In Brief

By Lisa McLaughlin

NIGHT CARE With a changing work force that requires more people to work nontraditional hours, most child-care centers don't meet the needs of parents who are working nights and evenings. Enter second- and third-shift care centers. Last year there were 560 24-hour care centers operating in 18 states, and now 25 states have approved licensing for such centers.

GAY PARENTING More gay and lesbian couples are choosing to have kids, sparking what some researchers are calling the "gay-by boom." A study at the London School of Economics Gender Institute found that gay fathers were more likely to play an active role in parenting than straight men and were less likely to be constrained by gender roles. Even gay men who had children while married were more involved parents than divorced straight men. Earlier studies came to similar conclusions about lesbian mothers.

STRESSED WIVES Wives who want to know whether their marriage will survive should perhaps check their stress hormones. According to a recent study that examined the effects of stress on marriage, rising stress-hormone levels can be a predictor of divorce. Women whose levels rose while they were discussing their relationships, even in a pleasant way, were twice as likely to get divorced as women whose hormones remained constant.

--By Lisa McLaughlin