More people than ever are going to graduate school to seek a PhD these days. When they get there, they discover a bewildering environment: a rapid immersion in their discipline, a keen competition for resources, and uncertain options for their future, whether inside or outside of academia. Life with a PhD can begin to resemble an unsolvable maze. In "Behind the Academic Curtain," Frank F. Furstenberg offers a clear and user-friendly map to this maze. Drawing on decades of experience in academia, he provides a comprehensive, empirically grounded, and, most important of all, practical guide to academic life.
While the greatest anxieties for PhD candidates and postgrads are often centered on getting that tenure-track dream job, each stage of an academic career poses a series of distinctive problems. Furstenberg divides these stages into five chapters that cover the entire trajectory of an academic life, including how to make use of a PhD outside of academia. From finding the right job to earning tenure, from managing teaching loads to conducting research, from working on committees to easing into retirement, he illuminates all the challenges and opportunities an academic can expect to encounter. Each chapter is designed for easy consultation, with copious signposts, helpful suggestions, and a bevy of questions that all academics should ask themselves throughout their career, whether at a major university, junior college, or a nonacademic organization. An honest and up-to-date portrayal of how this life really works, "Behind the Academic Curtain" is an essential companion for any scholar, at any stage of his or her career.

In spite of the upset children experience after parental separation, Furstenberg and Cherlin find that most Children adapt successfully as long as their mother does reasonably well financially and psychologically, and as long as conflict between parents is low. The casualty of divorce is usually the declining relationship between fathers and their children.

Over the past few decades, scholarly and policy interest in fatherhood and fathering has burgeoned, in large part because of profound social changes in women's and men's lives in the last half of the twentieth century. However, this research has remained largely national in focus, with little cross-cultural dissemination of knowledge about fathering practices and supportive or constraining social policies. This insightful volume presents a transatlantic perspective on fatherhood and fathering comparatively across nation states, as well as in individual countries (including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Norway.) Exploring the diversity of fatherhood, it encompasses differences across social class, race and ethnicity, age and life course, and varied household formations. The articles examine young fathers, separated and divorced fathers, fathers from minority ethnic and immigrant groups, working-class fathers, new fathers, gay fathers, and fathers of children with special needs. Readers can gauge the different "epochs" of fathering over time and explore the tension that fathers may experience between being good financial providers and actively caring for their children. Topics of adversity in the face of fatherhood include non-residence, homelessness or poor housing; marginalization in wider society; racism; low-paying, unstable or lack of employment; and the struggle to find a work-family balance. When looking at fatherhood on an international scale, it is imperative to ask if fathers' subjectivities and actions can be understood outside of their social and material contexts. The articles here take the reader through these contexts - such as family and neighborhood supports, the labor market, welfare state conditions and the way in which policy measures interact with preexisting and varying conditions. Authored by leading figures in fathering research from North America, Europe, and Scandinavia, the multilayered and intriguing articles in this volume of The ANNALS point toward the need for sustainable policy frameworks that enable fathers to be involved in their children's lives in ways that do not include biased assumptions about the expression of that involvement. Students, scholars and policymakers will find that this collection of cutting-edge articles challenges current social policies and public law regarding fatherhood across nations. It provides an important global outlook on an intriguing and important topic as well as inspiration for future research.

Over the past few decades, scholarly and policy interest in fatherhood and fathering has burgeoned, in large part because of profound social changes in women's and men's lives in the last half of the twentieth century. However, this research has remained largely national in focus, with little cross-cultural dissemination of knowledge about fathering practices and supportive or constraining social policies. This insightful volume presents a transatlantic perspective on fatherhood and fathering comparatively across nation states, as well as in individual countries (including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Norway.) Exploring the diversity of fatherhood, it encompasses differences across social class, race and ethnicity, age and life course, and varied household formations. The articles examine young fathers, separated and divorced fathers, fathers from minority ethnic and immigrant groups, working-class fathers, new fathers, gay fathers, and fathers of children with special needs. Readers can gauge the different "epochs" of fathering over time and explore the tension that fathers may experience between being good financial providers and actively caring for their children. Topics of adversity in the face of fatherhood include non-residence, homelessness or poor housing; marginalization in wider society; racism; low-paying, unstable or lack of employment; and the struggle to find a work-family balance. When looking at fatherhood on an international scale, it is imperative to ask if fathers' subjectivities and actions can be understood outside of their social and material contexts. The articles here take the reader through these contexts - such as family and neighborhood supports, the labor market, welfare state conditions and the way in which policy measures interact with preexisting and varying conditions. Authored by leading figures in fathering research from North America, Europe, and Scandinavia, the multilayered and intriguing articles in this volume of The ANNALS point toward the need for sustainable policy frameworks that enable fathers to be involved in their children's lives in ways that do not include biased assumptions about the expression of that involvement. Students, scholars and policymakers will find that this collection of cutting-edge articles challenges current social policies and public law regarding fatherhood across nations. It provides an important global outlook on an intriguing and important topic as well as inspiration for future research.

This landmark study traces the life histories of approximately 300 teenage mothers and their children over a seventeen-year period. From interview data and case studies, it provides a vivid account of the impact of early childbearing on young mothers and their children. Some remarkable and surprising results emerge from this unique study of the long term adaptation to early parenthood. It also offers new insights into the unexplored connections between mothers' careers and the development of their children. Adolescent Mothers in Later Life will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in teenage pregnancy.

Two leading sociologists of the family examine the changing role of American grandparents--how they strive for both independence and family ties.

One of the myths about families in inner-city neighbourhoods is that they are characterized by poor parenting. The sociologist Frank Furstenberg and his colleagues explode this and other misconceptions about success, parenting, and socioeconomic advantage in this text. The book launches a series which focuses on how and why youth are able to overcome - rather than succumb to - social disadvantages. Based on more than 500 interviews and qualitative case studies of families in inner-city Philadelphia, the text reveals how parents managed different levels of resources and dangers in low-income neighbourhoods and how this management, rather than community involvement, contributed to the success of their children. The authors detail the factors that shape the trajectories of adolescents and in so doing provide information about programmes and services that should be useful to policy makers, sociologists, educators, and indeed anyone concerned with the fate of the urban poor.