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Objective: With needed and growing attention to sexual minorities and unmarried individuals, there is a need to consider how best to capture relationships and relationship organization in family studies. Background: Traditional measures of marital status are commonly used to examine differences in relationships and socioeconomic outcomes, but they do not adequately capture the diversity of relationship experiences and leave certain types of relationship experiences invisible. Method: This article examines the inclusion of a relationship measure in the American Marriage Survey, a national probability‐based sample of 2806 adults in the United States, to provide a more diverse and expansive perspective on relationships and relationship organization. While there is a great deal of overlap between those who are married or cohabiting (marital status) and those who are in an exclusive relationship (relationship status), there is also potential for variation in what kinds of relationships, if any, people are in. Results: We find that the relationship measure is particularly useful in showing that a majority of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual individuals are in an exclusive relationship and also that gender and sexual minorities are more likely than cisgender and heterosexual individuals to be in consensual nonmonogamous relationships. This article also provides direction on re‐coding open text responses from the relationship status measure. Conclusion: We conclude that a relationship status measure allows for greater inclusivity and visibility of sexual minorities and unmarried persons, including but not limited to queer individuals, families, and communities, as well as consensual nonmonogamous relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, traditional wedding customs reflected marital values and gender power dynamics. Though preference for egalitarian partnerships and marriages is growing, patriarchal and heteronormative wedding traditions remain popular. This study aims to understand the dissonance between marriage values and wedding traditions by comparing college students' ideals and intended practices regarding traditional heterosexual wedding customs, such as the bride being given away by the father and taking the groom's last name. Based on a survey of 291 college students in the southeastern U.S., we find that students, particularly straight women, generally have more egalitarian ideals than intended practices. LGB individuals have a weaker preference for wedding traditions as ideals and as intended practices. While those who think marriage should always be egalitarian are less likely to support certain traditions, they are no different from their less egalitarian counterparts in ideals or preferences about the proposal, suggesting this tradition may be particularly engrained in social expectations regarding weddings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines workplace culture and fertility plans and transitions in Sweden. This study goes beyond previous research in examining the effect of particular job characteristics as well as the influence of a partner's job characteristics on women's and men's birth plans and transitions. We use data from the 1999 and 2003 Swedish Young Adult Panel Study. Results indicate that men are more likely to intend to have a child if their partner's job makes it easy to take parental leave or work part-time. Women are more likely to intend to have a child if their partner's job pays well. In addition, men whose job pays well are more likely to have a child. This research suggests that family-friendly policies may enhance fertility indirectly through men's fertility decision making. (Contains 3 tables.)

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.)

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.)

In this study, the authors examine the effect of gender ideology on marital happiness in later life. Studies of marital satisfaction in later life have tended to neglect such attitudes, although they have received increasing attention in the literature on younger marriages. The authors use data from married individuals who range in age from 51 to 92 years old and are members of the 1994 Iowa Youth and Families Project. Results indicate that those who hold egalitarian attitudes report significantly higher levels of marital happiness than do those with more traditional attitudes. However, this effect is only significant for men. (Contains 3 tables and 1 endnote.)

Objective: This study examines whether parental leave‐taking affects perceptions of workers as good parents, and whether this relationship varies between mothers and fathers. Background: Contemporary parenthood norms promote intensive parenting, but pressures to engage in intensive parenting are more pronounced for mothers than fathers. Paid parental leave policies have the potential to improve gender equality, but only if such policies help to change gendered parenting norms. We assess whether leave‐taking further entrenches gendered parenting norms within workplaces or promotes greater perceptions of good parenting among fathers. Method: We use combined data on 3333 respondents from two survey experiments in which parental leave‐taking and parental gender were randomly assigned. This enables us to assess the causal effects of parental leave‐taking on perceptions of mothers and fathers as good parents. Results: Mothers and fathers in married, different‐sex partnerships are more likely to be viewed as good parents when they take longer periods of leave. Also, the positive effects of leave‐taking on perceptions of workers as good parents are stronger for fathers than for mothers—but only for short amounts of leave taken. Conclusion: Greater access to, and use of, paid parental leave may enable more parents to be perceived as fulfilling contemporary parenting norms, and may especially increase the likelihood that fathers are viewed as good parents. As such, these policies may help to change gendered perceptions of parenting and promote greater gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the lack of a federal paid parental leave policy in the United States, access to leave for most US workers is dependent on whether their employer offers paid leave. Our research explores employer-based access to parental leave among Fortune 500 companies. We develop a classification of leave policies based on how policies differ for mothers and fathers: gender equal (equal periods of leave to mothers and fathers), gender modified (equal leave of 6 or more weeks with an additional 6–8 weeks for mothers), gender unequal (mothers offered 2 or more times longer leave than fathers), and gender-neutral gendering (policies that offer primary and secondary caregiver leave). We find that 72% of companies offer some paid parental leave, and the majority of Fortune 500 companies have paid parental leave policies that offer substantially more leave to mothers than to fathers. We also find that technology companies, larger companies, and companies headquartered in a state with paid family leave are more likely to offer paid parental leave. This research provides insight into the degree to which employer policies may contribute to gender inequality and has implications for employer-mediated inequalities in access to parental leave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]