In this introduction to family studies, Jon Bernardes argues that variation and diversity are increasingly the hallmarks of family structure particularly in Europe and the United States. The book provides a comprehensive account of how families work both internally and in relation to society through the labor market and also through social institutions like education and the law. The chapters are designed to work as individual units of study in a course on the family. Each chapter highlights key issues, summarises the most relevant research in the area, suggests activities as a basis for student projects and discussion, and recommends further reading. Above all, this very positive approach to a changing social form encourages students to find out for themselves what the family, in all its richness and complexity, looks like as we enter the twenty first century.

Children's rights, lone motherhood and the breakdown of families are all issues at the forefront of current social debate in the West, with little agreement on what constitutes ideal parenting, or how the needs of both mother and child are best met. The feminist contribution to this debate is particularly important in keeping in view the diverse identities of all those who provide mothering. The psychoanalytic contribution is often undervalued and misunderstood.
Mothering and Ambivalence brings together authors from therapeutic, academic and social work backgrounds to discuss dependency, anxiety and gender relations within families. Drawing on extensive professional experience the contributors combine a psychoanalytic and feminist approach to mothering which transcends the polarised and simplistic political debate about women's and children's needs. They also show how such an approach can inform and improve professional practice.

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Understanding Stepfamilies takes a large step toward achieving integration of the many variables presented in understanding the stepfamily system. The book examines the dynamics and resources within these complex family systems. It helps clinicians and researchers understand the underlying structural patterns and dynamics of stepfamilies, promoting more successful, positive treatment outcomes. Chapters in Understanding Stepfamilies offer clinicians and researchers an international perspective, including contributions from the U.S., Canada, Israel, and The Netherlands. Readers learn of unique theoretical approaches to understanding stepfamily typologies and behaviors and specific clinical models for assessment and intervention, as well as more empirically-based findings regarding parent-child interactions.

Mormons and non-Mormons alike have their views of how polygamy was practiced by Latter-day Saints during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Embry has examined the participants themselves in order to understand how believers adapted to polygamy. Based on records and oral histories with husbands, wives, and children of Mormon polygamous households, this study explores the diverse experiences of individual families and stereotypes about polygamy.

This book explores the complex and rewarding relationship between mothers and their sons. It begins with a survey of the literature on the mother/son relationship. The main part of Forcey's study is based on the oral histories of 120 mothers in which they reveal their feelings of responsibility toward their sons, their expectations, and how they communicate. The book closes with three "portraits" of women who describe their relationships with their sons and how they have changed over time and through such upheavals as mothers returning to work and divorce. In examining the mother/son relationship, Mothers of Sons ultimately questions whether or not mothers foster sexist masculinity and whether they can be blamed for male dominance.

This open access book brings together current childhood research and contemporary ethical theory to draw attention to how children depend upon a scope of action for risky play for their mental and physical development. In many countries, the opportunities for children to play away from adults' close attention have decreased. At both school and home, protection and avoidance of harm take increasing priority. This book draws a distinction between do-good ethics and avoid-harm ethics to highlight ethical tensions and dilemmas encountered by professionals who work with children, and suggests better ways to balance these ethical dimensions in approaching risky play.

This book should be of interest to scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners alike. Scholars, researchers, and students of personal relationship development will recognize in this book the first serious attempt in over 40 years to do a large-scale, longitudinal study of premarital factors that predict premarital breakup and marital quality; they should also appreciate our attempt to develop a theoretical rationale for predicted paths and to test those paths with the best available statistical tools. Practitioners-while generally not as interested in the intricacies of the statistical results-will find much that is useful to them as they help individuals and couples make decisions about their intimate relationships, their readiness for marriage, and how to increase the probability for marital success. Teachers, family life educators, premarital counselors, and clergy will find helpful our "principles for practice," particularly as described in Chapter 9, as they teach and counsel couples in any premarital situation. My interest in the development of relationships from premarital to marital probably began when I got married in 1972 and started to notice all of the characteristics my wife and I brought from our respective families and how our "new beginning" as a married couple was in many ways the continuation of our premarital relationship, only more refined and more intense. My professional interest began when I did my doctoral dissertation in 198 1 on premarital predictors of early marital satisfaction (the results of that study are reported in Chapter 8).

The association between parents' behaviour and children's cognitive development is at the meeting place of several prominent theories of psychological development and a range of complex methodological and conceptual issues. On the one hand there are theories which argue that the impetus of development is within the child and is largely unaffected by his or her experience of social interaction: on the other are the commonsense experience of parents and educators, and the body of neo-Vygotskian theory, which would see the child's development as profoundly affected by social interaction or even constituted by it. The purpose of this book is to examine theories and evidence carefully in order to assess the causal links between parent behaviour and children's cognitive development.
There is a considerable amount of evidence that suggests an association between parents' behaviour and their children's cognitive development; but there are many possible explanations for this association, including direct effects of parental teaching styles on the children's learning and motivation, differential social class practices and opportunities, genetic resemblances, and methodological artifacts. A close and critical look at a wide range of research and of theory is necessary if the causal questions are to be clarified.
This book develops the current arguments about the nature and causes of cognitive development, providing a critical discussion of the available research and relating it to psychological theory. It is suitable for advanced students of psychology and education.

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Sexual Identity on the Job provides academics and practitioners with a solid resource for addressing sexual identity concerns and issues in the workplace. It offers corporate trainers, managers, and policymakers suggestions for creating a positive psychological environment of inclusion for all workers through policies of nondiscrimination, the availability of domestic partner benefits, and solid efforts to eliminate on-the-job discrimination toward lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals. It educates social service providers about company actions of which they need to know in order to effectively support their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgenderedclients.As a compilation of scholarly and applied perspectives, Sexual Identity on the Job covers such topics as multicultural identity (multiple identities) development; legal and policy issues of employment; career development issues for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons; and how inclusion improves productivity among all groups. By including both perspectives, this unique volume offers both academics and practitioners a broader knowledge of the field and relevant issues, and possible solutions for sexual identity concerns and questions in the workplace.Chapters in Sexual Identity on the Job address a diverse set of issues relating to ways in which those concerned about the psychological well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers can address their needs while recognizing their desire to lead productive, fulfilling lives. The contributors, in promoting workplaces that offer all workers inclusion, safety, and a place to thrive psychologically and emotionally, cover such topics as: gay, lesbian, and bisexual career development and counseling issues managing multiple identities (race, gender, sexual orientation) in the workplace current trends in economic discrimination toward lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals and relevant legal concerns domestic partner benefits the relationship between inclusion and productivitySexual Identity on the Job chronicles the development of research, specific concerns which have been addressed, and where current research leaves this situation. It also provides some interpretation of the past and current research and its implications for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender workers and their co-workers. It betters relationships among gay and straight workers, administration, and management by promoting equal and fair treatment, in regard to both legal and policy issues and in interpersonal relationships, to all employees. Corporate trainers of all levels, academic researchers, career and other counselors, and the general public will find its pages filled with applicable and helpful information.

The grandmother granddaughter conversation examined in this book makes explicit what the detailed study of interaction reveals about two social problems--"bulimia" and "grandparent caregiving." For the first time, systematic attention is given to interactional activities through which family members display ordinary yet contradictory concerns about health and illness:
* a grandmother's (who is also a registered nurse) attempts to initiate, confront, and remedy her granddaughter's lack of responsibility in admitting bulimic "problems" and committing to professional medical assistance;
* a granddaughter's methods for avoiding ownership of the alleged bulimic problems by discounting the legitimacy of her grandmother's expressed concerns.
Through analysis of a single audio-recorded and transcribed conversation, Wayne Beach reveals the altogether pervasive and often troubled talk surrounding family medical predicaments. From a careful review of extant theories that seek to explain eating disorders and grandparent caregiving, it becomes clear that an overreliance on self-report data has promoted underspecified understandings of "social contexts" -- conceptualizations void of real time practices and interactional consequences mirroring how families manage their daily affairs and understandings regarding health and illness. In contrast, this volume draws attention to family members' embodied interactional activities. Here it is seen, for example, how methods for expressing concern and caring by "individuals" may nevertheless eventuate in interactional troubles and problems "between" family members. The analysis reveals that, while displays of basic concerns for others' health and well being are routine occurrences between family members in home environments -- and of course, across friendship and various support networks -- even the delicate and well-intended management of such occasions guarantees neither agreement on the nature of the alleged "problems" nor, consequently, a commitment to seek professional help as a means of remedying a medical condition. In such cases, the very existence of an illness is itself a matter of some contention to be interactionally worked out. And it is perhaps both predictable and symptomatic that those explicitly denying (or as with the granddaughter, indirectly failing to admit) that problematic health behaviors exist, also somehow let it be made known that far too much attention is being given to possibilities and consequences of illness in the first instance.
Implications of this investigation extend well beyond "bulimia" and "grandparent caregiving" to a vast array of casual and institutional involvements between family members, friends, and bureaucratic representatives such as those involved in long-term caregiving, dealing with cancer and Alzheimer's disease, or conducting psychiatric interviews and HIV/AIDS counseling sessions. Findings regarding the interactionally organized nature of talk about bulimia, as well as the problematic nature of caregiving, will be of value to researchers focusing on language and social interaction, health practitioners, and families alike.
This volume includes the full transcript of the conversation in the case study. A copy of the audio-recording is available for classroom adoption and/or personal purchase by contacting: Wayne A. Beach, School of Communication, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4516.

Sexual Identity on the Job provides academics and practitioners with a solid resource for addressing sexual identity concerns and issues in the workplace. It offers corporate trainers, managers, and policymakers suggestions for creating a positive psychological environment of inclusion for all workers through policies of nondiscrimination, the availability of domestic partner benefits, and solid efforts to eliminate on-the-job discrimination toward lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals. It educates social service providers about company actions of which they need to know in order to effectively support their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgenderedclients.As a compilation of scholarly and applied perspectives, Sexual Identity on the Job covers such topics as multicultural identity (multiple identities) development; legal and policy issues of employment; career development issues for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons; and how inclusion improves productivity among all groups. By including both perspectives, this unique volume offers both academics and practitioners a broader knowledge of the field and relevant issues, and possible solutions for sexual identity concerns and questions in the workplace.Chapters in Sexual Identity on the Job address a diverse set of issues relating to ways in which those concerned about the psychological well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers can address their needs while recognizing their desire to lead productive, fulfilling lives. The contributors, in promoting workplaces that offer all workers inclusion, safety, and a place to thrive psychologically and emotionally, cover such topics as: gay, lesbian, and bisexual career development and counseling issues managing multiple identities (race, gender, sexual orientation) in the workplace current trends in economic discrimination toward lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals and relevant legal concerns domestic partner benefits the relationship between inclusion and productivitySexual Identity on the Job chronicles the development of research, specific concerns which have been addressed, and where current research leaves this situation. It also provides some interpretation of the past and current research and its implications for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender workers and their co-workers. It betters relationships among gay and straight workers, administration, and management by promoting equal and fair treatment, in regard to both legal and policy issues and in interpersonal relationships, to all employees. Corporate trainers of all levels, academic researchers, career and other counselors, and the general public will find its pages filled with applicable and helpful information.

In "Widower: When Men are Left Alone", a journalist and a social worker explore the grief process as men experience it. The book contains the oral histories of twenty men, ranging in age from 30 to 94, who have lost their wives to a range of causes including cancer, alcohol, murder, and suicide. Taken together, the stories guide the reader through the journey of widowhood, from the raw despair of the early weeks to the resolved perspective thirteen years later, offered by the only true authority on the subject - the men who have survived it.

Concern with stress and coping has a long history in biomedical, psychological and sociological research. The inadequacy of simplistic models linking stressful life events and adverse physical and psychological outcomes was pointed out in the early 1980s in a series of seminal papers and books. The issues and theoretical models discussed in this work shaped much of the subsequent research on this topic and are reflected in the papers in this volume. The shift has been away from identifying associations between risks and outcomes to a focus on factors and processes that contribute to diversity in response to risks. Based on the Family Research Consortium's fifth summer institute, this volume focuses on stress and adaptability in families and family members. The papers explore not only how a variety of stresses influence family functioning but also how family process moderates and mediates the contribution of individual and environmental risk and protective factors to personal adjustment. They reveal the complexity of current theoretical models, research strategies and analytic approaches to the study of risk, resiliency and vulnerability along with the central role risk, family process and adaptability play in both normal development and childhood psychopathology.

This unique account of English language acquisition by Latino elders shines intimate light on the increasingly complex concerns of aging immigrant minority populations. Rich qualitative findings detail sociocultural barriers to and social and emotive factors that promote second language acquisition in older age. The book's case study highlights diverse cognitive and social processes as elders establish a sense of self as learners and as part of a learning community, and a sense of place as newcomers navigating a challenging environment. And first-person comments from the group members deftly illustrate the intricacies of being an immigrant in a rapidly changing America as well as the myriad intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, culture, and country that shape immigrant life. Included in the coverage: Minority aging in an immigrant context. Late-life second language acquisition: cognitive and psycholinguistic changes, challenges, and opportunities. Building emotions for self-identity and learning. Practicing safe language socialization in private and public spaces. Language resocialization and gender allies. Aging, second language acquisition, and health. Aging in a Second Language gives clinical social workers, gerontologists, health and cross-cultural psychologists, sociologists, educators and other professionals deep insights into the lives of an emerging active elder population. It also pinpoints challenges and opportunities in research, literacy program design, pedagogy, clinical outreach, education policy, and service delivery to immigrant elders.

Caregiving role rather than gender has a predominant influence on parent interaction in nonstressful as well as stressful situations. Primary caregiving fathers can competently assume caregiving and nurturant functions so as to become their infants' primary attachment figures.

Based on videotaped home observations, Dr. Geiger examines the unique and interactive effects of the gender of the caregiver and the primacy of the caregiver role on parent-infant interaction. Dr. Geiger observed 56 parents of different gender (father-mother) and caregiving role (primary-secondary) interacting with their infant in a non-stressful situation. Then infants were placed under stress in a modified version of the Strange Situation. A gender X caregiving role analysis of variance indicated no gender or role effect for parents' and infants' affiliative behaviors under nonstressful conditions except for fathers' rough tumble play. A caregiving role and/or a gender X role interaction effect was observed on the attachment behaviors of parents (caregiving and displaying affection) and of infants (displaying affection, clinging, moving away, and exploring). Infants' play interaction was most synchronous with that of primary caregiving fathers. Finally, the caregiver role effect indicated on all infants' attachment behaviors under stress showed a distinctive preference for primary caregivers (fathers or mothers) with disregard for gender.

Dr. Geiger's study indicates that primary caregiving fathers can be as competent as primary and secondary caregiving mothers. They were more affectionate, and despite an increased amount of assumed caregiving and household chores, primary caregiving fathers were more involved and in greater synchrony with their infant's play activities than primary or secondary caregiving mothers. This study challenges sex-role stereotypes and suggests benefits of modeling a more egalitarian upbringing. It presents strategies to resolve the dilemma of day care for infants. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and other researchers involved with early childhood education, socioemotional development of children, and developmental psychology, especially once it is acknowledged that father care in the home for infants less than one year of age has become the most common form of primary nonmaternal care arrangement (21.6%) adopted by employed mothers.

This timely collection engages with representations of women and ageing in literature and visual culture. Acknowledging that cultural conceptions of ageing are constructed and challenged across a variety of media and genres, the editors bring together experts in literature and visual culture to foster a dialogue across disciplines. Exploring the process of ageing in its cultural reflections, refractions and reimaginings, the contributors to Ageing Women in Literature and Visual Culture analyse how artists, writers, directors and performers challenge, and in some cases reaffirm, cultural constructions of ageing women, as well as give voice to ageing women's subjectivities. The book concludes with an afterword by Germaine Greer which suggests possible avenues for future research.

This open access book presents the trends and patterns of demographic and family changes from all eleven countries in the region for the past 50 years. The rich data are coupled with historical, cultural and policy background to facilitate an understanding of the changes that families in Southeast Asia have been going through. The book is structured into two parts. Part A includes three segments preceded by a briefing on Southeast Asia. The first segment focuses on marital and partnership status in the region, particularly marriage rates, age at marriage, incidence of singlehood, cohabitation, and divorce. The second segment focuses on fertility indicators such as fertility rates (total, age-specific, adolescent), age at childbearing, and childlessness. The third presents information on household structures in the region by examining household sizes, and incidence of one-person households, single-parent families, as well as extended and composite households. Part B presents indicators of children and youth's well-being.

This book examines the emotional, micro-situated dynamics of status inclusion/exclusion that people produce while caring for others by focusing, in particular, on non-conventional families. Grounded in empirical research that involves different types of care and family contexts, the book situates care within more inclusive and critical approaches while shedding light on its multiple and often overlooked meanings and implications. Engaging and accompanied by a useful methodological appendix, Doing Care, Doing Citizenship is essential reading for students and academics of sociology, psychology, social work and social theory. It will also be of interest to practitioners interested in developing their understanding of the relationship between care, emotions, social inclusion and citizenship.

Thirty-three of the top scholars in this fast moving domain present a picture of work at the cusp in social psychology -- work that deals with cognition and affect in close relationships. The present volume contains a wealth of research findings and influential theoretical accounts that spring as much from indigenous work in the close relationship field as from purebred social cognition. The chapters introduce theories and research programs concerned with the role of individual and couple differences in close relationship knowledge structures. They deal with the role of emotion and affect in close relationships. And they discuss the function of cognition and knowledge structures in relation to the developmental course of close relationships. Each section is accompanied by a critical review written by an expert in the field.
This volume is a must for any close relationship scholar interested in the latest research and theorizing about close relationships that adopt a social psychological perspective. It will also be of interest to scholars and students working in clinical psychology, social cognition, communication, individual differences, and family studies.

This book analyzes how the increasing number of same-sex couples is changing the traditional concepts of family and parenthood, and how these changes affect the psychological studies of family, couple relationships and human development. The majority of chapters included in this contributed volume present results of research conducted with LGBTQ+ people in Brazil, a country where same-sex couples have been recognized by the national legislation since 2011, but is currently facing a conservative wave which threatens much of the victories gained by the LGBTQ+ movement in recent years. That's why this book aims to provide both updated theoretical and methodological contributions as well as ethically and political engaged reflections to the field of psychological studies of LGBTQ+ parenting and couple relationships. Chapters in this volume analyze different aspects of LGBTQ+ parenting and couple relationships, such as changes in the concept of family; the role of the family of origin in the coming out process of young adults; risk and protective factors in couple relationships between lesbians and gay men; vulnerabilities experienced by trans couples during the COVID-19 pandemic; how lesbians, gays, trans and non-binaries are approaching parenting and raising their families; factors that shape the reproductive decisions of LGBTQ+ individuals; adoption and coparenting in families composed of gay and lesbian couples, among other topics. Parenting and Couple Relationships Among LGBTQ+ People in Diverse Contexts will be of interest to social, developmental and family psychologists and social workers researching and working with same-sex couples and families, and with the LGBTQ+ population in general.

This book is a philosophical study of love between equals, intended for the general reader. The Introduction explains the importance of analytic philosophy. Subsequent chapters deal with (1) love as desire or need, (2) love as intrinsic friendship, (3) the politics of love, (4) altruism and paranoia, (5) justice and communication, (6) sex, and (7) the value in loving an equal, together with some remarks on the human condition in general and the importance of reason in dealing with it. A brief list of further reading is appended.

East Asian medicine, biomedical research, and health care policy are framed by their own set of moral and cultural commitments. Chief among these is the influence of Confucian ideas. A rich portrayal is offered of the implications of Confucian moral and ontological understandings for medical decision-making, human embryonic stem cell research, and health care financing. What is offered is a multifaceted insight into what distinguishes East Asian bioethical reflections. This volume opens with an exploration of the Confucian recognition of the family as an entity existing in its own right and which is not reducible to its members or their interests. As the essays in this volume show, this recognition of the family supports a notion of family autonomy that contrasts with Western individualistic accounts of proper medical decision-making.

This is the first edited volume in the communication field to examine parent-child interaction. It creates a framework for future research in this growing area -- family communication, and more specifically, parent-child communication -- and also suggests new areas of communication research among parents and children -- cultural, work-related, taboo topics, family sex discussions, conflict, and abuse. Chapter authors provide thorough coverage of theoretical approaches, new methods, and emerging contexts including lesbian/gay parent-child relationships. In so doing, they bring a communication perspective to enduring problems of discipline, adolescent conflict, and physical child abuse.
The text highlights various methodological approaches -- both quantitative and qualitative -- including conversation analysis, grounded theory, participant-observation, and phenomenological interviewing of children. It also introduces and surveys various theoretical approaches -- general systems, developmental, cultural, and intergenerational transmission.

'I'll Facebook you ' We utter these words so casually, yet they signify subtle changes in the nature of intimacy. Facebook has become richly woven through everyday life. It is our default medium for transforming new acquaintances into hopefully more intimate friendships. In a previous age, certain social relationships would 'slip away'; now Facebook allows us to capture them in virtual space. We sustain intimate bonds on the move and over great distances of space and time. Yet, we assemble a collage of different personae, each offering a different kind of intimacy, each a potential danger. Intimacy and Friendship on Facebook theorises the impact of Facebook on our social ties and identities through the lens of intimacy. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research, Lambert argues that Facebook is intensifying the social labour needed to sustain and protect interpersonal intimacy, contributing to a state of 'intensive intimacy'. He addresses central questions regarding public intimacy: Does publishing our intimacies enrich our interpersonal lives or is it indicative of a more narcissistic, confessional culture? Facebook demands a novel, dynamic understanding intimacy in a world where the contours of privacy are eroding.

Between Poverty and the Pyre examines the history of the experience of widowhood across different cultures. It brings together a collection of essays by historians, anthropologists and philologists. The book shows how difficult it is to define the 'typical' widow, as the experiences of these women have differed so widely, not simply because of their different time periods and locations, but also becuase of their varying legal and religious status and economic conditions.
The study is diverse with subjects ranging from:
*Hindu wives who followed their husbands to the pyre
*widows who were burned as witches
*and widows who had to become prostitutes to stay alive.
The book also explores Jesus's interest in widows and the experience of some well-known widows, such as Mohammed's first wife.

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