Suzanne K. Steinmetz

Family and Support Systems across the Life Span

Walter R. Schumm

Pauline Boss

William J. Doherty

Ralph LaRossa

Origins We call this book on theoretical orientations and methodological strategies in family studies a sourcebook because it details the social and personal roots (i.e., sources) from which these orientations and strategies flow. Thus, an appropriate way to preface this book is to talk first of its roots, its beginnings. In the mid 1980s there emerged in some quarters the sense that it was time for family studies to take stock of itself. A goal was thus set to write a book that, like Janus, would face both backward and forward a book that would give readers both a perspec tive on the past and a map for the future. There were precedents for such a project: The Handbook of Marriage and the Family edited by Harold Christensen and published in 1964; the two Contemporary Theories about theFamily volumes edited by Wesley Burr, Reuben Hill, F. Ivan Nye, and Ira Reiss, published in 1979; and the Handbook of Marriage and the Family edited by Marvin Sussman and Suzanne Steinmetz, then in production.

A Contextual Approach

Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methods

Marvin B. Sussman

Gary W. Peterson

In a thoroughgoing revision of the first edition of this classic text and reference, published by Plenum in 1987, the editors have assembled a distinguished group of contributors to address such topics as past, present, and future perspectives on family diversity; theory and methods of the family; changing family patterns and roles; the family and other institutions; and family dynamics and processes.

Handbook of Marriage and the Family

Barbara Wejnert

Nirupama Prakash

This book provides cutting edge information on safe motherhood in a global context. The chapters focus on research, program development and implementation, and policy dealing with various aspects of pregnancy, labor and delivery. Safe motherhood is a critical issue since healthy, safe motherhood is the prerequisite for a healthy, productive society. Writing about the situation in their countries, the authors are from Eastern Europe, America, Asia and Africa and are academic scholars and health practitioners. The book is multidisciplinary with scholars from sociology, gender studies, economics, social policy, social geography, population management and political science. Topics include lactation policy and misunderstandings of lactations in African countries and in the United States; postnatal stress disorder that is either understudied or not considered as a problem in many developing countries; potential causes of a decline of maternal health in democratizing states; the effect of geographical environment on reproductive health; and revelation of mysteries of consequences of pre-birth pain in the early life of children. Case studies provide examples of successful model programs. Solutions offered are based on utilizing available resources and technology in ways that maximize education and training of local health professionals and family members. This book was published as a special issue of Marriage and Family Review.

Safe Motherhood in a Globalized World

Assertive, Aggressive, and Abusive Family Interaction

The Cycle of Violence

Murray Arnold Straus

Richard J. Gelles

Behind Closed Doors is grounded in the unprecedented national survey of the extent, patterns, and causes of violence in the American family. Based on a study of over 2,000 families, the authors provide landmark insights into this phenomenon of violence and what causes Americans to inflict it on their family members. The authors explore the relationship between spousal abuse and child abuse as well as abuse between siblings, violence by children against their parents, and the causes and effects of verbal abuse. Taken together, their analysis provides a vivid picture of how violence is woven into the fabric of family life and why the hallmark of family life is both love and violence. This is a comprehensive, highly readable account of interest to both the professional and the layperson on an important topic, which concerns the social well-being of us all.

Violence in the American Family

Behind Closed Doors

Murray Murray Arnold Straus

The lucid, straightforward Preface of this Handbook by the two editors and the comprehenSIve perspec tives offered in the Introduction by one ofthem leave little for a Foreword to add. It is therefore limIted to two relevant but not intrinsically related points vis-a-vis research on marriage and the family in the interval since the fIrst Handbook (Christensen, 1964) appeared, namely: the impact on this research ofthe politicization of the New RIght! and of the Feminist Enlightenment beginning in the mid-sixties, about the time of the fIrst Handbook. In the late 1930s Willard Waller noted: "Fifty years or more ago about 1890, most people had the greatest respect for the institution called the family and wished to learn nothing whatever about it. . . . Everything that concerned the life of men and women and their children was shrouded from the light. Today much of that has been changed. Gone is the concealment of the way in which life begins, gone the irrational sanctity of the home. The aura of sentiment which once protected the family from discussion clings to it no more .... We wantto learn as much about it as we can and to understand it as thoroughly as possible, for there is a rising recognition in America that vast numbers of its families are sick-from internal frustrations and from external buffeting. We are engaged in the process of reconstructing our family institutions through criticism and discussion" (1938, pp. 3-4).

A host of scholars in sociology, communications, human development, economics, history, and psychology join Sussman (Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH), Steinmetz (Indiana U.) and Peterson (Arizona State U.) to complete this volume on marriage and the family. Articles reflect a broad range of interests, discussing such topics as demography, ethnic variation in the family, divorce, adolescence in contemporary families, work, religion, law, communication, abuse and violence, and sexuality. The book also includes a variety of articles on theories and methods of family research and marital and family therapy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Suzanne K. Steinmetz

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