With nearly 80 million families residing in the United States, the health and well-being of families continue to be a popular area of inquiry and research, especially as the country experiences a variety of challenges as well as opportunities in a unique time in its history—socially, politically, and economically. Ohio, like many states, is experiencing changes in the demographic makeup of its population, changes in family formation, gaps in economic inequality and insecurity, housing and food system challenges, substance abuse and mental health concerns, and health disparities. For our review of the state of Ohio families (the first in a State of Families series), we searched local, state, and national databases and websites to aid in describing the current state of both the challenges faced by Ohioans and some of the innovations, programs of promise, and policies aimed at addressing family well-being. Although Ohio continues to face significant challenges, there is optimism for a strong future with much being accomplished through interdisciplinary partnerships, community-engaged research and solution seeking, prevention education and early intervention, and intentional innovations in policies and programs to support a healthy environment to live, work, and raise families.

In the context of the COVID-19 shutdowns, we explored associations between family dinner and family well-being among 731 adult parents in the United States who currently had at least one child residing in their home. The panel survey was administered during the summer of 2020 (June 18 through July 22). Participants were asked to respond to questions about relational processes before the COVID-19 shutdowns, at the height of the shutdowns, and currently (i.e., at the time of data collection). Results suggest that maintaining regular family meals or increasing the frequency of these meals was associated with increased closeness and more positive perceptions of the impact of the pandemic. Participants’ qualitative responses to several open-ended questions are used to provide additional insights and nuance to the quantitative findings.

This study investigates whether there are differences in preschool children’s cognitive, social, and behavioral development in families where mothers work nonstandard hours (i.e., night, evening, rotating) compared to regular hours. We also explore the role maternal stress and depression may play in explaining children’s differences in cognitive and socioemotional development within single mother families. Multivariate hierarchical analyses were conducted on a national sample of preschool age children (four to five years) living in a single mother household using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Our results show that preschool children whose mothers worked nonstandard schedules had significantly lower cognitive, social and emotional development compared to children whose mothers worked the regular dayshift. These disparities persisted even after extensive controls including number of hours worked, maternal age and education, and child’s prior development at two years old. Surprisingly, we also found that externalizing behavior was not related to nonstandard work hours. Our findings highlight the need to further unpack the negative impact working nonstandard hours has on children’s early cognitive skills as well as socioemotional development in households headed by single mothers.

Millennials are arguably different than their previous generations and studying marriage intention among young millennials would provide insights into the changing views of the long-standing institution of marriage. This study explored the rational intention toward marriage and identify the salient determinants of marriage intention among young millennials, utilizing the theory of planned behavior (TPB). We conducted formative focus groups and a cross-sectional survey (n = 201). Getting married for love and family was positively associated with marriage intention; getting married would get in the way of one’s education and career was negatively associated with marriage intention. Moreover, the results revealed that women were motivated by happiness but were discouraged by the loss of independence when it comes to marriage; men were motivated by the possibility of starting a family but were discouraged by fear of divorces. We found parents were the only significant normative referents associated with men’s marriage intention; parents, siblings, and friends were associated with women’s marriage intention.

Research outside of India suggests that romantic partners can help one another cope with these stressors by engaging in dyadic coping; however, to date, there lacks an empirically validated self-report measure to assess perceptions of one’s own and their partner’s behaviors in the Indian cultural context. While the Dyadic Coping Inventory has been translated into 24 languages, it has not yet been validated for use with individuals in India. The purpose of this study was to translate and validate the DCI in Tamil, one of the widely spoken languages in India, using data from 931 (n men = 431 men; n women = 500) married individuals in different-gender relationships. The factorial structure and measurement invariance (MI) were tested across genders (Indian men and women) and cultures (India, Switzerland, and the United States). Results supported the five-factor structure for the self and partner subscales and a two-factor structure for common dyadic coping. MI analysis indicated the DCI subscales showed configural, full metric and partial scalar invariance across gender (male vs. female in Indian sample) and culture (Indian vs. Swiss and Indian vs. the US). Implications for cross-cultural research and future directions are presented.

Previous research examined links from economic and cultural adaptation pressures to marital satisfaction and marital behavior. Results generally suggested a negative association between these sources of pressure and marital outcomes. However, the extant research is lacking given its inattention to the extent to which husbands and wives experience varying patterns of interrelated pressures and the differential links between patterns of economic and cultural adaptation pressures and marital outcomes. Using latent profile analysis, we identified four distinct patterns of economic and cultural adaptation pressures, underscoring the diversity in experiences among a seemingly homogeneous population of low-income Mexican immigrant couples. Furthermore, differences in marital satisfaction and marital negativity were identified, highlighting how varying patterns of pressures are differentially linked to marital quality.

This study aimed to explore the circumstances and considerations that lead to the allocation of family roles among male carer/female breadwinner families in comparison to traditional parents. A sample of 236 parents with children from birth to 5 years old completed extensive questionnaires about their daily routines and perceptions of their division of responsibilities. Economic considerations or labor market constraints were mentioned as main reasons by parents in both traditional and role-reversed arrangements, however, parents in traditional roles were more likely to mention suitability for the role as a key consideration. The results further showed that main caregivers—fathers and mothers alike—had a higher perception of choice over the allocation of roles and were significantly more satisfied with their division than main breadwinners. The majority of breadwinners wished they could work fewer hours, and breadwinning mothers, more than fathers, wished their partner could work more hours. The findings also shed light on the relationship between perception of choice, satisfaction with the current arrangement and preference for a change in the future.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that in western societies women are perceived as more attractive with weight drop (proxied by the BMI measure, where BMI =, while men are perceived as more attractive with height rise. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that as BMI rises for a woman, she has to compromise and marry shorter men. The study is based on the 2016 wave of the Israeli longitudinal survey. We observe the cross-sectional correlation between the married couples' height, weight, BMI, age, number of children, and proxies for accumulated wealth. The first part of the analysis tests the research hypothesis directly, while the second part of the analysis adds control variables. Research findings support the research hypothesis. Under equal conditions, the projected drop in the height of the male’ corresponds to an increase in the female’s BMI and age. Moreover, research findings may support the conclusion that taller men are more successful. The outcomes suggest positive association between the height of the men, and owning a car, having children, and living in a single family detached unit.

A growing body of literature has begun to furnish information on the prevalence of child abuse in India. The irony is that the perpetrator is often well known to the child and often intra-familial. Though in some situations, it is beyond their control but many times the family fails to protect the child from sexual abuse. The cultural tradition of the family being a “private space” provides little scope for intercession of public into critiquing its members. Furthermore, severe barriers of culture, traditional practices and social stigma attached in the society make it difficult to speak about the incidences of child abuse in public. The globalization process with modern technology has had it both positive and negative effects. Though it has opened new spaces for gender equality, it also encourages commodification of the bodies. The present paper is based on empirical data collected from one hundred respondents with four in-depth case studies of college girls studying in undergraduate and postgraduate programs of the selected colleges of Lucknow city. It attempts to reflect on the incidents of child abuse through narratives on the complex situation and the processes through which the victim, the family members and the civil society at large deals with.

Research on family in Sweden has recently focused on developing the concept of family. Trost has suggested the utility of conceptualizing family as a set of dyads, thus allowing for many families within a family. Qualitative methods have been used to examine family from this perspective in research and clinical practice. Research on family in Sweden has focused on change, particularly in such areas of investigation as marriage and cohabitation, gender roles, divorce, remarriage, stepfamilies, sexual behavior, birth, and child development. The influence of American sociologists has been strong in Sweden.