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Sweden provides strong support for childbearing and parenthood, including generously subsidized medical, maternal, and child care, paid parental leave, and child allowances. In this context, attitudes towards parenthood are likely to have a particularly strong impact on the decision about whether and when to have children. We examine the links between first births and holding attitudes about children, not just of positive and negative attitudes, but also of ambivalence, namely those who both value children but also value the things that compete with parenthood for young adults’ time and other resources. Our analysis shows, measuring attitudes before the transition to parenthood, that ambivalence about childbearing delays the transition to parenthood, but not nearly as much as holding purely negative attitudes. Further, reporting an ambivalent experience from the first child had no significant effect on further childbearing, which testifies to the strong two-child norm in Sweden.

This study examined the association between paternal and maternal employment changes and changes in the frequency of fathers praising, showing affection, disciplining, and reading to children. Data were drawn from the Young Adult supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979). Supporting economic theory, fathers were more involved when they and their partner were employed full time and were less involved when their employment exceeded that of their partner. Although fathers tended to be less involved when they worked less, fathers who held traditional gender role attitudes were more involved than those who held nontraditional gender role attitudes. The results suggest the important part fathers' attitudes and values have in influencing their involvement with children under differing employment conditions.

As a result of the growth in out-of-wedlock childbearing and union instability, adults contemplating forming a new union are often already parents. This article examines the role of children in stepfamily formation, both coresident and not, using the 2,594 respondents in the National Survey of Families and Households who were not living with a partner in 1987/1988. We consider children of the respondent and of the partner, which allows us to examine the determinants of entering a stepfamily. We found that being a coresident father dramatically increases forming a union with a woman with children. Women's coresidential children reduce women's odds of forming unions with men who do not have children and increase them for unions with men who do.

Examines factors distinguishing men's partnership and parental statuses in the United States and Sweden, which differ in state support to families. Unlike the United States, in Sweden the presence of a man in a household has little effect on receipt of income support and health insurance. This article examines how resources affect men's family relationships in these countries. (BF)

Examines expectations of very young adults (age 18) and their mothers about financial support that parents might provide under a variety of situations. Results indicate a lower proportion of mothers expect to provide support than their children expect, with particularly large gaps between mothers and sons. Findings suggest disagreement and confusion about family values. (BF)

The latest phenomenon among life-course transitions of early adulthood is the "return to the nest." Analysis of National Survey of Families and Households data links the increased likelihood of returning home to changes in leaving home: declining age and reasons other than marriage. The reason for leaving that increased returning home most was "independence." (Contains 38 references.) (Author/SV)

Examined how income and family structure affect Black-White differences in intergenerational financial flows, focusing on two-way flow between parents and children in years immediately after high school and how these flows influence educational expectations. Findings from data from High School and Beyond survey showed that Black young adults received less and contributed more income to their families. (Author/NB)