Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Acknowledgments -- About the authors -- Preface from what was through what is to what could be -- The art and science of family studies -- The changing world of families -- Family scholarship in action : theories, methods, and ethics -- From risk to resilience -- Risk and resilience : families at their best -- Family health : beyond illness and disease -- Sexual intimacy : biology and pleasure -- Family life courses -- Early trajectories : being single, choosing partners -- The new conjugal : marriage, but also civil unions -- Kith and kin : creating families in communities -- Family discord : power, conflict, and violence -- Decoupled families : deserted, separated, divorced, and widowed -- Money matters : economics and family lives -- Into the future -- From family values to valuing families -- Glossary -- References -- Index.