Families Across Time: A Life Course Perspective

Description

Using a consistent theoretical orientation, Families Across Time explores the "life course" approach to family life--including parent-child, spousal, and sibling relationships. It reflects the diversity represented in contemporary families as they grapple with changes and transitions in family relationships during the life cycle. This volume of seventeen original essays is unique in its integration of research, theory, and application in a variety of topic areas related to family life. The contributors to this volume, which include prominent and established scholars as well as young professionals, address a diversity of family forms as well as all stages of family life--in contrast to the traditional emphasis on early stages.

The essays in this book represent a breadth of content and scholarship; at the same time, they are student-friendly and highly readable. Extensive case scenarios and other examples augment the content of each essay, serving as examples to enhance the reader's ability to understand the challenges families face over the life course. The book's approach emphasizes transitions and tasks in lieu of focusing on the characteristics of stages associated with family development. Different aspects of family life are examined up-close and across the life span for each topic covered.

Editors Sharon J. Price, Patrick C. McKenry, and Megan J. Murphy offer introductions to each section, which frame each set of essays and provide context for the reader. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter.

Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction
1. Families Across Time: A Life Course Perspective
Sharon J. Price, Patrick C. McKenry, and Megan J. Murphy
Section II: Structural Variations Across the Life Course
2. Divorced Families Over the Life Course
Kimberly J. M. Downs, Marilyn Coleman, and Larry Ganong
3. Remarried Families Over the Life Course
Margaret Crosbie-Burnett and Katrina McClintic
4. Gay/Lesbian Families Over the Life Course
Katherine Allen and Karen L. Wilcox
5. African-American Families: Trends and Issues Over the Life Course
Karen Weddle-West
6. Cohabitation and Never Married Families Across Time
Geoffrey K. Leigh
Section III: Processes Through the Life Course of Families
7. Marital Relationships: A Life Course Perspective
Jacki A. Fitzpatrick and Karen S. Wampler
8. A Life Course Approach to Family Violence
Richard Gelles
9. Families in the Context of Communities Across Time
Gary L. Bowen, Jack M. Richman, and Natasha K. Bowen
10. Health and Illness in Families Through the Life Cycle
Thomas L. Campbell
11. Caregiving Over the Life Course
Christine A. Price and Hilary A. Rose
12. Family Economic Issues Across Time
Kathyrn D. Rettig and Ronit D. Leichtenbritt
13. Religion and Families Over the Life Course
J. Elizabeth Miller Norrell
14. Parent-Child Relationships Across the Life Course: Autonomy Within the Context of Connectedness
Gary W. Peterson, Debra Madden-Derdich, and Stacie A. Leonard
15. Family Life Education Over the Life Course
Margaret Arcus
16. Family Systems in Flux: Critical Implications for Life Course Transitions
Suzanne Bartle-Haring, Roy A. Bean, Tina Bedell, and Benjamin J. Perry
17. Policy Issues and Families Over the Life Course
Julie K. Kohler and Shirley L. Zimmerman