Reuben Hill was professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and is also the author of Families under Stress: Adjustment to the Crises of War Separation and Reunion. He has served as a member and leader of the Family Service Association of America, the Sex Information and Education Council, the National Academy of Science, the National Council on Family Relations, and the American Sociological Association.

• Introduction; I: Family Development and Consumership: Issues of Theory and Research Design; II: The Families Studied: Three Generations of the Same Family Lines; III: Interdependence Among The Generations 1; One: Planning Careers: An Overview of the Timing of Actions; IV: Changes in Family Composition and Occupational Career Patterns; V: Planning Residential Location and Home Improvements; VI: Financial Planning; VII: Acquisition of the Family’s Durable Goods Inventory; VIII: The Intercontingency of Planning Careers; Two: Explanations of Family Consumership Planning and Action; IX: Correlates of Family Consumership; X: The Payoff of Consumership; Satisfaction With The Outcome of Decisions Made; XI: A Comparison of the Characteristic Patterns of Consumership and their Correlates by Generation; XII: Linkage of Planning Career Achievements and Consumership; Three: Implications of Findings; XIII: Implications for a Theory of Family Development and Family Consumership; XIV: Applying the Research Findings for Families