Title:
Marriage and family : the quest for intimacy
Personal Author:
Edition:
6th ed
Publication Information:
Boston, MA : McGraw-Hill, 2007
ISBN:
9780073129259
Added Author:
Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010155847 | HQ536 L38 2007 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Combining a positive and practical approach to the study of marriage and family life with a manageable amount of sociological theory and research citations, this text is centered on the theme of enhancing intimacy within marriage and the family. While providing a comprehensive overview of the progression from dating to marriage and family, the authors systematically draw out principles that students can use to protect and nurture their own intimate relationships, making this text a practical guide as well.
Author Notes
Jeanette C. Lauer holds a Ph.D. from Washington University and a B.S. from University of Missouri. She has three children and five grandchildren.
Table of Contents
| Part l The Context of Intimacy |
| l American Myths and Dreams |
| Learning Objectives |
| Myths About Family Life |
| We've Lost the Extended Family |
| Opposites Attract |
| People Marry Because They Love Each Other |
| Having Children Increases Marital Satisfaction |
| A Good Sex Life Is the Best Predictor of Marital |
| Satisfaction |
| Happily Married People Don't Have Conflict |
| Half of All Marriages End In Divorce |
| The Dangers of Myths |
| Changing Patterns of Intimate Relationships |
| Premarital Sex |
| Births to Unmarried Women |
| Living Alone |
| COMPARISON |
| Asian Women Are Marrying at a Later Age |
| Cohabitation |
| Delayed Marriage |
| Birth Rates |
| Household Size |
| Employed Mothers |
| PERSONAL |
| "I Had to Go to Work" |
| Divorce |
| A Concluding Note On Changing Patterns |
| The Family in Utopia |
| The Family in Utopian Writings |
| The Family in Utopian Communities |
| What Works Best? |
| What Do We Want? What Do We Need? |
| The Great Debate |
| Changes in Traditional Arrangements |
| What Do You Think? |
| Me or We? |
| Strengths and Benefits of Marriage and Family |
| 'Til Death? |
| A Note On Theory |
| Systems Theory |
| Exchange Theory |
| Symbolic Interaction Theory |
| Conflict Theory |
| Theory and Intimacy |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| American Myths and Dreams |
| 2 Diversity in Families |
| Learning Objectives |
| The Variability of Family Life |
| Variations Between Societies |
| Variations Within Societies |
| The Single-Parent Family |
| Extent of Single-Parent Families |
| Challenges of the Single-Parent Family |
| COMPARISON |
| Single Parents In Iceland |
| The Successful Single-Parent Family |
| PERSONAL |
| "I Chose To Do It Alone" |
| Racial and Ethnic Minority Families |
| The African-American Family |
| The Hispanic Family |
| The Asian-American Family |
| The Interracial Family |
| Families With Same-Sex Parents |
| What Do You Think? |
| Problems In Gay and Lesbian Families |
| Intimacy In the Gay and Lesbian Family |
| Long-Term Gay and Lesbian Relationships |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Diversity in Families |
| 3 Gender Roles: Foundation for Intimacy |
| Learning Objectives |
| Men and Women: How Do They Differ? |
| Men and Women: Some Commonalities |
| Gender Differences |
| Sex, Gender, Gender Role, and Gender-Role Orientation |
| Gender Roles |
| Gender-Role Orientation |
| What Do You Think? |
| Gender Roles: Nature Or Nurture? |
| How Much Is Biological? |
| The Importance Of Nurture |
| Socialization and Gender-Role Orientation |
| COMPARISON |
| Inuit Youth Learn To Be Males and Females |
| Changing Gender Roles and Orientations |
| Changing Patterns |
| Lingering Traditionalism |
| Gender-Role Orientation: What Difference Does It Make? |
| Communication |
| Self-Concept |
| Mental Health |
| Gender-Role Orientation and Intimacy |
| PERSONAL |
| "We Worked It Out" |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Gender Roles: Foundation for Intimacy |
| 4 SEXUALITY |
| Learning Objectives |
| The Meaning of Sex |
| Heterosexuality and Homosexuality |
| Sex As Physical: The Response Cycle |
| Sex As Social Behavior |
| Unwanted and Coerced Sex |
| Sex and Intimate Relationships |
| PERSONAL |
| Sex and the Search for Intimacy |
| Teenage Sex |
| Extent of Sex Among Teenagers |
| Unwanted Pregnancy and Early Childbearing |
| Contraception |
| Amount and Kinds of Contraceptive Use |
| Who Uses Contraceptives |
| Abortion |
| What Do You Think? |
| Premarital Sex |
| The Double Standard |
| Changing Attitudes |
| Changing Behavior |
| Sex In Marriage |
| Sexual Practices in Marriage |
| Sexual Satisfaction and Marital Satisfaction |
| Changes in Marital Sex Over the Lifespan |
| Extramarital Sex |
| Why Extramarital Sex? |
| Some Consequences of Extramarital Sex |
| Sexual Diseases and Dysfunctions |
| Sexual Diseases |
| Sexual Dysfunctions |
| Inhibited Sexual Desire |
| Safe Sex |
| Comparison |
| Unsafe Sex In Lesotho |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Sexuality |
| Part 2 Seeking Intimate Relationships |
| 5 Getting to Know Someone Else |
| Learning Objectives |
| We Are Social Creatures |
| Loneliness |
| Fulfillment Through Intimacy |
| Personal |
| Searching for Intimacy |
| The Nature of Intimacy |
| The Meaning of Intimacy |
| Intimacy as an Exchange Relationship |
| Intimacy as Self-Sustaining |
| Meeting and Getting to Know Others |
| First Impressions |
| What Do You Think? |
| What Attracts? |
| Comparison |
| Mexican and United States Teens Portray Their Ideals |
| About the Opposite Sex |
| Developing a Relationship |
| First Stage: Initial Meeting and Awareness |
| Second Stage: The Selection Process |
| Third Stage: Developing Intimacy |
| Fourth Stage: Maintaining or Dissolving the Relationship |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Getting to Know Someone Else |
| 6 Getting Involved |
| Learning Objectives |
| Hanging Out and Hooking Up |
| Dating |
| Finding People To Date |
| Selecting a Dating Partner |
| Functions of Dating |
| Patterns of Dating |
| Comparison |
| Commitment to Dating Partners in theU.S. and Taiwan |
| Dating Problems |
| Moving Beyond Dating |
| Moving Into a More Permanent Relationship |
| Engagement |
| Cohabitation |
| What Do You Think? |
| Who Cohabits? |
| Patterns of Cohabitation |
| Cohabitation Compared to Marriage |
| Cohabitation as a Preparation for Marriage |
| Breaking Up |
| Who Breaks Up? |
| Responding to Deterioration |
| Personal |
| The Birth, Life, and Death of a Relationship |
| Staying Single |
| Why People Are Single |
| Intimacy and Life Satisfaction |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Getting Involved |
| 7 Falling In Love |
| Learning Objectives |
| The Meaning of Love |
| When You Fall In Love |
| The Process of Falling |
| How Can You Tell If It's Love? |
| Personal |
| Falling in Love-Twice |
| Passionate Versus Companionate Love |
| The Emergence of Passionate Love |
| The Experience of Passionate Love |
| From Passionate Love To Companionate Love |
| What Do You Think? |
| Loving and Liking |
| Rubin's Love Scale |
| Love and Friendship |
| A Triangular Theory of Love |
| Styles of Loving |
| Six Types of Lovers |
| Implications of Differing Styles of Loving |
| Love Threatened--Jealousy |
| Who Is Most Jealous? |
| Comparison |
| Jealousy Among the Italians, Dutch, and New Guineans |
| Situations That Provoke Jealousy |
| Consequences of Jealousy |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Falling in Love |
| 8 Selecting a Life Partner |
| Learning Objectives |
| Is There a Best Way To Select a Life Partner? |
| What We Expect In a Life Partner |
| Comparison |
| Looking for a Mate in India |
| Qualities Desired in a Life Partner |
| Exchange and Equity |
| Narrowing the Field: Assortative Mating |
| Life Partner Selection as a Filtering Process |
| Age |
| Ethnic Background |
| Race |
| Religion |
| Education |
| Personality |
| And So Forth |
| Why Assortative Mating? |
| Predictors of Marital Satisfaction |
| Timing |
| Personal |
| Should I Marry My Baby's Father? |
| Equity |
| What Do You Think? |
| Communication |
| Prepare: A Multi-Factor Approach |
| A Final Caution |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Selecting a Life Partner |
| Part 3 The Intimate Couple |
| 9 Getting Married |
| Learning Objectives |
| What Are Your Chances of Getting Married? |
| Marital Status of the Population |
| Who Does, and Doesn't, Marry? |
| Why Do People Marry? |
| The Need for Intimacy |
| Social Expectations |
| What Do You Think? |
| Social Ideals and Personal Fulfillment |
| Desire for Children |
| Marriage as a Practical Solution |
| Types of Marriage |
| Classified by Lifestyles |
| Classified by Nature of the Relationships |
| Comparison |
| Types of Marriage in Togo |
| Expectations |
| Our Private Contracts |
| Role Expectations |
| Negotiation: Changing Personal Contracts |
| The Marriage Contract: Clarifying Expectations |
| Adjusting To Marriage |
| His Marriage and Her Marriage |
| Starting With Two Strikes |
| Establishing Equity and Consensus |
| Adjustment and In-Law Relationships |
| First Year Changes |
| Personal |
| In-Laws: The Good and the Bad |
| Commitment |
| The Meaning of Commitment |
| The Role of Commitment |
| Building Commitment |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Getting Married |
| 10 The Challenge of Communication |
| Learning Objectives |
| The Nature of Communication |
| Verbal Communication |
| Nonverbal Communication |
| Communication as an Interaction Process |
| A Discussion About Sex |
| Communication Static |
| Communicating Feelings |
| Listening |
| Styles of Poor Listening |
| Improving Listening Skills |
| Impediments To Communication |
| Destructive Messages |
| What Do You Think? |
| Gender Differences As An Impediment |
| Why Husbands and Wives Don't Talk To Each Other |
| Satisfying Communication |
| PERSONAL |
| All the Talk Was Useless |
| Communication, Marital Satisfaction, and Intimacy |
| Everyday Conversations |
| Self-Disclosure |
| Comparison |
| Couple Talk in Brisbane and Munich |
| Other Aspects of Communication |
| Improving Communication Skills |
| Rules |
| Practice |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| The Challenge of Communication |
| 11 Power and Conflict in Marriage |
| Learning Objectives |
| Power In Marriage |
| The Meaning of Power |
| Why Is Power Important? |
| Sources of Power |
| Comparison |
| The Power of Egyptian Husbands and Wives |
| What Do You Think? |
| Marriage as a Power Struggle |
| Types of Power Interaction |
| Conflict In Marriage |
| The Positive Functions of Conflict |
| The Negative Consequences of Severe Conflict |
| What People Fight About |
| Sources of Tension |
| Styles of Conflict |
| Good Fighting |
| Maintain Your Perspective |
| Personal |
| Learning How to Fight |
| Develop Tension Outlets |
| Avoid Festering Resentment |
| Be Sensitive To Timing |
| Communicate Without Ceasing |
| Be Flexible, Willing To Compromise |
| Use Conflict To Attack Problems, Not Your Spouse |
| Keep Loving While You Are Fighting |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Power and Conflict in Marriage |
| 12 Work And Home |
| Learning Objectives |
| His Work and Her Work |
| Changing Patterns of Working |
| Women In the Labor Force |
| Married Women and Employment |
| Types of Dual-Career Families |
| Why Women Work Outside the Home |
| Home Versus the Workplace |
| Challenges of Dual-Income Families |
| More Or Less Equal? |
| Who's Minding The House? |
| Comparisons |
| Household Tasks and Equity in China |
| Children and the Challenge of Child Care |
| The Costs of Both Parents Working |
| What Do You Think? |
| Time Management |
| Role Negotiation |
| Satisfactions of Dual-Income Families |
| Marital Satisfaction |
| Other Benefits |
| Personal |
| Employed and Married, and Loving Both |
| Work and Well-Being |
| Life Satisfaction |
| Mental and Physical Health |
| Coping Strategies |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Work and Home |
| Part 4 Intimacy in Families |
| 13 Becoming a Parent |
| Learning Objectives |
| Changing Patterns of Child-Bearing |
| Birth Rates |
| Preferences For Size and Sex |
| To Bear Or Not To Bear |
| Why People Want To Have Children |
| The Child-Free Option |
| Personal |
| To Be a Parent? The Agonies of the Decision |
| Involuntary Childlessness |
| Infertility |
| Coping With Infertility |
| Options For the Infertile |
| Artificial Insemination |
| In Vitro Fertilization |
| Surrogate Mothers |
| Adoption |
| What Do You Think? |
| Children and the Quality of Life |
| The Stresses of Raising Children |
| Children and Marital Satisfaction |
| The Satisfactions of Raising Children |
| Parenting: Her Experience and His Experience |
| Her Experience |
| His Experience |
| Comparisons |
| On the Playground in France, Germany, and Italy |
| Parenting and the Well-Being of Children |
| Styles of Parenting |
| Types of Discipline |
| Parental Behavior and Children's Adjustment |
| Parental Behavior and Self-Esteem |
| A Final Note: Is Older Better In Parenting? |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Becoming a Parent |
| 14 The Family Life Cycle |
| Learning Objectives |
| The Family Life Cycle |
| The Meaning of the Family Life Cycle |
| What Changes Over the Family LIfe Cycle? |
| Social Change and the Family Life Cycle |
| The Newly Married: A Family Without Children |
| What Do You Think? |
| The Family With Young Children |
| The Family At Midlife: Adolescents and Aging Parents |
| The Needs of Adolescents |
| Parent-Child Problems |
| Emerging Adulthood |
| Caring For Aging Parents |
| The Couples' Midlife Concerns |
| Satisfaction at Midlife |
| The Launching and Empty Nest Stage |
| The Couple Together Again |
| Personal |
| An Empty-Nest High |
| Grandparenthood |
| The Aging Family |
| Retirement |
| Marital Relations |
| Comparison |
| Caring for Elderly Family Members on Malo |
| Other Relationships |
| Death of a Spouse |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| The Family Life Cycle |
| Part 5 Challenges to Intimacy |
| 15 Family Crises |
| Learning Objectives |
| Sources of Family Crises |
| Stress and Crisis |
| Stressor Events |
| Abuse of Alcohol and Other Drugs In the Family |
| Extent of Drug Abuse |
| Drug Abuse and the Quality of Family Life |
| Family Problems and Drug Abuse |
| Violence In Families |
| The Extent of Violence |
| Child Abuse |
| Incest |
| Spouse Abuse |
| What Do You Think? |
| Parent Abuse |
| Comparison |
| Intimate Partner Abuse in Canada |
| Consequences of Abuse |
| Reacting To Crises |
| Coping Patterns |
| Ineffective Coping Patterns |
| The Foundation of Effective Coping |
| Tools For Effective Coping |
| Personal |
| Things Were Terribly Still |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Family Crisis |
| 16 Separation and Divorce |
| Learning Objectives |
| Divorce Trends |
| Divorce Rates |
| Changing Grounds For Divorce |
| What Do You Think? |
| The Process of Uncoupling |
| Toward Marital Dissolution |
| The Six Stations of Divorce |
| Causes and Correlates of Divorce |
| Sociodemographic Factors |
| Interpersonal Factors |
| Comparisons |
| Divorce, Japanese Style |
| Effects of Divorce on Spouses/Parents |
| Positive Outcomes |
| Health Problems |
| Financial Problems |
| Personal |
| My Whole World Was Lost |
| Interaction Between Former Spouses |
| Effects of Divorce On Children |
| Short-Term Effects |
| Long-Term Effects |
| Gender Differences |
| Child Custody |
| Coping With the Disruption |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Separation and Divorce |
| 17 Remarriage and Stepfamilies |
| Learning Objectives |
| Types and Number of Remarriages and Stepfamilies |
| Types of Remarried Couples |
| Demographics of Remarriage and Stepfamilies |
| Deja Vu: Dating and Mate Selection Revisited |
| Why Remarry? |
| Issues In Recoupling |
| The Myths of Remarriage |
| The Challenges of Remarriage |
| Personal |
| "My Husband's First Wife Is Straining My Marriage" |
| The Quality of Remarried Life |
| Comparisons |
| Repartnering in Australia |
| Living In a Stepfamily |
| What Do You Think? |
| The Stepfamily Life Cycle |
| The Structure of the Stepfamily |
| Stepparents and Stepchildren |
| Family Functioning |
| Making It Work |
| Summary |
| Principles for Enhancing Intimacy |
| Key Terms |
| Internet Connection |
| Remarriage and Stepfamilies |
| Glossary |
| References |
| Credits |
| Index |
