Type:
Solution Manual
Resource:
Marriages Families and Intimate Relationships
Edition:
4th Edition
Author(s):
Brian K. Williams Stacey C. Sawyer Carl M. Wahlstrom
Chapter 1 Seeking: Finding Happiness in Relationships in a Complex World Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, students should be able to: 1.1 Discuss how love and relationships affect personal happiness. 1.2 Describe the components, types, and benefits of families. 1.3 Explain how the families of yesterday differed from our own. 1.4 Describe the great forces that influenced family life.
On the Web What Do You Seek in Love & Intimacy? Oxford Happiness Questionnaire—Meaning and Happiness www.meaningandhappiness.com At the start of every chapter, we offer you the opportunity to go on the Internet to investigate a subject that will make the forthcoming material more relevant to you. This is the first one. A principal theme of this book is that we seek happiness in intimate relationships. But what is happiness? To begin to investigate this subject, go to the website “Oxford Happiness Questionnaire—Meaning and Happiness.” After you finish, you can look at the “Interpretation of Score” to see how you scored in relation to others.
Chapter Outline I. Seeking Happiness through Love & Intimacy Many people think that they will be happy if they can find the right relationship. In fact, among the happiest people are those who are married. It’s possible that you can manage your emotions for happiness just as you manage other things in your life. Happy couples have common strengths in at least five areas. Learning Objective: 1.1 Discuss how love and relationships affect personal happiness. A. Happiness: Love versus Loneliness 1. Loneliness may be hazardous to one’s health 2. Singles may be better off because some research shows that marriage actually reduces social ties B. Marriage & Well-Being 1. Who is very happy? • 40% of married people 1 Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
• 24% of people living together • 22% of those never married • 18% of those previously married 2. Research shows that once adults marry, their well-being improves C. Numbers That Matter: Marriage, Families, & Happiness 1. 40% of married people say they are happy compared with 24% of never-married people 2. 75% of happy couples agree on the high quality of their communication 3. Married couples declined from 71% of all families in 1970 to 44% in 2017 D. Practical Action: Happiness: Is It within Your Grasp? 1. The happiness “set point” 2. Can money buy happiness? 3. Where do you live? The effect of culture on happiness E. Love, Appreciation, Intimacy & Happiness 1. John Gottman indicates that the best predictor of divorce is contempt, which may be thwarted by cultivating a “culture of appreciation” F. How Happy Are You in a Relationship? 1. Key areas that affect a couple’s happiness: • They communicate well • They are flexible as a couple • They are emotionally close • They have compatible personalities • They agree on how to handle conflict 2. Other areas that affect a couple’s happiness: • Their sexual relationship • Their choice of leisure activities • The influence of family and friends • The ability to manage finances • An agreement on spiritual beliefs II. Marriage & Family: The Basic Concepts Marriage has five components: emotional, ceremonial, legal, sexual faithfulness, and parenting. Family may be a traditional “modern” or nuclear family. Or today it may be a “postmodern” family, such as a two-household (binuclear) or blended family (stepfamily), or even one consisting of “affiliated kin” who are family by reason of emotional closeness. Learning Objective: 1.2 Describe the components, types, and benefits of families. A. What Is Marriage? 1. Five components: • The emotional component: Is love necessary? o Most people in the United States say they would marry for love. This is not true in all cultures • The ceremonial component: Church, state, or other? o Every culture has some sort of ceremony cementing the union • The legal component: Does the state have to be involved? 2 Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
o The state has a legal interest once a marriage license is filed—legal marriage affects matters of property, children, debts, and inheritance • The sexual-faithfulness component: Are monogamy & exclusivity required? o For most people, marriage is based on sexual exclusivity; however, there are variations of this ▪ Monogamy—one spouse only, the only legal form in the United States ▪ Polygamy as polygyny—more than one wife ▪ Polygamy as polyandry—more than one husband • The parenting component: Are children the main reason for marriage? o The main “social” reason for marriage is to provide a stable framework for bearing, nurturing, socializing, rearing, and protecting children B. What Is a Family? 1. Family versus household: Not the same • Traditional family: Two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and who live together; this obviously leaves many people out 2. The formerly “modern” family: The nuclear family • Nuclear/modern family: Husband, wife, children • Family of origin: family one is born into • Family of procreation: family one begins upon marrying and having children 3. Today’s “postmodern” families: Binuclear, blended, & single-parent families • Postmodern family: describes the great variability in family constellation • Binuclear: members live in two households (e.g., divorced parents with children) • Blended family: stepfamily • Single-parent family: one parent living with child/children 4. The extended family: Kin & affiliated kin • Kin: relatives by blood, marriage, remarriage, or adoption • Affiliated kin: unrelated individuals who are treated as if they are related 5. Beyond the Household: Extended Families & Patterns of Residence • Neolocal—In their own home • Patrilocal—With the husband’s family • Matrilocal—With the wife’s family
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C. Why Have Families at All? Four Benefits 1. Economic benefits: Economies of scale • Greater income earning potential, distribution of chores 2. Proximity: Convenience • Closeness; more convenient to obtain help or company 3. Familiarity: At your best & at your worst • Family members know the best and the worst about you 4. Continuity: People who are always there for you • Long-term emotional support, attachments, and assistance III. A Short History of Families This section presents the history of the American family during three eras: the early American era, the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the modern era. We describe variations for different ethnic and racial groups. Learning Objective: 1.3 Explain how the families of yesterday differed from our own. A. American Families in the Colonial Era 1. American Indian families • Marriage and sex o Most married at young ages and tended to be monogamous, though divorce was allowed in some tribes • Families o Children were welcomed and treated with great kindness • Transitions o Rites of passage were very important, especially during puberty 2. White colonial families • Marriage and sex o Most marriages were customarily arranged by parents; some premarital sex was condoned, though bundling (allowing couples to sleep together as long as one of them was sewn into a sack) was a compromise • Families o The family was principally considered an economic and social unit; women generally had few legal rights and wives were mostly subordinate to their husbands; wives worked mostly as homemakers, though some also worked in the fields • Transitions o Boys from wealthy families were educated while girls were minimally educated; Puritans believed that children were born evil and needed frequent discipline
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