FAMILY COMPREHENSIVE EXAM READING LIST
SOCIOLOGY (PHD)
Kent State University – University of Akron
MAJOR
THEORY AND METHODS
Overview
Adams, Bert. 1999. ‘Cross-Cultural and U. S. Kinship.’ Pp. 77-92 in Handbook of Marriage and
the Family, 2nd edition, edited by Marvin Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W.
Peterson. New York: Plenum Press.
Adams, Bert N. and Suzanne K. Steinmetz. 1993. “Family Theory and Methods in the Classics.”
Pp. 71-98 (includes Wesley Burr's application) in Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methods.
New York: Springer.
Lee, Gary R. 1999. ‘Comparative Perspectives.’ Pp. 93-110 in Handbook of Marriage and the
Family, 2nd edition, edited by Marvin Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson.
New York: Plenum
Moen, Phyllis and Kay B. Forest. 1999. ‘Strengthening Families: Policy Issues for the 21st
Century. Pp. 633-664 in Handbook of Marriage and the Family, 2nd edition, edited by Marvin
Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson. New York: Plenum
Spray, Jetse. 1999. ‘Family Dynamics: An Essay on Conflict and Power.’ Pp. 667-686 in
Handbook of Marriage and the Family, 2nd edition, edited by Marvin Sussman, Suzanne K.
Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson. New York: Plenum.
Theory
Baca Zinn, Maxine. 2000. “Feminism and Family Studies for a New Century.” Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 571: 42-56.
Bengston, Vern L. et al. 2005. ‘Theory and Theorizing in Family Research.’ Chapter 1 in
Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock,
Katherine R. Allen, Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1994. “Shifting the Center: Race, Class and Feminist Theorizing about
Motherhood” in Evelyn N. Glenn, Grace Chang and Linda R. Forcey (eds.) Mothering: Ideology,
Experience and Agency. New York: Routledge.
De Reus, Lee Ann., April L. Few, and Libby Balter Blume. 2005. ‘Multicultural and Critical
Race Feminisms: Theorizing Families in the Third Wave.’ Chapter 18 in Sourcebook of Family
Theory and Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye
Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Doherty, William. 1999. ‘Postmodernism and Family Theory.’ Pp. 205-218 in Handbook of
Marriage and the Family, 2nd edition, edited by Marvin Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and
Gary W. Peterson. New York: Plenum
Erickson, Rebecca J. 2003. “The Familial Institution.” Pp. 511-538 in Handbook of Symbolic
Interaction, edited by Larry T. Reynolds and Nancy J. Herman. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira
Press.
Fass, Paula S. 1993. “Perspectives on Family Theory: Families in History and Beyond.” Pp. 143151 in Family, Self and Society, edited by Philip Cowan et al. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Geronimus, Arline T. 1997. ‘Teenage Childbearing and Personal Responsibility: An Alternative
View.’ Political Science Quarterly. 112: 405-430.
LaRossa, Ralph et al. 2005. ‘Culture, Cognition, and Parenthood.’ Chapter 17 in Sourcebook of
Family Theory and Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen,
Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Oswald, Ranoma Faith, Libby Balter Blume and Stephen R. Marks. 2005. ‘Decentering
Heteronormativity: A Model for Family Studies.’ Chapter 6 in Sourcebook of Family Theory and
Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye DilworthAndreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Scanzoni, John. 1979. “Social Processes and Power in Families.” Pp. 295-316 in Contemporary
Theories about the Family (Vol 1). New York: Free Press.
Sprey, Jetse. 2000. “Theorizing in Family Studies: Discovering Process.” Journal of Marriage
and Family 62:18-31.
Methods
Acock, Alan C. 2005. “Working with Missing Values.” Journal of Marriage and Family
67:1012-28.
Carr, Deborah. 2004. ‘My Daughter Has a Career; I Just Raised Babies: The Psychological
Consequences of Women's Intergenerational Social Comparisons.’ Social Psychology Quarterly
67: 132-154.
Daly, Kerry J. 2007. Qualitative Methods for Family Studies and Human Development.
Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Hofferth, Sandra L. 2005. “Secondary Data Analysis in Family Research.” Journal of Marriage
and Family 67:891-907.
Larossa, Ralph. 2005. “Grounded Theory Methods and Qualitative Family Research.” Journal of
Marriage and Family 67:837-857.
Laub, John H., Daniel S. Nagin, Robert J. Sampson. 1998. ‘Trajectories of Change in Criminal
Offending: Good Marriages and the Desistance Process.’ American Sociological Review 63: 225238.
Lavee, Yoav. and David C. Dollahite. 1991. “The Linkage between Theory and Research in
Family Science.” Journal of Marriage and Family 53:361-73.
Thornton, A. and G. Binstock. 2001. “The Reliability of Measurement and the Cross-Time
Stability of Individual and Family Variables.” Journal of Marriage and Family 63:881-894.
Wu, Zheng. 2005. “Generalized Linear Models in Family Studies.” Journal of Marriage and
Family 67:1029-47.
HISTORICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS
Bianchi, Suzanne M. and Lynne M. Caspter. 2005. ‘Explanations of Family Change: A Family
Demographic Perspective. Chapter 4 in Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research, edited by
Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David
M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Coontz, Stephanie. 1992. The Way We Never Were. NY: Basic Books.
Demo, David H., William S. Aquilino and Mark A. Fine. 2005. ‘Family Composition and Family
Transitions.’ Chapter 5 in Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research, edited by Vern L.
Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein.
Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Furstenberg, F. 1990. “Divorce and the American Family.” Annual Review of Sociology 16:379403.
Morgan, S. Philip. 2003. “Is Low Fertility a Twenty-First-Century Demographic Crisis?”
Demography 40:589-603.
Sweeney, Megan. 2002. “Two Decades of Family Change: The Shifting Economic Foundations
of Marriage.” American Sociological Review 67:132-147.
Teachman, J., Lucky Tedrow, and Kyle Crowder. 2000. “The Changing Demography of
American Families.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 62:1234-1246
Waite, L. 1995. “Does Marriage Matter?” Demography 32:483-507.
RACE, ETHNICITY, SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS, AND FAMILY
McLanahan, Sara and Christine Percheski. 2008. ‘Family Structure and the Reproduction of
Inequalities.’Annual Review of Sociology 34: 257-276.
Edin, Kathryn and Lein, Laura. 1997. Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare
and Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Foner, Nancy. 1997. ‘The Immigrant Family: Cultural Legacies and Cultural Changes.’
International Migration Review. v31n4. Pp 961-974.
Hays, Sharon. 2003. Flat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. Oxford
and New York: Oxford University Press.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. 1994.
Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of
Immigration. University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Kibria, Nazli. 1993. Family Tightrope: The Changing Lives of Vietnamese Americans.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Nakano Glenn, Evelyn. 1983. “Split Household, Small Producer and Dual Wage Earner: An
Analysis of Chinese-American Family Strategies”. Journal of Marriage and the Family.
(February): 35-46.
Roberts, Dorothy. 1997. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of
Liberty. New York: Pantheon Books.
Stack, Carol. 1974. All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York:
Harper and Row.
Allen, W R. 1978. “The Search for Applicable Theories of Black Family Life.” Journal of
Marriage and the Family. 40: 117-129.
Hill, Shirley A. 2006. “Marriage Among African-American Women: A Gender Perspective.
Journal of Comparative Family Studies 37:421-440.
Landale, Nancy. 2007. “Hispanic Families: Stability and Change.” Annual Review of Sociology,
Volume 33.
Lareau, Annette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life Berkeley: University
of California.
Lichter, D.T. McLaughlin, G. Kephart, G. and Landry D.J. 1992. “Race and the Retreat from
Marriage: Shortage of Available Men?” American Sociological Review. 57: 781-799.
Manning, W.D. and Smock, P.J. 1995 “Why Marry? Race and the Transition to Marriage among
Cohabitors.” Demography. 32: 509-520.
McAdoo, Harriette Pipes., Estella A. Martinez, and Hester Hughes. 2005. ‘Ecological Changes
in Ethnic Families of Color.’ Chapter 8 in Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research, edited by
Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David
M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
McLoyd, V.C., A. M. Cause, D. Takeuchi, and L. Wilson. 2000. “ Marital Processes and
Parental Socialization in Families of Color: A Decade Review of Research.” Journal of
Marriage and the Family. 62: 1070-1093.
Patterson, O. 1998. ‘Broken Bloodlines.’ Pp. 1 – 167 in Rituals of Blood. Washington, DC:
Counterpoint.
Tolnay, S. E. 1997. “The Great Migration and Changes to the Northern Black Family, 19401990.” Social Forces 75:1213-37.
COHABITATION, MARITAL UNIONS, AND DISSOLUTIONS
Amato, Paul R. et al. 2007. Alone Together: How Marriage in America is Changing. Harvard
University Press.
Cherlin, Andrew. 2009. The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in
America Today
Coleman, M., Lawrence Ganong and Mark Fine. 2000. “Reinvestigating Remarriage: Another
Decade of Progress.” Journal of Marriage and Family 62:1288-1307.
Kalmun, Matthus and Christiaan W. S. Monden. 2006. “Are the Negative Effects of Divorce on
Well-Being Dependent on Marital Quality?” Journal of Marriage and Family 68:1197-1213.
Kitson, Gay and L. Morgan. 1990. “Divorce and Its Consequences: A Decade Review.” Journal
of Marriage and the Family 52: 913-924.
Oppenheimer, Valerie Kincade. 1997. “Women’s Employment and the Gain to Marriage: The
Specialization and Trading Model.” Annual Review of Sociology 23:431-453.
Smock, Pamela J. 2000. “Cohabitation in the United States: An Appraisal of Research Themes,
Findings, and Implications.” Annual Review of Sociology 26:1-20.
Schoen, Robert and Yen-hsin Alice Cheng. 2006. “Partner Choice and the Differential Retreat
from Marriage.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 68:1-10.
South, Scott. 2001. “Wives’ Employment, Marital Duration, and Divorce Rates.” American
Sociological Review 66:226-45.
Waite, Linda (Ed.) 2002. The Ties that Bind: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation. New
York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Wolfinger, Nicholas H. 2005. Understanding the Divorce Cycle: The Children of Divorce in
their own Marriages New York: Cambridge University Press.
PARENTHOOD OVER THE LIFE COURSE
Arendell, Terry. 2000. “Conceiving and Investigating Motherhood: The Decade's Scholarship”
Journal of Marriage and the Family 62:1192-1207.
Amato, Paul R. and Joan G. Gilbreth. 1999. “Nonresident Fathers and Children's Well-Being: A
Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 61:557-73.
Bengston, V. L. 2001. “Beyond the Nuclear Family: The Increasing Importance of
Multigenerational Bonds.” Journal of Marriage and Family 63:1-16.
Day, Randal D. et al. ‘Fatherhood and Father Involvement: Emerging Constructs and Theoretical
Orientations.’ Chapter 14 in Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research, edited by Vern L.
Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein.
Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
Edin, Kathryn. 2000. “What do Low-Income Single Mothers Say about Marriage?” Social
Problems 47:112-134.
Fisher, Allen. 2003. ‘Still "Not Quite as Good as Having Your Own"? Toward a Sociology of
Adoption.’ Annual Review of Sociology. 29: 335-361.
LaRossa, Ralph et al. 2005. ‘Culture, Cognition, and Parenthood.’ Chapter 17 in Sourcebook of
Family Theory and Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen,
Peggye Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
McLeod, Jane D. and Michael J. Shanahan. 1993. “Poverty, Parenting, and Children's Mental
Health.” American Sociological Review 58: 351-66.
Nelson, Margaret K. 2006. “Single Mothers ‘Do’ Family.” Journal of Marriage and Family
68:781-95.
Nomaguchi, K. M. and M. A. Milkie. 2003. “Costs and Rewards of Children: The Effects of
Becoming a Parent on Adults’ Lives.” Journal of Marriage and Family 65:356-374.
Page, Marianne E. and Ann Huff Stevens. 2005. “Understanding Racial Differences In The
Economic Costs Of Growing Up In A Single-Parent Family.” Demography 42:75-90.
Raley, Sara and Suzanne Bianchi. 2006. “Sons, Daughters, and Family Processes: Does Gender
of Children Matter?” Annual Review of Sociology 32:401-21.
Stacey, Judith and Timothy Biblarz. 2001. “(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents
Matter?” American Sociological Review 66:159-183.
Wright, James D. and Sonia R. Wright. 1976. “Social Class and Parental Values for Children: A
Partial Replication and Extension of the Kohn Thesis.” American Sociological Review 41:527537. And Kohn’s and Wright’s interchange. ASR 41:538-548.
Zelzer, Viviana A. 2000. “The Priceless Child Revisited.” Pp.184-200 in Studies in Modern
Childhood: Society, Agency and Culture, edited by Jens Qvortrup. London: Palgrave.
FAMILY AND WORK
Bittman, Michael, Paula England, Nancy Folbre, Liana Sayer, and George Matheson. 2003.
“When Does Gender Trump Money? Bargaining and Time in Household Work.” American
Journal of Sociology 109:186-214.
Budig, Michelle J. and Paula England. 2001. “The Wage Penalty For Motherhood.” American
Sociological Review 66:204-225.
Brines, Julie. 1994. “Economic Dependency, Gender, and the Division of Labor at Home.”
American Journal of Sociology 100:652-88.
Epstein Fuchs, Cynthia and Arne L. Kalleberg (Eds). 2004. Fighting for Time: Shifting
Boundaries of Work and Social Life, Chapters 1-4, 9-11. New York: Russell Sage.
Erickson, Rebecca J. 2005. “Why Emotion Work Matters: Sex, Gender, and the Division of
Household Labor.” Journal of Marriage and Family 67:337-351.
Greenhaus, J. H., K. M. Collins, and J. D. Shaw. 2003. “The Relation Between Work-Family
Balance and Quality of Life.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 63:510-531.
Greenstein, Theodore N. 1996 . “Husbands’ Participation in Domestic Labor: Interactive Effects
of Wives’ and Husbands’ Gender Ideologies.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 58:585-95.
Hochschild, Arlie with Anne Machung. 1989. The Second Shift. New York: Viking Press.
Hook, Jennifer L. 2006. “Care in Context: Men’s Unpaid Work in 20 Countries,1965-2003.”
American Sociological Review 71:639-660.
Jacobs, Jerry A. and Kathleen Gerson. 2001. “Overworked Individuals Or Overworked
Families?” Work and Occupations 28:40-63.
MacDermid, Shelley M., Kevin Roy and Arrisa M. Zvonkovic. 2005. ‘Don’t Stop at the Borders:
Theorizing Beyond Dichotomies of Work and Family.’ Chapter 20 in Sourcebook of Family
Theory and Research, edited by Vern L. Bengtson, Alan C. Acock, Katherine R. Allen, Peggye
Dilworth-Andreson, and David M. Klein. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mattingly, Marybeth J., and Suzanne M. Bianchi. 2003. “Gender Differences in the Quantity and
Quality Free Time: The U.S. Experience.” Social Forces 81:999-1030.
South, Scott J. and Glenna Spitze. 1994. “Housework in Marital and Nonmarital Households.”
American Sociological Review 59:327-47.
Stone, Pamela 2007. Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
FAMILY VIOLENCE
Atkinson, Maxine P., Theodore N. Greenstein, and Molly Monahan Lang. 2005. “For Women,
Breadwinning Can Be Dangerous: Gendered Resource Theory and Wife Abuse.” Journal of
Marriage and Family 67:1137-1148.
Delsol, Catherine, Gayla Margolin, and Richard S. John. 2003. “A Typology of Maritally
Violent Men and Correlates of Violence in a Community Sample.” Journal of Marriage and
Family 65:635-651.
DeMaris, Alfred, Michael L. Benson, Greer L. Fox, Terrence Hill, and Judy Van Wyk. 2003.
“Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model.” Journal of
Marriage and Family 65:652-667.
Dietz, Tracy L. and Jana L. Jaskinski. 2007. The Effect of Item Order on Partner Violence
Reporting: An Examination of Four Versions of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales. Social
Science Research 36:353-373.
Donnelly, Michael and Murray Straus. 2005. Corporal Punishment of Children in Theoretical
Perspective. Yale University Press.
Felson, Richard B., Jeff Ackerman, and Seong-Jin Yeon. 2003. “The Infrequency of Family
Violence.” Journal of Marriage and Family 65:622-634.
Johnson, Michael P. 2006. “Conflict and control: Gender, symmetry, and asymmetry in
domestic violence.” Violence Against Women 12:1003-1018.
Kenneyand, Catherine T. and McLanahan, Sara S. 2006. “Why Are Cohabiting Relationships
More Violent Than Marriages?” Demography 43:127-140.
Melzer, Scott A. 2002. “Gender, Work, and Intimate Violence: Men’s Occupational Violence
Spillover and Compensatory Violence.” Journal of Marriage and Family 64:820-832.
Sorenson, Susan B. and Kristie A. Thomas. 2009. Views of Intimate Partner Violence in Sameand Opposite-Sex Relationships. Journal of Marriage & Family 70:337-352.