Marriages and Families

IN THIS SECTION:
1.) BRIEF
2.) COMPREHENSIVE


BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part I Marriage and the Family in Perspective

Chapter 1 The Changing Family

Chapter 2 Studying the Family

Chapter 3 The Family in Historical Perspective

Chapter 4 Racial and Ethnic Families: Strengths and Stresses

Part II The Individual and the Developing Relationship

Chapter 5 Socialization and Gender Roles

Chapter 6 Romance, Love, and Loving Relationships

Chapter 7 Sexuality and Sexual Expression Throughout Life

Part III Individual and Marital Commitments

Chapter 8 Choosing Others: Dating and Mate Selection

Chapter 9 Singlehood, Cohabitation, Civil Unions, and Other Options

Chapter 10 Marriage and Communication in Intimate Relationships

Part IV Parents and Children

Chapter 11 To Be or Not to Be A Parent: More Choices, More Constraints

Chapter 12 Raising Children: Promises and Pitfalls

Part V Conflicts and Crises

Chapter 13 Balancing Work and Family Life

Chapter 14 Family Abuse, Violence, and Other Health Issues

Chapter 15 Separation and Divorce

Part VI Changes and Transitions

Chapter 16 Remarriage and Stepfamilies

Chapter 17 Families in Later Life

COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Changing Family

What Is a Family?

How are Families Similar across Societies?

How do Families Differ across Societies?

Family Structure and Social Change

Some Myths about the Family

Family Values: Three Perspectives on the Changing Family

Trends in Changing Families

Why Are Families Changing?

A Cross-Cultural and Global Perspective on the Family

Chapter 2 Studying the Family

Why Theories and Research are Important in Our Everyday Lives

Theoretical Perspectives on Families

Family Research Methods

The Ethics and Politics of Family Research

Chapter 3 The Family in Historical Perspective

The Colonial Family

Early American Families from Non-European Cultures

Industrialization, Urbanization, and European Immigration: 1820 to 1930

The Modern Family Emerges

The Golden Fifties

The Family since the 1960s

Chapter 4 Racial and Ethnic Families: Strengths and Stresses

The Increasing Diversity of U.S. Families

Race and Ethnicity Still Matter

African American Families

American Indian Families

Latino Families

Asian American Families

Middle Eastern Families

Interracial and Interethnic Relationships and Marriages

Chapter 5 Socialization and Gender Roles

Gender Myths about Female-Male Similarities and Differences

The Nature-Nurture Debate: Is Anatomy Destiny?

Why Do Gender Roles Differ?

How Do We Learn Gender Roles?

Traditional Views and Gender Roles

Gender Roles in Adulthood

A Global View: Variations in Gender Roles

Chapter 6 Romance, Love, and Loving Relationships

Loving and Liking

What Is Love?

Caring, Intimacy, and Commitment

Some Theories about Love and Loving

Functions of Love and Loving

Experiencing Love

When Love Goes Wrong

How Couples Change: Romantic and Long-term Love

A Global View of Love

Chapter 7 Sexuality and Sexual Expression Throughout Life

Sexuality and Human Development

Why We Have Sex

How We Learn about Sex

Sexual Behaviors

Sexuality Throughout Life

Sexual Infidelity

Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sex

Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV, and AIDS

Chapter 8 Choosing Others: Dating and Mate Selection

How Often Do We Date?

Why Do We Date?

The Dating Spectrum

Meeting Others

Choosing Whom We Date: Choices and Constraints

Why We Choose Each Other: Theories of Mate Selection

A Global View: Mate Selection across Cultures

Harmful Dating Relationships: Power, Control, and Sexual Aggression

Breaking Up

Chapter 9 Singlehood, Cohabitation, Civil Unions, and Other Options

The Single Option

The Diversity of Singles

Home Alone

Why More People Are Single

Racial and Ethnic Singles

Cohabitation

Gay and Lesbian Couples

Communal Living Arrangements

Chapter 10 Marriage and Communication in Intimate Relationships

Why Do People Marry?

What Do We Expect from Marriage?

Types of Marriages

Marital Success and Happiness

How Does Marriage Affect Health?

Marital Roles

How Marriages Change throughout the Life Course

Communication: A Key to Successful Relationships

What Do Couples Fight About?

Productive Communication Patterns

Chapter 11 To Be or Not To Be a Parent: More Choices, More Constraints

Becoming a Parent

How Many Children Do You Want?

Postponing Parenthood

Infertility

Adoption: The Traditional Solution to Infertility

Medical and High-Tech Solutions to Infertility

Abortion

Childless by Choice

Chapter 12 Raising Children: Promises and Pitfalls

Contemporary Parenting Roles

Some Theories of Child Development

Parenting Variations by Ethnicity and Social Class

Parenting Changes over the Life Course

Parenting in Lesbian and Gay Families

Parenting Styles and Discipline

Child Care Arrangements

Current Social Issues and Children’s Well-Being

Chapter 13 Balancing Work and Family Life

The Significance of Work

Work in the Contemporary United States

How the Economy Affects Families

Women’s Participation in the Labor Force

New Economic Roles within Marriage

Two-Income Families

Inequality in the Workplace

Families and Work Policies

Chapter 14 Family Abuse, Violence, and Other Health Issues

Intimate Partner Abuse and Violence

Child Maltreatment

Hidden Victims: Siblings and Adolescents

Elder Abuse and Neglect

Violence among Same-Sex Couples and Racial-Ethnic Groups

Explaining Family Abuse and Violence

Other Family Health Issues

Combating Family Abuse and Violence

Chapter15 Separation and Divorce

Separation: Process and Outcome

Trends in Divorce

The Process of Divorce

Why do People Divorce?

How Divorce Affects Adults

How Divorce Affects Children

Some Positive Outcomes of Separation and Divorce

Counseling, Marital Therapy, Divorce Mediation, and Collaborative Divorce

Chapter 16 Remarriages and Stepfamilies

Being Single Again: Dating and Cohabitation

Being Single Again: Dating and Cohabitation

Forming a Stepfamily

Characteristics of Remarried Couples

Remarriage as a Process

How First Marriages and Remarriages Differ

Couple Dynamics in Stepfamilies

The Diversity and Complexity of Stepfamilies

Living in a Stepfamily

Successful Remarriages and Stepfamilies

Chapter 17 Families in Later Life

Our Aging Society

Health and Ageism

Work and Retirement

Grandparenting

Aging Parents, Adult Children, and Siblings

Dying, Death, and Bereavement

Being Widowed and Single in Later Life

Family Caregiving in Later Life

Competition for Scarce Resources

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Marriages and Families is a text designed to unveil the implications of how changes in families and their structure, as well as in society, impact the choices student’s make and their personal relationships.

Hallmark Features of Marriage and Families include:

Thought-Provoking Box Series:

Reflecting and reinforcing the books primary themes, three groups of boxes focus on changes, choices, and constraints that confront today’s families. A fourth category discusses cultural differences.

• Choices feature addresses the choices brought on by recent societal changes (e.g., postponing sex and marriage, cohabiting, raising children as single or adoptive parents, and forming interracial, multigenerational, or lesbian and gay households).
  • Offers students the wide spectrum of families and encourages them to become informed about the choices they can make
• Constraints feature explores the macro-level constraints that limit our choices, with discussions on topics like government policies, demographic changes, and technology, as well as the constraints that exist on the individual level—including gender, age, race, and social class.
  • Brings the reality of everyday life to students by showing them how social policy impacts the choices they will make throughout their lives
• Changes feature examines how recent profound structural and attitudinal changes affect family forms, interpersonal relationships, and raising children. Reaches beyond the traditional discussions to explore racial-ethnic families, single-parent families and gay families as well as the recent scholarship by and about men, fathers, and grandfathers.
  • Shows students how families have changed over time and gives a glimpse of where they may be headed in the future.
• Cross-Cultural/Multicultural boxes showcase the growing diversity of contemporary marriages and families, encouraging students to consider the many different forms that families take.

Critical Thinking Questions:

These boxes are applied to help students evaluate their own knowledge and acquire insights about family life.

• “Stop and Think” critical thinking questions follow important issues in boxes throughout the textbook. These questions encourage students' reflective thought about current topics, both personally and across other cultures.
• Making Connections” questions ask students to connect the material to their own lives by relating it to a personal experience, integrating it with scholarly studies discussed in the chapter, or “connecting” with classmates who might be sitting next to them.

Technology for Marriages and Families:

MyFamilyLab is an easy-to-use online resource that allows instructors to assess student progress and adapt course material to meet the specific needs of the class. MyFamilyLab enables students to diagnose their progress by completing an online diagnostic test. Based on the results of this test, each student is provided with a customized study plan, including a variety of tools to help them fully master the course material.

MyFamilyLab then reports the diagnostic test results to the instructor, as individual student grades as well as an aggregate report of class progress. Based on these reports, the instructor can adapt course material to suit the needs of individual students or the class as a whole, without investing a lot of additional time.

The following resources are available in for each chapter of the text in MyFamilyLab:

--ebook

--Diagnostic Test

--Custom Study Plan

--Research Navigator

--Crossword Puzzles

--Flashcards

--Self Assessments

--Chapter Pretest Quizzes

--Chapter Exams

--Learning Activities

--Video Activities

--Chapter Summary and Review

--Audio Files

--MySocLibrary

--Social Explorer

Nijole V. Benokraitis, professor emerita of sociology at the University of Baltimore, taught the marriage and family course for almost 25 years. It was her favorite class but her courses in racial and ethnic relations and gender roles ran a close second. Professor Benokraitis received a B.A. in sociology and English from Emmanuel College in Boston, an M.A. in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.

She was a strong proponent of applied sociology and required her students to enhance their knowledge through interviews, direct observation, and other hands-on learning methods. She also enlisted her students in community service activities such as tutoring and mentoring inner-city high school students, writing to government officials and other decision makers about specific social problems, and volunteering research services to nonprofit organizations.

Professor Benokraitis immigrated to the United States from Lithuania with her family after World War II as a political refugee when she was five years old. She is bilingual and bicultural and is very empathetic of students who must balance the demands of several cultural worlds.

She has authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited ten books, including Seeing Ourselves: Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural Readings in Sociology, Contemporary Ethnic Families in the United States: Characteristics, Variations, and Dynamics; Feuds about Families: Conservative, Centrist, Liberal, and Feminist Perspectives; and Modern Sexism: and Blatant, Subtle, and Covert Discrimination. Dr. Benokraitis has published numerous articles and book chapters on topics such as institutional racism, discrimination against women in government and higher education, fathers in two-earner families, displaced homemakers, and family policy.

She has received grants and fellowships from many institutions, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the Ford Foundation, the American Educational Research Association, the Administration on Aging, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has also served as a consultant in the areas of sex and race discrimination to women’s commissions, business groups, colleges and universities, federal government programs, and the American Association of University Women’s International Fellowships Program.

Dr. Benokraitis has made several appearances on radio and television shows on gender communication differences and single-sex educational institutions. She currently serves on the editorial board of Women & Criminal Justice and reviews manuscripts for several academic journals.

Professor Benokraitis lives in Maryland with her husband, Dr. Vitalius Benokraitis, a vice president at a technology assessment company. They have two adult children, Gema and Andrius.

The author looks forward (and always responds) to comments on the 7th edition of Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints. She can be reached at nbenokraitis@ubalt.edu.

Expert Reviews

I liked this book, because I feel it is very readable and understandable, especially for freshmen or non-majors. In addition, Benokraitis gives very detailed and relevant examples or scenarios relating to the concepts covered in the respectable chapter. The book is extremely interesting and enjoyable.

Very current and extremely informative about the family, both historically and in contemporary society. I also think that the author has a way of writing about the material so that the content is provocative and the issues really come alive for the reader.

Prof. Kathryn Bonach

IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania

I think this is one of the most “teachable” texts I have read on this subject. Even if the instructor doesn’t think of a question a student may want to ask, the author has already done that for us in the “since you asked” section. I like the current trends in research that are discussed as well. It lends credibility to the instructor to know about current things in the field and the author has done a good job of incorporating that in the chapters.

Prof. Michelle Knoles

CowleyCounty Community College

This is an engaging text. Benokraitis has achieved an admirable goal — her text is interesting and detailed but not dry, fun and applied but still academically strong. Very well done.

Prof. Erica Owens Yeager

West VirginiaUniversity

I found the text easy to read and very interesting. The examples are timely and up to date. Students can remember these events and that will help them make connections between real-world events and course material. The graphics and pictures are excellent [and] will help students comprehend an often difficult and abstract topic of theory for them.

Prof. Darby Sewell

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College

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