar strategies may be an important risk reduction tool for heterosexuals, particularly those in HIV‐aff ected relationships, but their potential eff ectiveness may vary.     

The physical functioning and mental health of informal carers: evidence of care‐giving impacts from an Australian population‐based cohort

Informal carers represent a substantial proportion of the population in many countries and health is an important factor in their capacity to continue care‐giving. This study investigated the impact of care‐giving on the mental and physical health of informal carers, taking account of contextual factors, including family and work. We examined health changes from before care‐giving commenced to 2 and 4 years after, using longitudinal data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The sample comprised 424 carers and 424 propensity score‐matched non‐carers. Health was self‐assessed, measured with the SF‐36 Health Survey Mental Health (MH) and Physical Functioning (PF) scales. Care‐giving was classified as non‐carer, low (<5 hours/week), moderate (5–19 hours/week) and high (20 or more hours/week). PF and MH change scores were regressed on baseline scores, care‐giving, covariates (including work, family and socio‐demographic characteristics) and interactions to identify impacts for subgroups. The physical and mental health impacts differed by gender, and care‐giving hours and carer work hours were important contextual factors. Deterioration in both PF and MH was worse for females after 2 years and deterioration in MH was worse for males after 4 years. Among carers aged 40–64 years, there was a 17‐point decline in PF (P = 0.009) and a 14‐point decline in MH (P < 0.0001) after 2 years for female high caregivers working full‐time and 9.3 point improvement (P = 0.02) for non‐working male high caregivers. Change was not significant for non‐carers. The study found that not all carers suffer adverse health impacts; however, the combination of high levels of care‐giving with workforce participation can increase the risk of negative physical and mental health effects (particularly in female carers). Working carers providing high levels of care represent a vulnerable subgroup where supportive and preventive services might be focused.     

Social Support and Psychological Well‐Being in Lesbian and Heterosexual Preadoptive Couples

Abstract: This study examines predictors of social support and mental health among 36 lesbian and 39 heterosexual couples who were waiting to adopt. Lesbian preadoptive partners perceived less support from family than heterosexual partners but similar levels of support from friends. Lesbian and heterosexual partners reported similar levels of well‐being. Aspects of the adoption process were associated with anxiety, whereas couples’ conception history was associated with depression. Adoption practitioners should acknowledge these distinct pathways in prevention efforts.     

Increasing Fathers’ Involvement in Child Care With a Couple‐Focused Intervention During the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract: In this article, we report the results of an evaluation study of a program for couples during the transition to parenthood on father involvement in child care. One‐hundred‐twenty couples were assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: a treatment group that received the Welcome Baby new‐parent, home‐visiting program focused on infant development and health, supplemented with the self‐guided Marriage Moments program focused on strengthening couple relationships; a comparison group that received just the Welcome Baby program; or a control group. The study revealed that the treatment group fathers were more involved in child care than control group fathers, and this finding was replicated in a second evaluation study. Family life educators must be open to the possibility that they may miss a primary intervention target, yet hit a secondary one.     

Does Involved Fathering Produce a Larger Total Workload for Fathers Than for Mothers? Evidence from Norway

Objective

To compare mothers' and fathers' total workloads within couples with different work‐time arrangements in a social democratic welfare state (Norway) and explore possible changes in the 1990s and 2000s.

Background

Women's double workload in families with two full‐time jobs has been well documented. However, some argue that fathers, too, may experience the double burden of market and domestic work as they become more involved in parenting.

Method

The data are from the Norwegian Time Use Surveys conducted in 1990, 2000, and 2010 among representative samples of the adult population. A subsample of coupled other‐sex‐parents with at least one child younger than age 20 years were used in the present study. Total workload is the sum of paid and unpaid work activities reported in a time diary. Standard multivariate ordinary least square regressions were used to explore gender differences.

Results

Full‐time work for both parents entailed approximately equal total workloads for fathers and mothers. However, fathers' total workload exceeded mothers' in full‐time and part‐time couples with school‐aged children.

Conclusion

Despite equal total workloads and reduced specialization, mothers still do less paid work and more family work than fathers in couples where both work full‐time in Norway. This is partly related to the gender‐segregated labor market. In full‐time and part‐time couples with school‐aged children, fathers' longer working hours are not fully offset by more family work for mothers.

Implications

Work–family reconciliation policies promoting mothers' employment and fathers' family work may have the potential to reduce gender imbalances in parent's total workloads and moderate gendered specialization patterns.     

Couples’ employment after spousal kidney donation

ABSTRACT

We used data from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry of living kidney donors and recipients to identify correlates of paid employment among couples following spousal living donation. Among such couples, post-transplant employment of both spouses (41%) was as common as employment of the donor only (41%). However, when the recipient was female, donor-only employment after transplant was more than twice as likely as compared to employment of both spouses (relative risk ratio = 2.57; p < .001). We conclude that traditional gender roles regarding paid workforce participation may be associated with the likelihood of employment after spousal kidney donation.