The consequences of economic growth

Book reviewed in this article: Growth: The Price We Pay. By E. J. MISHAN. Cost-Benefit Analysis. By E. J. MISHAN. The Limits to Growth. By DONELLA H. MEADOWS, DENNIS L. MADOWS, JØRGEN RANDERS, and WILLIAM w. BEHRENS m.     

Early adult psychological consequences for males of adolescent pregnancy and its resolution

Using data front 2522 young men who were first surveyed as 7th-grade students in Houston, Texas in 1971, we examined the psychological consequences in early adulthood of having a girlfriend become pregnant in adolescence. By age 21, 15% of the young men were involved in a nonmarital pregnancy. Rates were higher for blacks (24%) than for whites (12%) or Hispanics (16%). Among whites, most adolescent pregnancies were ended by abortion (58%). Adolescent pregnancies to blacks most often resulted in single parenthood (56%). Hispanics tended to have the child, and marry or live together (55%). Consistent with the life course perspective, young men involved in adolescent pregnancies were more psychologically distressed as young adults than those who did not have a girlfriend become pregnant in adolescence. The greater distress in adulthood is not simply a function of accelerated role transitions, because men whose girlfriends had abortions are also distressed, and those who let their girlfriends assume major parenting responsibility are no less distressed than those who became fathers and married or lived with their girlfriends. Subgroup comparisons revealed that psychological distress levels of young black men were not influenced by adolescent pregnancy.This paper was presented at the North Central Sociological Association meetings, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 1988, and reflects equal authorship. This research was supported by a grant (APR000940-02) to Dr. Robbins by the Adolescent Family Life Program, Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, Office of Population Affairs. The data were collected under a grant (R01DA02497) to Howard B. Kaplan by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.Graduate student in sociology at The University of Kentucky where she recently completed a master's thesis on adolescent fatherhood.Completed doctorate in sociology at the University of Michigan in 1984. This research is part of a larger study of the psychosocial causes, resolution, and consequences of adolescent pregnancy.     

Book Review

Book reviewed in this article: The British General Election of 1997 by David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh. New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls by Anthony King et al. Chatham     

New directions in the political history of women: A case study of the National Woman's Party's campaign for the equal rights amendment, 1920–1927

This paper examines the National Woman's Party campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1920s as an important chapter in the history of organized feminism in America. The analysis focuses on the NWP's two major objectives: to create gender equality and female autonomy and to redefine the agenda of American politics to include women's special interests. Drawing on the work of women's historians and feminist anthropologists, this paper also suggests several new perspectives for studying the political history of women. The relationship between the public and domestic spheres in general, and the relationship between women's politics and women's culture in particular, are discussed as central components for any new theoretical perspectives on women's political history.