The Inability to Turn Down Sex Makes Mothers Lonely; The Young People Applying for MAID; The Trials of Skip-Generational Living; The Privilege, then Burden of Male Solo Living + more.
It could help to look at what fields women are getting degrees in and taking on debt to do so. My guess is those fields aren't very lucrative but need high credentials, and are also not professional degrees. On this topic, there's this great book called Paying For The Party, that follows women in college. They found that if girls from middle class or lower families ended up in sororities and such, they'd change major to whatever the wealthy girls were doing. But those fields (e.g. sports broadcasting) are just easier and more conducive to partying, and you can't make a living in them unless daddy's connections help you find a low-paying job in NYC but you're wealthy enough not to need the money for ten years. If you're not from that background, those majors make no sense financially, because you end up working in minimum wage jobs at the end of it with massive debt.
There are also much fewer pink-collar professional fields. Nursing is one, where anyone from any background can go into it and graduate with a decent job. There are many that are male dominated, especially engineering.
Anecdotal: I knew these two kids studying at UC Berkeley. Both were from lower-middle class backgrounds, took on debt to do so. He was studying physics, she was studying filmmaking. She spent all her time being involved in campus causes and campus life, and dragged him along. But since she was trying to save money, she would spend her summers working in a restaurant she had been waitressing at since she was fifteen. She didn't do anything relevant to her field because they didn't pay. He wasted time too, but he'd also find internships at physics labs or coding at startups. He was being much less dedicated than she was, but he was being more impactful career wise. Since they graduated, he's spiraled for a bunch of reasons, but his credentials allow him to get a job that pays well for whatever duration he can hold it, and just working for 3-6 months has him good for the rest of the year. She's still working at the restaurant and trying to do online courses on filmmaking. He has paid off his debt despite his whole life being iffy, but she hasn't.
Oof, what a grim study finding about loneliness. My speculative interpretation: the kinds of husbands who make their wives feel unable to say no to intercourse, are generally more possessive, jealous and controlling. Such traits probably extend to other aspects of life like socializing with friends.
I’m interested in the info of skip generational living. Were there any specifics about who moved in with who? Like was it grandma moving in with adult grandchildren because she doesn’t have money or grandchildren and great grandchildren moving in with grandma to alleviate their own housing cost problems because maybe she owns her home or has a rent control place or really good pension? I feel like I’ve seen more of the second in my line of work with at risk teens and families
Sorry if I didn't make this clear enough but the study was categorizing elderly folks living with kids under 18. The skip-generational living category included those in which a senior "lives with their adoptive, step, or biological grandchild under eighteen or the grandchild of their partner, but not with their adult child or that of their partner." So they just have the minor child with them and not that minor's parent (or the parent is still a minor). And then the multigenerational category includes seniors who live with "their adoptive, step, or biological grandchild under eighteen or the grandchild of their partner, and with their own adult child or that of their partner." So, they have both the minor child and its parent living with them. Other than breaking it out by education, marital status, and whether or not the senior was foreign born, they don't get super granular on the circumstances. But I have seen other data suggesting that when multiple generations move in together, it's more likely to be because the younger generations need help from the older ones (which sounds like maybe what you are seeing?).
Re the Belgian study, I wonder if similar job factors affect paid care work mental health - for example do home health aides do better with a shorter work week? I’m not sure how you’d control for the stress of involuntary underemployment/less income. Do child care workers do measurably better with more PTO or fewer kids per adult?
It could help to look at what fields women are getting degrees in and taking on debt to do so. My guess is those fields aren't very lucrative but need high credentials, and are also not professional degrees. On this topic, there's this great book called Paying For The Party, that follows women in college. They found that if girls from middle class or lower families ended up in sororities and such, they'd change major to whatever the wealthy girls were doing. But those fields (e.g. sports broadcasting) are just easier and more conducive to partying, and you can't make a living in them unless daddy's connections help you find a low-paying job in NYC but you're wealthy enough not to need the money for ten years. If you're not from that background, those majors make no sense financially, because you end up working in minimum wage jobs at the end of it with massive debt.
There are also much fewer pink-collar professional fields. Nursing is one, where anyone from any background can go into it and graduate with a decent job. There are many that are male dominated, especially engineering.
Anecdotal: I knew these two kids studying at UC Berkeley. Both were from lower-middle class backgrounds, took on debt to do so. He was studying physics, she was studying filmmaking. She spent all her time being involved in campus causes and campus life, and dragged him along. But since she was trying to save money, she would spend her summers working in a restaurant she had been waitressing at since she was fifteen. She didn't do anything relevant to her field because they didn't pay. He wasted time too, but he'd also find internships at physics labs or coding at startups. He was being much less dedicated than she was, but he was being more impactful career wise. Since they graduated, he's spiraled for a bunch of reasons, but his credentials allow him to get a job that pays well for whatever duration he can hold it, and just working for 3-6 months has him good for the rest of the year. She's still working at the restaurant and trying to do online courses on filmmaking. He has paid off his debt despite his whole life being iffy, but she hasn't.
All very good points. The gendered aspect of WHAT women are going to college for makes all the difference.
Oof, what a grim study finding about loneliness. My speculative interpretation: the kinds of husbands who make their wives feel unable to say no to intercourse, are generally more possessive, jealous and controlling. Such traits probably extend to other aspects of life like socializing with friends.
I think you might be onto something...
I’m interested in the info of skip generational living. Were there any specifics about who moved in with who? Like was it grandma moving in with adult grandchildren because she doesn’t have money or grandchildren and great grandchildren moving in with grandma to alleviate their own housing cost problems because maybe she owns her home or has a rent control place or really good pension? I feel like I’ve seen more of the second in my line of work with at risk teens and families
Sorry if I didn't make this clear enough but the study was categorizing elderly folks living with kids under 18. The skip-generational living category included those in which a senior "lives with their adoptive, step, or biological grandchild under eighteen or the grandchild of their partner, but not with their adult child or that of their partner." So they just have the minor child with them and not that minor's parent (or the parent is still a minor). And then the multigenerational category includes seniors who live with "their adoptive, step, or biological grandchild under eighteen or the grandchild of their partner, and with their own adult child or that of their partner." So, they have both the minor child and its parent living with them. Other than breaking it out by education, marital status, and whether or not the senior was foreign born, they don't get super granular on the circumstances. But I have seen other data suggesting that when multiple generations move in together, it's more likely to be because the younger generations need help from the older ones (which sounds like maybe what you are seeing?).
Thanks! Interesting!
Re the Belgian study, I wonder if similar job factors affect paid care work mental health - for example do home health aides do better with a shorter work week? I’m not sure how you’d control for the stress of involuntary underemployment/less income. Do child care workers do measurably better with more PTO or fewer kids per adult?
ooh yeah good questions... I'll keep an out out for anything on this topic in the paid care realm!
thanks for the mention!