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Declines in support for the male breadwinner, female homemaker family model in recent decades have been thoroughly documented, but research into the way such attitudes change over the life course remains limited. Drawing on panel data and latent growth curve modeling techniques, the study identifies patterns and predictors of attitude change from 1977 through 1993. Women's support for gender specialization in marriage declined rapidly from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, but this was followed by an interval of stability until the mid-1990s. Education is negatively associated with support for the male breadwinner model, but there was educational convergence in attitudes between the late 1970s and the early 1990s. The results highlight the critical role of women's employment for explaining the pattern of attitude change across the life course. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 4 notes.)

Drawing on data from a panel study of White women spanning 31 years, the analyses examine the influence of women's employment on the gendered division of household labor. Multiple dimensions of women's employment are investigated, including accumulated employment histories, current employment status, current employment hours, and relative income. Results from fixed effect and change score models suggest that the husbands of women who accumulate more employment experience over the course of marriage perform a relatively larger amount of routine housework than the husbands of women with shorter employment histories. Women's employment status at a given point in time also increases men's relative participation in routine housework, and the influence of women's employment status operates in part by increasing women's support for egalitarian roles between spouses. Finally, women's hours of employment and relative income are stronger predictors of housework allocation than is their current employment status. (Contains 3 tables.)

The analysis examines the direct and indirect influences of early gender socialization on the allocation of routine housework later in the life course. The study articulates hypotheses suggesting that the relationship between gender socialization early in adulthood and housework allocation later in adulthood is moderated by gender and union type and is mediated by subsequent contextual characteristics of the couple. The analysis draws on panel data from a sample of 586 young adults spanning 31 years. Findings indicate that married men's attitudes about gender early in adulthood are more influential for the later division of labor than are married women's attitudes, but gender differences in the influence of early attitudes on later housework patterns are not present among cohabitors. The influence of early gender socialization on later housework allocation is mediated by couple-level resources and time availability among cohabitors but not among married individuals.

Data from the Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children are used to investigate direct and indirect influences of parents' marital dissolution on adult children's attitudes toward cohabitation. Results suggest that parents' marital dissolution during childhood increases children's support for cohabitation at age 18, and the influence is greatest when the parents' divorce is followed by remarriage. The analyses show that the influence of parents' marital dissolution is partially transmitted by parents' attitudes about cohabitation, parents' and children's religious involvement, and children's sexual behavior during adolescence. The influence of parents' marital dissolution on children's attitudes toward cohabitation weakens as the children age from 18 to 31. doi:10.1300/J087v46n03_08 KEYWORDS. Cohabitation, divorce, life course, marriage, socialization

Data from a thirty-one year, intergenerational panel study are used to examine the influence of entry into and exit from marriage and cohabitation on changes in adult children's attitudes toward divorce. The influences of parents' marital dissolution and maternal attitudes toward divorce on the adult children's divorce attitudes are also investigated. Parental divorce followed by remarriage and maternal attitudes about divorce are each associated with adult children's tolerance of divorce. Among the adult children, direct entry into marriage decreases divorce tolerance, but marriage preceded by cohabitation does not. Divorce from a first marriage dramatically increases adults' acceptance of divorce. KEYWORDS. Attitudes, cohabitation, divorce, family structure, life course, marriage, socialization, adult children of divorce

Declines in support for the male breadwinner, female homemaker family model in recent decades have been thoroughly documented, but research into the way such attitudes change over the lifecourse remains limited. Drawing on panel data and latent growth curve modeling techniques, the study identifies patterns and predictors of attitude change from 1977 through 1993. Women’s support for gender specialization in marriage declined rapidly from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, but this was followed by an interval of stability until the mid-1990s. Education is negatively associated with support for the male breadwinner model, but there was educational convergence in attitudes between the late 1970s and the early 1990s. The results highlight the critical role of women’s employment for explaining the pattern of attitude change across the lifecourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Has the Juvenile Plumage of Honey-Buzzard Evolved to Mimic That of Common Buzzard?," by D. G. Duff in a previous issue.