Demographic change during this century has altered the prevalence, timing, and
sequencing of some key family transitions. Patterns of family deaths are now more�…

The family life cycle perspective defines the existence of a set of developmental stages–from
marriage to widowhood–and attributes to each of these stages typical 'developmental needs'�…

This research sought to describe the individual consequences of six types of family
transitions. Transitions into and out of marriage,(remarriage, divorce, widowhood, and first�…

Abstract Families have changed remarkably over the last century—in age structure and
generational composition, in their diversity of forms and functions, in family members'�…

Family relations in later life have been an issue of concern throughout recorded history. In
fact, intergenerational roles, responsibilities, and conflict have permeated both legend and�…

Research focusing on families who are beyond the child-rearing years and have begun to
launch their children is reviewed. These later-life families are characterized by continuity�…

Written in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Marriage and the Family, this essay
tells how family demography developed in the United States and then summarizes findings�…

Much has been written about the dramatic changes that have taken place in the
constellation of the American family since the end of World War II (Bane, 1976; Glick, 1988;�…

Research on families in the middle and later years came into its own during the 1990s,
documenting the complexity, malleability, and variety of older family connections. We�…

Family studies represent an expanding area of lively ideas and empirical work across the
social sciences. 1 A central feature of this development appears in the growing prominence�…