Relationships and Well-Being Over the Life Stages

?Keith and Schafer (Iowa State University) have extensive professional experience in the area of family studies and have produced an interesting study of a family survey in Iowa. Families were classified into five life stages: two-parent households with at least one child under six; two-parent households with at least one child between 6 and 18; married-couple households with no children and wife between 45 and 59 years; married-couple households with no children and wife 60 years or over; and single-parent households with at least one child under 19 years. These stages are examined in terms of work and family-role relationships and how these influence psychological well-being. Evaluations of roles include assessments of equity/inequity, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and relative deprivation of work-family roles. Well-being is measured in terms of self-concept, role strain, and depression. The treatment of these and other subjects is systematic throughout the study and the statistical results are clearly presented. Although the data are drawn from only one state, the results warrant close attention by others working in this field. Current bibliography and a brief index. Should be included in any academic library with holdings in family research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.--T.E. Steahr, University of Connecticut.?-Choice ?Social scientists with a particular interest in the topics in this book will enjoy specific chapters. This book could be a useful supplementary text for courses on marriage and the family.?-Contemporary Sociology "Social scientists with a particular interest in the topics in this book will enjoy specific chapters. This book could be a useful supplementary text for courses on marriage and the family."-Contemporary Sociology "Keith and Schafer (Iowa State University) have extensive professional experience in the area of family studies and have produced an interesting study of a family survey in Iowa. Families were classified into five life stages: two-parent households with at least one child under six; two-parent households with at least one child between 6 and 18; married-couple households with no children and wife between 45 and 59 years; married-couple households with no children and wife 60 years or over; and single-parent households with at least one child under 19 years. These stages are examined in terms of work and family-role relationships and how these influence psychological well-being. Evaluations of roles include assessments of equity/inequity, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and relative deprivation of work-family roles. Well-being is measured in terms of self-concept, role strain, and depression. The treatment of these and other subjects is systematic throughout the study and the statistical results are clearly presented. Although the data are drawn from only one state, the results warrant close attention by others working in this field. Current bibliography and a brief index. Should be included in any academic library with holdings in family research at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.--T.E. Steahr, University of Connecticut."-Choice

PAT M. KEITH is Professor of Sociology and Assistant Dean in the Graduate College at Iowa State University. She is co-editor of Later Life Transitions (1985) and author of The Unmarried in Later Life (Praeger Publishers, 1989). ROBERT B. SCHAFER is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Iowa State University. He is the author of many journal articles, monographs, and book chapters.

Relationships and Well-Being Over the Life Stages Methodology Work and Well-Being in One-and Two-Job Families Equity in the Marriage Relationship Gender Roles in the Family: Is the Older Family Different? Typologies of Marriages: Differences Across the Life Stages The Self-Concept in an Intimate Relationship Gender-Role Attitudes, Characteristics of Employment, and Well-Being of Single and Married Employed Mothers Food Behavior and Diet Over the Life Stages A Concluding Glimpse of Families Over the Life Stages References Index