Subject:
Sociology
Material Type:
Module
Level:
Community College / Lower Division
Provider:
Ohio Open Ed Collaborative
Tags:
  • Oss0212
  • Sociology
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    Text/HTML

    Education Standards

    Identify current trends surrounding marriage, children, and divorce in the United States

    Overview

    OER Text Materials

    Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Sections: 15.3-15.4
    Section 3 defines marriage and discusses trends related to the marriage in the U.S. and cross-nationally. Trends related to children are also discussed. Data from 2010 census is used. Section 4 also discusses changes in the American family and current issues related to families such as cohabitation, divorce, working mothers and daycare and same-sex marriage. The section on same sex marriage needs updated to reflect current policy. The text currently states that only five states allow same sex marriage. This is a significant short-coming of this chapter.

    Supplementary Material (Videos and Reading)

    1. RSF Visiting Scholar Suzanne Bianchi Examines the Changing American Family
      This blog post provides a short summary of Bianchi’s research on changing American families. She is a leading scholar in the area of sociology of the family who uses time diaries to study family time use. She argues that “nothing short of a revolution has occurred in family life”. She points out the women have increased labor force participation, decreased housework, but the amount of time spent on child rearing has increased. Fathers are spending more time on child rearing activities.
       
    2. “Opting In and Out of Motherhood”
      This article discusses several key pieces of research on women choosing whether or not to become a mother.
       
    3. “Self-Fulfilling Status?” – Contexts
      This short Contexts article summarizes current research on the relationship between teenagers wishes about parenting and marital status and outcomes as adults.