Adriana Chavez

Adriana Chavez

Word Count:568

Family Quiz

 

The article, Trends in Marital Happiness by Gender and Race, 1973-2006 researchers are hoping to compare the trends of marital happiness that have been seen among both White genders and both Black genders from 1973 to 2006. To measure this, data form the GSS that was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center which contains a sample of randomized individuals over the legal age who speak English. This resulted in 24,455 married individuals who were predominately white spouses describing their marriage. They studied variables like marital happiness of those in the U.S on an ordinal scale with unhappiness defined with the choice of not to happy and happiness at its peak with, very happy. All this while taking into account the gender and race that chose the option. The independent variables considered were work status, marital status, work-employment status of both genders, age, education, income, and religiosity, as well as the presence of children in their lives to see if this had any effect on how happy black and white spouses were. After all variables were accounted for, the study measured the data with two different analysis scales; multivariate and trend. The multivariate analysis found that White spouses are the happiest with White husbands being the happiest, Black husbands being happy but not happier than white wives and Black wives being the most unhappy. This may be due to the fact that the analysis found that those with a not so affluent work status and younger children are low on the happiness scale while those who have highly educated spouses, higher income and those who attended religious ceremonies more often were happier. The trend analysis found that throughout the years, white husbands and white wives have been consistent in their happiness with only a slight decrease in happiness for White wives. On the other hand, Black husbands have been significantly happier than black wives throughout the years but the gap is closing between them because there has been a slight increase in the happiness of Black wives.

 

The article, Recent Changes in the Trends of Teen Birth Rates, 1981-2006 researchers want to know which new demographics of teen birth rates trends have occurred. The reason they want to study this is because the U.S is the country that has the highest rate of teen pregnancy amongst developed countries. Which is part due to lack of sexual education and other factors that researchers want to be aware of to reduce teen pregnancy even further. The method to measure if teen pregnancy is consistent, has increased or decreased; birth certificates that were under the public domain of the National Vital Statistics System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were reviewed. On top of this the study considered teen pregnancy among races; whites, blacks Asians/Pacific Islanders, Natives, and people of Hispanic origin since it's not considered a race. The study considered live births by 1,000 females which was then converted into annual percentage changes to account for the timeframes that the females gave birth in. The findings showed that there has been an increase in teen pregnancy among all females of Hispanic origins under 18 to 18-19 increased but the education level of all females increased to the completion of 12^th grade. On the opposite side, teen pregnancies for Asian/Pacific Islander teens has decreased. Also, the percentages of teen females decreased from 1981 to 2006. Overall, teen pregnancy has been decreasing and teen pregnancies has shifted toward older teens whereas before younger teens were giving birth more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Corra, M., Carter, S. K., Carter, J. S., & Knox, D. (2009). Trends in marital happiness by gender and race, 1973 to 2006. Journal of Family Issues,30(10), 1379-1404.

 

Wingo, Smith, Tevendale, & Ferré. (2011). Recent Changes in the Trends of Teen Birth Rates, 1981–2006. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48(3), 281-288.