Synopses & Reviews
Marriages, Families, and Intimate Relationships: A Practical Introduction
Second Edition
Brian K. Williams
Stacey C. Sawyer
Carl M. Wahlstrom
Practicality
Readability
Student-Centered Approach to Learning
Marriages, Families, and Intimate Relationships: A Practical Introduction, Second Edition, provides a research-based introduction to the study of marriage and family, along with practical advice that readers can put to use in their own lives. With its accessible writing style and a unique set of features to promote active learning, this text engages readers with useful information about fundamental concepts and current issues. Marriages, Families, and Intimate Relationships, Second Edition, is a text that invites success.
New to This Edition:
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MyFamilyLab is a state-of-the-art, interactive and instructive online solution for marriage and family courses. Designed to be used as a supplement to a traditional lecture course, or to completely administer an online course, MyFamilyLab is a fully integrated multimedia e-book that combines tutorials, videos, self-assessments, news articles, tests, and quizzes to make teaching and learning fun.
Synopsis
This book provides timely, practical, and high-interest information about marriages, families, and intimate relationships, in an engaging format that is easy-to-use and learn from. Feature such as “Popular Culture and the Media,” “Practical Action,” and “Numbers that Matter” help grab and keep readers’ attention.
The new edition has been updated to include coverage of important issues, topics, and research from the past few years. Examples of new topics covered include: state abortion law updates, abstinence education controversy, adultolescents, children and the effects of TV watching, foster children, LGBT, living apart together (LAT) couples, post-adoption blues, safe-haven laws pro and con, Web 2.0, and more.
About the Author
BRIAN K. WILLIAMS is married to Stacey Sawyer and they live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and share an avid interest in seeing college students become well-educated. Over the past two decades, they have individually or together authored more than 25 books,in such subjects as health, college success, and computers and information technology.
He has been Managing Editor for college textbook publisher Harper & Row/Canfield Press in San Francisco; Editor in Chief for trade book publisher J. P. Tarcher in Los Angeles; Publications & Communications Manager for the University of California, Systemwide Administration, in Berkeley; and an independent writer and book producer based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas. He has a B.A. in English and M.A. in Communication from Stanford University.
STACEY C. SAWYER, formerly Director of Founder’s Clinic, a women’s reproductive health and family planning clinic in Columbus, Ohio, is an independent writer and book producer who has been based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas.
She has taught at Ohio State University and been a manager for Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. in Monterey, California. She has a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and the University of Freiburg, Germany, and an M.A. from Middlebury College and the University of Mainz, Germany.
She is coauthor of Computers, Communications, & Information, a college textbook in print for 15 years. She and husband Brian Williams also cowrote Using Information Technology, now in its 7th edition.
CARL M. WAHLSTROM is Professor of Intermediate Studies and Sociology at Genesee Community College, Batavia, New York, and is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Sociology at the State University of New York at Geneseo. He has taught courses in marriage and the family, human development, learning strategies, sociology, psychology, human relations, and college success.
He has been the recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity, the National Freshman Advocate Award, and several other teaching honors. He has a B.S. in Sociology and an M.S. Ed. in Counselor Education from SUNY Brockport and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Bridgeport. He is an active presenter and educational consultant.
With Brian Williams he is coauthor of Learning Success, The Practical Student, The Urban Student, The Commuter Student, The Successful Distance Learning Student,and College to Career.He lives with his wife, Nancy, an employee benefits consultant, in the Finger Lakes area of New York.
Table of Contents
* All Chapters end with Key Terms Used in This Chapter, Summary, and Taking It to the Net
Chapter 1 SEEKING: Finding Happiness in Relationships in a Complex World
1.1 Seeking Happiness through Love & Intimacy
1.2 Intimacy, Marriage, & Family
1.3 The Challenges to Relationships &
Families Today
Self-Assessment: The RELATE and READY Relationship Questionnaires
Chapter 2 UNDERSTANDING: Learning about Intimate Behavior
2.1 A Short History of Marriage
2.2 Learning How to Think: Keys to Being Open- Minded
2.3 How Do You Know What’s True? Learning to Evaluate Research Results
2.4 Theoretical Perspectives on the Family
Self-Assessment: Gaining Self-Knowledge from the Harvard Project Implicit Website
Chapter 3 GENDER: The Meanings of Masculinity & Femininity
3.1 Understanding Gender & Gender Roles
3.2 Why Do Gender Roles Differ? Some Theories
3.3 Gender Socialization: Who Teaches Us How to Act Male or Female?
3.4 Gender Roles in Transition: Multiple Masculinities & Femininities
Self-Assessment: What’s Your Gender Communications Quotient?
Chapter 4 LOVE: The Many Faces
4.1 Can We Define Love?
4.2 The Origins of Love: Some Theories
4.3 The Dark Face of Love: Jealousy, Unrequited Love, & Attempts to Control
4.4 How Can You Tell Whether It’s Meaningful Love?
Self-Assessment: How Capable Are You of Being Intimate?
Chapter 5 INVOLVEMENT: Dating, Pairing, Courtship, & Cohabitation
5.1 The Dating Game
5.2 Pairing Up: Finding & Choosing a Partner
5.3 Cohabitation: Living Together as an Unmarried Couple
5.4 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Self-Assessment: How Compatible Are You & Your Prospective Partner?
Chapter 6 COMMUNICATION: Realizing Effective Intimacy
6.1 Power & Intimacy
6.2 Conflict & Growth
6.3 The Nature of Communication
Self-Assessment: Accepting Your Partner
Chapter 7 SEXUALITY: Interpersonal Sexuality, Sexual Values, & Behavior
7.1 Sexual Values, Learning, & Scripts
7.2 The Varieties of Sexual Experience
7.3 AIDS & Other Sexual Diseases
Self-Assessment: Test Your Knowledge of Sexuality
Chapter 8 MARRIAGE: The Ultimate Commitment?
8.1 Why Do People Marry?
8.2 Changes in the Family Life Cycle: Scenes from a Marriage
8.3 Different Kinds of Marriage Relationships
8.4 What Makes for a Successful Marriage?
Chapter 9: VARIATIONS Nonmarital Families & Households
9.1 Different Family & Household Relationships
9.2 The Single Way of Life
9.3 The Gay & Lesbian Way of Life
9.4 Communal Living, Group Marriages, & Open Marriages
Self-Assessment: Homophobia Scale
Chapter 10 REPRODUCTION: Decisions about Having or Not Having Children
10.1 Having or Not Having Children: Choice or Fate?
10.2 Contraception: Practical Methods of Birth Control
10.3 Abortion & Abandonment 10.4 Infertility, Reproductive Technology, & Adoption
Self-Assessment: How Would You Deal with an Unexpected Pregnancy?
Chapter 11 PARENTING: Children, Families, & Generations
11.1 Parenthood: The Varieties of Experience
11.2 Becoming a Parent
11.3 Parenting Approaches
11.4 The Aging Family: When Parents & Children Get Older
Self-Assessment: Assessing Your Readiness to Become a Parent
Chapter 12 WORK: Economics, Jobs, & Balancing Family Demands
12.1 Work,Wealth, & Well-Being
12.2 Changing Family Work Patterns
12.3 Balancing Work & Family Demands: Some Practical Strategies
Self-Assessment: How Well Do You Balance Work & Life?
Chapter 13 CRISES: Managing Stress, Disaster, Violence, & Abuse
POPULAR CULTURE & THE MEDIA Crises: A Way of Life?
ON THE WEB Dealing with the Ultimate Crisis
13.1 Stresses, Hassles, & Crises: Seeking Hardiness
13.2 Crises & Disasters
13.3 Violence & Abuse: The Dark Side of Intimate Relationships
13.4 Coping Strategies: Successful Ways of Handling Stresses & Crises
Self-Assessment: Major Life Events & Stress
Chapter 14 UNCOUPLING: Separation & Divorce
14.1 Separation, Divorce, & Trends
14.2 Why People Divorce
14.3 The Process of Divorce
14.4 The Effects of Divorce
Self-Assessment: How’s Your Marital Adjustment?
Chapter 15 REMARRIAGE: Reinvented, Renewed, & Blended Families
15.1 Moving toward Remarriage
15.2 Remarried & Blended Families
15.3 Inside the Blended Family
15.4 Strengthening Stepfamilies
Self-Assessment: Rate Your Family’s Strengths