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The authors used cross-lagged analyses to examine the across-time influences on and consequences of adolescents' pregnancy intentions, wantedness, and regret. One hundred pregnant Latina adolescents were studied during pregnancy and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. The results revealed 4 main findings: (a) similar to what has been found in adult women, adolescents' lower prenatal pregnancy intendedness and wantedness predicted initial difficulties in parenting, (b) frequent depressive symptoms predicted subsequent lower pregnancy intendedness and wantedness, (c) adolescents' poor mental health and harsh parenting of their child predicted subsequent higher childbearing regret, and (d) high childbearing regret and parenting stress were reciprocally related across time. In addition, adolescents' wantedness of their pregnancy declined prenatally to postbirth, and strong pregnancy intendedness and wantedness were not concurrently related to adolescents' poor prenatal mental health. The findings reveal how adolescents' thoughts and feelings about their pregnancies are influenced by and predictive of their mental health and parenting experiences. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

This study examines the differential availability of family and parenting resources to children depending on their birth planning status. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data were analyzed, 3,134 mothers and their 5,890 children (M = 7.1 years, range = 1 month-14.8 years), of whom 63% were intended at conception, 27% were mistimed, and 10% were unwanted. Fixed-effects models show that unwanted and mistimed children had fewer resources than intended siblings. Parents' emotional resources to older children decreased after the birth of a mistimed sibling. Findings suggest that cognitive and emotional resources are differentially available to children within a family depending on intention status and that unintended births lead to decreased parental resources for older children in the household.

This paper is one of a series of papers examining inclusive education in the context of a rural Canadian school district that has adopted a philosophy of inclusion. The results of a survey of 438 parents on their views about aspects of inclusive education at their youngest child's school are reported. The results indicate that the majority of parents were generally positive in their views about and experiences with the inclusive school environment and links to the local community; however, parents were by no means unanimous in their level of comfort with inclusive education. Tensions were found to exist, and differences in the experience of parents of children who had identified exceptionalities were evident. This study points to the paucity of research on parents and inclusive education and provides some direction for future work in the area. (Contains 3 tables.)

Despite the fact that intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs within intimate relationships, we know relatively little about the characteristics of those intimate relationships, and even less about how IPV changes across time within different relationships. We use the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study, based on a random sample of 1003 18–19-year-old women residing in a Michigan county. Women were interviewed weekly for 2.5 years, resulting in an age range of 18 through 22. We estimate hybrid "within-between" regression models, which allows us to directly compare the same woman's risk of experiencing IPV across her different relationships, varied in terms of resources, balance of power, conflict, childbearing, relationship type, and duration. Our analyses demonstrate that power imbalance in intimate relationships, non-monogamous and unstable relationships, relationships with men who are not the father of a woman's existing children, and serious relationships (especially stayover and cohabiting) place young women in their late teens and early twenties at particularly high risk of multiple dimensions of IPV. Our fixed-effects modeling strategy isolated the increase in IPV risk that is due to these characteristics and experiences within intimate relationships from the risk due to young women being at high risk of IPV for other reasons who might tend to choose these types of relationships. The elevated risk of IPV in relationships with these characteristics and experiences supports a causal link between them. Our research supports the potential efficacy of interventions that reduce conflict, equalize power within relationships, and encourage women—especially young mothers—to delay serious relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the mass media as a social change that shapes individual behavior primarily via ideational mechanisms. We construct a theoretical framework drawing on social demography and social psychology to explain how mass media may affect behavior via attitudinal change. Empirical analyses of 1,091 couples in the Chitwan Valley Family Study, using detailed measures of social change from rural Nepal, show that exposure to the mass media is related to childbearing behavior, and to preferences for smaller families, weaker son preferences, and tolerance of contraceptive use. This result should motivate greater research attention to the influence of changing ideas on behavioral changes, particularly in the study of families.

I develop a theoretical framework explaining how community social context affects attitude formation via nonfamily institutions and related behaviors. Empirical tests of the framework use data from a study of the Chitwan Valley in rural Nepal. The analyses focus on attitudes toward seven aspects of marriage: child marriage, arranged marriage, intercaste marriage, mother-in-law obedience, polygyny, divorce, and widow remarriage. Regression analyses show a dramatic relationship between community social context and attitudes toward these aspects. Individuals whose childhood communities contain schools, employers, markets, and bus service hold more individualistic attitudes toward marriage. Behaviors related to these nonfamily institutions are related strongly to individualistic attitudes. Neighbors' behavior also is related to individualistic attitudes toward marriage, but much more weakly than individuals' own behaviors. I conclude that continuing increases in nonfamily institutions and related behaviors are likely to transform marriage from a family-controlled experience to an experience largely controlled by the individual. (Contains 5 tables and 12 footnotes.)

Analysis of long-term longitudinal data on White married mothers and their children found that both sons and daughters whose mothers preferred early marriage, large families, low levels of education, and stay-at-home mothers had children earlier than their peers. Analyses support both socialization and social control mechanisms. (Contains 56 references.) (Author/SV)

Examines the impact of nonfamily living arrangements and cohabitation on changes in family formation attitudes at the individual level. Results indicate that both the experience and duration of cohabiting arrangements have significant effects on family formation attitudes but fail to show significant consequences of premarital, nonfamily living arrangements. (RJM)

While research has demonstrated that high residential mobility has negative consequences for an array of outcomes, particularly among women and young adults, the mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. The consequences of high residential mobility may be comprised solely of a series of short-term disruptions surrounding individual moves, or there may also be long-term, cumulative effects from repeated moves. High residential mobility may diminish access to resources as individuals move to different neighborhoods, impose a cognitive burden that impairs their ability to plan ahead, or decrease the relative power they have in their relationships to limit exposure to risk behaviors. We adjudicate between these possibilities by predicting the effects of high residential mobility on sexual intercourse and contraceptive use, the proximate determinants of pregnancy, during women's transition to adulthood. Using 2.5 years of monthly address data for 882 respondents in the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life study—a random sample of young women in Genesee County, Michigan—we find that high residential mobility is associated with long-term decreases in contraceptive use. These long-term consequences are independent of the short-term effects of individual moves and attributable to diminished contraceptive access. We disentangle the effects of home-leaving, which is distinct from subsequent moves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, one of a series, reports the results of a survey of 413 children in Grades Three to Six on inclusive education in a school district in rural Alberta, Canada. The aims of the study were to examine the views of children regarding their experience in schools claiming to be inclusive, situated within a jurisdiction which also claims to be inclusive, and to try and identify any demographic differences in responses. The study found that the school district under examination was generally doing a good job of inclusion in the eyes of the students, and that there were little differences in this view between groups of children identified with exceptionality, and those who were not. Future areas of study include the addition of a qualitative aspect to the examination of student views., This paper, one of a series, reports the results of a survey of 413 children in Grades Three to Six on inclusive education in a school district in rural Alberta, [...]

This article examines the influence white mothers' backgrounds have on their children's premarital childbirth. The author maintains rates of premarital childbirth of young women are influenced by a number of factors, such as grandfather's occupation and mother's education and contraceptive use, whereas rates of premarital childbirth for young men seem to be influenced only by mother's education.