Marriage and Family

H. Elizabeth Peters is professor of policy analysis and management and director of the population program at Cornell University. Her research focuses on family economics and family policy, examining the effects of public policies such as divorce laws, taxes, and welfare reform on family formation and dissolution decisions, inter- and intra-household transfers, and investments in children. Her research has been widely published in journals of economics, demography, and sociology. Claire M. Kamp Dush is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science and is a faculty affiliate of the Initiative in Population Research at The Ohio State University. Her current work centers on romantic relationship quality and stability and their impacts on and interactions with human development.

• List of Illustrations List of Table Acknowledgments Introduction, by Elizabeth Peters and Claire M. Kamp Dush Part I Perspectives on Marriage 1. Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Marriage, by Arland Thornton 2. Marriage and Family: The Evolutionary Ecological Context, by Bobbi S. Low 3. Gender Lens on Marriage, by Paula England 4. Institutional, Companionate, and Individualistic Marriage: A Social Psychological Perspective on Marital Change, by Paul R. Amato Part II. Contemporary Families 5. Single Parenthood and Child Well-Being: Trends, Theories, and Evidence, by Rachel Dunifon 6. Cohabitation and Parenthood: Lessons from Focus Groups and In-Depth Interviews, by Wendy D. Manning, Pamela J. Smock, and Cava Bergstrom-Lynch 7. Examination of Child Well-Being in Stable Single-Parent and Married Families, by Claire M. Kamp Dush 8. Reconsidering the Association Between Stepfather Families and Adolescent Well-Being, by Megan M. Sweeney, Hongbo Wang, Tami M. Videon 9. Parenting by Gay Men and Lesbians: Beyond the Current Research, by Gary J. Gates and Adam P. Romero Part III. Strengthening Marriage 10. Supporting Healthy Marriage: Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married Couples, by Virginia Knox and David Fein 11. Differentiating Among Types of Domestic Violence: Implications for Healthy Marriages, by Michael P. Johnson Part IV. Future of Marriage 12. Growing Importance of Marriage in America, by Steven L. Nock 13. Future of Marriage and the State: A Proposal, by Tamara Metz 14. Why Won't African Americans Get (and Stay) Married? Why Should They?, by Shirley A. Hill 15. Race, Immigration, and the Future of Marriage, by Daniel T. Lichter and Warren A. Brown List of Contributors Index

This book should be in every university library... Essential. Choice A valuable resource for understanding families and family change a decade into the twenty-first century. Its wide-ranging terrain and scholarly standards make this a book well worth having on the bookshelf. -- Mick Cunningham Population Studies