Discussion
Copyright @2012 by The McGraw-Hill Group of Companies Inc. All rights Reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THE QUEST FOR INTIMACY
EIGHTH EDITION
ROBERT H. LAUER AND JEANETTE C. LAUER
1-2
THE
CONTEXT
OF
INTIMACY
PART ONE
1-3
MARRIAGE AND
FAMILY
IN AMERICA:
NEEDS, MYTHS,
AND DREAMS
CHAPTER 1
1-4
The Need for Intimacy: We are
Social Creatures
• Loneliness
• Well-Being and Intimacy
1-5
Myths About Family Life
• We’ve Lost the Extended Family
• Opposites Attract
• People Marry Because They Love Each
Other
1-6
Myths About Family Life cont.
• Having Children Increases Marital
Satisfaction
• A Good Sex Life Is the Best Predictor of
Marital Satisfaction
• Happily Married People Don’t Have Conflict
• Half of all Marriages End in Divorce
1-7
Changing Patterns of Intimate
Relationships
• Premarital Sex
• Births to Unmarried Women
• Living Alone
• Cohabitation
1-8
Changing Patterns of Intimate
Relationships cont.
• Delayed Marriage
• Birth Rates
• Household Size
• Employed Mothers
• Divorce
1-9
Births to Unmarried Women,
by Race: 1960-2007
1-10
Number of Americans
Living Alone
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 1987:45 and 2010a.
1-11
Birth Rate per 1,000 Population: 1910-2008
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau Web site and Centers for Disease Control 2010.
1-12
What Do We Want? What Do We
Need?
• The Great Debate
• Changes in Traditional Arrangements
• Me or We?
• Strengths and Benefits of Marriage and
Family
1-13
Applying Theory
Systems Theory
Exchange Theory
Symbolic Interaction Theory
Conflict Theory
Theory and Intimacy