Marriage and Commitment: Why Do People Marry?
Most people today would say they married for love and the desire to spend the rest of their lives with the object of their affection Historically, however, marriage was an economic bargain, a means of establishing property and power and perpetuati...
Singlehood...: Gay and Lesbian Couples vs. the Marriage Movement
Sixty percent of Americans consider homosexual relations wrong, a figure that has decreased since the 1970s but is still out of step with other advanced industrial nations. Twenty-nine percent of gay men and 44 percent of lesbians currently live in...
Singlehood...: Costs and Benefits of Cohabitation
In general there are fewer legal supports for cohabiting singles including health and life insurance. However, singles who share a life together report the relationship provides them with greater freedom to be themselves, to share finances, and to e...
Singlehood...: Changing Attitudes Toward Singlehood
Generations ago, people focused on finding an appropriate person to marry, raising a family, and creating an economic partnership that would last a lifetime. Being single, in fact, had negative connotations. Today, a large contingent of people ch...
Marriage and Commitment: Communication and Conflict Resolution
Men and women often have different approaches to conflict resolution. Couples argue vehemently about small things, when the underlying issue is how they are defining the relationship. Researcher John Gottman has found that successful couples avoid...
Fitting In: Socialization in Non-Intact Families
There are many aspects of family life that play an important role in a child's socialization experience. The stability of the family unit is one of the most crucial.
Changing Families: Alternative Family Structures
Among the most obvious changes in American families has been the increased diversity of family forms and structures. Some of the most common alternative family forms are: single parent families, married couples without children, stepfamilies, and f...
To Parent or Not to Parent: Why Couples Are Having Fewer Children
Families in the late 19th century had, on average, about six children, while the number of children per family today has dropped to only about 1.8. Some experts believe this de-coupling of marriage and childbearing has come about because children ...