The social contexts in which children develop have transformed over recent decades, but also over millennia. Modern parenting practices have diverged greatly from ancestral practices, which included natural childbirth, extensive and on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, responsiveness to the needs of the child, free play in nature with multiple-aged playmates, and multiple adult caregivers. Only recently have scientists begun to document the outcomes for the presence or absence of such parenting practices, but early results indicate that psychological wellbeing is impacted by these factors. Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution addresses how a shift in the way we parent can influence child outcomes. It examines evolved contexts for mammalian development, optimal and suboptimal contexts for human evolved needs, and the effects on children's development and human wellbeing. Bringing together an interdisciplinary set of renowned contributors, this volume examines how different parenting styles and cultural personality influence one another. Chapters discuss the nature of childrearing, social relationships, the range of personalities people exhibit, the social and moral skills expected of adults, and what 'wellbeing' looks like. As a solid knowledge base regarding normal development is considered integral to understanding psychopathology, this volume also focuses on the effects of early childhood maltreatment. By increasing our understanding of basic mammalian emotional and motivational needs in contexts representative of our ancestral conditions, we may be in a better position to facilitate changes in social structures and systems that better support optimal human development. This book will be a unique resource for researchers and students in psychology, anthropology, and psychiatry, as well as professionals in public health, social work, clinical psychology, and early care and education.

The condition and characteristics of the black family have been subjects of intense debate since at least the 1960s, when the Moynihan Report and the culture of poverty theses held sway. Since then a consistent theme has been that black families are pathological. Despite the fact that research has been inconclusive and contradictory, political debate and policy have been strongly influenced by the pathology theme. This volume presents alternative approaches toward understanding the special characteristics of black families. Extending a special issue of "The Review of Black Political Economy, "the book focuses on the economic circumstances and decision making of these families, employing Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. It examines the general responses of black families to various external factors such as economic systems, and to Internal factors such as interpersonal relationships. This compendium of current thinking and research will be of interest to professionals in a number of fields, Including family studies, counseling, social work, psychology, and sociology. It will be of practical use in training programs for service delivery systems Interested In Incorporating multicultural perspectives, as well as those specifically interested in black families today.

This book assists parents, teachers, and counselors in training children so that home and school will be happy and efficient, organized but pleasant -- with adults satisfied with their children and children growing up to be respectful, responsible, and resourceful. It provides solutions and emphasizes practicality.

The first book to gather studies on siblings from diverse areas of research, Sibling Relationships across the Life Span examines the course of the sibling relationship from childhood to the end of life. Author Victor Cicirelli outlines the factors that influence the sibling relationship, considering the sibling dyad alone, as well as in relation to a larger kinship. He provides information gleaned from studies of stepsiblings wherever possible. Chapter highlights include a broad framework for viewing sibling research, including the kin rather than the family network, the total life span rather than segments of it, and the development and aging of relationships; new insights into sibling interactions through the study of a family with nine adult siblings, their spouses, and their elderly parents and an integration of research on siblings in the first part of the life span (childhood and adolescence) with that on the latter part (adulthood and old age). This comprehensive volume also encompasses a discussion of methodological problems confronting the sibling researcher; cross-cultural evidence for the universality of the sibling relationship; sibling-helping relationships; and special aspects of sibling relationships, including chronic illness and disabilities, conflict, violence and abuse, incest and sexual abuse, death, and sibling therapy.

These companion volumes provide a "behind the scenes" look into the personal experiences of researchers in an effort to eliminate the lack of communication surrounding family research methodology. They show how the researchers achieved their results and why they chose particular methodologies over others. These volumes present more than just findings -- they present the real experiences of the authors in their own styles and personalities, exposing the problems, mistakes, and concerns they experienced during their research projects. Volume I presents the experiences of researchers into typical normative populations. Volume II describes work with clinical, atypical populations.

Family Studies is a key area of policy, professional and personal debate. Perhaps precisely because of this, teaching texts have struggled with how to approach this area, which is both 'familiar' and also contentious and value laden. This innovative and reflective book deals with such dilemmas head-on, through its focus on family meanings in diverse contexts in order to enhance our understanding of everyday social lives and professional practices. Drawing on extracts and research by leading authors in the field of family studies, Understanding Family Meanings provides the reader with an overview of the basic concepts and theories related to families using readings with questions and analysis to encourage reflection and learning. Published in association with The Open University, the book centralises the question what is 'family' and focuses on family meanings as the key underpinnings for academic study and professional training. It explores the shifting and subtle ways in which individuals, researchers, policy-makers and professionals make sense of the idea of 'family' and in doing so considers issues of power, inequality and values which are integral to any understanding of family meanings. Audio discussions with leading authorities in the field are also available online to enhance the content and key concepts of the book. It therefore provides an excellent foundation for any module in family studies, as well as all professional training modules that include attention to families and close relationships, and for further learning in the area of families and relationships.

This cutting-edge edited collection examines the impact of political and social change upon the modern German family. By analysing different family structures, gender roles, social class aspects and children's socialization, The Family in Modern Germany provides a comprehensive and well-balanced overview of how different political systems have shaped modern conceptualizations of the family, from the bourgeois family ideal right up to recent trends like cohabitation and same-sex couples. Beginning with an overview of the 19th-century family, each chapter goes on to examine changes in family type, size and structure across the different decades of the 20th century, with a focus on the relationship between the family and the state, as well as the impact of family policies and laws on the German family. Lisa Pine and her expert team of contributors draw on a wealth of primary sources, including legal documents, diaries, letters and interviews, and the most up-to-date secondary literature to shed new light on the continuities and changes in the history of the family in modern and contemporary Germany. This book is a fantastic resource for scholars, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates studying modern German history, sociology and social policy.

This edited collection uses the concept of 'displaying families' as a new way to understand contemporary family and personal life, addressing how, in a world of fluid relationships, family life must not only be 'done' but also be 'seen to be done'.

Disturbing the Nest assesses the future of the family as an institution through an historical and comparative analysis of the nature, causes, and social implications of family change in advanced western societies such as the United States, New Zealand, and Switzerland by focusing on the one society in which family decline is found to be the greatest, Sweden.

The founding of the modern Swedish welfare state was based in large part on the belief that it was necessary for the state to intervene in society in order to improve the situation of the family. Of great concern was the low birthrate, which was seen as a threat to the very survival of Swedes as a national population group. The Social Democrats pioneered welfare measures that aimed to strengthen the family, to alleviate its worst trials and tribulations, and to make possible harmonious living. With the Social Democrats remaining in power continuously until 1976, a period of almost forty-five years, Sweden went on to implement governmental "family policies" that are among the most comprehensive (and expensive) in the world.

In view of this major policy goal of family improvement, the actual situation of the Swedish family today presents a genuine irony; some have claimed that Swedish welfare state policies have had consequences that are the opposite of those originally intended. Comparing contemporary Swedish family patterns with those of other advanced nations, one finds a very high family dissolution rate, probably the highest in the Western world, and a high percentage of single-parent, female headed families. Even marriage seems to have fallen increasingly out of favor, with Sweden having the lowest marriage rate and latest age of first marriage, and the highest rate of children born out-of-wedlock. The early pronatalist aspirations of the Swedish government have been spectacularly unsuccessful, as Sweden continues to have one of the world's lowest birthrates and smallest average family sizes.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England sifts through the historical evidence to describe and analyze a world of violence and intrigue, where mothers needed to devise their own systems to protect, nurture, and teach their children. Mary Dockray-Miller casts a maternal eye on Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Beowulf to reveal mothers who created rituals, genealogies, and institutions for their children and themselves. Little-known historical figures--queens, abbesses, and other noblewomen--used their power in court and convent to provide education, medical care, and safety for their children, showing us that mothers of a thousand years ago and mothers of today had many of the same goals and aspirations.

This is a collection of previously unpublished essays exploring the meanings of marriage in South Asian Hindu culture: its practices, assumption, sensibilities and discontents. The authors use new understandings of gender to study local practices, attitudes, folk narratives, ritual symbols, and religious sensibilities as they bear on religion, gender, and social life in the Hindu world.

During the twentieth century arrangements governing love, work, and their routinization in households and employment underwent a transformation. During this period women gained employment opportunities. This reduced sex differentiation, but did not equalize the roles or power of men and women. The goal of this book is to describe the trends and patterns that remain constant amidst the change, and to provide an integrated framework for understanding them. The authors focus on a three-tier level of integration that is not available in other studies of this kind. First, they combine the topics of households and employment, showing similarities and causal links between household and employment arrangements. Second, a conceptual framework is provided that gives attention to both individuals' choices and to the structural constraints that limit available options. Finally, an integration of economic and sociological views of employment, demographic behavior, and other household behavior is examined. By using both individual and structural views, Paula England and George Farkas provide an overview of this coupling. This work is unique in that it draws from both economics and sociology and from demographers in both disciplines. "Households, Employment, and Gender" is an analytic synthesis for scholars and an invaluable sourcebook for classes on gender, labor, the family, social demography, economics, and economic sociology.

First published in 1986. This study seeks to answer some of the psychosocial questions around adolescent fathers that has heightened interest by the increasing concern that has surfaced around the financial burdens imposed on society in the need to support single mothers and their infants. This research looks at the fathers of infants born to adolescent mothers as they seen as an essential component of an important and expensive social problem.

First published in 1986. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The central focus of this work is that partners entrance one another into enmeshed bonding through the euphoric idealization of perfect love. This idealization is found to serve as a hypnotic allure which, by its sheer luster, blinds partners to its perilous powers of manifest magnetism. The stages of hypnotic entrancement are delineated, starting with fantasy fixation of perfect love and its eventual demise.

Partners entrance one another into enmeshed bonding through the euphoric idealization of perfect love. This idealization is found to serve as a hypnotic allure which, by its sheer luster, blinds partners to its perilous powers of manifest magnetism. The stages of hypnotic entrancement are delineated, starting with fantasy fixation of perfect love and its eventual demise. The essential premise describes the addictive enmeshment as the result of consciously irresistible hypnotic pulls from entrancement, which involves a coming together or fusion of idealized images superimposed upon physical attributes of one's partner. Partners merge their ideal images of love and beauty with the size, shape, contour, etc. of their mates, creating the entrancing, whirlwind addiction.

Numerous case examples are utilized in demonstrating a four-stage parallel between addictive bonds and hypnosis. Reawakening is described as coming of (en)trance(ment). Genuine awakening is the emergence of innate, artistic motifs inherent in partners, which can bring empowerment and recovery. This book is recommended for both academic and professional readers.

Whether members of the family are headed to school or work, smartphones accompany family members throughout the day. The growing sophistication of mobile communication has unleashed a proliferation of apps, channels, and platforms that link parents to their children and the key institutions in their lives. While parents may feel empowered by their ability to provide their children assistance with a click on their smartphone, they may also feel pressured and overwhelmed by this need to always be on call for their children. This book focuses on the phenomenon of transcendent parenting, where parents actively use technology to go beyond traditional, physical practices of parenting. In drawing on the experiences of intensely digitally-connected families in Singapore to tell a global story, Sun Sun Lim argues how transcendent parenting can embody and convey, intentionally or not, the parenting priorities in these households. Chapters outline how parents exploit mobile connectivity to transcend the physical distance between themselves and their children, the online and offline social interaction environments, and the timelessness of seemingly ceaseless parenting. Transcendent Parenting further explores how mobile communication allows parents to be more involved than ever in their children's lives, leaving readers to question whether or not parents have become too involved as a result. With its clear discussions of the effects of transcendent parenting on parents' wellbeing and children's personal development, Transcendent Parenting will appeal to a broad audience of readers, from scholars, educators and policy makers to parents and young people across the globe.

This book focuses on the literacy beliefs and practices of parents and children from Asian and Latinx heritage backgrounds. In the US, children from Asian and Latinx immigrant backgrounds represent the largest population of dual language learners in schools. While existing research has paid significant attention to the roles of parenting and the home literacy environment on children's literacy development, relatively little attention has been allocated to immigrant families. Chapters aim to meet the need in the field to understand the roles of culture and immigrant experiences on children's literacy learning and development, including immigrant families' home environments and parents' involvement in literacy-related activities in both English and the parents' native language. As Hispanic/Latinx and Asian American populations grow in the US, this book answers an urgent call for school systems and child and family professionals to be aware of issues in this area and how to address them in culturally responsive ways.

First published in 1985. The dual-career family is emerging as the modal family form in the United States. Yet, despite its prevalence, traditional orientations and social institutions have not adapted to this pattern. This volume reports the results of a pioneering investigation of men in dual-career families and considers interventions at the societal and individual level that will ease the difficulties associated with the transition to this new family form.

Before the advent of printing, the preaching of the friars was the mass medium of the middle ages. This edition of marriage sermons reveals what a number of famous preachers actually taught about marriage. David D'Avray teases out the close connection between marriage symbolism and social, cultural, and legal realities in the thirteenth century; and assesses the impact of this preaching.

First published in 1984. In the last two decades, countries throughout the Western world have witnessed dramatic changes in social attitudes concerning sex roles. The aim of this book is to review the evidence concerning: a) the factors that limit or constrain male involvement in child care; b) the ways in which some of these factors are being or might be changed; and c) the effects of traditional and increased paternal involvement on men, women, and children.

Same-sex marriage has become one of the most volatile issues in American politics. But if most young people support gay marriage, and if there are clear indicators that a substantial majority of the population will soon favor it, why has the outcry against it been so strong? Bancroft Prize-winning historian and legal expert Michael Klarman here offers an illuminating and engaging account of modern litigation over same-sex marriage. After looking at the treatment of gays in the decades after World War II and the birth of the modern gay rights movement with the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, Klarman describes the key legal cases involving gay marriage and the dramatic political backlashes they ignited. He examines the Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling in 1993, which sparked a vast political backlash-with more than 35 states and Congress enacting defense-of-marriage acts-and the Massachusetts decision in Goodridge in 2003, which inspired more than 25 states to adopt constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Klarman traces this same pattern-court victory followed by dramatic backlash-through cases in Vermont, California, and Iowa, taking the story right up to the present. He also describes some of the collateral political damage caused by court decisions in favor of gay marriage-Iowa judges losing their jobs, Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle losing his seat, and the possibly dispositive impact of gay marriage on the 2004 presidential election. But Klarman also notes several ways in which litigation has accelerated the coming of same-sex marriage: forcing people to discuss the issue, raising the hopes and expectations of gay activists, and making other reforms like civil unions seem more moderate by comparison. In the end, Klarman discusses how gay marriage is likely to evolve in the future, predicts how the U.S. Supreme Court might ultimately resolve the issue, and assesses the costs and benefits of activists' pursuing social reforms such as gay marriage through the courts. From the Closet to the Altar will stand as the definitive one-volume history of the tumultuous emergence of same-sex marriage in American life as well as a landmark study of litigation, social reform, and the phenomenon of political backlash to court decisions.