Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; 1 Introduction; Popular Perspectives on the Family; Academic Perspectives on the Family; Framework of Analysis; 2 Childhood; The Ideology of Childhood; Demographic Patterns in the History of American Children; The Living Arrangements of American Children; Children and the State; Conclusion; Notes; 3 Adolescent Sexuality; The Dilemma of ""Normal"" Sexual Development; The Historical Contours of American Adolescence; Modern Sexuality and the Development of Youth Culture; Contemporary Dilemmas of Adolescent Sexuality; Conclusion
Notes4 Marriage; Why Marry? Traditional and Modern Perspectives; Love and Marriage: Couples in an Era of Individualism; The State of the Marital Union: Contemporary American Marriages; Conclusion; Notes; 5 Aging; The Graying of the U.S. Population; Outline of an Old Age History in America; The Economic and Political Transformation in the Lives of Older Americans; The Chronological Frontier: Family and Community Life Among the Elderly; The New Frontier of Family Life; Conclusion; Notes; 6 Conclusion; References; Index
