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Frank Furstenberg examines how the newly extended timetable for entering adulthood is affecting, and being affected by, the institution of the Western, particularly the American, family. He reviews a growing body of research on the family life of young adults and their parents and draws out important policy implications of the new schedule for the passage to adulthood. Today, says Furstenberg, home-leaving, marriage, and the onset of childbearing take place much later in the life span than they did during the period after World War II. After the disappearance of America's well-paying unskilled and semi-skilled manufacturing jobs during the 1960s, youth from all economic strata began remaining in school longer and marrying and starting their own families later. Increasing numbers of lower-income women did not marry at all but chose, instead, non-marital parenthood--often turning to their natal families for economic and social support, rather than to their partners. As the period of young adults' dependence on their families grew longer, the financial and emotional burden of parenthood grew heavier. Today, regardless of their income level, U.S. parents provide roughly the same proportion of their earnings to support their young adult children. Unlike many nations in Europe, the United States, with its relatively underdeveloped welfare system, does not invest heavily in education, health care, and job benefits for young adults. It relies, instead, on families' investments in their own adult children. But as the transition to adulthood becomes more protracted, the increasing family burden may prove costly to society as a whole. Young adults themselves may begin to regard childbearing as more onerous and less rewarding. The need to provide greater support for children for longer periods may discourage couples from having additional children or having children at all. Such decisions could lead to lower total fertility, ultimately reduce the workforce, and further aggravate the problem of providing both for increasing numbers of the elderly and for the young. U.S. policy makers must realize the importance of reinforcing the family nest and helping reduce the large and competing demands that are being placed on today's parents. (Contains 4 figures and 73 endnotes.)

Throughout the world, gender defines an omnipresent and personal identity. Historically gender effects have ventured far beyond the biological aspects of reproduction and deep into societal constraints of action, appearance, freedom, and destiny. Gender provides convenient labels, descriptions, and expectations. Unfortunately history provides many examples where gender has been used as a tool of oppression. The history of the world's most populous nation, China, provides a long and interesting tale of gendered outcomes. We argue that across three generations China has progressed from the gendered atrocity of female footbinding to a somewhat genderless college admissions process. The current generation of China's young women is not only able to run on unfettered feet but also have unprecedented personal options, opportunities, and responsibilities denied to previous generations. This study addresses generational change specifically through the eyes and perspectives of the contemporary women of China. Our study focuses on three generations of women; each formed by very unique cultural and political situations within their natal country. China's contemporary young adult women, born between 1979 and 1985, are typically "only daughters" of a generation of one-child families resulting from China's one-child family policy. This unique generation has grown up without the competition of other siblings. Their mothers grew up in much different era, shortly after the People's Republic of China (1949) was established. These women's lives were affected by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). On average, these women were born to large families with clear preferences for sons. Finally, we extend back another generation to the grandmothers of our seed sample who typically were in the first generation of Chinese women to be free from footbinding. The manuscript begins with a description and history of three historical milestones; each relevant to one of the contemporary generations included in this study. We then provide data showing the speed and direction of gendered outcomes. Finally, we provide a qualitative oral history study of these three generations of women in China through interviews with the young adult women, their mothers, and their grandmothers. The use of oral histories as primary sources has been promoted through several respected historical works (S. Wang 2006). (Contains 5 footnotes, 4 figures and 1 table.)

This paper examines the effect of birth order on educational attainment in Lesotho. Using family fixed effects models, I find robust negative birth order effects on educational attainment. These results are in sharp contrast with the evidence from many developing countries, but are consistent with that from developed countries. Further, these birth order effects are pronounced in large families, and families with first-born girls, which suggests presence of girls' education bias. Turning to potential pathways of these effects, I find that they are not propagated through family wealth, but mainly through birth-spacing. These results are robust to different sample restrictions.

The condition of poverty is pervasive worldwide and is multifaceted in its ability to have a deleterious generational impact. Although China has greatly reduced the proportion of people living in abject poverty over the past three decades, there are still millions of families living in extreme poverty. This study investigated the influences of families' socioeconomic status on students' educational achievement in China with regard to the National College Entrance Exam (NCEE) scores and subsequent college enrolment. We interviewed 132 recent high school graduates from schools in six urban cities from low-socio-economic status (SES) homes. The findings revealed that school climate (general school quality, student-teacher interactions, and peer pressure) and home environment (parental support, student-parent relationship, and family size) negatively impacted their educational achievement. Students were cognisant that the schools they attended did not have the same high reputation as schools attended by their more affluent peers and felt that their teachers openly discriminated against them. Additionally, their parents did not have the time or financial resources to help them advance educationally. We propose the low-SES Educational Achievement Framework to illustrate the phenomenon of environmental conditions that may influence the low-SES students' NCEE scores and ultimately result in low college enrollment rates in China.

This study examines differences in coping strategies (CSs) in relation to gifted status, gender, and family size. Two hundred gifted adolescents were selected from gifted schools, and 1000 non-gifted adolescents were selected from ordinary schools. One-way multivariate analysis of variance produced significant differences among the subjects in relation to gifted status, gender, and family size. Descriptive discriminant analysis revealed that the CS "Seeking Professional Support" was the most significant to distinguish between gifted and non-gifted adolescents among the selected variables (i.e. gifted status, gender, and family size). Moreover, "Investing in Close Friend" was the most significant to distinguish between the participants in relation to gender. On the other hand, "Ventilating Feelings" contributed the most in distinguishing between the subjects in relation to family size.

Internationally, there has been considerable literature on the predictors of academic performance in higher education. However, the empirical findings are still limited in Cambodia; therefore, this paper was conducted to examine the determinants of academic performance of 329 undergraduate students selected from a university in Cambodia. Based on the findings from the multivariate regression analysis, a number of variables, namely high school grade, English ability, class attendance, study effort, academic self-efficacy, and family socio-economic status were found to be positively associated with academic performance. Term-time employment and family size had an adverse impact on academic performance. However, there was no sufficient evidence to indicate age, gender, household location, parental education, parental involvement, and teaching evaluation to have predictive power on academic performance. Hence, the study concluded that the personal backgrounds played the potential role in predicting academic performance of undergraduate students.

This paper deals with the impact of family size on children's literacy development in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Borno state, Nigeria. Two research designs were used for this study. They are descriptive and correlation. The population of the study comprised of entire residents of Zajeri Area, Maiduguri. Total number of ten families were purposively selected for this study using purposive sampling technique. Self-structured interview was administered to collect data and data collected from the respondents were analyzed using SPSS. The findings revealed that there is significant relationship between family size and children's literacy development in the area under study. Therefore, the researchers recommend that Government should facilitate children's school enrolment and make it compulsory especially at the lower basic level.

This article reports the findings from a study aimed at assessing the challenges of evening educational programs for working children and young people. A descriptive research design and mixed research approach were employed. The design helped to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena and to describe "what exists" with respect to conditions in a situation. A total of 367 students participated in the study. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the evening students are females. There are ongoing access issues for disadvantaged children and young people who cannot attend school on a regular basis, despite the provision of evening educational programs. Challenges include deficits in policy framework and the adopted curriculum, political drivers, teacher motivation, and facilities. Due to a lack of time, some courses are excluded from the evening programs. As a result, children and young people who are enrolled in this program achieve low academic performance as compared to the students in the regular program.

This study aims to investigate the developmental status of rural Chinese children, the extent of interactive parenting they receive, and the relation between the two. A sample of 448 six to eighteen-month-old children and their caregivers were randomly selected from two rural counties in Hebei and Yunnan provinces. According the third edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 48.7% of sample children exhibited cognitive delays, 40.6% language delays, and 35% social-emotional delays. According to responses from caregivers, parenting in rural China is largely passive, lacking in interactive practices like storytelling, singing, and playing. Children-with-siblings, left-behind children, and children with less-educated mothers were even less likely to receive interactive practices. Children of caregivers who did engage in best parenting practices showed better cognitive, language, and social-emotional development; however, the public health system provides no platform for learning about optimal parenting.

Objectives: To determine the frequency of 14 discipline strategies used by mothers (n = 564) and fathers (n = 335) in caring for their six-month old infant. Methods: Data on discipline practices were obtained from families participating in an obesity prevention trial (Prevention of Overweight in Infancy). Each parent was asked to indicate the frequency of using 14 different discipline strategies during the previous week with their infant. Associations between the use of these strategies and parity, deprivation, parental ethnicity, depression symptoms and infant sex were investigated. Results: Parents reported using both positive (mean: 8.8 for mothers and 7.9 for partners) and negative (0.7 for mothers and 0.7 for partners) strategies over the past week. At six months, positive strategies such as smiling, praising and distraction were most commonly reported (=87% for both mothers and partners), negative strategies such as smacking, time out and shouting being reported infrequently (=8% for all). Discipline requiring a level of cognitive understanding not developed at six months was reasonably common, including reasoning (17.7% for mothers, 23.4% for partners), negotiation (6.2%, 11.7%) and ignoring (26%, 19%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that mothers with more than one child had a lower positive discipline index than those with only one child (difference, 95% C.I.: 1.05 (0.57, 1.54). An increase of one point on the 10-point hostile parenting scale was associated with an increase of 0.18 (0.04, 0.31) for the mothers and 0.47 (0.23, 0.70) for partners on the negative strategy index. Conclusions: Discipline strategies emerge early in infancy and are associated with family size and parental hostility.

This study uses data from the "Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS] 1999-2000" to investigate the predictors of child (age 1-4 years) mortality in a developing country like Bangladesh. The cross-tabulation and multiple logistic regression techniques have been used to estimate the predictors of child mortality. The cross-tabulation analysis shows that parents' education is the vital factor associated with child mortality risk, but in logistic regression analysis only the father's education has been found significant to reducing child mortality. Occupation of the father has been found to be a significant characteristic in both analyses; further, mother's standard of living index, breastfeeding status, and birth order has substantial impact on child mortality in Bangladesh. The findings also show that in both statistical analyses maternal health care variables such as timing of first antenatal check and tetanus toxoid (TT] during pregnancy has momentous effect on child mortality. Finally these findings specified that an increase in parents' education improve health care services, which should in turn raise child survival and should decrease child mortality in Bangladesh. (Contains 2 tables.)

Maltreating mothers often struggle to respond sensitively to their children's distress. Examining psychophysiological processing of own child cues may offer insight into neurobiological mechanisms that promote sensitive parenting among high-risk mothers. The current study used event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine associations between mothers' neural responses to their own child versus other children and observed sensitivity to distress. Participants included 73 mothers: 42 with histories of child protective services (CPS) involvement and 31 low-risk comparison mothers. Maternal sensitivity to child distress was coded from observations of children's blood sample collection. Late positive potential (LPP) ERP responses, which reflect sustained attention to emotionally salient stimuli, were measured when mothers viewed photos of their own child and other children. An own-other LPP difference score (own-other LPP) was computed by regressing the mean amplitude of mothers' LPP to their own child on the mean amplitude of mothers' LPP to other children. CPS-referred mothers and low-risk mothers did not differ in their LPP responses to own child, other children, or the own-other LPP. However, there was a significant interaction between group (CPS-referred vs. low-risk) and own-other LPP in predicting maternal sensitivity. Among the CPS-referred mothers, own-other LPP was significantly correlated with maternal sensitivity, with greater LPP amplitude to own versus other child associated with higher maternal sensitivity. In contrast, among the low-risk group, own-other LPP was not significantly correlated with maternal sensitivity. Findings add to our understanding of the neurobiology of sensitive parenting among high-risk mothers.

The authors examined the occupational satisfaction of 107 counselor educator mothers and found that work-to-family enrichment, support from colleagues, and number of children under age 6 were significant predictors of occupational satisfaction. These results underscore the importance of policies and programs to increase occupational satisfaction of academic mothers and to support their recruitment and retention.

This study examined how demographic and psychological factors shape the involvement of Japanese mothers in their children's education. The five demographic variables studied were family income, maternal education, family size, mothers' employment status, and sex of the child. Three forms of parental cognition were also studied: mothers' aspirations for their children, parenting self-efficacy, and perceptions of the school. Survey data were obtained from 97 Japanese mothers with a second-grade child. Multiple regression analyses indicated that mothers' aspirations concerning their children's occupational future were associated with monitoring homework and communicating with the teacher, as well as with financial investment in supplementary lessons. Parenting self-efficacy was negatively related to investment in supplementary lessons but positively related to engaging in cognitive stimulation at home. Mothers who perceived the school as supportive and open to communication were more likely to engage in all three forms of parental involvement. More highly educated and wealthier mothers with fewer children reported investing to a greater extent in supplementary lessons. Mothers' work status was not associated with any of the outcomes, nor was sex of the child. Survey findings were further illuminated with excerpts from in-depth interviews. (Contains 2 tables.)

The purpose of the present study is to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among senior high school students preparing national university entrance examination (OSS) in Turkey. The authors conducted a survey during the second term of students' senior year at high school, a time when they were exposed to a stressful standardized national examination. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and to identify a possible association of depressive symptoms with other student and socio-demographic characteristics. The authors used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), adapted for Turkey, to assess self-reported depressive symptoms among 984 students. Overall, 45.1% of the students reported depressive symptoms. The relationship between the presence of depressive symptoms and student gender, family size, living circumstances, academic grade, number of times national exams were taken, monthly family income, daily study time, number of friends of opposite sex and involvement in social activities were examined. Gender, academic success and monthly family income had statistically significant differences on BDI scores. The high rate of self-reported depressive symptoms reflects heightened exam-related stress, social expectations, worries about future success linked to uncertainty about securing a university placement and personal, familial and demographic factors. The greater prevalence of depressive symptoms among females (49.5%) compared to males (40.6%) highlights higher degrees of stress or vulnerability among female adolescents facing similar circumstances to males in Turkey. Based on the data gathered, the authors propose that the population exposed to the national university entrance examinations in Turkey should in essence be regarded as a very high risk group for depression and approached as potential depression patients. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

A discussion of the Demographic Transition is included in many Environmental Biology or Environmental Science classes. The Demographic Transition occurs as a nation becomes more urban and wealthy, and was widely observed in the twentieth century. The phenomenon includes decreasing family size (fewer children) across generations. In this classroom exercise, students provide numbers of children in past and future generations in their own families, and then the class analyzes the pooled data and hypothesizes why and how this change in human population biology occurs. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

The education of farmers would be result oriented if among other things the learning enhancement situations are created. Farmers' receptivity to training largely depends on the use of several educational methods by extension agents to reach farmers in Mezam division of Northwest province of Cameroon. Data were collected from May to August 2000 using Kerlinger's n [greater than or equal] 30 sampling technique in the division since no definite sampling frame could be obtained. The result indicates that majority are males (62.5%); less than 40 years of age (68.6%), had formal education (81.3%), and can speak and write English language (56.3%). Farm visit is the most used teaching method (37.5%), while office calls (12.5%), group meetings (12.5%), and field days (6.3%) recorded low scores in the study area. The factor that was rated as the most important in enhancing learning of the farmers was that extension agents should be knowledgeable in farming (87.5%). The agent being a farmer and educated (56.3% each) follows this, language came fourth on the importance list (50%). (Contains 4 tables.)

Despite the fact that the family is extremely significant in the system of values of young people (in Russia), the number of divorces is increasing in this population group. Our analysis of this contradiction establishes that young people need to be specially prepared for family life. The paper presents the results of a large empirical study conducted in eight regions in various federal districts of Russia. The study covered a representative sample of over 7,000 respondents from two-parent and one-parent families, families with one to two children and large families; they were inhabitants of large and small Russian cities and villages. The study showed that (a) the family is of primary importance in the formation of young people's values. (b) Most respondents believe that a family is an indispensable condition for happiness. (c) Most respondents believe that one should be specially prepared for family life. (d) Only a third of respondents believe that a school course on family issues could solve this problem. (e) Most respondents noted that their parental families failed to be role models. (f) Young people's reproductive attitudes, which mainly involve having two or three children, do not correspond to actual modern demographic statistics. (g) More than half of the respondents approve of common-law marriages. (h) But the young people were less tolerant of births out of wedlock. (i) Mothers had the greatest influence on young people as they were growing up. (j) Fathers took second place, with a large gap between them and mothers. (k) The generalized portraits of mothers and fathers were entirely positive; that is, there were no negative characteristics. (l) The most popular adjectives used to describe both mothers and fathers were the following: kind, dependable, caring, responsible, family-oriented, and smart. [This article was translated by Susan Welsh.]

The authors examine parenting stress and coping strategies and their relation to satisfaction with family quality of life in a unique population: hearing Bedouin parents of children born with partial or total hearing loss in southern Israel. Could variables previously shown to predict families' quality of life in other populations with children with hearing loss also predict it in this underserved population? The study participants were 84 parents who responded to questionnaires. It was found that parenting stress affects satisfaction with the family's everyday functioning and that parents cope mainly by obtaining familial and social support and redefining the crisis situation. The latter strategy appears to improve the family's overall quality of life, whereas, surprisingly, cochlear implants do not. Thus, for such parents in traditional, marginalized societies, enhancing effective coping mechanisms may help reduce parenting stress and increase satisfaction with the family's quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of sibling constellation (sex and birth order) on creativity in the context of China's one-child policy (OCP) and Confucian culture (e.g., preference for male offspring). Participants were recruited from a public university in east China and were asked to complete 2 divergent thinking tests, including a line meaning test and a real-world problem test. Data collected from those born in or after 1979 (the year OCP was implemented in China) were selected. The sample was further divided into 6 groups for comparisons including first son, first daughter, later son, later daughter, only son, and only daughter. Results indicated that "only children" exhibited significantly higher abilities in visual imagination (line meaning) tasks than children with siblings. Further, testing revealed that only daughters exhibited the highest abilities, both in visual imagination (line meaning) and creative problem solving (real-world problems), as compared to other sibling constellation groups. Specifically, only daughters scored higher than later daughters in visual imagination. They also showed higher abilities than first sons in both types of creative potential tests. Implications are further discussed in the paper.

Early-life exposures are critical for later child cognitive development. McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) were used to assess cognitive development of 700 preschoolers (M[subscript age] = 4.2 years), derived from the "Rhea" birth cohort, in Greece. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on prospectively collected exposure data. Six components were extracted; five of them were associated with child cognition. Higher parental social status, preschool attendance and less TV watching, nonsmoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and parental involvement in child life were protective factors of child cognition at 4 years. Increased child birth order was negatively associated with child cognition. Offspring's size at birth was not associated with any cognitive outcome. These findings reveal the importance of early-life exposures to child cognitive development.

This article explores the changing dynamics between gender, cultural capital and the state in the context of higher education expansion in contemporary China. With a particular focus on the one-child generation and women's opportunities and aspirations, I draw upon empirical evidence from a first-hand survey study and in-depth semi-structured interviews with female undergraduates from one-child families in 2007. The findings from the survey study suggest that singleton status might mediate the impact of socioeconomic status and cultural capital on students' academic performance and elite opportunities. The qualitative interview data provide further evidence on how singleton women's aspirations are related to their socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. The most significant finding is concerned with singleton girls' strategy of applying for Chinese Communist Party membership as a way to minimize their social and gender disadvantages. I argue that there emerges a bottom-up approach of women empowerment through qualifications and political selection during China's transition. Political selection is dressed up in seemingly meritocratic selection, thus becoming more appealing to female undergraduates who, in turn, take advantage of party membership to add a silver lining of political loyalty to higher education qualifications.

This study aimed to examine the influence of differences in household status on the parental stress, coping, time use and quality of life (QoL) among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. Forty-three single and 164 coupled mothers completed the survey. Data were analysed using multivariate logistic regression. We found that single mothers were 1.05 times more likely to report lower levels of environmental QoL. Whilst they were 1.73 times more likely to use acceptance coping style, this association did not persist after adjusting for total number of children, household income and employment status. There was no difference in time use and stress between these mothers. Possible environmental issues for single mothers and implications for future research are discussed.