Why do youth abuse alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs? How can you tell when a young person is using, and how should you respond? What if a student tells you that someone else is using drugs? This hands-on resource provides an overview of the substances kids are most likely to use (including over-the-counter drugs and increasingly popular inhalants), concise descriptions of effects and warning signs, and a guide to working with youth, parents, the school, social workers, and law enforcement. Comprehensive, realistic, and optimistic, it follows the entire cycle of substance abuse, from experimentation to recovery.
In the past decade, policymakers and researchers have become increasingly interested in social programs that promote and support healthy marriages. A growing body of research evidence suggests that marriage has benefits for families and children, including improved economic well-being and mental health, and that children raised in two-parent families perform better in school and have more positive developmental outcomes than children from single-parent families (Amato and Booth 1997; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994; Waite and Gallagher2000; Wood et al. 2007). Inspired in part by these potential benefits of marriage, a wide range of programs have been developed to encourage and support healthy marriages (Dion 2005).
Generally, spending more time on the job is associated with an increase in work-spouse conflict which, in turn, is associated with less marital satisfaction. This is especially so when people are working more hours than they desire. People report increased conflict when they are working more hours than their spouses would prefer. Still, research findings on the effects of increased work hours are mixed. So it may be important to consider whether it is husbands' or wives' work hours that is at issue to understand the relationship between increased work hours and marriage. Also, differences in findings may reflect differences in approaches taken in studies.
Karen Benjamin Guzzo received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina in 2003 and did postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty at Bowling Green in fall 2011. Trained as a family demographer and sociologist, most of her work examines what are considered "nontraditional" family behaviors. One line of research examines unintended fertility, looking at trends over time as well as the antecedents and consequences of unplanned births. A related line of work looks at nonmarital childbearing and multipartnered fertility, where individuals have children by different partners. Dr. Guzzo also studies trends in cohabitation, which has become increasingly common in the United States but decreasingly likely to lead to marriage even as more cohabiting couples are raising children. Finally, she is interested in parenting attitudes and behaviors, particularly among fathers.
In a new brief, Early Childhood Policy Focus: Healthy Eating and Physical Activity, Child Trends reviews recent data and current research on nutrition and exercise habits of young children under the age of six.
