Color Us Invisible

By: Mignon Moore

In the shadow of communities, black lesbians form lives, love, and families.

Council on Contemporary Families Releases New Research on Moms' Depression.
Study Includes a Win-Win Finding for Working Moms AND Stay-at-Home Moms
But Findings Pose a Challenge to Employers and Politicians

CONTACT: Virginia Rutter Framingham State University Sociology

vrutter@gmail.com; 508-626-4863

Neither side is right, according to a new briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families. The impact of working for pay or staying home on a woman's risk of depression depends on her preferences and on the quality of her job, the researchers find.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- January 26, 2010

CONTACT: Stephanie Coontz; coontzs@msn.com; 360.556.9223; 360.352.8117

Click here to download the complete report as a PDF.

The marriage prospects of educated women have been hotly debated in the media in recent weeks. Are highly educated women more likely to wind up single than their less-educated counterparts? Would they do better to settle for a "good enough" man before they miss their chance altogether? Or are educated women now MORE likely to marry then their less-educated counterparts? But if so, do higher expectations make them more discontented with marriage?

In a briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families, economists Betsey Stevenson and Adam Isen crunch the data from 1950 to 2008 and come up with some surprising findings. Yes, college-educated white women (unlike college-educated black women) are less likely to marry than their less-educated counterparts. But when they do marry, they are less likely to divorce, so that by age 40, they are MORE likely to be married than other women, many of whom have already divorced.

In addition, college-educated women who are unmarried at age 40 are twice as likely to marry in the next 10 years as unmarried 40-year-olds with just a high school degree. Educated women are also more likely to report themselves happy in their marriages than less-educated women.

What do you plan to give your valentine this February 14: a bouquet of flowers, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, a candlelit dinner?  Have you considered the gift that keeps on giving: a sexually transmitted infection?  Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections that result from the transmission of certain bacteria or viruses during physically intimate acts.  An STI may or may not result in a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that has noticeable symptoms.

Just in time for this romantic holiday, CCF's Adina Nack, a sociology professor at California Lutheran University, dispels STI/STD myths, updates us on the facts, and gives practical advice for how to avoid STIs 365 days a year.  The idea is that for Valentines Day you can give love and keep your sexual well-being.