Full Description
Learn the changing role of sexuality in American life!This helpful book offers a solid background in the sociology of family life and personal sexuality. Marital and Sexual Lifestyles in the United States: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Relationships in Social Context is designed to give readers a broad view of the diversity of contemporary U. S. attitudes, behaviors, and relationships. It also covers basic sociological concepts and research methods. Most human sexuality texts focus on the individual, whereas texts designed for sociology courses on the family downplay individual sexual expression. Marital and Sexual Lifestyles in the United Statesintegrates the two approaches. The choices of the individual take on additional meaning when seen within a unified historical, statistical, and conceptual framework.Marital and Sexual Lifestyles in the United States gives readers the tools to consider such pressing issues as:
Does the divorce rate mean that the institution of marriage is in trouble?
Are children's futures impaired if they come from single-parent households?
Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
How does marriage differ from cohabitation?
What are the real sexual differences between the genders?
What is sexual morality?
How much confidence can we place in studies of human sexuality by such social scientists as Alfred Kinsey and Masters and Johnson?These questions and others like them are placed in the context of U. S. social trends, beginning with the 1950s and moving toward today. Plentifully illustrated with tables, charts, and figures that show where we are going as well as where we have been, Marital and Sexual Lifestyles in the United States gives a clear perspective on relationships in social context.
Contents
Contents
Preface
Needs Addressed by This Text
Content Covered
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Marital Lifestyles in the United States
Human Sexuality
The Effects of Change
Summary
Chapter 1. Research Methods
Facts and Values
Rules and Exceptions
Validity and Generalizability
Methods of Data Collection
Research Methods Supplement
Chapter 2. Marital Lifestyles: Single, Married, and Cohabiting
Being Single
Dating and Mate Selection
Theories of Mate Selection
Starting New Relationships
Chapter 3. Sex and Singles
Premarital Sex: Attitudes and Behaviors
Repercussions of Changing Sexual Standards
Sex and Communication
Contraception
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Responding to STDs
The Individual and Social Change
Chapter 4. Marriage, Divorce, and Sex
Marriage and Overall Well-Being
Divorce As a Safety Valve
Sex and Divorce
Participation in Extramarital Sex
Open Marriage, Sexually Open Marriages, and Swinging
Marital Sex
Frequency of Intercourse
Talking to a Partner About Sex
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Sexual Morality and Sexual Hang-Ups
Sexual Morality
Institutional Perspectives
Personal Preferences in Social Context
Conclusion
Chapter 6. Homosexuality
The Nature of Homosexuality
Can Homosexuality Be "Cured"?
Public Attitudes
Prevalence of Homosexuality
Homosexuality and the Family
Conclusion
Chapter 7. Marital Relationships: Men, Women, and Children
Gender Roles
Working Wives
Egalitarian Relationships
Expectations of Parenthood
Work Versus Family: A Historical Overview
Effects of Divorce
Chapter 8. Growing Older and Improving Relationships
Growing Older
Improving Relationships
Theoretical Perspectives in Counseling
Myths About Relationships
Successful Relationships
Sex Therapy
Chapter 9. Looking Ahead
Marital Lifestyles: Divorce and Cohabitation Trends
Sexual Lifestyles: Continuing Concerns
Facts, Values, and Social Science Revisited
Diversity
Social Policy
Closing Comment
Appendix: Sample Survey Items
References
Index
