RENT TEXTBOOKS

A student-centered and practical approach to learning

This book provides timely, practical, and high-interest information about marriages, families, and intimate relationships, in an engaging format that is easy to use and learn from.

Marriages, Families, & Intimate Relationships: A Practical Introduction discusses fundamental concepts and insights from across the social sciences. It also attempts to engage students with high- interest, useful information and to answer the questions that matter greatly to them.

The Census Update program incorporates 2010 Census data into a course—simply and easily. The components of the Census Update Program include an updated census edition with all charts and graphs—to reflect the results of the 2010 Census. In addition, A Short Introduction to the U.S. Census is available and an updated MyFamilyLab.

Teaching & Learning Experience

• Personalize Learning — MyFamilyLab delivers proven results in helping students succeed, provides engaging experiences that personalize learning, and comes from a trusted partner with educational expertise and a deep commitment to helping students and instructors achieve their goals.
• Improve Critical Thinking — Questions and self-assessment help students think critically about content, engage in class discussions, and make connections to their personal lives.
• Engage Students — Features throughout the text keep students interested.
• Explore Theory — High-interest information combined with the most current research.
• Support Instructors — MyFamilyLab enables instructors to assess student progress and adapt course material to meet the specific needs of the class.

Note: MyFamilyLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MyFamilyLab, please visit: www.myfamilylab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MyFamilyLab (at no additional cost). ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205101798 / ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205101795

IN THIS SECTION:

1.) BRIEF

2.) COMPREHENSIVE

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1:   SEEKING: Finding Happiness in Relationships in a Complex World

Chapter 2:   UNDERSTANDING: Learning abo... MOREut Intimate Behavior

Chapter 3:   GENDER: The Meanings of Masculinity & Femininity

Chapter 4:   LOVE: The Many Faces

Chapter 5:   INVOLVEMENT: Dating, Pairing, Courtship, & Cohabitation Chapter

Chapter 6:   COMMUNICATION: Realizing Effective Intimacy

Chapter 7:   SEXUALITY: Interpersonal Sexuality, Sexual Values, & Behavior

Chapter 8:   MARRIAGE: The Ultimate Commitment?

Chapter 9:   VARIATIONS Nonmarital Families & Households

Chapter 10: REPRODUCTION: Decisions about Having or Not Having Children

Chapter 11: PARENTING: Children, Families, & Generations

Chapter 12: WORK: Economics, Jobs, & Balancing Family Demands

Chapter 13: CRISES: Managing Stress, Disaster, Violence, & Abuse

Chapter 14: UNCOUPLING: Separation & Divorce

Chapter 15: REMARRIAGE: Reinvented, Renewed, & Blended Families

COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* All Chapters end with Key Terms Used in This Chapter, Summary, and Taking It to the Net

Chapter 1: SEEKING: Finding Happiness in Relationships in a Complex World

1.1 Seeking Happiness through Love & Intimacy

1.2 Intimacy, Marriage, & Family

1.3 The Challenges to Relationships & Families Today

Self-Assessment: The RELATE and READY Relationship Questionnaires

Chapter 2: UNDERSTANDING: Learning about Intimate Behavior

2.1 A Short History of Marriage

2.2 Learning How to Think: Keys to Being Open- Minded

2.3 How Do You Know What’s True? Learning to Evaluate Research Results

2.4 Theoretical Perspectives on the Family

Self-Assessment: Gaining Self-Knowledge from the Harvard Project Implicit Website

Chapter 3: GENDER: The Meanings of Masculinity & Femininity

3.1 Understanding Gender & Gender Roles

3.2 Why Do Gender Roles Differ? Some Theories

3.3 Gender Socialization: Who Teaches Us How to Act Male or Female?

3.4 Gender Roles in Transition: Multiple Masculinities & Femininities

Self-Assessment: What’s Your Gender Communications Quotient?

Chapter 4: LOVE: The Many Faces

4.1 Can We Define Love?

4.2 The Origins of Love: Some Theories

4.3 The Dark Face of Love: Jealousy, Unrequited Love, & Attempts to Control

4.4 How Can You Tell Whether It’s Meaningful Love?

Self-Assessment: How Capable Are You of Being Intimate?

Chapter 5: INVOLVEMENT: Dating, Pairing, Courtship, & Cohabitation

5.1 The Dating Game

5.2 Pairing Up: Finding & Choosing a Partner

5.3 Cohabitation: Living Together as an Unmarried Couple

5.4 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Self-Assessment: How Compatible Are You & Your Prospective Partner?

Chapter 6: COMMUNICATION: Realizing Effective Intimacy

6.1 Power & Intimacy

6.2 Conflict & Growth

6.3 The Nature of Communication

Self-Assessment: Accepting Your Partner

Chapter 7: SEXUALITY: Interpersonal Sexuality, Sexual Values, & Behavior

7.1 Sexual Values, Learning, & Scripts

7.2 The Varieties of Sexual Experience

7.3 AIDS & Other Sexual Diseases

Self-Assessment: Test Your Knowledge of Sexuality

Chapter 8: MARRIAGE: The Ultimate Commitment?

8.1 Why Do People Marry?

8.2 Changes in the Family Life Cycle: Scenes from a Marriage

8.3 Different Kinds of Marriage Relationships

8.4 What Makes for a Successful Marriage?

Chapter 9: VARIATIONS Nonmarital Families & Households

9.1 Different Family & Household Relationships

9.2 The Single Way of Life

9.3 The Gay & Lesbian Way of Life

9.4 Communal Living, Group Marriages, & Open Marriages

Self-Assessment: Homophobia Scale

Chapter 10: REPRODUCTION: Decisions about Having or Not Having Children

10.1 Having or Not Having Children: Choice or Fate?
10.2 Contraception: Practical Methods of Birth Control

10.3 Abortion & Abandonment 10.4 Infertility, Reproductive Technology, & Adoption

Self-Assessment: How Would You Deal with an Unexpected Pregnancy?

Chapter 11: PARENTING: Children, Families, & Generations

11.1 Parenthood: The Varieties of Experience

11.2 Becoming a Parent

11.3 Parenting Approaches

11.4 The Aging Family: When Parents & Children Get Older

Self-Assessment: Assessing Your Readiness to Become a Parent

Chapter 12: WORK: Economics, Jobs, & Balancing Family Demands

12.1 Work,Wealth, & Well-Being

12.2 Changing Family Work Patterns

12.3 Balancing Work & Family Demands: Some Practical Strategies

Self-Assessment: How Well Do You Balance Work & Life?

Chapter 13: CRISES: Managing Stress, Disaster, Violence, & Abuse

POPULAR CULTURE & THE MEDIA Crises: A Way of Life?

ON THE WEB Dealing with the Ultimate Crisis

13.1 Stresses, Hassles, & Crises: Seeking Hardiness

13.2 Crises & Disasters

13.3 Violence & Abuse: The Dark Side of Intimate Relationships

13.4 Coping Strategies: Successful Ways of Handling Stresses & Crises

Self-Assessment: Major Life Events & Stress

Chapter 14: UNCOUPLING: Separation & Divorce

14.1 Separation, Divorce, & Trends

14.2 Why People Divorce

14.3 The Process of Divorce

14.4 The Effects of Divorce

Self-Assessment: How’s Your Marital Adjustment?

Chapter 15: REMARRIAGE: Reinvented, Renewed, & Blended Families

15.1 Moving toward Remarriage

15.2 Remarried & Blended Families

15.3 Inside the Blended Family

15.4 Strengthening Stepfamilies

Self-Assessment: Rate Your Family’s Strengths

BRIAN K. WILLIAMS is married to Stacey Sawyer and they live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and share an avid interest in seeing college students become well-educated. Over the past two decades, they have individually or together authored more than 25 books,in such subjects as health, college success, and computers and information technology.  

He has been Managing Editor for college textbook publisher Harper & Row/Canfield Press in San Francisco; Editor in Chief for trade book publisher J. P. Tarcher in Los Angeles; Publications & Communications Manager for the University of California, Systemwide Administration, in Berkeley; and an independent writer and book producer based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas. He has a B.A. in English and M.A. in Communication from Stanford University.

STACEY C. SAWYER, formerly Director of Founder’s Clinic, a women’s reproductive health and family planning clinic in Columbus, Ohio, is an independent writer and book producer who has been based in the San Francisco and Lake Tahoe areas.

She has taught at Ohio State University and been a manager for Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. in Monterey, California. She has a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and the University of Freiburg, Germany, and an M.A. from Middlebury College and the University of Mainz, Germany.

She is coauthor of Computers, Communications, & Information, a college textbook in print for 15 years. She and husband Brian Williams also cowrote Using Information Technology, now in its 7th edition. 

CARL M. WAHLSTROM is Professor of Intermediate Studies and Sociology at Genesee Community College, Batavia, New York, and is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Sociology at the State University of New York at Geneseo. He has taught courses in marriage and the family, human development, learning strategies, sociology, psychology, human relations, and college success.

He has been the recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity, the National Freshman Advocate Award, and several other teaching honors. He has a B.S. in Sociology and an M.S. Ed. in Counselor Education from SUNY Brockport and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Bridgeport. He is an active presenter and educational consultant.

With Brian Williams he is coauthor of Learning Success, The Practical Student, The Urban Student, The Commuter Student, The Successful Distance Learning Student,and College to Career.He lives with his wife, Nancy, an employee benefits consultant, in the Finger Lakes area of New York.