Diversity in Families
Maxine Baca Zinn
D. Stanley Eitzen
Chapter Eight:
Contemporary Marriages
Chapter Eight Overview
Marriage: Private and Public Spheres
Recent Trends
Are There Benefits to Marriage?
Micro Aspects of Marriage
Marriage: Private and Public
Spheres
 Marriage creates a unique relationship
in profound and complex ways.
 Marriage is a dynamic rather than a
concrete entity.
Macro Influences on Marriage
 The Law
 The Issue of Homosexual Marriages
 Religion
 Societal Gender Expectations
Recent Trends
1. Unmarried Adults – The number of
singles and cohabiting heterosexuals is
increasing.
Unmarried—never m, widowed, divorced
Living alone—1/4 of all households
Co-habitation—
Cohabitation-reasons
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1. Same sex partners-marriage prohibited
2. Financial
sharing expenses
not-econ stable for marriage
3. Prelude to marriage
4. Older couples—lose econ benefits
Soc security, widow status, estate
Cohabitation-statistics
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2000—4.9 million—opp.sex—co-habitation
1980---1.6 million
1969---523,000
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41%--include a child under 18
½--first marriages preceded by cohabitat.
Most marry or split within 18 months
½ cohabitating couples marry
Somewhat higher divorce rate than never cohab.
40% of all children will spend time with mother &
cohabitating partner
2. Age at First Marriage – The median age of first
marriage is increasing for women and men.
90% eventually marry
Median age of first marriage:
men
women
1900
26
22
1960
22.8
20.3
2000
26.8
25.1
Effect: advanced educ, reduces # child., indep and
flexibility—life choices.
3. Family Size – The fertility rate has declined
steadily throughout most of the last 200 years.
average household 2.6 persons
3.1 –thirty yrs ago
2002
white
2.4
black
2.7
native amer
2.8
asian amer
2.9
latino
3.5
Recent Trends
 Racial Mixed Marriages – Interracial and
interethnic marriages are increasing, but
95% of all marriages are between partners
of the same race. (homogamy)
 Life Span and Marriage – Increased
longevity is one explanation for the
relatively high rate of divorce.
Recent Trends
 Divorce – Stabilized in the late 1990s at
around 4.2 couples divorcing per 1000.
 Remarriage – Most divorced persons
remarry.
• Remarriage—
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men—75%
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women—60%
• Tendency—majority soon after divorce
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½ within 3 years.
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less likely for older women
The Benefits of Marriage
 Research shows that marriage benefits
the partners involved in several ways:
1) Better physical and mental health
2) Better sex lives
3) More economic resources
Health benefits
• Causes:
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males—less risky behavior
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monitored by spouse
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wife assists in dealing with stress
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sense of meaning, obligation,
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responsibility to others
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improved mental health—less depre,
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anxiety
2. Better sex lives
• More often--comparative frequency
• Enjoy it more—physically & emotionally
3. More economic resources
• 1. Increased productivity of men
• 2. economic contribution of women
• Effect: better nutrition, housing, travel
• May be that econ benefits—
• Instead of marriage bond that generates
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better emotional & physical health
The Benefits of Marriage
Reconsidered

The benefits of marriage change when race, class, and
gender are factored in:
1) The poor do not necessarily benefit
economically from marriage.
less marriage-where jobs unstable, low-w
women not interested in marriage
2) This is especially true for racial minorities.
3) Many times, there is a “his” and “hers”
marriage.
Men benefit more from marr.--receive more care
regardless of emotional quality
Women benefits—depend on quality
Marital Success: Stability & Quality
• Cuber and Haroff—stability not same as satisfaction
• Study of affluent couples—similar
• 5 types of stable/enduring marriages:
• a. Conflict-habituated-centered on tension:
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quarreling, nagging, sarcasm, put-down
• b. Devitalized –duty
• c. Passive congenial—love not expected
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stability allowed other pursuits
• d. Vital marriages—true intimacy in all import.
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matters
• e. Total—more multi-faceted—involved in work
Marital Success: Quality
 Factors that influence marriage quality:
1) Shared social characteristics-homogamous—
why? shared values, politics, religion
2) Economic and personal resources—success
can hold a marriage together.
3) Dual-earner couples
positive—financial; negative--conflicts
4) The division of household labor
women spend twice as much time
2/3 to 1/3 relationship of housework
less women, more men— 1960
men increase housework when:
1. higher male education
2. wives’ jobs -similar or higher p
Marital Success
 Factors that influence marriage quality:
5) Role fit—consensus
traditional/egalitarian
6) Social class—m/cl—more egalitarian
7) Children—not correlated with m.quality
U curve or declining over time
1st 10 yrs sharply, then gradually
8) Life cycle
9) Communication—negotiation over difficulties
The Sexual Relationship in Marriage
 Gendered Sexual Intimacy – Women and
men differ in their sexuality.
 The Sexual Stages in Marriage – Sexual
contact occurs most often early in
marriages.
 Sex as Power – Sex can be used as an
instrument of power.
Power and Decision Making
in Marriage
 Sources of Power in Marriage
a) Resources—income
75%--7000 couples--power related
to income
b) Social Class --ideology & behavior
c) Race and Ethnicity
Latinas—more equality when wife works
Af Amer---most egalitarian
Power and Decision Making
in Marriage
Individual Factors—age & size
Reconstructing gender roles
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Building an egalitarian marriage
Pepper Schwartz—Peer Marriage
Study of couples—based on equality,
equity and intimacy
Shared:
1. household work—no more than 60/40
2. both believe equal influence-decisions
3. both feel equal control of econ. Assets
4. work of each given equal weight
Future of marriage
• Changing or dying