Future Families (eBook)

Ross D. Parke is Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, and past Director of the Center for Family Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He has authored or co-authored several books on the field, including Fathers and Fatherhood, Throwaway Dads, Child Psychology: A Contemporary Perspective, and Social Development.

Preface vi

Acknowledgments ix

About the Author xi

1 Challenges to the Ideal Family Form 1

2 Changing Parental Roles: The Sharing and Redistribution of
Family Responsibility in Contemporary Families 25

3 Further Assaults on the "Ideal" Family Form:
Divorce, Remarriage, Single Parenthood, and Cohabitation 55

4 Same-Gender Families: Are Two Mothers or Fathers Good Enough?
84

5 How Many "Parents" Are Too Many? Insights from the
Assisted Reproductive Technologies Front 111

6 Many Mothers, Many Fathers, Many Others: Insights from Other
Cultures 141

7 All about Relatives and Fictive Relatives: Insights from
Diverse Ethnic Groups in Our Own Culture (Past and Present) 160

8 Multiple Caregivers: Harmful or Helpful for Caregivers
Themselves 191

9 In Support of Alternative Family Forms: Overcoming the
Barriers to Change 209

References 243

Index 292

Link to review in href="http://issuu.com/ucriverside/docs/ucr_magazine_winter_2014?e=2768134/6969848">Issuu.com
- Winter 2014

"The book is best thought of as a stimulus to new
conversations about our conception of families and an
exploration of the implications of changing family forms for
children's development." (Society for Research
in Child Development, 1 January 2014)

Ross Parke's wonderful book arrives in a time when political
culture wars have intensified (again), with widely clashing views
about what ideal families should be like. Parke provides a
detailed and engaging account of the diversity of contemporary
families, laying waste along the way to many widely-held myths
about what is healthy for parents and children that have dominated
current discussions without paying attention to the evidence. This
book will serve as the new go-to reference source for family
scholars and their students in the social sciences and humanities.
It will also be required reading for (open-minded) political
decision-makers and family-service providers who are concerned with
how we allocate resources for families, especially in these times
of economic distress.

--Professors Carolyn and Philip Cowan,
Professors Emeriti, University of California, Berkeley

Future Families: Diverse Form, Rich Possibilities is the
best introduction to the topic of family diversity that I have seen
to date. A succinct but remarkably comprehensive treatment of the
topic of family diversity.

--Professor Frank Furstenberg, Department of
Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

This is the most important book on the family to have been
written in the 21st Century. It is unsurpassed in terms of its
sensitive and erudite consideration of the key questions raised by
contemporary family forms and the extent to which these questions
can be answered by empirical research. It is brings the topic alive
by including real-world examples and discussion of the social and
psychological implications of Future Families - a "must-read"
for everyone with an interest in family life today.

--Professor Susan Golombok, Centre for Family
Research, University of Cambridge

Even Tolstoy, who thought "all happy families resemble one
another," could not have imagined the diversity of forms
those happy families take, but Ross Parke has. In this
innovative book he provides context, understanding, and the
scientific basis for appreciating differences in numbers of
parents, gender of parents, and sources of children. His
scholarship will inform professionals, parents, policy-makers,
students, and faculty about the continuing changes in modern family
structure and life.

--Arnold Sameroff, Ph. D. , Professor Emeritus
of Psychology, University of Michigan