JANET STOCKS is Director of the Center for Academic and Professional Success, Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, USA. She is a sociologist with an interest in education, the family, religion and qualitative methods. BJORN HALLEROD is Professor of Sociology, Umea University, Sweden. Since the mid-1980s he has worked extensively on issues related to income distribution, poverty and living conditions. He is currently looking at the relationship between different welfare problems and longitudinal research on individual changes in living conditions. CAPITOLENA DIAZ MARTINEZ is Associate