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We examined differences in family structure change in an urban sample of mothers (N = 1,314) from their child’s birth to age 5 and whether ecological risk moderated this association. We found that compared with U.S.-born Latino mothers, foreign-born Latino mothers were 62% less likely to break up and 75% less likely to repartner than remain stably resident. Across nativity status, Latina mothers with fewer children, more economic stress, less income, and less frequently reported father involvement were more likely to break up and repartner than remain stably resident. We found no moderation effects of ecological risk.

We explored children’s compliance to their mothers’ and fathers’ control strategies in a sample of 49 Latino toddlers and their immigrant parents during a cleanup task. We report 3 sets of findings. First, both mothers and fathers primarily used direct and indirect commands to elicit compliance. Second, there was no difference in the type of control strategies mothers and fathers used with their daughters versus sons. Mothers who used praise and indirect commands had children who complied more, whereas mothers who used direct commands and incentives had children who were less compliant. Toddlers were more compliant to their fathers than mothers, and girls were more compliant to their mothers than were boys. Third, mothers who used more direct control strategies also strongly endorsed the value of respeto. These findings highlight the importance of examining the variation in Latino mothers’ and fathers’ control strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Although past studies have shown an association between union instability (i.e., change in family structure) and children’s aggressive behaviors, the mechanism by which this occurs is less understood. This study ( N  = 3,387) examined whether father and mother involvement, coparenting support, and maternal responsiveness explained the association between union instability in early life and children’s aggressive behaviors at 9 years, and whether relationship status moderated this association. Findings reveal that only coparenting support mediated this association and only for children whose mothers divorced (not for mothers who experienced a nonmarital separation), suggesting that when a divorce occurs, the relationship between partners (coparenting) is more important than the relationship with children (parenting) for children’s social adjustment.

Background Healthy Dads Healthy Kids (HDHK) is a unique lifestyle obesity intervention for fathers and children that demonstrated weight loss among the fathers and behavior change among fathers and children in Australia. The program is gender-tailored to specifically target fathers for weight loss and 5–12 year old children for obesity prevention. The aim of this formative study was to examine an Expert Panel’s and Hispanic Family Panel’s perceptions about the program and suggestions for the cultural adaptation of HDHK for Hispanic families in southwestern US. Methods Forty-four Hispanic participants (22 fathers, 13 mothers and 9 children) made up the Family Panel. They participated in 1–5 study contacts (focus groups, online survey, and/or interviews). The scripts and qualitative guides assessed participants’ perceptions of the HDHK content and material using the Ecological Validity Model. Studies were conducted in English or Spanish, depending on the preference of the participant. Focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated, and thematically coded. Findings were reviewed with the Expert Panel who helped inform the cultural adaptation. Results 80% of parents were foreign-born, 57% spoke only Spanish at home, and 60% did not graduate from high school. Several themes emerged to inform the cultural adaptation of the program. Parents agreed with the HDHK goals and recommended the program place greater emphasis on parenting and limiting children’s screen time. Some mothers and fathers wanted greater mother engagement. Weekly videos and a Facebook group emerged as favorite alternative options to engage mothers. Greater promotion of familism (inclusion and impact on whole family) was recommended for the program goals and activities. Gender roles for mothers and fathers, and differences in how fathers interact with male and female children, emerged and should be considered in program activities. Several barriers to father engagement surfaced, including lack of time due to work schedules, physically demanding jobs, concerns of caring for children without mother, fathers’ current fitness/weight, and lack of knowledge of how to eat more healthfully. The reading level of the HDHK materials was too high for some parents. Conclusion Findings from these formative qualitative studies informed the cultural adaptation of HDHK for Hispanic families, to account for literacy level, cultural values, and barriers to participation and engagement.

Black sexual and gender minorities (SGM) are at greater risk for HIV compared to their White, cisgender, heterosexual counterparts. Linkage to culturally sensitive health care is, therefore, pivotal for HIV prevention and treatment of Black SGM. Unfortunately, social and structural challenges undermine Black SGM individuals' abilities to obtain adequate health care services, indicating a need to understand Black SGM perceptions of health care. To address this gap, we interviewed Black men who have sex with men and transwomen about their experiences with health care providers. Participants discussed needs and concerns, including provider SGM identity diversity and education; assumptions, judgment, stigma, and discrimination; and ability to establish a personal bond, trust, and familiarity. Black SGM indicated that providers often did not meet their needs in different ways regarding their SGM identities. Findings suggest a need for provider cultural sensitivity education programs that address the needs of Black SGM in health care.

This article analyzes U.S. divorce trends over the past decade and considers their implications for future divorce rates. Modeling women’s odds of divorce from 2008 to 2017 using marital events data from the American Community Survey, I find falling divorce rates with or without adjustment for demographic covariates. Age-specific divorce rates show that the trend is driven by younger women, which is consistent with longer term trends showing uniquely high divorce rates among people born in the Baby Boom period. Finally, I analyze the characteristics of newly married women and estimate the trend in their likelihood of divorcing based on the divorce models. The results show falling divorce risks for more recent marriages. The accumulated evidence thus points toward continued decline in divorce rates. The United States is progressing toward a system in which marriage is rarer and more stable than it was in the past.

Although the decline in marriage has been cited as a possible contributor to the “despair” afflicting marginalized White communities, these studies have not directly considered mortality by marital status. This paper uses complete death certificate data from the Mortality Multiple Cause Files with American Community Survey data to examine age-specific mortality rates for married and non-married people from 2007 to 2017. The overall rise in White mortality is limited almost exclusively to those who are not married, for men and women. By comparison, mortality for Blacks and Hispanics has fallen or remained flat regardless of marital status (except for young, single Hispanic men). Analysis by education level shows death rates have risen most for Whites with the lowest education, but have also increased for those with high school or some college. Because mortality has risen faster for unmarried Whites at all but the lowest education levels, there has been an increase in the marriage mortality ratio. Mortality differentials are an increasingly important component of the social hierarchy associated with marital status.

In the past 40 years, a large number of children have been abandoned by their families or have been abducted in China. We argue that the implementation of the one-child policy has significantly increased both child abandonment and child abduction and that, furthermore, the cultural preference for sons in China has shaped unique gender-based patterns whereby a majority of the children who are abandoned are girls and a majority of the children who are abducted are boys. We provide empirical evidence for the following findings: (1) Stricter one-child policy implementation leads to more child abandonment locally and more child abduction in neighboring regions; (2) A stronger son-preference bias in a given region intensifies both the local effects and spatial spillover effects of the region's one-child policy on child abandonment and abduction; and (3) With the gradual relaxation of the one-child policy after 2002, both child abandonment and child abduction have dropped significantly. This paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of the one-child policy in terms of child trafficking in China.

This study investigates the relationship between maternal employment and state-to-state differences in childcare cost and mean school day length. Pairing state-level measures with an individual-level sample of prime working-age mothers from the American Time Use Survey (2005–2014; n = 37,993), we assess the multilevel and time-varying effects of childcare  costs  and  school  day  length  on  maternal  full-time  and  part-time  employment  and  childcare  time.  We  find  mothers’ odds of full-time employment are lower and part-time employment higher in states with expensive childcare and shorter school days. Mothers spend more time caring for children in states where childcare is more expensive and as childcare costs increase. Our results suggest that expensive childcare and short school days are important barriers to maternal employment and, for childcare costs, result in greater investments in childcare time. Politicians engaged in national debates about federal childcare policies should look to existing state childcare structures for policy guidance. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119860277

The quantitative scholarship on domestic labor has documented the existence of a gender gap in its performance in all countries for which data are available. Only recently have researchers begun to analyze economic disparities  among  women in their time spent doing housework, and their studies have been largely limited to the U.S. We extend this line of inquiry using data from two European countries, the former West Germany and Sweden. We estimate the “economic gap” in women’s housework time, which we define as the difference between the time spent by women at the lowest and highest deciles of their own earnings. We expect this gap to be smaller in Sweden given its celebrated success at reducing both gender and income inequality. Though Swedish women do spend less time on domestic labor, however, and though there is indeed less earnings inequality among them, the economic gap in their housework is only a little smaller than among women in the former West Germany. In both places, a significant negative association between women’s individual earnings and their housework time translates into economic gaps of more than 2.5 hours per week. Moreover, in both countries, women at the highest earnings decile experience a gender gap in housework that is smaller by about 4 hours per week compared to their counterparts at the lowest decile.