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Shifting demographics, rising costs of operations, a changing competitive landscape, reductions in state appropriations, pressures for accountability, and a widespread economic decline characterize the environment in which today’s colleges and universities operate. This article examines some of the current responses to these challenges and outlines opportunities for advancing the mission of higher education in the 21st century. The topics covered include student centeredness, interdisciplinary research, access and affordability, technology, globalizing our universities, and service.

The challenges to higher education in the twenty-first century include developing an increased sensitivity to individual differences among students and encouraging diverse approaches to instruction. Promoting new ways for students to learn involves getting to know students better, experimenting with various methods for transmitting content, and, ultimately, in humanizing the educational environment.

In keeping with their historic role in promoting human, economic, and cultural development, American land-grant universities have unprecedented opportunities to respond to changes taking place in society. Penn State University is responding with a model that emphasizes integration of teaching, research and service, interdisciplinary initiatives, and active collaboration with communities to enhance the quality of life. The substantial challenges of children, youth, and families are one of the priorities of Penn State in advancing this model. The Children, Youth, and Families Consortium, recently established by the university, supports interdisciplinary and collaborative teaching, research, and service to develop and implement prevention and intervention models that promote positive outcomes for children, youth, and families.

I'll be honest. The principal reason I became an administrator is because I grew increasingly frustrated spending endless hours, days, weeks, and months of my life on committees that were supposed to recommend choices, solutions, and directions to other people who either didn't listen to what the committee had to say, in some cases never intended to listen to what the committee had to say, or did listen to the committee but made a different decision. Most readers don't have to imagine the frustration of a young assistant professor investing his or her life in all this wasted effort; we've all been there. I suppose, too, that I've always had a lot of social worker in me; the opportunity to serve has always had appeal. I developed an idea early on that I could make a contribution, that some of my ideas might work out better than what some other folks might be proposing, and that there was a lot of bad management around-lots of people wasting lots of other people's time. This is the kind of thinking that draws attention and often results in yet further invitations to get involved. I had no idea whatsoever, though, that I would at some juncture, after some intermediate steps, find myself in the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Within four years after my initial faculty appointment at Penn State I was asked to serve in two administrative positions simultaneously, as Professorin-charge of a 700-student undergraduate program in Individual and Family Studies, and as Divisional Professor-in-charge of this large interdisciplinary academic unit of 40 faculty members and 100 graduate students within the College of Human Development at Penn State. I still considered myself very much a faculty member in these roles. Unlike the orderly progression that typically characterizes one's career in the professorial ranks, there is often nothing predictable or rational about progression in administration. Witness my case. Penn State hired a new dean for my college against the advice of the search committee and the faculty. Disaster struck. The dean was fired nine months later, after doing some serious damage. During those nine months, many of the top scholars

During the mid-1970s, the United States experienced, but did not notice, a demographic milestone: For the first time in any given year, more marriages were ended by divorce than by the death of a spouse. The numerical dominance of divorce over death has occurred every year since 1974 and will likely continue well into the future. In this brief chapter, I address some of the larger social and demographic issues suggested by the growing imbalance in the path to marital disruption as well as present some thoughts about future research needs.

Relief and distress as responses to the termination of marriage are examined in a study of a nonprobability sample of 205 individuals in central Pennsylvania. Respondents were interviewed in depth soon after their final separation. Retrospective measures are used to assess the rewards and costs of ending marriage from three sources-attrations in marriage, external pressures to remain married, and alternative attractions. Response to marital termination is assessed by subjective changes in emotional and behavioral symptoms since separation. Response groups include relief, as well as distress and no change. Discriminant analysis demonstrates that 24 percent of the differences in response group membership can be explained by the variables representing the terminal stage of marriage. The results show that relief is a frequent response to marital separation and that group differences in response are associated with the rewards and costs of ending a marriage.

The general inverse relationship between marital disruption (separation and divorce) and educational status, commonly assumed by family sociologists, is demonstrated for both men and women using th...

The quality of marital relationships is the most studied topic pertaining to marriage and family life. Moreover, clinicians have become increasingly interested in this variable as divorce rates have climbed and as services for counseling and therapy have become more readily available and more widely accepted. These research and clinical needs necessitate the availability of measures of variables which assess marital quality (e.g., marital adjustment, satisfaction, and happiness). This article discusses the need for such measures, reviews the history of measurements in this area, identifies some conceptual and methodological issues of relevance, and then focuses most specifically on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale developed by Spanier. Some cautions for clinicians are noted, and a discussion of future measurement needs is presented.

The factors related to the occurrence of extramarital coitus (EMC) among persons whose marriages terminate in separation or divorce and the impact of participation in EMC on postmarital adjustment were examined. It was hypothesized that premarital coital experience, quality of marital sex, length of marriage, religiosity, and physical attractiveness would affect the occurrence of EMC. Additionally, tests were performed to assess whether participation in EMC increased, decreased, or had no effect on postmarital adjustment. The data are from a study of 205 individuals, separated no longer than 26 months, who completed in‐depth, face‐to‐face interviews about their marriage, its failure, and its aftermath. Most respondents who experienced EMC report that it was an effect, rather than a cause, of marital problems. Yet respondents tend to report that their spouse's infidelity was a cause of marital problems. Guilt is a significant by‐product of EMC for men and women, but men experience somewhat less gu...

The antecedents of premarital sexual behavior are examined using interview data from a national probability sample of 1,177 American college students. I hypothesize that a positive relationship exists between perceived sex knowledge, exposure to eroticism, dating experiences, and premarital sexual behavior. Dating frequency, intimacy, and related circumstances are proposed as powerful explanatory variables in understanding the developmental process leading to increased socio-sexual involvement. Data are provided which confirm the hypotheses and lend support to the theory that a complex social-psychological network of variables, centering around the opportunity and pressures associated with dating and peer group experiences, influences premarital sexual behavior.

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to provide an in-depth analysis of the postseparation period. Data from 50 open-ended, unstructured case study interviews were used to identify the critical areas of postseparation and postdivorce adjustment. Approximately 1,000 pages of verbatim field notes were collected. These data revealed that there are two separate but overlapping adjustments: (a) to the dissolution of the marriage and (b) to setting up a new life-style. Sources of significant adjustment problems reported by various segments of the sample included the legal system, lawyers, property settlements, children, the respondent's social network, emotional-psychological adjustment, economics, and heterosexual (dating) relationships. Four hypotheses were also examined. These hypotheses examined (a) the effects of lingering attachment to the former spouse, (b) the degree of social interaction outside the,home, (c) the role of dating relationships, and (d) the relative effects of sudden and un...

conviction, the senior author proposed that personal commitment to one's marriage be explored as a possible factor in marital success. A search of 27 leading texts in marriage and the family failed to turn up a single instance of commitment even being mentioned as a potential variable in marital success. This study, then, represents an attempt to help account for those succeeding in marriage who "shouldn't" or those failing to succeed when they "should" according to marriage prediction scores (Burgess, Locke, Thomes, 1971). Logically, Waller's (1951) "principle of least interest" might be considered the obverse of commitment, though the implicit suggestion of a positive force has not been exploited. Theoretically, it would seem that commitment in marital success might well be included under Levinger's (1965) "Sources of Attraction" rubric. In his social systems analysis of family cohesion, he cited several studies which indicated that among the centripetal forces in marital relationships were esteem for spouse and desire for companionship. Commitment, theoretically, would strengthen the internal cohesion of the group. Commitment, for the purposes of this investigation, was defined as the strength of an individual's desire and determination to continue a

Parents and educators have been concerned with the impact of sex education courses and sources of sex information on premarital sexual behavior. This study investigates different sources of sex information, including parents, peers, and others, and how they influence premarital sexual behavior among American college students. This exploratory research is based on the secondary analysis of cross‐sectional data from a national probability sample of 1,177 college students interviewed about their sexual behavior and sexual socialization experiences. Cross‐tabulations between several sources of sex information and a composite index of incidence and prevalence of premarital socio‐sexual involvement are presented. Among females, sexual behavior was influenced in a negative direction by their mothers and in a positive direction by male friends and independent reading. Among males, sexual behavior was influenced in a negative direction by clergymen and in a positive direction by male and female friends an...

This article examines the relative influences of the juvenile probation officer's perceptions of self and work on his or her opinions of delinquency and decisions made about juveniles. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 255 juvenile probation officers. Results indicate that the officer who is treatment-service oriented is less likely to label juvenile acts delinquent than the officer who responds to lawyer role models. Officers who make rehabilitative recommendations are less likely to label acts delinquent than those who do not. The independent variables accounted for a rural of 21.3% of the variance in the dependent variable, the officer's perception of treatment.

The dramatic increase in divorce in the United States over the past two decades has resulted in a need for closer examination of the factors associated with the adjustment to marital separation. This article reports a multivariate examination of health and social factors associated with post-separation adjustment In depth interviews were completed with 205 individuals, separated no longer than 26 months, about their marriage, its failure, and its aftermath. The study examines the role of social contact, health, economic stability, and dating behavior in the adjustment to marital separation. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the independent and collective influences on adjustment, measured both by the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale and the Cantril Ladder technique. The analysis consistently demonstrated that economic stability, health status, and frequency of dating are significant predictors of post-separation adjustment. The implications of these findings are considered with special...

A nonprobability purposive sample of 205 individuals separated 26 months or less was interviewed about their marital separation and its aftermath. Contrary to expectations based on earlier research and current theorizing, the findings indicate that support from and interaction with extended kin either are unrelated or negatively related to the adjustment to marital separation. The findings further suggest that the potential advantages of support and interaction offered by kin may be moderated by a variety of familial sanctions such as criticism and disapproval. These results, however, replicated Goode's (1956) finding from an earlier generation, which demonstrated that adjustment was enhanced when kin were indifferent to the divorce-neither offering approval nor disapproval. The results also suggest that in many cases it is likely that adjustment to separation begins before the time relatives first learn of the separation.

A critical, but often neglected, concern in survey research is the use of recall data. This article identifies two sources of possible error in restrospective accounts, particularly of human sexual behavior. “Faulty recall” is unintentional false reporting due to poor memory or changing perception of past reality. “Falsified accounts” involve intentional false reporting due to a fear of being honest with the interviewer or a desire to present a false image for ego enhancement. Previous warnings about the use of recall data are reviewed. The variety of ways and the circumstances under which faulty recall and falsified accounts can influence research findings are elaborated. However, with care in data collection and analysis, these problems need not preclude the use of recall data in survey research.

The assumption that parental influence in the sexual socialization process is likely to affect premarital sexual behavior is challenged in this article. The hypothesis that individuals brought up in sexually conservative homes will have less premarital heterosexual involvement than those from liberal home environments is tested in a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey interview data from a national probability sample of 1177 American college students. Correlational and contingency table analysis using indices to measure perceived Parental Sexual Conservatism and Premarital Socio-sexual Involvement suggests that parents may be less influential in the sexual socialization process than has been generally assumed. Previous findings demonstrating the relationship between religiosity and premarital sexual permissiveness are examined in light of the study's results.

A statewide mail survey of Pennsylvania junior and senior high school administrators and teachers, of all subject matter areas, was conducted to ascertain their perspective on nutrition education for students in grades 7–12. Of the 2,607 individuals who were sent a questionnaire, 1,366 responded; 96% were teachers and 4% were administrators. Only 22% of the respondents had taken a college course that covered nutrition; and these were concentrated among teachers of home economics, health/physical education, and life sciences. These 3 subject matter areas were also the ones in which teachers expressed the greatest interest in teaching nutrition. However, there was strong agreement among all respondents that nutrition should be taught in grades 7–12. Both teachers and administrators favored integrating nutrition education into existing courses over teaching it as a separate course. Courses deemed most appropriate for this were health and home economics and, to a lesser extent, biology and physical education. Teaching nutrition as a “mini-course” at several points during grades 7–12 also received considerable support. Based on these results, a comprehensive approach to nutrition education for grades 7–12 is described.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 61 unmarried, cohabiting individuals matched by gender, social class, and length of acquaintence with 61 noncohabiting, engaged persons and 61 cohabiting married persons. The unmarried cohabiters were significantly less committed to marriage than were the engaged and the married respondents. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences between the cohabiting and engaged persons in personal (pair) commitment to their partners. Correlational analysis was used to determine the social and interactional correlates of personal commitment for each of the three criterion groups. Some interactional correlates were identical for two of the three groups, a finding which suggests some similarities in the structure of commitment across groups. Some differences were found between the cohabiting, engaged, and married groups. Differences, however, were also found in personal commitment between different kinds of cohabitors, i.e., those who described their relationsh...

The question of how and why people become involved in co-marital sexual mate-swapping is examined in the larger context of familial behavior. The literature on other areas of sexuality are tapped for possible explanations of the mate-swapper phenomenon.

High divorce rates and the traditionally discrepant ages at death for husbands and wives indicate a need for a more complete understanding of the paths to remarriage in contemporary America. This study uses data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census' Current Population Survey to examine the extent and timing of remarriage, social factors associated with remarriage, and the impact of the event - divorce or widowhood - which receded remarriage. The analysis is primarily descriptive, indicating how remarriage experience is influenced by several demographic variables of interest. Length of first marriage, age at divorce or widowhood, age at first marriage, number of children from first marriage, and education are all found to be relevant factors in the assessment of one's likelihood and timing of remarriage.

Controversies exist regarding the effects of sex education in the schools and informal sex education obtained from parents, peers, the mass media, and other sources. Similarly, there is widespread interest in premarital sexual behavior, especially its determinants. This study presents several issues reflecting these concerns which have been the subject of much speculation but which have received little attention by researchers. The purpose of this study was to investigate — through the use of respondent reports — how formal and informal sex education influences premarital sexual behavior during college. A national probability sample of 1177 college students was studied using face-to-face interviews with approximately equal numbers of males and females. These interviews, which were conducted for the Institute for Sex Research, included questions about past and present sexual involvement and other attitudinal, behavioral, and background variables. Accordingly, the data about sexual behavior and attitudes are based on the interviewees' self-reports. Indices were created which operationalized independent variables such as familial sexual conservatism, exposure to eroticism, perceived sex knowledge, and sexual exposure and assault during childhood and adolescence. Individual items reflecting childhood sex play, masturbation, current religiosity, religiosity while growing up, social class, sources of sex information, sex education in classrooms, and high school and college dating were used. The dependent variable, premarital sociosexual involvement, is a composite measure of incidence and prevalence of premarital heterosexual involvement which meets Guttman scaling criteria. An Automatic Interaction Detector analysis was used to determine the relative influences of reported sexualization variables on premarital sexual behavior. Major findings can be summarized as follows: Heterosexual behavior progresses in stepwise fashion from elementary to advanced levels of involvement, with each level representing a threshold. Reports of current influences and pressures explain more variance in premarital sexual behavior than reports of past informal sexualization influences, which, in turn, explain more variance than reported formal sex-educating experiences. Limited success was reported with the use of a four-stage AID analysis which attempted to ascertain whether variables represented in later stages of the sexualization process “mask” the effects of variables in earlier stages and whether a developmental process can be identified. It may be concluded that these data do not support the belief that exposure to sexuality through formalsex education influences premarital sexual behavior. Informalsex education has significantly more impact on premarital sexual behavior, but there are indications that pressures and experiences confronting young people in a given dating or peer group situation take precedence over all past sexual socialization influences.

Remarriage is not a new social invention for repairing marital disruption. The earliest recorded histories document that remarriage was a recognized option for some, but not all, individuals whose marriages were disrupted by the death of the husband or wife. Some societies accorded the same status to remarriages as they did to first marriages, others a lesser or greater status. Many so-cieties developed rules designating the particular person in the extended family network, such as a brother or sister of the deceased, who was obligated to support an indi-vidual whose spouse had died, and rules specifying that that support ought to take the form of marriage (Murstein, 1974).

In order to assess marital change in response to the birth of a first-born or later-born infant, 72 volunteer couples were studied longitudinally from the last trimester of pregnancy through the ninth postpartum month. Joint couple interviews; individual spousal questionnaires; and naturalistic, in-home, behavioral observations were used. Analyses of mean scores revealed modest yet highly reliable changes in marital adjustment (as assessed by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale), marital functioning (joint leisure activities, perception of relationship as a romance, friendship, and partnership), and observed marital interaction. Cross-time correlational analyses revealed that, despite these changes in central tendencies, spouses and couples that initially scored high on various measures tended to do so across the period studied. Considered together, a dual developmentalfocus upon both individual and group change indicates that in some respects the addition of a first-born or later-born infant has a negative impact on the marital relationship, whereas in other respects (i.e., individual differences) it exerts relatively little impact.

The authors examine recent U.S. divorce trends with particular reference to some of the demographic consequences for children and families. They also present new data on some correlates of marital instability including the relationship between age at first marriage and divorce and between childlessness or sex of children and divorce. Data are from official vital statistics the 1960 and 1970 censuses and the June 1975 Current Population Survey (ANNOTATION)

The quality of marital relationships continues to be the most widely studied topic in the field. Trends during the 1970s in research on marital quality and related concepts (happiness, satisfaction, adjustment, etc.) are summarized. The decade saw more husbands in samples, more attention to couples and joint assessment of husbands and wives, use of observational data collection techniques, greater attention to methodological and measurement issues, more use of multivariate statistics, greater awareness of issues pertaining to cross-sectional designs, fewer biases in the portrayal of male/female roles, attempts to build theory and synthesize the literature, growing interest in "dyads" as a more general form of marital relationships, and more research which is international in scope. Research, methodological, and theoretical contributions are evaluated, and some recommendations are made for the decade ahead.

Self-administered questionnaires were completed by a nonprobability purposive sample of 434 never-married sexually active males and females between the ages of 17 and 22 years in order to investigate the relative influences of parents peers and partners on the contraceptive use of college men and women. Path analyses showed that the effects of involvement with partner sexual exclusivity and frequency of intercourse on contraceptive use are mostly indirect via influence from partner. Among the males in the sample partner influence emerged as a strong and singular contribution to contraceptive use. Involvement with partner was significantly and inversely related to contraceptive use unless the influence from partner intervened. A more complex pattern emerged among the females suggesting that young women are oriented toward partner and friends and the source of influence is related to extent of involvement with the sexual partner. Parents failed to significantly influence contraceptive use. Overall the models presented accounted for 31% of the variance in contraceptive use for females and 34% for males. Clearly influence from the partner to use contraception is a strong contributor to contraceptive use among young men and women.(AUTHORS MODIFIED)

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of divorced persons in the United States during the last decade, resulting in a need for close examination qf the factors associated with the adjustment to marital separation. This paper reports the efft'ct qf the legal process in one state-Pennsylvania--on adjustment to marital separation. Two hundred and five individuals separated no longer than 26 months completed indepth, face-to-face interviews about their marriages, the jailure of their marriages, and the qftermath of marital separation. Over half of the respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the legal process and 84 percent desired a change in the present Pennsylvania law. Descriptive analyses indicate a wide range of problems with the legal system experienced by persons during their separation. Cross-tabular and multivariate analyses examined the degree to which such experiences influenced reported subsequent adjustment. No significant relationships were f-bund between any of the identified problems of the adversary legal system and adjustment. The data suggest that, although the majority qf respondents fbund fiault or encountered difficulty with the legal system, these problems did not necessarily result in reported poorer adjustment fbllowing the separation.