Marriage and Family: Perspectives and Complexities

by H. Elizabeth Peters (Editor), Claire Kamp Dush (Editor)

Overview

Family life has been radically transformed over the past three decades. Half of all households are unmarried, while only a quarter of all married households have kids. A third of the nation's births are to unwed mothers, and a third of America's married men earn less than their wives. With half of all women cohabitating before they turn thirty and gay and lesbian couples settling down with increasing visibility, there couldn't be a better time for a book that tracks new conceptions of marriage and family as they are being formed.

The editors of this volume explore the motivation to marry and the role of matrimony in a diverse group of men and women. They compare empirical data from several emerging family types (single, co-parent, gay and lesbian, among others) to studies of traditional nuclear families, and they consider the effect of public policy and recent economic developments on the practice of marriage and the stabilization—or destabilization—of family. Approaching this topic from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cross-cultural, gendered, demographic, socio-biological, and social-psychological viewpoints, the editors highlight the complexity of the modern American family and the growing indeterminacy of its boundaries. Refusing to adhere to any one position, the editors provide an unbiased account of contemporary marriage and family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231520027
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	07/16/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	448
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

H. Elizabeth Peters is professor of policy analysis and management and director of the population program at Cornell University. Her research focuses on family economics and family policy, examining the effects of public policies such as divorce laws, taxes, and welfare reform on family formation and dissolution decisions, inter- and intra-household transfers, and investments in children. Her research has been widely published in journals of economics, demography, and sociology.

Claire M. Kamp Dush is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science and is a faculty affiliate of the Initiative in Population Research at The Ohio State University. Her current work centers on romantic relationship quality and stability and their impacts on and interactions with human development.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Table
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Elizabeth Peters and Claire M. Kamp Dush
Part I Perspectives on Marriage
1. Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Marriage, by Arland Thornton
2. Marriage and Family: The Evolutionary Ecological Context, by Bobbi S. Low
3. Gender Lens on Marriage, by Paula England
4. Institutional, Companionate, and Individualistic Marriage: A Social Psychological Perspective on Marital Change, by Paul R. Amato
Part II. Contemporary Families
5. Single Parenthood and Child Well-Being: Trends, Theories, and Evidence, by Rachel Dunifon
6. Cohabitation and Parenthood: Lessons from Focus Groups and In-Depth Interviews, by Wendy D. Manning, Pamela J. Smock, and Cava Bergstrom-Lynch
7. Examination of Child Well-Being in Stable Single-Parent and Married Families, by Claire M. Kamp Dush
8. Reconsidering the Association Between Stepfather Families and Adolescent Well-Being, by Megan M. Sweeney, Hongbo Wang, Tami M. Videon
9. Parenting by Gay Men and Lesbians: Beyond the Current Research, by Gary J. Gates and Adam P. Romero
Part III. Strengthening Marriage
10. Supporting Healthy Marriage: Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married Couples, by Virginia Knox and David Fein
11. Differentiating Among Types of Domestic Violence: Implications for Healthy Marriages, by Michael P. Johnson
Part IV. Future of Marriage
12. Growing Importance of Marriage in America, by Steven L. Nock
13. Future of Marriage and the State: A Proposal, by Tamara Metz
14. Why Won't African Americans Get (and Stay) Married? Why Should They?, by Shirley A. Hill
15. Race, Immigration, and the Future of Marriage, by Daniel T. Lichter and Warren A. Brown
List of Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Marilyn Coleman

Bringing together historical and current thinking about marriage and family, this volume extensively covers marriage, addressing such issues as low-income couples and cohabitating as a trajectory toward as well as a substitute for marriage.

— Marilyn Coleman, University of Missouri, and author of Families in the Twentieth Century

Ben Beitin

Marriage and Family addresses the diversity of marriage and families from several angles and is strongly rooted in theory, with each author clearly presenting a theoretical lens through which he or she examines the literature.

— Ben Beitin, Seton Hall University

David H. Demo

This volume examines multiple issues facing contemporary families. It presents and discusses these issues from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, uses current trends and evidence to speculate on the future of marriage, and informs 'hot' policy debates regarding healthy and stable marriages. The book has a multidisciplinary richness with a distinguished group of scholars known for their expertise in marriage, its developmental trajectories, and its social, economic, and psychological consequences. An excellent and comprehensive volume.

— David H. Demo, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and editor, Journal of Marriage and Family

Editorial Reviews

A valuable resource for understanding families and family change a decade into the twenty-first century. Its wide-ranging terrain and scholarly standards make this a book well worth having on the bookshelf.

Population Studies - Mick Cunningham

This book should be in every university library... Essential.

Choice

A valuable resource for understanding families and family change a decade into the twenty-first century. Its wide-ranging terrain and scholarly standards make this a book well worth having on the bookshelf.

— Mick Cunningham

Population Studies