1 volume (various pagings) : 26 cm Includes bibliographical references and index 1. Intimate relationships, marriages, and families in the twenty-first century -- What is a family? -- Family forms -- Changes in family philosophy and emphasis -- From institution to companionship -- From patriarchy to democracy -- Changes in marriage and parenthood -- Marriage rates -- Median age -- Birthrates and family size -- Working mothers -- One-parent families -- Cohabitation -- Gay and lesbian families -- Personal perspective: gay marriages -- Grandparents as parents -- Changes in life expectancy -- Changes in divorce and remarriage -- Divorce rates -- Remarriage trends -- Blended families -- Changes in nonmarital sexual behavior -- Sexual activity -- The use of contraceptives -- At issue today: oral sex and STDs -- Increased cultural diversity in families -- Cultural perspective: ethnic identity and acculturation -- Theories to help explain family behavior -- Structural-functional theory -- Family developmental theory -- Symbolic interaction theory -- Systems theory --Exchange theory -- Conflict theory -- Feminist theory -- Critique of family theories -- The study of marriage, families, and intimate relationships -- A question of policy: gay and lesbian families 2. Family backgrounds and how they influence us -- Why examine family background? -- Understanding the socializing influence of the family -- Determining differential effects -- Developing self-understanding -- Assuming personal responsibility -- Making peace with the past -- Personal perspective: patterns of communication -- Parental attitudes toward children -- Approval -- Cultural perspective: African American family strengths and influences -- Criticism and rejection -- Attitudes toward intimate partners -- Family closeness: attitudes toward intimacy -- Attitudes toward sex -- Attitudes toward marriage and divorce -- Gender-role socialization in the family -- At issue today: Values and marital satisfaction -- Variations in values -- Culture and values -- Family values -- Work habits -- Communicative, noncommunicative, and conflictive families -- Open, honest, tactful communication -- Superficial communication -- One-sided communication -- False communication -- Avoidance of communication -- Noncommunications -- Angry communication -- A question of policy: family environment 3. Gender: identity and roles -- Environmental influences on gender -- Societal expectations -- Parental influences -- At issue today: women and weight: gendered messages on magazine covers -- The influence of popular press and television -- School influences -- Theories of gender role and identity -- Social learning theory -- Cognitive developmental theory -- Gender Schema theory -- Social structure / cultural theories -- Evolutionary theories: sociobiology and functionalism -- Traditional masculine and feminine stereotypes -- Masculinity -- Femininity -- Personal perspective: life on the boundaries of gender -- Problems with gender stereotypes -- Gender roles and body image -- Gender roles in the family -- Gender and brain differences -- Cultural perspective: the word "machismo" -- race, class, and gender -- Housework and child care roles -- Gender, marriage, and depression -- Roles over the family life cycle -- Androgyny -- A question of policy: Title IX 4. Being single -- Categories of singles -- Voluntary singles -- Involuntary singles -- Why some people remain single -- Deliberate choice -- Fear of marriage -- Lack of opportunity -- Circumstances -- Advantages and disadvantages of being single -- The health and well-being of singles -- Living arrangements-- Shared living spaces -- Living with parents -- Living alone -- Sexual behavior -- Teens -- Adult heterosexual activity -- Same-sex activity -- Sexual orientation -- At issue today: friends with benefits -- Sexual attraction -- Selected health measures -- Employment and income -- Single parents -- Cultural perspective: African American single mothers -- Special issues for single-parent families -- The never-married adult -- Personal perspective: single fatherhood -- A question of policy: sex outside of marriage 5. Attraction and dating -- Attraction -- Physical attractiveness -- Standards of attractiveness -- Personality and social factors -- Unconscious influences -- The dating system -- Courtship in early America -- The emergence of dating -- The rating and dating complex of the 1930s -- Dating and courtship from the 1940s to the 1960s -- Dating at the end of the Twentieth Century -- Dating today -- Reasons for dating -- Dating partners versus long-term partners -- Finding and meeting dates -- Personal ads -- Cultural perspective: arranged marriages -- Dating services and the Internet -- Gender roles in dating -- Problems in dating -- Honesty and openness -- Personal perspective: dating today -- Jealousy and infidelity -- Getting too serious -- Closeness and distance in relationships -- Sexual aggression and dating violence -- Psychological and emotional effects of dating -- Violence -- Verbal sexual coercion -- Date rape -- At issue today: the date rape drug -- The progression of violence -- Breaking up a relationship -- A question of policy: sexual assault 6. Love and mate selection -- What is love? -- Romantic love -- Is romantic love a sound basis for marriage? -- Erotic love -- Are love and sex the same? -- Sex as an expression of love -- Dependent love -- Maslow's theory of love as need -- Friendship love -- Loving and liking -- Altruistic love -- Fromm's view of altruistic love -- Components of love -- Love and attachment -- Changes over time -- Theories of mate selection -- Psychodynamic theories -- Needs theories -- Exchange theories -- Developmental process theories -- Family background factors in mate selection -- Socioeconomic class -- Education and intelligence -- Interracial and interethnic marriages -- Interfaith marriages -- Personal characteristics -- Individual traits and behavior -- Age differentials -- Consensus and similarity of attitudes and values -- Gender roles and personal habits -- Nonmarital cohabitation -- Patterns of relationships -- The effect of marriage -- The transition to marriage -- Marital readiness -- Marriage and the law -- Preparing for marriage -- Personal perspective: the big wedding -- Cultural perspective: Chinese wedding ceremonies -- Rites of passage -- Engagement -- At issue today: the lavish wedding -- The wedding as a religious and civil rite -- A question of policy: marriage incentives 7. Qualities of a successful marriage -- Criteria for evaluating marital success -- Durability -- Approximation of ideals -- Fulfillment of needs -- Satisfaction -- Happy versus unhappy marriages -- Sex and a happy marriage -- Cultural perspective: polygamy -- Twelve characteristics of successful marriages: Communication -- Admiration and respect -- Companionship -- Spirituality and values -- Commitment -- Affection -- The ability to deal with crises and stress -- Responsibility -- Unselfishness -- Empathy and sensitivity -- Honesty, trust, and fidelity -- Adaptability, flexibility, and tolerance -- At issue today: no time for love -- Premarital predictors of marital quality -- The newlywed years as predictors of marital satisfaction -- Personal perspective: a healthy marriage -- Why some people regret their choice of mate -- A question of policy: covenant marriages 8. Marital relationships over the family life cycle -- Marriage and personal happiness -- The family life cycle -- Gay and lesbian families -- Adjustments early in marriage -- Marital adjustment tasks -- Problems during three early stages -- Adjustments to parenthood -- Parenthood and stress -- Cultural perspective: individualism versus familism -- Fatherhood and the life course -- Adjustments during middle adulthood -- Marital adjustments -- The postparental years -- Adjustments during late adulthood -- Developmental tasks -- Marital satisfaction -- Divorce -- Parent-adult child relationships -- Widowhood -- At issue today: Who cares for the elderly? -- A question of policy: long-term health care 9. Work, family roles, and material resources -- The American family today -- Work, stress, and family -- Positive benefits of dual-earner families -- Needed: more time -- The parents' child care role -- Household labor -- Marital adjustment -- Dual-career families -- Material resources -- Financial needs -- The gender wage gap -- Families and debt -- Personal perspective: paying for health care -- Poverty and family life -- The poverty line -- At issue today: the rising cost of health care -- Cultural perspective: race and economics -- The effects of poverty on families -- Homelessness -- The feminization of poverty -- Welfare and the family -- The widening gap between the rich and the poor -- A question of policy: earned income tax credit 10. Power, decision making, and communication -- The meaning of power -- Why people want power -- Self-actualization -- Social expectations -- Family-of-origin influences -- Psychological need -- Sources of power -- Cultural norms -- Cultural perspective: wearing a veil -- Gender norms -- Economic resources -- Education and knowledge -- Personality differences -- Communication ability -- Emotional factors -- Physical stature and strength -- Life circumstances -- Children -- Marital power patterns -- Power processes -- Power tactics that help -- Power tactics that can help or harm -- Power tactics that harm -- Personal perspective: power struggles in relationships -- Consequences of power struggles -- Communication -- Verbal and nonverbal communication -- Barriers to communication -- At issue today: female empowerment -- Improving communication skills -- Motivation and concern -- Self-disclosure -- Clarity -- Feedback and reciprocity -- Arguing constructively -- A question of policy: the power of Federal Judges 11. Family planning and parenthood -- The importance of family planning -- Hormonal control -- Oral contraceptives -- At issue today: the abortion pill -- Vaginal spermicides -- Intrauterine devices -- Barrier methods -- Condoms -- Diaphragms -- Cervical caps -- Sterilization -- Vasectomy -- Tubal ligation -- Birth control without devices -- Fertility awareness methods -- Coitus interruptus -- Noncoital stimulation -- Choosing a method of contraception -- Abortion -- Legal considerations -- Moral considerations -- Social considerations -- Psychological and personal considerations -- Cultural perspective: a preference for males -- Sexually transmitted diseases -- HIV/AIDS -- Herpes Simplex -- Hepatitis B -- Human Papillomavirus (HPV) / genital warts -- Chlamydial infections -- Gonorrhea -- Syphilis -- Parasitic infections -- Infertility -- Causes of infertility -- Infertility and subjective well-being -- Treatment of infertility -- Alternative means of conception -- The adoption option -- Personal perspective: infertility -- The foster care option -- To parent or not to parent -- Delayed parenthood -- Reasons for having children -- Choosing a child-free marriage -- A question of policy: embryos 12. Pregnancy and childbirth -- Pregnancy -- Signs and symptoms of pregnancy -- Tests for pregnancy -- Calculating birth date -- Emotional reactions to pregnancy -- Prenatal care -- The importance of prenatal care -- Minor side effects of pregnancy -- Major complications of pregnancy -- Sexual relations during pregnancy -- Mental health -- Prenatal development -- The germinal period -- The embryonic period -- The fetal period -- Prepared childbirth -- The Lamaze Method -- Labor and delivery -- The duration of labor -- Cultural perspective: the use of ultrasounds -- Stages of labor -- The postpartum period -- Care of the newborn -- Parent-infant contact and bonding -- At issue today: options for delivery -- Rooming-in -- Postpartum adjustments -- Returning to work -- Sexual relations after childbirth -- Personal perspective: postpartum depression -- A question of policy: frozen embryos and stem cells 13. Parent-child relationships -- Philosophies of child rearing -- Parental differences -- Value differences -- Parent-child differences -- Cultural differences -- Life circumstances -- Cultural perspective: cultural conflict and acculturation -- Differences in children -- Fostering cognitive and intellectual growth -- Parental contributions -- Personal perspective: parenting a child with special needs -- Language development and cultivation -- Education defining and modeling -- Meeting emotional needs -- Emotional attachments -- Effects separation and rejection -- Child care -- At issue today: family happiness and material wealth -- Autonomy -- Social competence, socialization, and discipline -- Meaning and goals of discipline -- Principles of discipline -- Discipline and behavioral problems -- Corporal punishment -- A question of policy: two-parent families 14. Parents and extended family relationships -- Parent -adult child relationships -- When parents disapprove of choice of partner -- Children's identification with parents -- Interdependence between generations -- Cultural perspective: emerging adulthood -- Parent-adult child relationships and psychological functioning -- Elder care -- Personal perspective: mother-daughter relationships -- In-laws -- Successful in-law relationships -- The roots of conflict -- Living with parents or in-laws -- Effects of coresidence -- Sources of stress -- Grandparents -- At issue today: fictive kinship -- What grandparents can do for grandchildren -- Grandparents who parent their grandchildren -- Adolescents, young adults, and grandparents -- What grandchildren can do for grandparents -- Adult sibling relationships -- A question of policy: health care 15. Conflict, family crises, and crisis management -- Conflict and children -- The family environment -- Interparent conflict -- Sources of conflict -- Personal sources -- Physical sources -- Interpersonal sources -- Situational or environmental sources -- Methods of dealing with conflict -- Avoidance -- Ventilation and catharsis -- Constructive and destructive conflicts -- Family crises: onset, disorganization, reorganization -- The crisis of infidelity -- Reasons for infidelity -- Affairs as crises for married people -- The crisis of economic distress -- The crisis of violence and abuse -- Spouse abuse -- Child abuse -- At issue today: spouses who abuse -- Treatment for spouse and child abuse -- Sexual abuse of children -- Elder abuse -- The crisis of death and grief -- Personal perspective: the death of a parent -- A question of policy: abused and neglected children 16. The family and divorce -- Probability of divorce: social and demographic factors -- Marital age -- Religion -- Socioeconomic status -- Geographic area -- Parental divorce -- The presence of children -- Causes of marital breakup -- Spouses' perceptions -- The marital disaffection process -- The divorce decision -- Alternatives to divorce -- Marriage counseling -- Personal perspective: getting divorced -- Marriage enrichment -- Separation -- At issue today: why marriage counseling sometimes does not succeed -- No-fault divorce and mediation -- Cultural perspective: adjustments to divorce -- Adult adjustments after divorce -- Emotional trauma -- Societal attitudes toward divorce -- Loneliness and social readjustment -- Adjustments to custody arrangement -- Finances -- Realignment of responsibilities and work roles -- Contacts with the ex-spouse -- Kinship interaction -- Children and divorce -- Child custody -- Child support -- Visitation rights -- Reactions of children -- A question of policy: divorce and the single-mother family 17. Coming together: remarriage and stepparenting -- Remarriage -- Divorce and success in remarriage -- Courtship and mate selection in remarriage -- Carrying expectations from one marriage to another -- At issue today: successful remarriages -- Finances -- Relationships with the ex-spouse -- Family relationships from a previous marriage -- Stepfamilies -- Stepfamily turning points -- Cultural perspective: stepfamilies in cultural context -- Stepparent-stepchild relationships -- Child well-being in stepfamilies -- Facilitating bonds between stepparents and stepchildren -- Co-parents and parenting coalitions-- Stepsibling relationships -- Personal perspective: being a stepmom -- A question of policy: stepfamily rights