Family Ties and Aging
- Ingrid Arnet Connidis - Western University, Canada
- Amanda E. Barnett - University of Wisconsin-Stout
Providing an integrated and thorough representation from current research and contemporary society, Family Ties and Agingshows how pressing issues of our time—an aging population, changing family structures, and new patterns of work-family balance—are negotiated in the family lives of middle-aged and older adults.
Focusing on key questions such as "How do current trends and social arrangements affect family relationships?" and "What are the implications of what we know for future research, theory, practice, and policy?", authors Ingrid Arnet Connidis and Amanda E. Barnett explore groups and relationships that are typically overlooked, including the unique family situations of older single and childless persons, sibling ties, older lesbian and gay adults, and new forms of intimate relationships. The Third Edition is thoroughly updated to include the latest research and theoretical developments, recent media coverage of related issues, and new information on intimate relationships in later life and elder neglect/abuse.
This text provides the foundation for discussions...it is valuable for both undergraduate and graduate students. It
offers enough substance for graduate students to use it as a springboard for more in-depth considerations of the topics. It provides
undergraduates with the foundation of information that they can apply to their own lives.
I’ve adopted this book because of its good breadth (combined with good depth, not watered down) of a good variety of topics and
issues. I like the life course and other theoretical perspectives, including the notion of “negotiation” of family
relations, and the attention to how family patterns and relations vary by both age and gender, as well as gay/lesbian relations and other
diversity in family forms.
I have not yet seen a book that is better-structured for my course. The main sections seem to appropriately capture the range of key family relationships during each period.
I believe the book attends to family system-level issues better than others I reviewed. I also build a focus on psychohistorical
perspective into the course and believe this is appropriately addressed in the book.
This text is one of the only up-to-date comprehensive texts on this topic that I have found. Comprehensive is probably the key word. All of the major
topics are addressed.
