Includes bibliographical references (p. 540-589) and indexes.

Meaning of marriage and family -- Studying marriage and famiies -- Variations in American family life -- Gender and family -- Intimacy, friendship and love -- Understanding sex and sexualities -- Communication, power, and conflict -- Marriages in societal and individual perspective -- Unmarried lives: Singlehood and cohabitation -- Becoming parents and experiencing parenthood -- Marriage, work, and economics -- Intimate violence and sexual abuse -- Coming apart : separation and divorce -- New beginnings : single-parent families, remarriages, and blended families -- appendix A: Sexual structure and the sexual response cycle -- appendix B: Pregnancy, conception, and fetal development -- appendix C: The budget process.