This new book reviews the most current global research and highlights the challenges, possibilities, and dynamics of stepfamily households. It describes their formation, their experiences, and the factors that help them thrive. International and cultural differences are highlighted throughout along with issues of class, gender, and religion. Nontraditional stepfamilies such as those headed by same-sex families are also explored along with clinical and legal issues. Engagingly written with numerous vignettes and examples, each chapter features objectives, an introduction, boldfaced key terms, summary, list of key terms, discussion questions, exercises, and additional text and web resources. The book concludes with a glossary. Highlights of coverage include: The history, diversity, and demography of stepfamilies (ch. 1). Frameworks for thinking about stepfamilies (ch. 2). The impact of race and culture on stepfamily dynamics (ch. 3). Stepfamily formation including the role of cohabitation and lone parenting (ch.4). The wellbeing of adults in stepfamilies including resident and nonresident parents (ch.5). Relationships in stepfamilies including those between adults, between adults and children, and between siblings (chs. 6 & 7). Children's wellbeing in stepfamilies, and factors that help explain outcomes (ch. 8). The importance of intergenerational relationships (ch.9). Stepfamilies headed by sex couples; wellbeing, stigma and legal issues (ch. 10). Factors that promote wellbeing in stepfamilies such as communication patterns, rituals, and flexibility (ch.11). Interventions and therapy, and recent legal and policy issues (chs. 12 & 13). New ways of thinking about stepfamily living (ch. 14). Intended as a core advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate text for courses on stepfamilies or as a supplement for courses on divorce, family studies, introduction to the family, and/or marriage and the family taught in human development and family studies, psychology, sociology, and social work, the book also appeals to those who work with stepfamilies in a counseling or legal setting.

This new book reviews the most current global research and highlights the challenges, possibilities, and dynamics of stepfamily households. It describes their formation, their experiences, and the factors that help them thrive. International and cultural differences are highlighted throughout along with issues of class, gender, and religion. Nontraditional stepfamilies such as those headed by same-sex families are also explored along with clinical and legal issues. Engagingly written with numerous vignettes and examples, each chapter features objectives, an introduction, boldfaced key terms, summary, list of key terms, discussion questions, exercises, and additional text and web resources. The book concludes with a glossary. Highlights of coverage include: The history, diversity, and demography of stepfamilies (ch. 1). Frameworks for thinking about stepfamilies (ch. 2). The impact of race and culture on stepfamily dynamics (ch. 3). Stepfamily formation including the role of cohabitation and lone parenting (ch.4). The wellbeing of adults in stepfamilies including resident and nonresident parents (ch.5). Relationships in stepfamilies including those between adults, between adults and children, and between siblings (chs. 6 & 7). Children's wellbeing in stepfamilies, and factors that help explain outcomes (ch. 8). The importance of intergenerational relationships (ch.9). Stepfamilies headed by sex couples; wellbeing, stigma and legal issues (ch. 10). Factors that promote wellbeing in stepfamilies such as communication patterns, rituals, and flexibility (ch.11). Interventions and therapy, and recent legal and policy issues (chs. 12 & 13). New ways of thinking about stepfamily living (ch. 14). Intended as a core advanced undergraduate/beginning graduate text for courses on stepfamilies or as a supplement for courses on divorce, family studies, introduction to the family, and/or marriage and the family taught in human development and family studies, psychology, sociology, and social work, the book also appeals to those who work with stepfamilies in a counseling or legal setting.

Being a child in American society can be problematic. Twenty percent of American children live in poverty, parents are divorcing at high rates, and educational institutions are not always fulfilling their goals. Against this backdrop, children are often patronized or idealized by adults. Rarely do we look for the strengths within children that can serve as the foundation for growth and development. In Rethinking Childhood , twenty contributors, coming from the disciplines of anthropology, government, law, psychology, education, religion, philosophy, and sociology, provide a multidisciplinary view of childhood by listening and understanding the ways children shape their own futures. Topics include education, poverty, family life, divorce, neighborhood life, sports, the internet, and legal status. In all these areas, children have both voice and agency. They construct their own social networks and social reality, sort out their own values, and assess and cope with the perplexing world around them. The contributors present ideas that lead not only to new analyses but also to innovative policy applications. Taken together, these essays develop a new paradigm for understanding childhood as children experience these years. This paradigm challenges readers to develop fresh ways of listening to children's voices that enable both children and adults to cross the barriers of age, experience, and stereotyping that make communication difficult. A volume in the Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies, edited by Myra Bluebond-Langner.