As the title suggests, Public and Private Families: An Introduction, seventh edition, discusses the family in two senses: the private family, in which we live most of our personal lives, and the public family, in which we, as adults, deal with broader societal issues such as the care of the frail elderly, the increase in divorce, and childbearing outside of marriage. The book examines intimate personal concerns, such as whether to marry, as well as societal concerns, such as governmental policies that affect families. Distinctive chapters examine contemporary issues such as income assistance to poor families, the effects of out-of-home childcare, and the costs of Social Security and Medicare programs. A companion reader to this textbook, Public and Private Families: A Reader, seventh edition, with 14 same-named chapters, has 34 readings from both the popular press and academic journals.

Connect is the only integrated learning system that empowers students by continuously adapting to deliver precisely what they need, when they need it, and how they need it, so that your class time is more engaging and effective. It provides tools that make assessment easier, learning more engaging, and studying more efficient. For instance, Connect contains SmartBook, the first and only adaptive reading experience available for the higher education market. Powered by the intelligent and adaptive LearnSmart engine, SmartBook facilitates the reading process by identifying what content a student knows and doesn’t know. As a student reads Public and Private Families: An Introduction, the material continuously adapts to ensure that he or she is focused on the content most crucial to closing specific knowledge gaps.