Marriages, families and relationships : making choices in a diverse society / Mary Ann Lamanna, Agnes Riedmann, Susan Stewart.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ch. 1 Making Family Choices in a Changing Society -- Defining Family -- Family Functions -- Structural Family Definitions -- Postmodern: There Is No Typical Family -- Adapting Family Definitions to the Postmodern Family -- Facts about Families: American Families Today -- Relaxed Institutional Control over Relationship Choices: "Family Decline" or "Family Change"? -- Facts about Families: Focus on Children -- A Sociological Imagination: Personal Troubles and Some Social Conditions That Impact Families -- Ever-New Biological and Communication Technologies -- Economic Conditions -- Historical Periods and Events -- Demographic Characteristics: Age Structure -- Demographic Characteristics: Religion -- Demographic Characteristics: Race and Ethnicity -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Family Ties and Immigration -- Family Policy: A Family Impact Lens -- The Freedom and Pressures of Choosing -- Making Informed Decisions -- Families of Individuals -- Families As a Place to Belong -- Familistic (Communal) Values and Individualistic (Self-Fulfillment) Values -- People As Individuals and Family Members -- Marriages and Families: Four Themes -- ch. 2 Exploring Relationships and Families -- Science: Transcending Personal Experience -- The Blinders of Personal Experience -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Studying Families and Ethnicity -- Theoretical Perspectives on the Family -- The Family Ecology Perspective -- The Family Life Course Development Framework -- The Structure-Functional Perspective -- The Interaction-Constructionist Perspective -- Exchange Theory -- Family Systems Theory -- Conflict and Feminist Theory -- The Biosocial Perspective -- Attachment Theory -- The Relationship Between Theory and Research -- Designing a Scientific Study: Some Basic Principles -- Facts about Families: How Family Researchers Study Religion from Various Theoretical Perspectives -- Data-collection Techniques -- The Ethics of Research on Families -- ch. 3 Our Gendered Identities -- Gendered Identities -- Cultural Gender Expectations -- Issues for Thought: Challenges to Gender Boundaries -- To What Extent Do Women and Men Follow Cultural Expectations? -- Race/Ethnic Diversity and Gendered Expectations -- How Did Gender Roles Emerge? -- Biology-Based Arguments -- Society-Based Arguments -- Gender Structures -- Religion -- Government and Politics -- Education -- Economics -- Gender and Socialization -- Gender Socialization Theories -- Gender Socialization in Families -- Gender Socialization in Schools -- Gender and Social Change -- The Women's Movement -- Men's Movements -- Gender and Family in the Future -- ch. 4 Our Sexual Selves -- Sexual Development and Identity -- Children's Sexual Development -- Sexual Identity -- Issues for Thought: Bisexual or Just "Bi-Curious"? The Emergence of Pansexuality -- Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality -- The Exchange Perspective: Rewards, Costs, and Equality in Sexual Relationships -- The Interactionist Perspective: Negotiating Cultural Messages -- Changing Cultural Scripts -- Early America: Patriarchal Sex -- The Twentieth Century: The Emergence of Expressive Sexuality -- The 1960s Sexual Revolution: Sex for Pleasure -- The 1980s and 1990s: Challenges to Heterosexism -- The Twenty-First Century: Risk, Caution---and Intimacy -- Facts about Families: How Do We Know What We Do? A Look at Sex Surveys -- As We Make Choices: Sexting---Five Things To Think about Before Pressing "Send" -- Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Activity -- Sexual Values Outside Committed Relationships -- Abstinence -- Sex with Affection -- Sex Without Affection and Recreational Sex -- The Double Standard -- Sexual Values for Committed Relationships -- Monogamy and Sexual Infidelity -- Sexual Frequency -- Young Spouses and Partners -- Spouses and Partners in Middle Age -- Older Spouses and Partners -- What about Boredom? -- Sexual Relationships and Pornography -- The Politics of Sex -- Adolescent Sexuality and Sex Education -- Sexual Responsibility -- Risk of Pregnancy -- Sexually Transmitted Infections -- Responsibility to Sexual Partners -- Responsibility to Oneself -- ch. 5 Love and Choosing a Life Partner -- Love and Commitment -- Defining Love -- Gender Differences in Love -- Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love -- Attachment Theory and Loving Relationships -- Three Things Love Is Not -- Facts about Families: Six Love Styles -- Mate Selection: The Process of Selecting a Committed Partner -- A Sequential Model of Mate Selection -- Minimizing Mate Selection Risk -- The Marriage Market -- Arranged and Free-Choice Marriages -- Social Exchange -- Assortative Mating: A Filtering Out Process -- Homogamy: Narrowing the Pool of Eligibles -- As We Make Choices: Looking for Love on the Internet -- Heterogamy in Relationships -- Interracial and Interethnic Heterogamy -- Interfaith Relationships -- Heterogamy and Relationship Quality and Stability -- Meandering Toward Marriage: Developing the Relationship and Moving Toward Commitment -- Contemporary Dating -- Dating versus "Nondating" -- Issues for Thought: Sexual Assault and Acquaintance Rape -- From Dating to Commitment -- Dating Violence: A Serious Sign of Trouble -- The Possibility of Breaking Up -- Nurturing Loving and Committed Relationships -- ch. 6 Living Alone, Cohabiting, Same-Sex Unions, and Other Intimate Relationships -- Reasons for More Unmarrieds -- Demographic, Economic, and Technological Changes -- Cultural Changes -- Singles: Their Various Living Arrangements -- Living Alone -- Living Apart Together -- Living with Parents -- Group or Communal Living -- Cohabitation and Family Life -- Cohabitation: The Numbers -- Cohabitation and Age -- Characteristics of Cohabiters -- A Closer Look at Diversity: The Different Meanings of Cohabitation for Various Race/Ethnic Groups -- Cohabitation As an Acceptable Living Arrangement -- Cohabitation As an Alternative to Both Unattached Singlehood and Marriage -- The Cohabiting Relationship -- Cohabiting Parents and Outcomes for Children -- As We Make Choices: Some Things to Know about the Legal Side of Living Together -- Same-Sex Couples and Family Life -- Facts about Families: Same-Sex Couples and Legal Marriage in the United States -- The Same-Sex Couple's Relationship -- Same-Sex Parents and Outcomes for Children -- The Debate over Legal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples -- Maintaining Supportive Social Networks and Life Satisfaction -- ch. 7 Marriage: From Social Institution to Private Relationship -- Marital Status: The Changing Picture -- The Time-Honored Marriage Premise: Permanence and Sexual Exclusivity -- The Expectation of Permanence -- The Expectation of Sexual Exclusivity -- Issues for Thought: Three Very Different Subcultures with Norms Contrary to Sexual Exclusivity -- From "Yoke Mates" to "Soul Mates": A Changing Marriage Premise -- Weakened Kinship Authority -- Finding One's Own Marriage Partner -- Marriage and Love -- Deinstitutionalized Marriage -- Institutional Marriage -- Companionate Marriage -- Individualized Marriage -- Individualized Marriage and the Postmodern Family: Decline or Inevitable Change? -- Deinstitutionalized Marriage: Examining the Consequences -- Child Outcomes and Marital Status: Does Marriage Matter? -- A Closer Look at Diversity: African Americans and "Jumping the Broom" -- Valuing Marriage: The Policy Debate -- Policies from the Family Decline Perspective -- Policies from the Family Change Perspective -- Happiness, Well-Being, and Life Satisfaction: How Does Marriage Matter? -- Marital Satisfaction and Choices Throughout Life -- Preparation for Marriage -- Age at Marriage, Marital Stability, and Satisfaction -- The First Years of Marriage -- Creating Couple Connection -- ch. 8 Deciding about Parenthood -- Fertility Trends in the United States -- History, Fertility Trends, and Family Size -- Differential Fertility Rates by Education, Income, and Race/Ethnicity -- Things to Consider When Deciding about Parenthood -- Rewards and Costs of Parenthood -- Facts about Families: Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth: The Basics -- Issues for Thought: Cesarean Sections: Should a Delivery Be Planned for Convenience? -- How Children Affect Couple Happiness -- Choosing to Be Childfree -- Having Children: Options and Circumstances -- Timing Parenthood: Earlier versus Later -- Having Only One Child -- Nonmarital Births -- Multipartnered Fertility -- Preventing Pregnancy -- Abortion -- The Politics of Family Planning, Contraception, and Abortion -- Deciding about an Abortion -- Involuntary Infertility and Reproductive Technology -- Reproductive Technology: Social and Ethical Issues -- Reproductive Technology: Making Personal Choices -- Adoption -- The Adoption Process -- Adoption of Race/Ethnic Minority Children -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Through the Lens of One Woman, Adopted Transracially in 1962 -- Adoption of Older Children and Children with Disabilities -- International Adoptions -- ch. 9 Raising Children in a Diverse Society -- Parenting in Twenty-First Century America -- Parenting Challenges and Resilience -- A Stress Model of Parental Effectiveness -- The Transition to Parenthood -- As We Make Choices: Selecting a Child Care Facility---Ten Considerations -- Gender and Parenting -- Doing Motherhood -- Single Mothers -- Doing Fatherhood -- Single Fathers -- Nonresident Fathers -- What Do Children Need? -- Children's Needs Differ According to Age -- Experts Advise Authoritative Parenting -- Psychological Control versus Authoritative Parenting -- Is Spanking Ever Appropriate? -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Straight Parents and LGBT Children -- Social Class and Parenting -- Middle- and Upper-Middle-Class Parents -- Working-Class Parents -- Issues for Thought: How Would You Operationally Define a Quality Home Environment? -- Low-Income and Poverty-Level Parents -- Race/Ethnic Diversity and Parenting -- African American Parents -- Native American Parents -- Hispanic Parents --

Contents note continued: Asian American Parents -- Parents of Multiracial Children -- Parents in Transnational Families -- Religious Minority Parents -- Raising Children of Minority Race/Ethnic Identity in a Racist and Discriminatory Society -- Grandparents As Parents -- Facts about Families: Foster Parenting -- Parenting Young Adult Children -- Toward Better Parenting -- ch. 10 Work and Family -- The Interface of Work and Family Life -- Gender and the Work-Family Interface -- Men's Work and Family Roles -- "Good Providers" versus "Involved Fathers" -- Women's Work and Family Roles -- Women in the Labor Force -- Women's Occupations -- The Female-Male Wage Gap -- Stay-at-Home Moms -- Two-Earner Unions and Work/Family Options -- Two-Career Marriages -- Working Part-Time -- Shift work -- Doing Paid Work at Home -- Unpaid Family Work -- Household Labor -- Why Do Women Do More of the Household Labor? -- Diversity and Household Labor -- Juggling Employment and Family Work -- Work-Family Conflict in the Twenty-First Century -- Managing Two-Career Unions -- Two-Earner Families and Children's Well-Being -- Issues for Thought: When One Woman's Workplace Is Another's Family -- Social Policy, Work, and Family -- What Are the Issues? -- What's Needed to Address the Issues? -- As We Make Choices: Self-Care (Home Alone) Kids -- Who Will Provide What's Needed to Meet the Challenges? -- The Two-Earner Couple's Relationship -- Fairness and Couple Happiness -- ch. 11 Communication in Relationships, Marriages, and Families -- Characteristics of Cohesive Families -- Children, Family Cohesion, and Unresolved Conflict -- Issues for Thought: A Postdivorce Family Communicates As a Child-Raising Institution -- As We Make Choices: Communicating with Children---How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk -- Communication and Couple Satisfaction -- Communicate Positive Feelings -- Facts about Families: Ten Rules for Successful Relationships -- Stress, Coping, and Conflict in Relationships -- Indirect Expressions of Anger -- John Gottman's Research on Couple Communication and Conflict Management -- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse -- Gender Differences and Communication -- What Couples Can Do -- Working Through Conflicts in Positive Ways---Ten Guidelines -- Guideline 1 Express Anger Directly and with Kindness -- Issues for Thought: Biosociology, Love, and Communication -- Guideline 2 Check Out Your Interpretation of Others' Behaviors -- Guideline 3 To Avoid Attacks, Use "I" Statements -- Guideline 4 Avoid Mixed, or Double Messages -- Guideline 5 When You Can Choose the Time and Place Carefully -- Guideline 6 Address a Specific Issue, Ask for a Specific Change, and Be Open to Compromise -- Guideline 7 Be Willing to Change Yourself -- Guideline 8 Don't Try to Win -- Guideline 9 Be Willing to Forgive -- Guideline 10 End the Argument -- Toward Better Couple and Family Communication -- Relationship and Family Counseling -- The Myth of Conflict-Free Conflict -- Family Well-Being Depends on Positive Communication Habits Together with the Family's External Social Environment -- ch. 12 Power and Violence in Families -- What Is Power? -- Power Bases -- Classical Perspectives on Marital Power -- The Resource Hypothesis -- Current Research on Couple Power -- Decision Making -- Division of Household Labor -- Money Allocation -- Ability to Influence the Other -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Mobile Phones, Migrant Mothers, and Conjugal Power -- Diversity and Marital Power -- Power Politics versus Freely Cooperative Relationships -- Developing a Freely Cooperative Relationship -- As We Make Choices: Domination and Submission in Couple Communication Patterns -- Family Violence -- IPV Data Sources -- Facts about Families: Major Sources of Family Violence Data -- The Incidence of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) -- Correlates of Family Violence -- Gender and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) -- Situational Couple Violence -- Intimate Terrorism -- Facts about Families: Signs of Intimate Terrorism -- Male Victims of Heterosexual Terrorism -- Abuse among Same Gender, Bisexual, and Transgender Couples -- Violence Against Children---Child Maltreatment -- Neglect and Abuse -- How Extensive Is Child Maltreatment? -- Sibling Violence -- Child-to-Parent Violence -- Stopping Family Violence -- Micro, or Relationship Approaches -- Macro, or Structural Approaches -- ch. 13 Family Stress, Crisis, and Resilience -- Defining Family Stress, Crisis, and Resilience -- Facts about Families: Shielding Children from Stress Associated with Frightening Events -- Theoretical Perspectives on Family Stress and Crises -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Young Caregivers -- What Precipitates a Family Crisis? -- Types of Stressors -- Issues for Thought: Caring for Patients at Home---A Family Stressor -- Facts about Families: ADHD, Autism, Stigma, and Stress -- Stressor Overload -- The Course of a Family Crisis -- The Period of Disorganization -- Recovery -- Family Stress, Crisis, Adjustment, and Adaptation: A Theoretical Model -- Stressor Pileup -- Appraising the Situation -- Crisis-Meeting Resources -- Meeting Crises Creatively -- A Positive Outlook -- Spiritual Values and Support Groups -- Open, Supportive Communication -- Adaptability -- Informal Social Support -- An Extended Family -- Community Resources -- Issues for Thought: When a Parent Is in Prison -- Crisis: Disaster or Opportunity? -- ch. 14 Divorce and Relationship Dissolution -- Today's Divorce Rate -- The Divorce Divide -- Starter Marriages and Silver Divorces -- Divorce Among Gay and Lesbian Couples -- Redivorce -- Why Did the Divorce Rate Rise Throughout the Twentieth Century? -- Demographic Factors -- Economic Factors -- Weakening Social, Moral, and Legal Constraints -- Issues for Thought: Should Divorce Be Harder to Get? -- High Expectations for Marriage -- Interpersonal Dynamics -- Why the Divorce Rate Stabilized over the Past Three Decades -- Thinking about Divorce: Weighing the Alternatives -- "What's Stopping Me?" Barriers to Divorce -- "Would I Be Happier?" Alternatives to the Marriage -- "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" Rewards of the Current Marriage? -- Other Solutions to Marital Distress -- Getting the Divorce -- The "Black Box" of Divorce -- Initiating a Divorce -- Legal Aspects of Divorce -- Divorce Mediation -- Divorce "Fallout" -- The Economic Consequences of Divorce -- Consequences for Children: Single-Parent Families and Poverty -- Economic Losses for Women -- Economic Losses for Men -- Child Support -- The Social and Emotional Consequences of Divorce -- Consequences for Women and Men -- How Divorce Affects Children -- Child Custody Issues -- The Residential Parent -- The Visiting Parent -- Joint Custody -- Styles of Parental Relationships After Divorce -- Co-Parenting -- As We Make Choices: Rules for Successful Co-Parenting -- ch. 15 Remarriages and Stepfamiies -- Defining and Measuring Stepfamilies -- What Makes a Stepfamily? -- Issues for Thought: What Makes a Stepfamily? -- Various Types of Stepfamilies -- Perceptions of Stepfamilies: Stereotypes and Stigma -- Choosing Partners the Next Time -- Dating with Children -- What Kinds of People Become Stepparents? -- Second Weddings -- Happiness, Satisfaction, and Stability in Remarriage -- Happiness and Satisfaction in Remarriage -- The Stability of Remarriages -- Day-to-Day Living in Stepfamilies -- Challenges to Developing a Stepfamily Identity -- A Closer Look at Diversity: Do You Speak Stepfamily? -- The Stepfamily System -- Stepfamily Roles -- Stepfamily Relationships -- Financial and Legal Issues -- Well-Being in Stepfamilies -- The Well-Being of Parents and Stepparents -- The Well-Being of Children -- Creating Supportive Stepfamilies -- ch. 16 Aging and Multigenerational Families -- Our Aging Population -- Aging Baby Boomers -- Longer Life Expectancy -- Race/Ethnic Composition of the Older American Population -- Older Americans and the Diversity of Family Forms -- Living Arrangements of Older Americans -- Race/Ethnic Differences in Older Americans' Living Arrangements -- Gender Differences in Older Americans' Living Arrangements -- Aging in Today's Economy -- Retirement? -- Gender Issues and Older Women's Finances -- Relationship Satisfaction in Later Life -- Sexuality in Later Life -- Later-Life Divorce, Widowhood, and Remarriage -- Widowhood and Widowerhood -- Aging and Remarriage -- Multigenerational Ties: Older Parents, Adult Children, and Grandchildren -- Older Parents and Adult Children -- Grandparenthood -- As We Make Choices: Tips for Step-Grandparents -- Aging Families and Caregiving -- Facts about Families: Community Resources for Elder Care -- Issues for Thought: Filial Responsibility Laws -- Adult Children as Elder Care Providers -- Gender Differences in Providing Elder Care -- The Sandwich Generation -- Elder Care---Joy, Ambivalence, Reluctance, and Conflict -- Race/Ethnic Diversity and Family Elder Care -- Elder Abuse and Neglect -- Elder Maltreatment by Family Members -- The Changing American Family and Elder Care in the Future -- Same-Sex Families and Elder Care -- Toward Better Caregiving -- The Private Face of Family Caregiving -- The Public Face of Family Caregiving.