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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.

This article examines the determinants of men's early parental roles, distinguishing factors that affect being a father versus being childless, and factors that affect being a resident versus a nonresident father, in the context of having a partner or not. We also consider whether these patterns have changed between 1985 and 2004. The data come from the linked Child-Mother and Young Adult Samples of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), which provide information on the children of the NLSY79 from birth until they enter young adulthood, and from the original youth sample of parallel ages. The results support previous research showing the importance of economic and educational disadvantages and nontraditional family structure on being a nonresident father. The effects of family structure appear to have attenuated between generations as determinants of men's early parental roles. (Contains 3 tables and 1 note.)

Trends in divorce and nonmarital childbearing suggest that the marriage market is increasingly filled with people who have been married and/or have children. This study examines the effect of personal attitudes on entrance into a union with a partner who has been previously married or has children. Using data from two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, the authors find that men who hold more positive attitudes about marrying someone who already has children are more likely to enter a union with a single mother. Willingness to marry someone with children also has a positive impact on women's entry into a union with a man who has children, though only if he has not been married before. Men who express greater acceptance about marriage to someone who has been married are more likely to enter a union with a previously married woman, though only if she is childless. There is no parallel effect for women. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

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.

Marriage markets have become increasingly filled with those who already have children, which may discourage marriage. Research has generally failed to assess the role of prospective stepchildren in new union formation, particularly from the point of view of the men who might become their stepfathers. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), the authors examine willingness to marry someone who already has children as well as partners who have been previously married, are of a different religion or race, or are unlikely to hold a steady job. The most consistent determinants of attitudes toward stepparenthood are related to exposure to and/or approval of other nontraditional families, particularly the experience of own parenthood. This suggests that these unions could become more common in the future. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article examines union entrance among never-married young men, focusing on whether the importance of a man's being economically established to marry has decreased in this new era of cohabitation and working wives. The authors test this assumption by examining marriage and cohabitation as competing risks to see whether the importance of employment has changed between the cohorts of the 1970s and 1990s. Data are from the National Survey of the Labor Force Experience of Young Men and the National Survey of Families and Households. The results show that Controlling cohabitation as a competing risk makes some difference in models of marriage, because marriage is somewhat more selective. More important changes reflect the decline in the importance of employment and the increased role of values. Indirect indicators, such as race, region, and childhood family structure, and direct measures of gender role attitudes have become critical influences on men's likelihood of union formation.

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)