While insights sometimes are slow in coming, they often seem obvious when they finally arrive. This handbook is an outcome of the insight that the topics of social support and the family are very closely linked. Obvious as this might seem, the fact remains that the literatures dealing with social support and the family have been deceptively separate and distinct. For example, work on social support began in the 1970s with the accumulation of evidence that social ties and social integration play important roles in health and personal adjustment. Even though family members are often the key social supporters of individuals, relatively little re search of social support was targeted on family interactions as a path to specifying supporter processes. It is now recognized that one of the most important features of the family is its role in providing the individual with a source of support and acceptance. Fortunately, in recen t years, the distinctness and separateness of the fields of social support and the family have blurred. This handbook provides the first collation and integration of social support and family research. This integration calls for specifying processes (such as the cognitions associated with poor support availability and unrewarding faIllily constellations) and factors (such as cultural differences in family life and support provision) that are pertinent to integration.
Kayser then incorporates data from a random sample survey, comparing troubled spouses with nondisaffected spouses and exploring the relationships among marital disaffection, psychological well-being, commitment, attribution, and gender. When Love Dies examines the concept of matrimony from broad theories of marriage as a social institution to the most specific nuances of spousal interaction. Kayser shows that by studying the dynamics that produce disaffection, partners are able to focus on ways to better understand what is needed to maintain love in marriage. Identifying the phases of disaffection, including significant turning points, can alert spouses and clinicians that it is time to confront problems of alienation. Clinical recommendations for repairing marriages are offered for each phase of the disaffection process. The book also provides a scale of marital disaffection that is of practical use to clinicians and researchers
In this honest, sympathetic book, marital and family therapist Robert L. Barker offers real help for men and women suffering the emotional costs of a jealous partner's suspicion and rage. Based on his extensive work with troubled couples, "The Green-Eyed Marriage" answers these and many other questions about pathological jealousy and its causes and offers practical techniques to minimize jealous confrontations and control them.
A host of scholars in sociology, communications, human development, economics, history, and psychology join Sussman (Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH), Steinmetz (Indiana U.) and Peterson (Arizona State U.) to complete this volume on marriage and the family. Articles reflect a broad range of interests, discussing such topics as demography, ethnic variation in the family, divorce, adolescence in contemporary families, work, religion, law, communication, abuse and violence, and sexuality. The book also includes a variety of articles on theories and methods of family research and marital and family therapy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.
Here is a comprehensive source of vital information on single parent families in contemporary society. This book analyzes literature and empirical research concerning single parent families and explores issues and challenges they face. Contributing authors from many fields and perspectives examine a broad range of subjects relating to families in which one person is primarily responsible for parenting. The only state-of-the-art compendium on the topic of single parent families available today, the book synthesizes empirical, theoretical, and contemporary literature about the diversity, myths, and realities of single parent families in western countries.Each chapter contains a demographic overview, definitions, a literature review, and implications for practice, research, education, and social policy. Theoretical and conceptual perspectives related to parenting and wider families are included. An analysis, synthesis, and commentary on single parent families concludes the volume. Themes highlighted throughout the book include socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of single parent families, cultural and ethnic features, and legal and ethical components. Some chapter topics include: single parenthood following divorce single parenthood following death of a spouse never married teen mothers and fathers female-headed homeless families adoptions by single parents noncustodial mothers and fathers grandparents as primary parents single parents of children with disabilitiesSingle Parent Families contains additional resources useful for family professionals: an annotated bibliography, a video/filmography, and a national community resource list. The book is intended for a multidisciplinary audience, including sociologists, psychologists, health care professionals, social workers, therapists, and other researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and educators. An ideal primary or reference text for undergraduate and graduate level programs, the book can also serve as a tool for staff development and continuing education in service agencies.
The concepts of gender, love, and family—as well as the personal choices regarding gender-role construction, sexual and romantic liaisons, and family formation—have become more fluid under a society-wide softening of boundaries, hierarchies, and protocols. Sylvia Barack Fishman gathers the work of social historians and legal scholars who study transformations in the intimate realms of partnering and family construction among Jews. Following a substantive introduction, the volume casts a broad net. Chapters explore the current situation in both the United States and Israel, attending to what once were considered unconventional household arrangements—including extended singlehood, cohabitating couples, single Jewish mothers, and GLBTQ families—along with the legal ramifications and religious backlash. Together, these essays demonstrate how changes in the understanding of male and female roles and expectations over the past few decades have contributed to a social revolution with profound—and paradoxical—effects on partnering, marriage, and family formation. This diverse anthology—with chapters focusing on demography, ethnography, and legal texts—will interest scholars and students in Jewish studies, women’s and gender studies, Israel studies, and American Jewish history, sociology, and culture.