This textbook introduces students to the study of marriage and the family in ways they can easily relate to. The text gives equal and balanced attention to people of all racial, ethnic, and other societal groups, and treats a variety of lifestyles with equal attention. The author focuses on the way families are changing, and acknowledges the constraints that families face today.

ALERT: Before you purchase, check with your instructor or review your course syllabus to ensure that you select the correct ISBN. Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, including customized versions for individual schools, and registrations are not transferable. In addition, you may need a CourseID, provided by your instructor, to register for and use Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products. Packages Access codes for Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products may not be included when purchasing or renting from companies other than Pearson; check with the seller before completing your purchase. Used or rental books If you rent or purchase a used book with an access code, the access code may have been redeemed previously and you may have to purchase a new access code. Access codes Access codes that are purchased from sellers other than Pearson carry a higher risk of being either the wrong ISBN or a previously redeemed code. Check with the seller prior to purchase. -- Changes, Choices, and Constraints Marriages and Families: Changes, Choices, and Constraints, 8/eoffers students a comprehensive introduction to many issues facing families in the twenty-first century. The author explores contemporary changes in families and their structure, impacts on the choices available to family members, and constraints that often limit our choices. This approach will help readers better understand the families in which they were raised and are forming themselves. With the most up-to-date material and emerging issues on family behavior, students will be able to make better decisions in their everyday lives. MySocLab is an integral part of the Benokraitis learning program. Engaging activities and assessments provide a teaching a learning system that helps students see the world through a sociological lens. With MySocLab, students can develop critical thinking skills through writing, explore real-world data through the new Social Explorer, and watch the latest entries in the Core Concept Video Series. This title is available in a variety of formats - digital and print. Pearson offers its titles on the devices students love through Pearson's MyLab products, CourseSmart, Amazon, and more. 0205957226 / 9780205957224 Marriages and Familes Plus NEW MySocLab with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package Package consists of: 0205206530 / 9780205206537 NEW MySocLab with Pearson eText -- Valuepack Access Card 0205918190 / 9780205918195 Marriages and Families

This best-selling text on marriages, families, and relationships combines a rigorous scholarly and applied approach with a theme especially relevant to today's dynamic global environment: making choices in a diverse society. The authors use an engaging narrative to create a highly readable text that offers insightful perspectives on the diversity of our modern society, including different ethnic traditions and family forms. The balanced presentation discusses a variety of theoretical perspectives (e.g., family ecology, structure-functional, interaction-constructionist, family systems, biosocial), emphasizing both social structure and the importance of individual agency, choice, and decision-making. Students are encouraged to question assumptions and reconcile conflicting ideas and values as they make informed choices in their own lives. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

African American Relationships, Marriages, and Families, Second Edition is a historically and culturally centered research-based text designed for use in undergraduate, graduate, and community-based courses on African American relationships, marriages, and families. Complete with numerous exercises, this volume can be used by current and future helping professionals to guide singles and couples by increasing single and partner-awareness, and respect and appreciation for difference. In addition, singles and couples learn skills for effective communication and conflict resolution and ultimately how to develop and maintain healthy relationships, marriages, and families. This second edition includes updates and revisions to current chapters and also features two new chapters: one on parenting and one on same-gender loving/LGBTQ.

Family life has been radically transformed over the past three decades. Half of all households are unmarried, while only a quarter of all married households have kids. A third of the nation's births are to unwed mothers, and a third of America's married men earn less than their wives. With half of all women cohabitating before they turn thirty and gay and lesbian couples settling down with increasing visibility, there couldn't be a better time for a book that tracks new conceptions of marriage and family as they are being formed. The editors of this volume explore the motivation to marry and the role of matrimony in a diverse group of men and women. They compare empirical data from several emerging family types (single, co-parent, gay and lesbian, among others) to studies of traditional nuclear families, and they consider the effect of public policy and recent economic developments on the practice of marriage and the stabilization or destabilization of family. Approaching this topic from a variety of perspectives, including historical, cross-cultural, gendered, demographic, socio-biological, and social-psychological viewpoints, the editors highlight the complexity of the modern American family and the growing indeterminacy of its boundaries. Refusing to adhere to any one position, the editors provide an unbiased account of contemporary marriage and family.

An introductory text, Marriages & Families accentuates the positive aspects of relationships and focuses on enriching students’ knowledge and experience in building strong, successful couple and family relationships. The authors, seasoned family scholars and therapists, integrate research, theory, and practical application with an interdisciplinary perspective on marriage and family. To enhance teaching and student learning, a new AWARE (Awareness of Attitudes and Relationships Expectations) Online (2008) computerized assessment has been designed specifically for the sixth edition and contains 15 categories that match the chapters of the book. Go to the student and instructor sides of this Web site for more information on AWARE.