Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were contingent on the marital status of their partners' parents, although men from intact and divorced families did differ on structural constraints that affect commitment. Young adults who were casually dating showed the strongest effects of parental divorce, suggesting that the repercussions of parental divorce may be in place before the young adults form their own romantic relationships.

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Retirement planning guidelines were determined using a Delphi research design among 188 financial planners and educators. Consensus was found for using a 4% inflation rate, an 8.5% rate of return on investments, and a replacement ratio of 70 – 89% of current income when making retirement projections. Nine-tenths of the experts agreed that families should have achieved 50–60% of their retirement savings goal by age 50 and 85–90% by age 60. Regarding asset allocation, over 60% felt it was prudent to start moving toward more conservative investments about 3–5 years before retirement. Recommendations were developed on the proportion of growth-oriented equities to hold at various points prior to and after retiring. While the level of consensus was high, occupational and gender differences were noted. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Interviews disclosed a potential mismatch between the needs of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients who requested assistance with domestic violence and the services, particularly the domestic violence waiver, offered by the TANF system. Only a third of the TANF applicants who were referred to family violence specialists requested a waiver of the TANF participation requirements, but all of them reported other barriers to employment in addition to the violence in their homes. The other barriers often took precedence over the violence. The women needed help with child care, adequate housing, transportation, and living-wage jobs to support themselves and their children.

This study explores the similarities and differences between those who choose to remain in public child welfare (stayers) and those who leave (leavers) in a sample of Title IV-E MSW graduates. Interview transcripts from a self-selected sample of 386 specially-trained, MSW-level child welfare workers were thematically coded to compare and contrast the motivations, perceptions and experiences of 304 stayers and 82 leavers over a 10-year data collection period. Results showed that dedication to children and families and social work values does not differ between stayers and leavers. Overall, respondents raised a central issue of disconnection between educational experiences and agency realities. While all participants acknowledged workload and stress as job challenges, stayers illustrated experiences that buffered job pressures, particularly encounters with supportive supervisors. Leavers tended not to experience these buffers, and expressed more difficulty in balancing their professional and personal lives.

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