Browsing by Author "Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Living in Sin, In Sickness and In Health? An Investigation of Cohabitation, Marriage, and Health
    (2009-04-15) Marks, Jennifer; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair; Virginia Aldige' Hiday, Committee Member; Feinian Chen, Committee Member; Ronald Czaja, Committee Member
    The physical and psychological health benefits of marriage have been well-documented in the family and medical sociology literature. Given the recent increases in the prevalence of cohabitation, this research asks whether marriage still confers the same health benefits, and whether cohabitation might do the same. Using two waves of a nationally representative sample, the effects of union type on eleven health outcomes were examined, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally; processual factors such as social support, health behaviors, and socioeconomic status were also examined. Union type was not a consistent predictor of health outcomes: spouses appear somewhat better off than singles, but major differences between cohabitation and marriage were not found. Further, the health benefits of marriage are primarily afforded to men, and the benefits of both union types are more pronounced for younger persons. Social support was a consistent and positive predictor of physical and psychological health, although men may receive greater benefits than women. Health behavior measures were not effective predictors of health outcomes, but this may be due to measurement issues. Socioeconomic status measures were also consistent predictors of physical and psychological health, although an individual’s employment was more often significant than total household income. Additional analyses were conducted to test the “selection hypothesis†– that healthier people are more likely to enter unions. Results are supportive of selective effects for marriage, but not nearly as much so for cohabitation, implying that perhaps different mate selection processes are at work for the two union types. Theoretical, research, and policy implications are discussed.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Maternal Employment, Relative Income, and Child Well-Being: The Effects of Gendered Household Resource Allocation on Children's Cognitive Development Trajectories
    (2007-04-06) Wills, Jeremiah B; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair; Maxine P. Atkinson, Committee Member; Feinian Chen, Committee Member; Richard Della Fave, Committee Member
    In this study, I extend the scholarship on maternal employment and the allocation of household resources by evaluating the effects of mothers' time spent in the labor force and mothers' relative income on children's cognitive development. I use a gendered resource allocation model that recognizes differences in investment preferences between men and women and how women can use increases in their relative earnings to direct greater amounts of family resources towards enrichment goods and services that promote child well-being. Support for this model comes mostly from research conducted outside of the United States. This study contributes to this research literature by using an American sample drawn from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. In addition, I contribute to the research on maternal employment and child outcomes with a longitudinal analysis of children's cognitive development trajectories from age five to 14. I find some negative effects on children's initial levels of cognitive skills for measures of both early and current maternal employment hours. Some of these effects are moderated by race, the supportiveness of children's home environment, and mothers' cognitive skills. Contrary to predictions from a gendered resource allocation model, I find that children's cognitive development is lowest in households in which mothers' and fathers' incomes approximate parity, likely because of a lack of clear specialization in such households. I discuss these findings in terms of theoretical, research, and policy applications.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Migration of Recent College Graduates
    (2004-03-15) Heuer, Ruth Elizabeth; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair; William Clifford, Committee Member; Stephen Lilley, Committee Member; Catherine Zimmer, Committee Member
    This research examines the effects of education, employment, and background characteristics on the migration of a recent cohort of bachelor degree recipients. The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:2000) data and the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B:2000/2001) data are used to address the following questions: Who migrates after graduating from college? Do they migrate to rural or urban areas? How far do they migrate? Are they citing employment or quality of life reasons for migrating? Approximately one-half of the sample of recent college graduates were living more than 50 miles from where they lived when they completed high school. Those who migrated live, on average, about 450 miles from where they attended high school. In general, recent graduates tend to migrate to metropolitan areas, although certain characteristics (e.g., older graduates, those who are married, those who have children, and those who grew up in a rural area or small town) are associated with migration to nonmetropolitan areas. Similarly, most recent graduates cited employment reasons for migrating, although those in certain high demand fields, those currently enrolled, singles, males, and younger graduates were more likely than their counterparts to cite quality of life reasons.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Sociological Explorations of the Marital Wage Premium
    (2010-04-04) Fahrney, Kristine Marie; Feinian Chen, Committee Member; Steve McDonald, Committee Member; Maxine Atkinson, Committee Member; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair
    One of the most robust findings within the literature on wages is that married men have been found to have higher personal wages than unmarried men—a phenomenon called the marital wage premium. Although the literature documenting the marital wage premium is extensive, an examination of this literature through a sociological lens reveals three key unexplored issues. First, one theoretical explanation of the marital wage premium is that being married involves more responsible decisionmaking and lifestyle changes that help men be more productive. The literature also shows a connection between marriage and mental and physical health, both of which are shown to be related to worker productivity. Numerous studies have been published on the effects of marriage on alcohol and drug use and criminal behavior, physical and mental health, and other health behaviors; however, within the marital wage premium literature, little, if any, empirical attention has been directed at these potential explanations of the marital wage premium. Second, much of the sociological literature on the benefits of marriage in terms of child academic and emotional well-being and adult physical and psychological well-being has suggested the importance not just of marital status, but of marital quality; however, considerations of marital quality have been almost entirely absent from the marital wage premium literature. Third, the extent to which the marital wage premium can be generalized across race/ethnicity groups is not clear. In fact, most empirical marital wage premium studies have excluded people of color. In response to these identified gaps in the marital wage premium literature, I conduct three distinct studies using the Survey of Americans’ Changing Lives (ACL). Overall, the results did not support the research hypotheses. Lifestyle did not mediate the marital wage premium. Although being divorced or never having been married was associated with an increased number of chronic and debilitating health conditions, these variables did not mediate the marital wage premium. In addition, marital quality was not found to be relevant to the marital wage premium. Wages did not differ significantly for men in either high- or low-quality marriages, relative to men from a marriage of average quality. Finally, lifestyle, physical health variables, and marital quality did not account for the difference in magnitude in the marital wage premium for White and Black men. However, marriage was shown to decrease depression, but only for White men, and depression was shown to decrease wages—but, again, only for White men. Still, depression accounts for less than 5 percent of the wage premium for White males. Although it was not possible to directly test with the ACL data, the collective results from the present research and a review of adjacent literature suggest that it may be employer discrimination, rather than some productivity-enhancing dynamic occurring within marriage, that accounts for the marital wage premium.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    The Use of Objective versus Subjective Measures of Role Demand in Explaining the Relationship between Work/Family Roles and Psychological Distress.
    (2009-11-30) Vulpis, Mindy Lara; Toby L. Parcel, Committee Member; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair; Sinikka Elliott, Committee Member
    This thesis analyzes a subsample of 935 men and women from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, all of whom hold the simultaneous roles of parent, spouse, and worker. Its purpose is to examine some of the differential effects that objective role demands and subjective experiences of role demands have on psychological well-being for those juggling multiple roles. Specifically, I investigate the hypotheses that a) subjective experiences of role demand, including perceived work-family interference and perceived role strain, will have independent effects on psychological distress even when considered alongside more objective circumstantial variables, including the amount of time required or flexibility afforded by a role or roles; b) perceptions of work-family interference or role strain will interact with these objective variables when predicting distress; and c) these effects will vary by gender based on differing internalized expectations related to role performance. OLS regression analyses suggest that perceived work-family interference and role strain do have independent effects on psychological well-being, and that the perception of work-family interference interacts with the amount of time spent on home chores to predict distress. Separate analyses by gender produced some additional effects, but they were not always in the predicted directions.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    When 'A Man' Becomes 'A Husband' : Relationship Status and Transition and the Division of Household Labor
    (2003-04-21) Gerteisen, Jennifer Parks; Anne Schiller, Committee Member; Theodore N. Greenstein, Committee Chair; Barbara Risman, Committee Member
    Data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households were used to examine differences between three relationship types in the division of household labor. Respondents were assigned to three groups: continuously married to the same partner (n = 5,035); continuously cohabiting with the same partner (n = 125); and transitional, from cohabiting to married, with the same partner (n = 216; total sample size = 5,376). The proportional contributions to hours spent on feminine (cooking, laundry, cleaning), masculine (outdoor tasks, auto repair), and neutral (running errands, paying bills) household tasks by male and female partners were examined for all relationship types. T-tests and OLS regression were used to determine differences between groups, and factors which impact proportional contributions at each wave of the survey. In addition, changes in contributions to each task type by male and female partners over time were examined in the context of group membership and other factors. Women in all groups contribute more to the feminine task hours than their male partners. When no controls are included, transitional males contribute significantly more than do continuously married men to the feminine task hours at both waves, and transitional women contribute significantly less than do continuously married women at the first wave. Transitional males decrease their contributions to feminine task hours between waves, and continuously married males increase their contributions to feminine task hours between waves. Transitional women increase their contributions to feminine task hours and continuously married women decrease theirs between waves. When controls for age, gender, gender ideology, number of children in the household, income, and education are included, there is no longer a significant difference between transitional and continuously married males' contributions to feminine task hours at the second wave. Changes in proportional contributions to feminine task hours differ significantly between transitional and continuously married men, and between transitional and continuously married women. Also significantly impacting these changes, although the effects are small in magnitude, are gender, change in gender ideology between waves, and education. These results suggest that the shift from cohabitation to marriage does carry with it normative, gendered expectations about the allocation of housework. However, continuously married men increase, and continuously married women decrease, their contributions to feminine household tasks—a finding which is unexpected and suggests the possibility of separate mechanisms which operate in the context and over the course of marriage. A lack of consistent effects for comparisons involving the continuously cohabiting group indicates heterogeneity within this group, and a need for future research to more clearly delineate types of long-term cohabitors.