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ObjectiveThis research describes the attitudes that people have toward biological and nonbiological parenting and examines how living arrangements during youth affect people's attitudes as adults.BackgroundIt is generally believed that people have negative beliefs about nonbiological (i.e., step) family relationships, but there is little systematic research on such attitudes, and even less is known about how these come about. This topic is important given the long‐term increase in the number of stepfamilies, a trend that raises concerns as to whether attitudes toward stepfamilies can become more positive over time.MethodWe used Dutch survey data from 5,949 respondents aged 25 to 45 years with an oversample of people who grew up with a stepparent. The respondents' parents also were interviewed. Attitudes were measured in the same way for the two generations, and elaborate retrospective questions were asked about respondents' living arrangements in youth.ResultsPeople who grew up in a stepfamily had more positive attitudes about stepfamily relationships and more negative views on the relevance of biological relatedness. This effect was only present for stepfather and not for stepmother families. Part of this effect was due to parental attitudes, but even after these were taken into account, the effect of living arrangements in youth remained.ConclusionThe general public is divided about the relevance of biology for family relationships. Value socialization and observational learning in youth are both important for understanding people's attitudes toward stepfamily relationships.ImplicationsAs the number of stepfamilies keeps growing, normative support for stepparents may increase.

Data on secondary school children in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden show that large differences exist in family structure within the minority population: In some groups, father absence is more common than among natives; in others, it is less common. These patterns reflect the differences in family structure in the origin countries, but the migration process also plays a role. Next, it is found that father absence has negative effects on immigrant children's well-being, but these effects appear weaker in minority groups where father absence is more common. Heterogeneous effects are interpreted in terms of different degrees of institutionalization of father absence in different minority groups.

This article tests the thesis that intermarriage fosters the integration of immigrants by studying the children of intermarriage. Using secondary school–based questionnaire data from England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, I compare the children of mixed marriages to second-generation immigrants and to children of native origins. Three dimensions of integration are measured: social integration (contacts with natives), cultural integration (religiosity and family values), and economic integration (school achievement tests). I examine the effect of intermarriage on these outcomes as well as interactions with gender, socioeconomic status, destination country, and origin group. Our findings show that the outcomes for the children of mixed origins are in between the outcomes of immigrants and natives. In some respects, mixed children are exactly halfway, confirming a model of additive effects of parental origins. In other cases, mixed children are closer to immigrants than to natives, pointing to a model of stigmatization and ethnic retentionism.

"Using nationally representative data on secondary school children in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, this study describes the relationships that children have with their fathers after divorce. Differences in the post-divorce relationship are explained in terms of demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, and contextual differences (between countries and between immigrants and natives). The focus is on living arrangements after divorce, the amount of contact with the father, and the perceived quality of the relationship. Many children have at least weekly contact with their father but one in six children never see their father at all. Fathers in high-status families are more highly involved in the child's life after divorce than fathers in low-status families. A mother's employment also has a positive effect on the post-divorce relationship with the father. Co-parenting is most common in Sweden. Post-divorce relationships are also strongest in Sweden and relatively weak in Germany. Immigrant children see their fathers less often after divorce than native children. In the second generation, children of mixed marriages in particular tend to have little contact with the father." (author's abstract)

AbstractPrevious research has suggested that a new marriage gradient has emerged in the United States, with marriage becoming increasingly the privilege of the better-educated. This article examines whether this is true for Europe and explores differences in the marriage gradient among 25 European countries, using multilevel models. The focus is on the chances of living in a marital (or cohabiting) union during midlife (ages 40–49). Multilevel analyses show that the direction and strength of the gradient depend on the societal context. In countries where gender roles are traditional, better-educated women are less likely to be married than less-educated women; in gender-egalitarian countries, better-educated women are more likely to be married. For men, the educational effect on marriage is absent in traditional countries but becomes positive as gender roles become more equal. Inequality in a society also modifies the gradient: if the degree of economic inequality between educational groups in a society is strong, better-educated men are more likely to be married than less-educated men. In general, the results suggest that there may be an accumulation of social and economic disadvantages for the less well educated in more-developed countries.

Many studies have examined how equity in personal relationships affects mental health and well-being. Often, such studies use measures based on how people perceive the balance in a relationship. In this study, the reverse causal path is studied, from well-being to perceived equity. The expectation is that depressed mood would lead to more negative views of the degree of equity in a relationship. The reciprocal relationships between depressive symptoms and perceived equity are studied using a large representative survey with two waves of measurement. The focus is on intergenerational relationships and the perspective taken is that of the elderly parent. Analyses show that there is little effect of equity on depressed mood once this is analyzed in a longitudinal fashion. More evidence is obtained for the reverse path: mothers (but not fathers) who are depressed develop a more negative view of the degree of equity in the relationships they have with their children, even when reports of actual support exchange are taken into account. Depressed mood can bias perceptions of equity. In a more general way, the findings are in line with some recent experimental studies that have emphasized the importance of feelings for perceptions. Adapted from the source document.

ObjectivesMany studies have examined how equity in personal relationships affects mental health and well‐being. Often, such studies use measures based on how people perceive the balance in a relationship. In this study, the reverse causal path is studied, from well‐being to perceived equity. The expectation is that depressed mood would lead to more negative views of the degree of equity in a relationship.MethodsThe reciprocal relationships between depressive symptoms and perceived equity are studied using a large representative survey with two waves of measurement. The focus is on intergenerational relationships and the perspective taken is that of the elderly parent.FindingsAnalyses show that there is little effect of equity on depressed mood once this is analyzed in a longitudinal fashion. More evidence is obtained for the reverse path: mothers (but not fathers) who are depressed develop a more negative view of the degree of equity in the relationships they have with their children, even when reports of actual support exchange are taken into account.ConclusionsDepressed mood can bias perceptions of equity. In a more general way, the findings are in line with some recent experimental studies that have emphasized the importance of feelings for perceptions.

"This article discusses Oppenheimer's theory on marriage timing, reviews the way this theory was received in European demography and family sociology, and develops a new test of the theory using annual panel data from 13 European countries for the period 1994–2001. Several indicators of men's economic status are used, including school enrollment, employment, type of labor contract, work experience, income, and education. Effects of these indicators are estimated for the transition to marriage and cohabitation, as well as for the transition from cohabitation to marriage. Country differences in these effects are examined as well. The evidence provides strong support for the male breadwinner hypothesis on the one hand, and for Oppenheimer's career uncertainty hypothesis on the other. However, the relevance of these hypotheses also depends on the national context, and especially on the way gender roles are divided in a society." [author's abstract]

Why do adult children support their parents and how can we explain differences among children in this respect? Similarly, why do people support their adult children and why are some parents more supportive than others? In this paper, an overview is given of three explanations of intergenerational
support: a theory about exchange, a theory about altruism, and a theory about social norms. Because these theories have different underlying models of behavior, they have been competing with each other in past research. I discuss the mechanisms and problems behind these general theories and
how they have been applied to the theme of intergenerational support. Next, I give an overview of different fields of research in which these theories (or parts of them) have been tested. The focus is on three different research traditions which have had different ways of testing the theories:
demographic and sociological research which has emphasized the life course concept, economic research which has emphasized financial transfers, and psychological research which has focused on wellbeing. Assorted findings from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, a large-scale panel study of
family relations in the Netherlands, serve as empirical illustrations.