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Purpose of the Study: Aging successfully entails good physical and cognitive health, as well as ongoing participation in social and productive activity. This study hones in on participation in productive activity, a factor that makes an important contribution to successful aging. One conceptual model of productive activity in later life specifies the antecedents and consequences of productivity. This study draws on that micro-level model to develop a corresponding macro-level model and assesses its utility for examining the predictors of and explaining the relationships between one form of productivity (labor force participation rates) and one aspect of well-being (average life expectancy) among males and females. Design and Methods: Random effects regression models and path analysis were used to analyze cross-national longitudinal data for 24 high-income Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries at seven time points (1980–2010; 168 observations total). Results: OECD countries with higher labor force participation rates among older workers have higher life expectancies. Labor force participation mediates the effects of gross domestic product per capita on male and female life expectancy, and it mediates the effect of self-employment rate for men, but it acts as a suppressor with regard to the effect of public spending on male and female life expectancy. Implications: A well-known micro-level model of productive activity can be fruitfully adapted to account for macro-level cross-national variation in productivity and well-being.

Objectives. This article explores the effects of the timing of retirement on subjective physical and emotional health. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we test 4 theory-based hypotheses about these effects— that retirements maximize health when they happen earlier, later, anytime, or on time. Method. We employ fixed and random effects regression models with instrumental variables to estimate the short- and long-term causal effects of retirement timing on self-reported health and depressive symptoms. Results. Early retirements—those occurring prior to traditional and legal retirement age—dampen health. Discussion. Workers who begin their retirement transition before cultural and institutional timetables experience the worst health outcomes; this finding offers partial support to the psychosocial-materialist approach that emphasizes the benefits of retiring later. Continued employment after traditionally expected retirement age, however, offers no health benefits. In combination, these findings offer some support for the cultural-institutional approach but suggest that we need to modify our understanding of how cultural-institutional forces operate. Retiring too early can be problematic but no disadvantages are associated with late retirements. Raising the retirement age, therefore, could potentially reduce subjective health of retirees by expanding the group of those whose retirements would be considered early.

Cultural competence models assume that culture affects medical encounters, yet little research uses objective measures to examine how this may be true. Do providers and racial/ethnic minority patients interpret the same interactions similarly or differently? How might patterns of provider-patient concordance and discordance vary for patients with different cultural characteristics? We collected survey data from 115 medical visits with American Indian older adults at a clinic operated by the Cherokee Nation (in Northeastern Oklahoma, USA), asking providers and patients to evaluate nine affective and instrumental interactions. Examining data from the full sample, we found that provider and patient ratings were significantly discordant for all interactions (Wilcoxon signed-rank test p

Although some emphasize the integrative character of marriage, others argue that marriage undermines relations with extended kin, including aging parents. Utilizing NSFH data (N= 6,108), we find that married women and men have less intense intergenerational ties than the never married and the divorced: The married are less likely to live with parents, stay in touch, and give or receive emotional, financial, and practical help. These differences hold even when we control for structural characteristics, including time demands, needs and resources, and demographic and extended family characteristics. We conclude that marriage is a greedy institution for both women and men. Given the inadequacy of structural explanations, we suggest that cultural explanations for this greediness should be explored.

Disorganization theories postulate that black men have largely abandoned their familial roles. Using the NSFH data, this article refutes the hypothesis of black men's familial disengagement by focusing on extended family integration. Black men are more likely than white men to live with or near extended kin, as well as to frequently see kin in person. Men are similar across race in terms of emotional and practical help, although black men are less likely than white men to provide financial assistance. The racial differences can be mostly attributed to the socioeconomic disadvantage of black men. The similarities emerge because blacks' economic disadvantage hinders their involvement, but cultural values and extended family structure bring their involvement to the levels of the more economically advantaged whites.

This article compares the extended family integration of Euro and Mexican American women and men and assesses the importance of class and culture in explaining ethnic differences. Using National Survey of Families and Households II data (N = 7,929), we find that ethnic differences depend on the dimension of integration. Mexican Americans exhibit higher rates of kin coresidence and proximity, but lower rates of financial support than Euro Americans. Two additional differences exist only among women: Mexican American women are more likely than Euro American women to give household or child care help. As to the explanation for these differences, social class is the key factor; cultural variables have little effect. Our findings support a theoretical framework attending to intersections among ethnicity, gender, and class. Key Words: caregiving, extended kin, Hispanic, intergenerational, Latino, social support. Feminist scholars who first developed the intersectional framework pointed out the interlocking nature of race, gender, and class inequalities (Collins, 2000; hooks, 1981 ). Their primary concern was bringing race/ethnicity and class to the center of gender studies. We argue that it is equally important to introduce gender and class into race/ethnicity studies (Gerstel & Sarkisian, 2006a). In this article, we demonstrate the importance of such an intersectional approach to race/ ethnicity by focusing on Mexican American extended families in the United States and comparing them to those of Euro Americans. The article addresses a contemporary debate concerning racial/ethnic differences in extended family life: the superintegration versus disintegration debate (Sarkisian, Gerena, & Gerstel, 2006; Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2004b) as it pertains to Mexican Americans. On one side are those who argue that Latino/a families in general, and Mexican American families in particular, are more integrated than those of Euro Americans. They suggest Latinos/as live near kin, stay in touch, provide many types of assistance, and often put the needs of their extended families before their own (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2000; Mirande, 1997). On the other side are those who argue that Latino/a extended families are less likely to provide care and support to kin than Euro American families (Menjivar, 2000; Roschelle, 1997). Notably, despite the highly gendered nature of family life, most studies that could potentially shed light on this debate examine ethnic differences in family integration without separating women and men. Challenging this approach and following the intersectional framework, we examine ethnic differences in family integration separately for women and men. Further, whereas this debate primarily focuses on the direction of difference between Mexican and Euro Americans, recently scholars have begun to argue for the need to move beyond mere description of variation to an examination of those social conditions, both cultural and socioeconomic, that explain differences in extended families (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2000). The role of social class is especially important in these discussions, with scholars asking whether ethnic differences in family integration can be attributed to social class or whether cultural differences are responsible for these differences in integration. Using data from Wave II of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this article first describes the differences in extended family integration between Mexican Americans and Euro Americans and, second, investigates the social conditions that explain these differences using a conceptual framework that takes into account both culture and social class. More specifically, we explain ethnic differences in family integration using measures of cultural variation, including familism, religious involvement, and gender ideology, and indicators of social class standing, including income, education, and employment. …

Even good marriages can have some bad side effects, taking people away from other social connections.

Little research today examines the connections between nuclear and extended family ties, especially among single mothers. I congratulate Margaret Nelson on her refreshing examination of this issue and commend the Journal of Marriage and Family and its editor, Alexis Walker, for inviting a public debate on this article. Nelson examines single mothers' accounts of their family experiences, describing their choices in defining their families and negotiating the relationships with their own parents, nonresident fathers of their children, and new boyfriends or fiances. Importantly, Nelson shows how extended kin ties of single mothers are affected by the cultural expectations of "nuclear" family ties. Nelson's main theoretical framework is that of "doing family. " Furthermore, her analysis elaborates on this theoretical approach by revealing the structural and cultural forces behind doing family processes. To fully account for Nelson's findings, however, it is necessary to combine the notion of doing family with that of family ambivalence. I address three concepts related to the broader family ambivalence framework-boundary ambiguity, role ambiguity, and intergenerational ambivalence-and discuss their value for understanding Nelson's findings. Further, I discuss her findings with regard to the cultural ideal of the Standard North American Family (SNAF; Smith, 1993) and address the role of nuclear and extended families in contemporary American society. "DOING FAMILY" As mentioned above, Nelson interprets her findings through the lens of "doing family." This perspective emphasizes interactional work and activities that create and sustain family ties, define family boundaries, as well as specify appropriate behaviors for different family members. Nelson is correct to point out that the concept of doing family has been traditionally undertheorized, especially when compared with the concept of "doing gender," the meaning of which is far better fleshed out and developed. Although Nelson mentions that her use of the term doing family remains "far more casual" than the more elaborate notion of doing gender, in fact she develops this concept more deeply than much prior work on doing family. Agreeing with Naples (2001) that the activities of doing family are most apparent for nonnormative families, Nelson focuses on single mothers. In contrast to much prior work on doing family that focused on activities that create and enhance links between family members (family meals, trips to the zoo), Nelson emphasizes the boundary work that involves decisions on who counts as family and who does not and what rights and obligations are accorded to those who do. Further, in line with the work on doing gender, Nelson also identifies the structural and cultural forces that shape how single mothers perform families. Structural forces involve financial need and the need for child care that require single mothers to rely on their parents for help; cultural factors involve the ideal of SNAP. The combination of these forces introduces a substantial amount of ambivalence into single mothers' family life. Although Nelson emphasizes doing family in her analytic framework, "doing family ambivalence" might be a more accurate description of what is going on in these single mothers' lives. Even though these women construct the boundaries and create the rules, they experience indecision, conflicted feelings, and uncertainty in the process. That is, there is a high degree of ambivalence involved in their choices. As Nelson puts it, "individuals within what might be defined as a family grouping might themselves have conflicting notions of just what family they are doing, and for just what reasons they are doing it" (p. 794). Addressing the normative structure of kin obligations, Rossi and Rossi (1990, p. 198) emphasize two primary areas where "ambiguities show up with particular force," grandparenting and remarriage. The single mothers that Nelson studies experience ambiguities and ambivalence stemming from negotiating the issues related to both of these areas as well as to nonresident fatherhood. …

Addressing recent theoretical debates, this study examined the differences in extended family integration among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Whites, as well as the importance of culture and structure in explaining these differences. Our findings showed Whites and Latinos/as have distinctive patterns of extended family integration: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans exhibited higher rates of coresidence and proximate living than Whites; Whites had greater involvement in financial support than Mexicans or Puerto Ricans, but Mexicans were more involved in instrumental help. Structural factors such as income, education, and nuclear family composition explained much of these ethnic differences. The study's findings suggest that policy should emphasize the unmet needs in Latino/a communities and the role of extended families. Key Words: contact, coresidence, family integration, kin, Latino/a, proximity, support. Returning to an old debate once at the center of family studies, scholars are again discussing the prominence and character of extended families (Bengtson, 2001). This study examined die extended families of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Whites in the United States and addresses a contemporary theoretical debate, which we identify as the "superintegration versus disintegration" debate (Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2004, p. 812). Advocates of the superintegration side of this debate believe that Latino/a extended families are more integrated than White extended families. They suggest that Latinos/as live near, stay in touch, and provide many types of assistance to extended kin (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2000; Mirande, 1997). Conversely, disintegration scholars argue diat Latino/a extended families are less likely to provide support dian White extended families (Menjivar, 2000; Roschelle, 1997). To fully understand the dynamics of family integration among Latinos/as, however, we need to move beyond mere description of variation to explanationthat is, to an examination of the social conditions, both cultural and structural, that explain die differences (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2000). Litde research has systematically examined such explanatory factors. Further, most family research has investigated individuals with ethnic roots in Latin America as a group, diat is, combining them into one panethnicity (labeled as Hispanic or Latino/a; Baca Zinn & Wells). A smaller subset of studies had distinguished Latino/a ethnic groups but investigated one group at a time. Both strategies make it impossible to assess either the similarities and differences in family integration among individual Latino/a groups or how such groups compare to Whites. This study examined Mexicans and Puerto Ricans separately. We focused on these two groups because they are the largest groups of Latinos/as in the United States. Moreover, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans originate from countries with different relationships to the United States and have different histories of migration (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2000). Importantly, these groups are purported to exhibit both differences and similarities on various structural and cultural conditions that we expected to shape extended family integration (Roschelle, 1997). Using data from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH; Sweet & Bumpass, 1996), this study had the following two aims: (a) to explore differences in extended family integration of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, as well as differences between each of these groups and Whites and (b) to investigate the social conditions that explain the ethnic differences using a conceptual framework that takes into account cultural and structural factors. Literature Review Prior Research on Latino/a Extended Family Integration Much of the extant literature on Latino/a extended families addressed one aspect of family integration at a time, frequently focusing solely on coresidence or kin support but using those findings to make overall conclusions about Latino/a extended families (e. …

This article addresses two central debates in the scholarship on black families: the disorganization versus superorganization debate and the culture versus structure debate. Focusing on kin support as a measure of family integration and using the National Survey of Families and Households (1992-1994), this article challenges the assumptions about black and white families in both debates. It shows that blacks and whites have different patterns of kin support involvement. Whereas blacks are more involved in practical support (help with transportation, household work, and child care), whites report greater involvement in financial and emotional kin support. This article also shows that gender is crucial for understanding racial differences. Black men and white men are very much alike, whereas there are many significant differences between black women and white women. Furthermore, in understanding kin support, diversity within racial groups appears to matter more than race itself. Social structure explains most of the racial differences in kin support, though cultural differences between whites and blacks do exist and help to explain kin support.

Although it is well established that adult daughters spend more time giving assistance to their parents than do sons, the sources of this gender gap are not well understood. This paper asks: To what extent can this gap be explained by structural variation, especially the different rates of employment and kinds of jobs that women and men tend to hold? Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 7,350), the paper shows that both employment status and job characteristics, especially wages and self-employment, are important factors in explaining the gender gap in the help given to parents, and that these operate similarly for women and men. Key Words: caregiving, employment, gender, intergenerational, social support, work. Over the past couple of decades, a growing body of literature in a number of different fields finds a gender gap in help to kin: Women spend significantly more time giving help than do men. More specifically, most of this literature suggests that women are more likely to assist their own parents and, when married, more likely than their husbands to provide help to their spouse's parents (e.g., Allen, Blieszner, & Roberto, 2001; National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 1997; Stone, Cafferata, & Sangl, 1987; Walker, 2001; for an exception concerning help to parents-in-law, see Lee, Spitze, & Logan, 2003). Women's preponderance as providers of assistance to parents has been well documented but remains largely unexplained. To explain this difference between women and men, we can turn to broad theories developed to account for gender gaps in other kinds of family work, both in and outside the home. In their explanations of gender gaps in family work, many theories focus on the structural forces that operate in adult life (e.g., Epstein, 1988; Gerson, 1993; Risman, 1998). Though variously defined, these structural factors are typically understood as an array of material, objective, and external constraints and opportunities (Hays, 1994; Rubinstein, 2001). Structural explanations for the gender gaps in family work often emphasize the constraints and opportunities generated by the different employment experiences of women and men. Because men are more likely to be employed and, when employed, to have more lucrative and time-consuming or satisfying jobs than women, their jobs pull or push them away from family responsibilities (Gerson; Risman). When women have the same employment conditions as men, they will give the same amount of help as men; that is, once we take into account such different employment experiences, the structural model suggests, gender as a dichotomy is neutralized and will yield little independent effect. Alternative theories assert that structure cannot fully account for the gender gaps in family work. Some of these theories attribute gaps to an essential gender dichotomy rooted in biology (for reviews, see Epstein, 1988; Marini, 1990; Udry, 2000). Another set attributes them to psychological differences between women and men created by early socialization (Chodorow, 1978, 1999; Gilligan, 1982; Witt, 1994). Still another traces them to cultural factors that operate in adult life (Brines, 1994; Greenstein, 2000; Potuchek, 1997; West & Zimmerman, 1987). All of these alternative theories, irrespective of whether they focus on biology, early socialization, or cultural differences, assert that even when adult men and women are located in the same structural positions-more specifically, hold the same jobs-they differ in the amount of family work they do. According to these theories, we would expect a gender gap to exist even between women and men who are employed in the same kinds of jobs. We also would expect similar employment experiences to shape the help given to parents in different ways for adult women and men. This article seeks to determine how much of the gender gap in the amount of help given to parents is tied to distinctively structural forces, especially employment and its conditions, that operate in adult women's and men's lives. …

The Career Mystique: Cracks in the American Dream. Phyllis Moen and Patricia Roehling. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. 2004. 289 pp. ISBN 0-7425-2861-8. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 0-7425-2862-6. $22.95 (paperback). Many have criticized the structure of jobs and careers, which require the degree of devotion incompatible with family responsibilities. In The Career Mystique, Phyllis Moen and Patricia Roehling extend this argument by approaching it from a gendered life course perspective. They argue that "the issue is not how employees can balance their personal lives with the demands of their jobs, but how the career mystique and the regime of policies and practices built up around it constrain women's and men's options at every stage of their lives" (p. 22). Whereas Betty Friedan developed the idea of the "feminine mystique" to problematize the fulfillment stemming from domestic life, Moen and Roehling develop the complementary concept of the "career mystique" to problematize the rewards of all-encompassing paid labor. They challenge the belief that long hours of hard work bring job security and upward mobility to either the majority of men or the majority of women. Nevertheless, as they show, this myth still shapes not only individuals' expectations and values but also governmental policies and corporate regulations, creating a "career regime" that is out of sync with the lives of contemporary workers. Moen and Roehling argue that the career mystique and feminine mystique have emerged in tandem as the two gendered components of the American Dream. When the feminist movement challenged the expectations of the feminine mystique, however, it failed to challenge the career mystique. Designed to coexist with the feminine mystique, career mystique now reigns supreme for both women and men, either ignoring the work of social reproduction that was glorified by feminine mystique or promoting an image of the "superwoman" who combines a career with being primarily responsible for childrearing and other unpaid work. As a result, career mystique both creates a care deficit and perpetuates the gender divide. Further, career mystique assumes a lockstep career progressing from full-time education to full-time employment to the full-time leisure of retirement. Even though such lockstep careers were always unattainable for a substantial part of the workforce, a large portion of employees in the 1950s did have them. As the job market changed and as more women climbed on the career mystique bandwagon, however, this American Dream increasingly became a myth for the majority of the labor force. On the one hand, job requirements remained essentially the same as they were when only men were expected to follow the career mystique: Individuals are still expected to work long hours and put their jobs and careers above all else. On the other hand, employment rewards have drastically changed: Even for White, middle-class men, their incomes are no longer sufficient to meet family needs and require dual earner arrangements; hard work and loyalty no longer guarantee job security; and the link between seniority and higher income is frequently disrupted by layoffs. Indeed, "the Faustian bargain of trading a lifetime of paid work for a lifetime of income security is probably gone forever" (p. 9). After the introductory chapter's discussion of the concept of career mystique, the book takes the reader through the gendered life course and uses a variety of quantitative and qualitative data to examine women's and men's experiences with jobs and families and to document the influence of career mystique on their lives. Chapters 2 and 3 examine the occupational aspirations of children and young women and men, demonstrating that they learn the myth of career success early in life. …