Author Description

About the Author David Brinkerhoff is Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he has been since 1978, serving as Associate Vice Chancellor since 1991. Dr. Brinkerhoff has taught family and parent-child relationships, covering such topics as children's work in the family and the effect of economic marginality on the family. He also focuses on such issues as introducing technology in the classroom. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington in Seattle, with B.S. and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University.Lynn White is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she has been since 1974, having served as Chair of the Department of Sociology and Director of the Bureau of Sociological Research. She teaches social demography, family, and research methods. Her research has focused on relationships between parents and their adult children over the life course, covering such topics as the empty nest, co-residence, the link between marital quality and parenting experiences, and intergenerational exchange. Dr. White's current research on parent-child relationships in adult stepfamilies is funded by a grant from the National Institutes for Child Health and Human Development. Her work has appeared in AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW and SOCIAL FORCES as well as in family journals. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington in Seattle.Suzanne Ortega was named Vice Provost for Advanced Studies and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri, Columbia in the fall of 2000. Previously she served as an Associate Dean in Graduate Studies and Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, teaching both introductory sociology and social problems. Dr. Ortega's interests are directed toward the social psychological consequences of inequality. She is currently working on a National Institute of Mental Health gra